Robert F Kennedy

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Kennedy, appalled by the violence and corruption associated with this Mafia-related activity, relentlessly fought a virtual war against that criminal element, focusing on corrupt Teamster Union presidents David Beck and Jimmy Hoffa. Beck went to prison while the brash Hoffa continued to battle Kennedy in the committee room, the courts, and the media until his own conviction in 1964 (he began his sentence in 1967). Kennedy wrote in his 1960 book, The Enemy Within, "If we do not on a national scale attack organized criminals with weapons and techniques as effective as their own, they will destroy us" (p. 265).

As attorney general, Kennedy adopted the rationale that the ends justify the means. He increased the size of the Justice Department's Organized Crime and Racketeering Section. He brought in aggressive, tough-minded people willing to use all legal options to the fullest. Under his direction, the department compiled a list of twelve hundred suspected racketeers and then ...

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