United Mine Workers of America Murder Trial

In 1969 William Anthony Boyle was challenged by Joseph Albert Yablonski for the presidency of the United Mine Worker's of America union. Boyle beat Yablonski in the election. Yablonski conceded the election, but asked the United States Department of Labor to investigate the election for fraud. After a meeting with Yablonski concerning the investigation, Boyle ordered his murder. In December 1969, three hitmen shot Yablonski, his wife, and 25-year-old daughter, as they slept in the Yablonski home in Clarksville, Pennsylvania.

The Murder Trial was held in Erie at the Federal Courthouse in 1973

Boyle’s Early Life and Union Career

William Anthony Tony Boyle was born in a coal mining camp in Bald Butte, Montana, on December 01, 1904, to James Boyles and Catherine Mallin. 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 of tuberculosis in his arms. He married Ethel Williams in 1928 and they had a daughter, Antoinette. Soon after going to work in the mines Boyle joined the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA). 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 him as an assistant to the president of the Mine Workers. 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 the United Mine Workers of America

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 since 1947. Although Lewis favored Boyle as his successor, Kennedy was well-liked and well-known. Kennedy was in failing health, however, and Boyle took over many of the president's duties.

In November 1962, Kennedy became too frail and ill to continue his duties, and Boyle was named acting-president. Kennedy died on January 19, 1963, and Boyle was elected president. Boyle was as autocratic and bullying as Lewis, but was not well-liked. From the beginning of his administration Boyle faced significant opposition from rank-and-file miners and UMWA leaders. Miners' attitudes about their union had also changed. Miners wanted greater democracy and more local autonomy for their local unions. There was a widespread belief that Boyle was more concerned with protecting mine owners' interests than those of his members. Grievances filed by the union often took months — sometimes years — to resolve, lending credence to the critics' claim. Wildcat strikes occurred as local unions, despairing of UMWA assistance, sought to resolve local disputes with walkouts.

Yablonski’s Challenge and Murder

In 1969 Joseph Jock Yablonski challenged Boyle for the presidency of UMWA. Yablonski had been president of UMWA District 5 (an appointed position) until Boyle had removed him in 1965. In an election widely seen as corrupt, Boyle beat Yablonski in the election held on December 9 by a margin of nearly two-to-one (80,577 to 46,073). Yablonski conceded the election, but on December 18, 1969, asked the United States Department of Labor (DOL) to investigate the election for fraud. He also initiated five lawsuits against UMWA in federal court.

On December 31, 1969, three hitmen shot Yablonski, his wife, Margaret, and his 25-year-old daughter, Charlotte, as they slept in the Yablonski home in Clarksville, Pennsylvania. The bodies were discovered on January 5, 1970, by Yablonski's son, Kenneth. The killings had been ordered by Boyle. Boyle had demanded Yablonski's death on June 23, 1969, after a meeting with Yablonski at UMWA headquarters had degenerated into a screaming match.

In September 1969 UMWA executive council member Albert Pass received $20,000 from Boyle and William Prater, a mid-level Union Official, who had embezzled the money from union funds to hire assassins to kill Yablonski. Paul Gilly, an out-of-work house painter and son-in-law of a minor UMWA official, and two drifters, Aubran Martin and Claude Vealey, agreed to do the job. The murder was postponed until after the election however to avoid suspicion falling on Boyle.

Overturned Election and Defeat

Yablonski's murder sparked federal action. On January 8, 1970, Yablonski's attorney requested an immediate investigation of the 1969 election by the Department of Labor (DOL). The DOL had taken no action on Yablonski's complaints while he lived. But after his murder, Labor Secretary George P. Shultz assigned 230 investigators to the UMWA investigation. The Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA) of 1959 regulates the internal affairs of labor unions, requiring regular secret-ballot elections for local union offices and providing for federal investigation of election fraud or impropriety. DOL is authorized under the act to sue in federal court to have the election overturned. By 1970 however only three international union elections had been overturned by the courts. Meanwhile, a reform group, Miners for Democracy (MFD), had formed in April 1970 while the DOL investigation continued. Its members included most of the miners who belonged to the West Virginia Black Lung Association and many of Yablonski's supporters and campaign staff. The chief organizers of Miners for Democracy included Yablonski's sons, Joseph (known as Chip) and Ken, Mike Trbovich and others.

