The Terrifying Teamsters

Arkansas' cautious, conservative Democratic Senator John McClellan peered around the U.S. Senate's crowded caucus room, squinted into television's bright lights, and permitted himself a rare extravagance: he and the seven other members of a special Senate committee were about to start work on a "stupendous" job. Lawyer McClellan was not far wrong. The job: investigating labor racketeering. The starting point: the mighty (1,400,000 members) International Brotherhood of Teamsters and its activities in the Pacific Northwest, home bailiwick of Teamsters' President Dave Beck (who was conspicuous last week by his continued sojourn in Europe). Prospect: the juiciest congressional hearing of the year.

As an appetizer, McClellan's committee heard about the Teamsters' free and easy ways with union funds. The Teamsters' Western Boss Frank Brewster, who came to power as Dave Beck's first lieutenant (and followed Beck as chairman of the union's Western Conference), was described as having ordered a $3,900 Teamster loan to a Seattle racketeer for opening a tavern and gambling joint in Spokane.

Brewster was also identified as having okayed a $17,000 union loan to help get another Seattle gambler out from under a federal tax lien. Dave Beck himself, it was said, ordered a $30,000 loan to finance a saloon operated by a University of Washington classmate of Dave Beck Jr. in a building owned by Teamsters' President Beck.

"God or Something." But all this was preliminary to the meat and potatoes, which came with the three-day appearance as a witness of Portland's craggy-faced James B. Elkins, 56, longtime big wheel of Oregon vice who had become "disenchanted" with the Teamsters after what was admittedly a falling-out among thugs. Once he had rid himself--at Chairman McClellan's request--of his wad of chewing gum, Witness Elkins sang loud and clear. As one who had served time for crimes ranging from assault with intent to kill to possession of narcotics, he easily qualified as an expert witness on Portland racketeering.

In late 1953 or early 1954, Elkins was seeking to expand his illegal operations (he was game for anything except that he "never took a nickel" from a madam) around Portland. He was referred to Seattle Gambler Tom Maloney as a man who could help him by reason of being "a very close friend of [Teamster Boss] Frank Brewster." Gambler Maloney, said Witness Elkins, looked upon the Teamsters as "God or something" and was fond of boasting that "we could eventually take over the whole state of Oregon if we had their backing." Elkins, Maloney and--although they had previously been committed to another candidate--the Teamsters decided to back one William Langley for the key job of district attorney of Multnomah (Portland) County. Elkins knew Lawyer Langley well: he had, he testified, once been in partnership with Langley in a gambling place.

Blubber & Blabber. Langley was duly elected, and soon confided to Elkins--testified Elkins--that he was going to split the gambling payoff with Gambler Maloney. But Maloney turned out to be a first-class bungler and, said Elkins, the Teamsters sent in another man to help with the Portland racketeering. He was Seattle Gambler Joseph Patrick McLaughlin, alias Joe McKinley. The difference between Gamblers Tom Maloney and Joe McLaughlin was explained to Elkins by none other than the Teamsters' Frank Brewster. Testified Elkins: Brewster once said that " 'Tom Maloney is a blubberheaded, blabbermouthed so-and-so, and I have known him 20 years, and I have put him in business 20 times and he messes up every time . . .' I told him I agreed with that, certainly, and he said Joe McLaughlin would be an asset to any man's organization."

The new combination had some ambitious ideas, among them a scheme to take over the operation of Portland punch-boards for a profit of at least $100,000 a year. Part of the plan, said Elkins, called for Clyde Crosby, the Teamsters' Oregon representative, to persuade the Portland city council to legalize the possession of punchboards. Also, the Teamsters' label of approval would be placed on all the punchboards owned by an Elkins henchman--and places using other punchboards would be picketed by the Teamsters so as to cut off their "beer and bread" deliveries.

Make & Break. But the racketeering coalition failed to last. Elkins decided that he was being doublecrossed by the Teamsters and their friends. Elkins testified that he had been told that a rival gambler had paid Frank Brewster $10,000 and had been given a Teamsters' go-ahead. Elkins went to Frank Brewster's headquarters for an angry confrontation.

"As near as I can remember it," said Elkins, "I came into his room and I first sat down in his little waiting room. Three men came in and looked me over for a couple of minutes and walked out. Then he came in and I went in his place. I am looking around and he said, 'You don't have to be so-and-so afraid of me. I don't wire up my place.' I said, 'I am not afraid of you wiring it up, Mr. Brewster.' He said, 'I am going to tell you to start with I don't like the people you represent.' I said, 'I don't represent any people, just Jim Elkins.' He said, 'Well, I am going to tell you something else. I make mayors and I break mayors, and I make chiefs of police and I break chiefs of police. I have been in jail and I have been out of jail. There is nothing scares me.'

"I said, 'I don't want to scare you. All I want to be is left alone.' He talked a little more and he got red in the face, and he said, 'If you bother my two boys, if you embarrass my two boys, you will find yourself wading across Lake Washington with a pair of concrete boots.' " The two boys: Teamsters' Organizer Clyde Crosby and Multnomah County District Attorney Bill Langley (who is still in office although under indictment for malfeasance in office).

Eloquent Silence. Standing against Elkins' testimony was his record as a lifelong hoodlum. Standing also against him was conflicting testimony: e.g., the rival Portland gambler flatly denied paying Frank Brewster $10,000 for Teamsters' sanction. But the hearings had been carefully and skillfully prepared by young Committee Counsel Bob Kennedy, 31, brother of Massachusetts' tousle-haired John Kennedy, 39, who is a junior member of the committee. Kennedy the younger had turned up some corroboration for Elkins' story. Hotel bills showed that Gambler Joe Maloney had passed himself off as a Teamsters official, and that Frank Brewster had approved the Teamsters' picking up Maloney's tab. Oregon's respected Public Utilities Commissioner

Howard Morgan, former Democratic state chairman, told of getting the word during an election campaign that the Teamsters were willing to pay $10,000 for a seat on the state liquor-control commission. The aim: to bar from Oregon some whiskies produced by Eastern distillers who were unfriendly to the Teamsters.

Even more eloquent, if only by their silence, were Witnesses Tom Maloney and Joe McLaughlin. Called before the committee to give their own version of their relationship with Teamster Frank Brewster, both invoked the Fifth Amendment. With the McClellan committee hearings just beginning, many more questions remained to be asked and many more answers remained to be given. Frank Brewster was scheduled to testify, and so --when and if he decides to return from Europe--is Teamsters' President Dave Beck. And, thanks to Witness James Elkins, the "disenchanted" racketeer, the committee is armed with some interesting new questions to ask them both.

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