Breaking the Devil's Pact

In 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 labour movement and the appropriate level of government involvement. James B. Jacobs is the Warren E. Burger Professor of Law and Director, Center for Research in Crime and Justice, NYU School of Law. His previous books include Gotham Unbound: How New York City Was Liberated from the Grip of Organized Crime (NYU Press, 1999). 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.