 The Select Committee focused its attention for most of 1957 on the Teamsters union . Teamsters President Dave Beck fled the country for a month to avoid its subpoenas before returning in March 1957 . The Select Committee had a difficult time investigating the Teamsters . Four of the paper locals were dissolved to avoid committee scrutiny , several Teamster staffers provided verbal testimony which differed substantially from their prior written statements ( the Select Committee eventually charged six of them with contempt of Congress ) , and union records were lost or destroyed ( allegedly on purpose ) . But , working with the FBI , the Select Committee electrified the nation when on February 22 , 1957 , wiretaps were played in public before a national television audience in which Dio and Hoffa discussed the creation of even more paper locals , including the establishment of a paper local to organize New York City 's 30 @,@ 000 taxi cab drivers and use the charter as a means of extorting money from a wide variety of employers . The 1957 hearings opened with a focus on corruption in Portland , Oregon , and featured the testimony of Portland crime boss Jim Elkins . With the support of 70 hours of taped conversations , Elkins described being approached by two Seattle gangsters about working with the Teamsters to take over Portland vice operations . The colorful testimony brought the committee 's investigations national media attention from the outset . As 1 @.@ 2 million viewers watched on live television , evidence was unearthed over the next few weeks of a mob @-@ sponsored plot in which Oregon Teamsters unions would seize control of the state legislature , state police , and state attorney general 's office through bribery , extortion and blackmail . On March 14 , 1957 , Jimmy Hoffa was arrested for allegedly trying to bribe an aide to the Select Committee . Hoffa denied the charges ( and was later acquitted ) , but the arrest trigged additional investigations and more arrests and indictments over the following weeks . Less than a week later , Beck admitted to receiving an interest @-@ free $ 300 @,@ 000 loan from the Teamsters which he had never repaid , and Select Committee investigators claimed that loans to Beck and other union officials ( and their businesses ) had cost the Teamsters more than $ 700 @,@ 000 . Beck appeared before the Select Committee for the first time on March 25 , 1957 , and notoriously invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self @-@ incrimination 117 times . Beck was called before the McClellan Committee again in May 1957 , and additional interest @-@ free loans and other potentially illegal and unethical financial transactions exposed . Based on these revelations , Beck was indicted for tax evasion on May 2 , 1957 . 
