Title: "I heard you paint houses"
Description: The first words Jimmy Hoffa ever spoke to Frank "the Irishman" Sheeran were, "I heard you paint houses." To paint a house is to kill a man. The paint is the blood that splatters on the walls and floors. In the course of nearly five years of recorded interviews, Frank Sheeran confessed to Charles Brandt that he handled more than twenty-five hits for the mob, and for his friend Hoffa. Sheeran learned to kill in the U.S. Army, where he saw an astonishing 411 days of active combat duty in Italy during World War II. After returning home he became a hustler and hit man, working for legendary crime boss Russell Bufalino. Eventually he would rise to a position of such prominence that then-U.S. Attorney Rudy Giuliani would name him as one of only two non-Italians on a list of 26 top mob figures. When Bufalino ordered Sheeran to kill Hoffa, he did the deed, knowing that if he had refused he would have been killed himself. Sheeran's story includes new information on other famous murders including those of Joey Gallo and JFK, and provides rare insight to a chapter in American history.
Subjects: Gangsters, Assassins, Mafia, Teamsters, Assassination, Biography
Places: United States, Pennsylvania
People: James R. Hoffa (1913-), Frank Sheeran, Russell Bufalino (1903-1994)