Breaking the Devil’s Pact

An in-depth study of the U.S. v. the International Brotherhood of TeamstersIn 1988, Manhattan U.S. Attorney Rudy Giuliani brought a massive civil racketeering suit against the leadership of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), at the time possibly the most corrupt union in the world. The lawsuit charged that the mafia had operated the IBT as a racketeering enterprise for decades, systematically violating the rights of members and furthering the interests of organized crime. On the eve of trial, the parties settled the case, and twenty years later, the trustees are still on the job. Breaking the Devil’s Pact is an in-depth study of the U.S. v. IBT, beginning with Giuliani’s lawsuit and the politics surrounding it, and continuing with an incisive analysis of the controversial nature of the ongoing trusteeship. James B. Jacobs and Kerry T. Cooperman address the larger question of the limits of legal reform in the American labor movement and the appropriate level of government involvement.

Breaking the Devils Pact tells the compelling story of the government's Herculean effort to break La Cosa Nostra's stranglehold over a notorious union. It will shock and surprise you, proving once again that the truth really is stranger than fiction, Court-ordered reform of a private organization is more easily prescribed than implemented. Breaking the Devils Pact is an intriguing account of a continuing, decades-long struggle to rid a powerful union of corrupt influences. It will certainly appeal to specialists in organized crime and labor relations. Moreover, it will be of interest well beyond a North American readership. Regulatory scholars around the world will note the very real limits to what they call & enforced self-regulation. Democratic theorists will recognize the challenge of voter apathy. Sociologists of organizations will see an extreme example of inertia. Political scientists will be heartened by the apolitical nature of reform efforts over four successive presidential administrations, but disappointed with the slow pace of change. Metaphorically speaking, Breaking the Devils Pact is a mansion with many fascinating rooms., This book should be of interest to all those interested in racketeering law, organized crime, and the role of the government in addressing entrenched organized crime and corruption in private organizations., This is a stunning book not only for what it says about the dramatic battle against corruption in the nation's most powerful labor union, but as well for what it says about the role of courts in effecting changes in large-scale private organizations in modern America. It is a & must read for all law and politics scholars

James B. Jacobs, legal scholar and sociologist, was Warren E. Burger Professor of Law and Director, Center for Research in Crime and Justice, NYU School of Law. Among his books are Mobsters, Unions & Fed: The Mafia and the American Labor Movement, Gotham Unbound: How New York City Was Liberated from the Grip of Organized Crime, Busting the Mob: United States v. Cosa Nostra, and Corruption and Racketeering in the New York City Construction Industry, all published by NYU Press. Kerry T. Cooperman is an attorney in the litigation department of Stroock & Stroock & Lavan and a former fellow in the Center for Research in Crime and Justice, NYU School of Law.