Barney Baker

Robert "Barney" Baker (August 16, 1911 – 1990)[1] was an American mobster associated with Jimmy Hoffa.

Biography

Baker was born on August 16, 1911 in New York City. He had two siblings, his brother Herman and his sister Rose. In 1946 he moved to Hollywood, Florida, getting a job as a doorman and bouncer at the Colonial Inn, owned by Jake Lansky, the brother of Meyer Lansky.[2] Jimmy Hoffa brought Baker in as an organizer for the Central States Conference of Teamsters.[3]

As a former prizefighter whose weight stood at approximately 385 pounds, Baker would provide muscle to the unions. In 1952 he was hired by Harold J. Gibbons, whom he performed this service for and acted as his bodyguard.[4][5]

McClellan Committee

Baker testified before the McClellan Committee of the US Senate over a period of two days.[6] Although encouraged by his lawyers to plead the Fifth, he instead continuously made jokes throughout the hearings and listed off his criminal associates.[7] As Time describe it, "Baker decided to clown his way through a performance". At one point he informed the committee that at separate sittings he had consumed 4 pounds of spaghetti and 38 pounds of meat.[6]

His ex-wife, Mollie Baker also testified. Baker dismissed her testimony as that of "a vengeful woman, a woman scorned".[8] She stated that Baker had been chairman of the Harriman-for-President labor committee in 1952, worked for Harriman in his campaign against Estes Kefauver, at one point frequently talked with him on the phone, and possessed a signed photograph from Harriman signed "To my dearest friend Barney". Now the Governor of New York, Harriman called a press conference to dismiss the allegations and Baker attacked his ex-wife for trying to destroy "a man I honor and love".[6]

Members of the committee, Senator Bobby Kennedy and Chairman John J. McClellan, scolded Baker. Senator Kennedy stated "The people you associate with are the scum of the United States, and you are a part of them", with Chairman McClellan accusing him of committing perjury "over and over".[6] Following the hearings Baker was convicted under the Taft-Hartley Act.[9] He was sentenced to two years in prison, which he unsuccessfully appealed, serving time in Sandstone Prison, Minnesota.[10]

Hoffa was brought to trial for bribery in 1957. Given that the jury was comprised of eight blacks and four whites, Hoffa made overtures to the black jurors. Paul Dorfman and Baker arranged for the black boxer Joe Louis to walk up and hug Hoffa in view of the jurors. Hoffa was found not guilty.[11] Dorfman approached the International Boxing Club, ran by a friend of his Truman Gibson, to make this arrangement,[12] while Baker paid Louis' travel and hotel expenses.[13] He also approached clergyman George G. Higgins, who recalls that Baker requested "that I come give 'James' some 'spiritual guidance' during a recess. When I told him Hoffa was welcome to come to my office, Barney insisted that he needed the spiritual guidance in the courtroom".[14]

References

  1. ^ "U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014". Ancestry. Retrieved 11 February 2026.
  2. ^ Appendix to Hearing Before the Select Committee on Assassinations of the U.S. House of Representatives Ninety-Fifth Congress Second Session: Volume IX. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1979. p. 274.
  3. ^ "Text of M'Clellan Statement on Hoffa and Transcript of Hoffa-Dio Call". The New York Times. 24 August 1957.
  4. ^ Sheridan, Walter (1972). The Fall and Rise of Jimmy Hoffa. Saturday Review Press. pp. 20–21.
  5. ^ Bartlow Martin, John (1959). Jimmy Hoffa's Hot. Crest Books. p. 77-9.
  6. ^ a b c d "Hoffa's Funny Friend". Time. 1 September 1958.
  7. ^ Sloane, Arthur A. (1991). Hoffa. MIT Press. pp. 117–8.
  8. ^ McClellan, John J. (1962). Crime Without Punishment. Duell, Sloan and Pearce. p. 18.
  9. ^ McClellan, John J. (1962). Crime Without Punishment. Duell, Sloan and Pearce. p. 288.
  10. ^ Sheridan, Walter (1972). The Fall and Rise of Jimmy Hoffa. Saturday Review Press. p. 194.
  11. ^ Sheridan, Walter (1972). The Fall and Rise of Jimmy Hoffa. Saturday Review Press. pp. 33–34.
  12. ^ Kennedy, Robert F. (1994). The Enemy Within: The McClellan Committee's Crusade Against Jimmy Hoffa and Corrupt Labor Unions. Da Capo Press. p. 60.
  13. ^ Brill, Steven (1979). The Teamsters. Pocket Books. p. 29.
  14. ^ Brill, Steven (1979). The Teamsters. Pocket Books. pp. 29–30.
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