When I was young, I thought house painters painted houses. What did I know? I was a working guy, a business agent for Teamster Local 107 out of South Philly. One of a thousand working stiffs, until I wasn’t no more. And then I started painting houses myself.
– Frank Sheeran
In a nursing home in his wheelchair, Frank Sheeran, an elderly World War II veteran, recounts his time as a Mafia hitman.
In 1950s Philadelphia, delivery truck driver Sheeran starts to sell some of the contents of his shipments to a local gangster in the Italian Philadelphia crime family. After his company accuses him of theft, union lawyer Bill Bufalino gets him off, after Sheeran refuses to give the judge names of his customers. Bill introduces Sheeran to his cousin Russell Bufalino, the head of the Northeastern Pennsylvania crime family. Sheeran begins to do jobs for Russell and members of the local South Philadelphia underworld, including murders. Soon, Russell introduces Sheeran to Jimmy Hoffa, the head of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, who has financial ties with the Bufalino crime family and is struggling to deal with fellow rising Teamster Anthony “Tony Pro” Provenzano, as well as mounting pressure from the federal government. Hoffa becomes close with Sheeran and his family, especially his daughter Peggy, and Sheeran becomes Hoffa’s chief bodyguard while on the road.
After the 1960 election of John F. Kennedy, Russell is thrilled while Hoffa is livid. Kennedy’s brother, Robert F. Kennedy, who was named Attorney General, forms a “Get Hoffa” squad in an effort to bring down Hoffa, who is eventually arrested and convicted in 1964 for jury tampering. While in prison, his replacement atop the Teamsters, Frank Fitzsimmons, begins overspending the groups’ pension funds and making interest-free loans out to the Mafia. Hoffa’s relationship with Provenzano, who was himself arrested for extortion, also deteriorates beyond repair. Hoffa is eventually released via a Presidential pardon from Richard Nixon in 1971, although he is forbidden from taking part in any Teamsters activities until 1980.
Despite his parole terms, Hoffa undertakes a plan to retake his power atop the organized unions. Hoffa’s growing disrespect for other Teamster leaders and related crime family interests begins to worry Russell. During a testimonial dinner in Sheeran’s honour in October 1973, Russell tells Sheeran to confront Hoffa and warn him that the heads of the crime families are not pleased with his behaviour. Hoffa then informs Sheeran that he “knows things” that Russell and the other dons are unaware that he knows, and further claims that he is untouchable because if anything ever happened to him, they would all end up in prison.
In 1975, while on their way to the wedding of Bill’s daughter, Russell tells Sheeran that things have reached their breaking point with Hoffa, and his death has been sanctioned. To his chagrin, Russell tells Sheeran that he has been chosen as the person to do it, on fears that he otherwise might try to warn or save him. The two drive to an airport, where Sheeran gets on a flight to Detroit. Sheeran tells Hoffa he will be in town early in the day, but arrives late that afternoon. Hoffa, who had scheduled a meeting at a local diner with Provenzano and Anthony Giacalone, is surprised to see Sheeran arriving there in a car with Hoffa’s unsuspecting foster son Chuckie O’Brien and Sal Briguglio, another gangster. They advise Hoffa that the meeting was moved to a house where Provenzano and Russell are waiting for them; Sheeran reassures Hoffa that everything is fine and he joins them in the car. Upon entering the house, Hoffa finds that no one else is there and believes that he has been set up. He turns around to leave the house, at which point Sheeran shoots him twice at point-blank range before leaving the gun and the body at the entrance. After Sheeran leaves, two younger gangsters take Hoffa’s body to a crematorium to eliminate all traces of him.
Sheeran, Russell, Provenzano, and others are eventually convicted on various charges, none of which are related to Hoffa’s murder, and one by one, they begin to die in prison. Sheeran is eventually released and placed in a nursing home. He tries to make peace with his alienated daughters, but Peggy severs all contact with him. Sheeran begins to see a Catholic priest assigned to the nursing home. The priest gives Sheeran absolution in his room. As the priest leaves Sheeran alone in his room for the Christmas holidays, Sheeran asks him to leave the door open a little, emulating Hoffa’s habit.
Stand by aaand ACTION! 