The Tumor

Come Valentine's Day, loved ones don't cross my mind. Nope. 

Instead, I remember Jimmy Hoffa's 1913 birthday.

In the summer of 1912, Jimmy's parents, John and Viola Hoffa, already had two kids. So when Viola's tummy plumped up, she thought, "Woops! Pregnant again."

Just to be sure, she visited the local doctor. He examined her enlarged belly and said, "Pregnant? You're not pregnant, Mrs. Hoffa. You've got a tumor."

She believed him.

But on February 14, 1913, to Viola's surprise, little Jimmy Hoffa struggled and squalled his way out.

When she could speak, Viola declared: "Some tumor!"

The Hoffas called their baby "The Tumor" even after they christened him James Riddle Hoffa.

The Tumor's sixteen birthday turned into one of the bloodiest days in Chicago mob history, the climax of a gang war between Al Capone and "Bugs" Moran. Capone's gang, disguised as police officers, slaughtered seven of Moran's men in a garage using Thompson submachine guns. 

So on February 14, I celebrate both: Jimmy Hoffa's birthday and the Saint Valentine's massacre, as it's now known.

from:

THAT PUNK JIMMY HOFFA!

  I Watched My Dad Beat the Teamsters

             A Daughter's Memoir

              by Marilyn June Coffey

Publication Date: July 30 

the date Hoffa "disappeared"