William Bittman; Prosecuted Teamsters’ Jimmy Hoffa

William O. Bittman, a Washington trial lawyer and former federal prosecutor whose celebrated cases included the prosecution of Teamsters President James R. Hoffa, has died.

Bittman died of cancer Thursday at his home in Potomac, Md. He was 69.

Bittman made his reputation as an assistant U.S. attorney in Chicago in the 1960s, when he successfully prosecuted Hoffa and eight other defendants on charges of stealing from the Teamsters pension fund. As the case unfolded, he received threats from Hoffa associates and was placed under guard by U.S. marshals.

At the close of the 13-week trial, which involved 150 witnesses and 15,000 documents, Hoffa was found guilty and sentenced to five years in prison.

In 1965, with the Hoffa trial over, Atty. Gen. Robert F. Kennedy transferred Bittman to the Justice Department in Washington. His assignment was to lead the investigation and subsequent prosecution of Robert G. “Bobby” Baker, the secretary of the U.S. Senate and a protege of President Lyndon B. Johnson.

Baker was accused of fraud and tax evasion in connection with illegally pocketed campaign contributions. He was defended by famed Washington trial lawyer Edward Bennett Williams.

When Williams finished his summation, Bittman told the jurors they had just heard “the greatest argument by the greatest lawyer.” He added, “All I have is the facts.”

The verdict was guilty, and Baker served 16 months of a three-year sentence.

Over the years, Bittman’s clients included E. Howard Hunt, a figure in the Watergate scandal that led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon, and Raymond Donovan, Reagan’s first secretary of labor, who was acquitted of larceny and fraud charges.

Hunt was convicted for assisting five operatives of Nixon’s reelection committee who broke into the offices of the Democratic National Committee in the Watergate office building for the purpose of planting listening devices.

Donovan, a former construction company executive, was indicted by a grand jury in the Bronx, N.Y., in 1985 for his role in an alleged kickback scheme involving a minority contractor. He had already been cleared by a special prosecutor and had testified before a New York grand jury at his own request, but he resigned from Reagan’s Cabinet to defend himself. During the trial, which lasted nine months in 1986 and 1987, Bittman accused the Bronx district attorney of bringing the case against his client for political gain.

The jury returned a verdict of innocent on its first ballot, and Donovan asked: “Which office do I go to to get my reputation back?”

William Omar Bittman was born in Milwaukee. He served in the Navy for two years during the Korean War. In 1956, he graduated from Marquette University, where he was a linebacker on the football team. In 1959, he graduated with honors from DePaul University’s law school in Chicago. His first job was with the U.S. attorney’s office.

His survivors include his wife of 44 years, Carole; seven children; two brothers; and 11 grandchildren.