Justice Department moves to end decades of Teamsters monitoring

The Justice Department on Tuesday moved to end nearly four decades of federal monitoring of the Teamsters, saying the union had finally shed the corruption that once made it a fixture of organized-crime investigations. In joint filings in Manhattan federal court, the government and the 1.4 million-member union said Teamsters governance had been restored and the old culture of intimidation was gone.

The request marks a major turn in a case that began with a 1988 lawsuit filed by the office of then-U.S. Attorney Rudy Giuliani. Prosecutors said the mafia had operated the Teamsters as a racketeering enterprise and that organized-crime influence had deprived members of their rights. The 1989 settlement that followed created a court-appointed monitor, forced changes to the election system and set up a review board to investigate corruption allegations.

That review board became one of the central safeguards of the deal. According to the filings, it permanently barred about 400 people from union membership, a number that reflects how deep prosecutors believed the rot had spread inside the organization. The Justice Department said a wind-down process agreed to in 2015 had now run its course and asked Judge Loretta Preska to approve the final step.

For the Teamsters, the filing amounted to a public declaration that the union no longer resembled the institution that federal prosecutors once described as operating under a campaign of fear. For the Justice Department, it signaled that one of the longest federal interventions in labor history could end when reforms appeared durable and internal elections no longer needed outside supervision.

The timing carries weight far beyond the courtroom. Founded in 1903, the Teamsters remain powerful in trucking, but their reach now extends through UPS, Costco, freight operations and airlines, giving the union influence in sectors that keep supply chains moving and national commerce humming. If Preska approves the filings, the case would close one of the most closely watched labor oversight arrangements in modern U.S. history, and it would do so just as the union’s leverage in logistics and politics has become more visible than at any point in years.