Crime History: Mine Workers chief orders hit of rival, family

On this day, Jan. 5, 1970, Joseph “Jock” Yablonski, an unsuccessful candidate for the presidency of the United Mine Workers of America, was found murdered with his wife and daughter at their Clarksville, Pa., home. The killings had been ordered by UMWA President Tony Boyle after a June 23, 1969, argument with Yablonski. Boyle embezzled $20,000 from the union to pay the killing crew, which included the out-of work son of a small-time union official and two drifters. The killers left so many fingerprints, police took just three days to catch them.

Boyle was convicted on three counts and sentenced to three consecutive life terms in prison. He died in 1985.