William Anthony "Tough Tony" Boyle (December 1, 1904 – May 31, 1985) was an American miner, union leader, and convicted murder-for-hire conspirator. He became president of the United Mine Workers of America union in 1963, serving until 1972. Boyle was convicted in 1974 of charges of conspiracy in the murder of opponent Joseph A. Yablonski, Yablonski's wife Margaret, and their daughter Charlotte, on New Year's Eve, December 31, 1969. After an appeal, his conviction and sentence were upheld at a second trial; he was sentenced to three life terms and died while still incarcerated. Yablonski had opposed Boyle for some time, arguing for more democratic representation among the locals, and had run against him in a bitter presidency election of the UMWA earlier in December, which Boyle won. Yablonski charged that fraud had been committed, asking for a Department of Labor investigation, and also filing five lawsuits against the union on specific related civil charges. Early years Boyle was born in a gold mining camp in Bald Butte, Montana (about two miles southwest of Marysville), in 1904 to James and Catherine (Mallin) Boyle. His father was a miner. The Boyle family was of Irish descent, and several generations of Boyles had worked as miners in England and Scotland. Boyle attended public schools in Montana and Idaho before graduating from high school. He went to work in the mines alongside his father. Shortly thereafter, Boyle's father died from tuberculosis, a lung disease often associated with mining, or exacerbated by its conditions. Marriage Boyle married Ethel Williams in 1928; they had a daughter, Antoinette. Career Boyle joined the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) soon after going to work in the mines. He was appointed president of District 27 (which covers Montana) and served in that capacity until 1948. During World War II, Boyle served on several government wartime production boards, and on the Montana State Unemployment Compensation Commission. In 1948, UMWA president John L. Lewis named Boyle as his assistant in the UMWA. He served until 1960, acting as Lewis' chief trouble-shooter and the union's chief administrator. Lewis simultaneously appointed him director of UMWA District 50 and regional director of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) for four Western states. Presidency of UMWA Boyle was elected vice president of UMWA in 1960. That same year, Lewis retired and 73-year-old Thomas Kennedy assumed leadership of the union. Kennedy had been vice president