presidency was under way. But Presser announced he would not be a candidate and that he was supporting Williams instead. Williams was opposed by Pete Camarata—a dock worker from Detroit, Michigan, and co-founder of the Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU). When TDU activists picketed the Teamster convention at which Williams was elected, Presser declared the picketers "an ever-changing cast of union drop-outs, college students, aimless transients and an elite group of zealots who clearly have the clout over the sign carriers" and declared them to be under the control of "Marxist leaders from the International Socialist Party." He also repeatedly referred to Camarata as "Commie-Rat-A." Camarata accused Presser of hiring a "squad of thugs" to intimidate delegates and provoke violence—allegations which would later prove accurate. During the convention, Presser was asked whether he supported the reaffiliation of the union with the AFL-CIO. He told the press that his attitude was "very negative" toward reaffiliation. In mid-June, Bill Presser died of a heart attack. Jackie Presser, who was re-elected as an international vice president at the June convention, later reported that he earned $353,737 in 1981 from his various Teamsters jobs. In 1982, he made $394,895. First official confirmation as government informant Although turncoat mob leaders and others had long accused Jackie Presser of being a government informant, the first official confirmation did not come until August 22, 1981. In its August 31 issue, Time magazine reported that Fitzsimmons, Bill Presser and Jackie Presser had all served as government informants in the early 1970s to avoid possible prosecution. The information was revealed in declassified reports filed by IRS agents. Presser confirmed that he, his father and Fitzsimmons had met with federal agents, but declared that there had been only one meeting in 1972. Days later, the Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper reported that court documents and unidentified law enforcement officials had confirmed that Presser and his father had served as government informants while taking $300,000 in kickbacks from a Las Vegas public relations firm connected to organized crime. Presser categorically denied the report. Soon after, however, editors at the Plain Dealer retracted the story despite protests from reporters. The mafia had long doubted claims that Presser was an informant, and the retraction helped renew mob confidence in Presser. The mob's confidence in Presser was reaffirmed a year later when the Justice Department publicly ended its investigation into the alleged kickback scheme.