The Real Corruption

Convicted Teamsters Boss Jimmy Hoffa last week braced himself before U.S. District Judge Frank Wilson in Chattanooga and prepared to take it on the chin. He got it. Wilson slugged Hoffa with a sentence of eight years in prison and a $10,000 fine for trying to bribe a jury that was hearing conspiracy charges against him in 1962.

Then the judge cut loose with a blistering lecture. Said Wilson: "Most defendants that stand before this court for sentencing have either violated the property rights of other individuals or have violated the personal rights of other individuals.

"You stand here convicted of seeking to corrupt the administration of justice itself. You stand here convicted of hav ing tampered, really, with the very soul of this nation. You stand here convicted of having struck at the very foundation upon which everything else in this nation depends, the very basis of civilization itself, and that is the administration of justice, because without a fair, proper and lawful administration of justice, nothing else would be possible in this country.

"Now, if a conviction of such an offense were to go unpunished, it would surely destroy this country more quickly and more surely than any combination of any foreign foes that we could ever possibly have."

Hoffa, whose appeals may postpone his incarceration for a couple of years, stiffly told the judge: "I stand here today and state that I am innocent." Later he told newsmen: "I have lived my life, 51 years, serving my fellow man, serving the members of the international union, and nobody can say I have betrayed my trust, because the record speaks for itself."

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