DOL filed suit in federal court in 1971 to overturn the 1969 UMWA election. On May 1, 1972, Judge William Bryant threw out the results of the 1969 UMWA international union elections. Bryant scheduled a new election to be held over the first eight days of December 1972. Additionally, Bryant agreed that DOL should oversee the election, to ensure fairness.

Over the weekend of May 26 to May 28, 1972, MFD delegates gathered in Wheeling, West Virginia, nominated Arnold Miller, a former miner and leader of a black-lung organization, as their candidate for the presidency of UMWA.

On December 22, 1972, the Labor Department certified Miller as UMWA's next president. The vote was 70,373 for Miller and 56,334 for Boyle. Miller was the first candidate to defeat an incumbent president in UMWA history, and the first native West Virginian to lead the union.

Convictions and Death

In early March 1971 Boyle was indicted for embezzling $49,250 in union funds to make illegal campaign contributions in the 1968 presidential race. He was convicted in December 1973 to a three-year sentence and imprisoned at the federal penitentiary in Springfield, Missouri.

Earlier in March 1973, Boyle testified in the trial of William Prater; who, along with Paul Gilly, Aubran Martin, and Claude Vealey, were being tried in the murder of Joseph Jock Yablonski, his wife and daughter. Boyle’s testimony at the trial would later lead to his indictment and conviction in the murders.

In September 1973 Boyle was tried on first degree murder charges in the deaths of Jock Yablonski and his family. That month, Boyle attempted suicide but failed. He was convicted in April 1974 and sentenced to three consecutive terms of life in prison.

On January 28, 1977, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania overturned Boyle's conviction and ordered that he be given a new trial. The court found that the trial judge had improperly refused to allow a government auditor to testify. Boyle's attorneys said that the auditor's testimony could have exonerated Boyle. Boyle was tried a second time for the Yablonski slayings and found guilty in February 1978. Boyle filed a third appeal to overturn his conviction in July 1979, but the motion was denied.

Boyle served his murder sentence at the state correctional institution in Dallas, Pennsylvania. He suffered from a number of stomach and heart ailments in his final years and was repeatedly hospitalized. He had a stroke in 1983. He died at a hospital in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania on May 31, 1985, at the age of 83. The Yablonski murders were portrayed in a 1986 HBO television movie Act of Vengeance. Charles Bronson portrayed Yablonski and Wilford Brimley played Boyle.

Newsmen Questioning W.A. Tony Boyle.

March 19, 1973 - Former United Mineworkers president William Anthony Tony Boyle is questioned by newsmen as he arrives at Erie County Airport, where shortly afterward he was confronted by Kenneth Yablonski, son of slain Joseph Jock Yablonski as he got into car. Boyle was called killer by Kenneth. The former UMW leader's testimony at the William Prater trial lead to Boyle's indictment and conviction.

Louis Howe of Clairfield Tennessee, a prosecution witness in the trial of William Prater, is being escorted to the Erie County Courthouse by Sergent C.T. Aciukewicz.

March 20, 1973 - Howe testified that Prater co-signed his brother's check after it was cashed and then demanded the money back. Prater, a UMW organizer from LaFollette, Tennessee, is accused of using funds of the United Mine Workers to hire the killers of the Yablonski family.

Security Men Escorting Murder Suspect, William Jackson Prater.

March 22, 1973 - William Jackson Prater, in white coat, is surrounded by security as he is led to Erie county courthouse. Prater, accused of the murders of United Mine workers insurgent Joseph Jack Yablonski, his wife, and daughter, took the stand in his own defense.

 View the complete album