Ex-Teamsters Chief Admits Tie to Mafia

Former Teamsters Union President Roy L. Williams, in his debut as a government witness, publicly acknowledged his connection with organized crime for the first time Wednesday, telling a federal jury that he was a “very close” personal friend of Nick Civella for 30 years until the alleged Kansas City Mafia chief’s death in 1983.

And he also told of the iron control that the late Teamsters President James R. Hoffa exercised over the dispensing of hundreds of millions of dollars in loans from the Teamsters Central States Pension Fund.

Williams, who recently won postponement of a 10-year prison term by cooperating with the government, is considered one of the major witnesses in the trial here of nine reputed top organized crime leaders from Chicago, Kansas City, Cleveland and Milwaukee.

Accused of Conspiracy

They are accused of conspiring to secretly control and to skim money from Las Vegas casinos, particularly the Stardust and the Fremont, with the aid of millions from the Teamsters pension fund.

Although there has been public allegation of Williams’ connections with organized crime figures, his own acknowledgment under oath was a first.

The gaunt, 70-year-old Williams, who suffers severe emphysema, coughed frequently as he testified for just 90 minutes before the proceedings were recessed for the day. However, his voice remained strong during the examination by David B. B. Helfrey, chief prosecutor.

Most of the first day’s questioning of Williams established his history as a major Teamsters Union official from the early 1950s until his 1983 conviction for conspiring to bribe a U.S. senator from Nevada.

‘Very Deep Thinker’

He also was a trustee for many years of the Teamsters pension fund, which the government contends was influenced by the defendants, along with Civella and other alleged co-conspirators.

Questions about his relationship with Civella began shortly before the court session recessed for the day.

Asked to describe Civella, Williams replied that he was “a very deep thinker, soft-spoken and mostly knew what he was talking about.”

Williams acknowledged that the alleged crime boss did “assist” him in his union career.

Helfrey did not ask at that point what Civella did for him, but the prosecutor asked how Williams helped Civella.

Put His People to Work

Williams replied that his union “had a lot of his people put to work” on jobs controlled by the union.

When the prosecutor continued asking about Civella, objections from the defense attorneys led Judge Joseph E. Stevens Jr. to send the jury out of the courtroom. After conferences, the trial was recessed until today.

Earlier in his testimony, Williams described his mentor, Teamster President Hoffa, as “very boisterous, demanding and seemed to know where he was going at all times.” Williams described in detail the power structure of the union’s pension fund, where power is vested in 16 trustees, half selected by the union president and half by employers contributing to the billion-dollar fund.

Asked what Hoffa’s pension fund duties were when he headed the union before being sent to prison, Williams replied succinctly, if ungrammatically:

“Well, he run it.”

At the outset of the former union official’s testimony, Helfrey asked him if he was “satisfied” that he was guilty of the conspiracy charge on which he was convicted. Williams replied:

“I believe in the jury system of this country, and the jury found me guilty.”