18 quotes
When you run an organization like the Teamsters one man has to be the boss and run things.
Hoffa The Real Story (1975)
Sure, we loaned money to build hotels and casinos in Las Vegas. So what? Las Vegas borrowers were good customers.
Hoffa The Real Story (1975)
Mob guys had muscle, and where in hell do you think employers got the tough guys when they wanted to break a strike?
Hoffa The Real Story (1975)
It has to be considered damned unusual that no other union was ever investigated.
Hoffa The Real Story (1975)
When you go to prison they forget it's your Constitution, too.
Hoffa The Real Story (1975)
Power leads to more power, no matter what your racket, and not only were they rich and influential but they were smart as hell, too.
Hoffa The Real Story (1975)
A slab of bread "buttered" with lard and, if you were lucky, seasoned with salt and pepper, was a luxury.
Hoffa The Real Story (1975)
I do to others what they do to me, only worse.
We never had any silk sheets in our family...
Hoffa The Real Story (1975)
They all know I'm back, very much back, and that I will be the general president again come hell or high water.
Hoffa The Real Story (1975)
Hell, I'm not saying I'm an angel, but when it came to dirty tricks I couldn't hold a candle to the Irish Mafia.
Hoffa The Real Story (1975)
You almost had to live through it to really know the gut ripping misery of the depression during the early thirties which led to labor's bloodiest and most violent days.
Hoffa The Real Story (1975)
But to hear Kennedy when he was grandstanding in front of the McClellan Committee you might have thought I was making as much out of the pension fund as the Kennedys made out of selling whiskey.
Hoffa The Real Story (1975)
Nobody in this country respects what's weak. You believe me!
If you see a beggar on a corner, with his hat in his hand, nobody respects him.
Dress the same man up, give him an air of dignity, and he can command respect.
The same thing applies to this union.
In the ten years I was president of the Teamsters, I had raised the membership from eight hundred thousand to more than 2 million and made it the largest single labor union the world.
Hoffa The Real Story (1975)
I've said consistently that no employer ever really accepts a union. They tolerate the unions. The very minute they can get a pool of unemployment they'll challenge the unions and try to get back what they call managements prerogatives, meaning hire, fire, pay what you want.
Hoffa The Real Story (1975)
Our rooms were bugged, our phones were tapped, and our lawyer's rooms were broken into and their files stolen. We finally had to hire armed guards with pistols to be able to maintain our records. It was hard to believe we weren't in Russia.
Hoffa The Real Story (1975)
But because we are financially solid, because we do have an organization that is equipped to handle any situation that comes in front of us, we are successful in getting from the employers what our members want and need without strikes.