Grand jury transcripts show FBI agents were targeted for ambush during 1962 Hoffa trial

Transcripts: Agents targeted during Hoffa trial

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Newly released grand jury transcripts say associates of late Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa plotted to ambush a group of FBI agents during his 1962 trial in Nashville.

Walter J. Sheridan, a Justice Department official, told the Nashville grand jury in 1963 that Hoffa’s supporters planned to trap the agents in an alley “and have a bunch of business agents waiting for them.”

This came at a time when the Justice Department targeted Hoffa for prosecution.

The plan was not carried out. The trial, on charges that Hoffa took payoffs from trucking companies, ended in a hung jury. But Hoffa was convicted two years later of jury tampering during the trial.

The transcripts do not say whether Hoffa knew about the plot. A retired professor went to court to get them released.