The Mob's Banker

Allen Dorfman (1923 – 1983) owned an insurance agency and consulted with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Central States Pension Fund. Dorfman was a close associate of longtime Teamster President Jimmy Hoffa and associated with the Chicago Outfit.  As a result, Dorfman controlled the cash pipeline that fed Outfit investments around the country, most notably in Las Vegas, where pension money financed at least half a dozen casinos.

Born to a working-class family, Dorfman enlisted in the US Marines and won a Silver Star at the Battle of Iwo Jima. He was perhaps the man least likely to become the mob’s banker. But in fact, Dorfman was second-generation Outfit. His stepfather, Paul "Red" Dorfman, led the Chicago Waste Handler's Union and served as an Outfit kingpin. Red opened doors for his stepson.
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In early 1949, Jimmy Hoffa set up the Michigan Conference of the Teamsters' Welfare Fund. Two years later, he persuaded the funds trustees to move the fund to the Chicago branch of Union Casualty Agency. The branch was owned by Allen Dorfman's mother, Rosemary. Allen Dorfman had no insurance industry experience but now controlled hundreds of millions in union money.

Before long, Teamster fund accounts comprised 90 percent of the branch's contracts. During the first eight years of fiduciary management by Union Casualty, Dorfman made more than three million in commissions and service fees. In one instance, Allen took $51,462 in premiums and simply deposited it in a private account. The were no complaints from the Teamsters. Dorfman's rise coincided with a massive expansion in Teamsters' ranks, along with spectacular growth in the union's pension funds.

Dorfman made loans worth $160 million to Argent Corporation, which owned a group of casinos, including the Stardust. The casinos served as a cash cow for mob bosses across the country. The process for “skimming” profits is chronicled in Nicholas Pileggi’s book and the fictionalized movie version, Casino.

The Federal government started asking questions about how the mob got the vast amounts of money it used to build Las Vegas and other investments. In 1974, Dorfman was indicted for fraud involving $1.4 million in loans, along with Joseph Lombardo, Anthony Spilotro, Irwin Weiner, and several others. Irwin Weiner (a prominent bail bondsman, Outfit associate, and personal friend of Jack Ruby) purchased stock in the company and received $1.4 million loan backed by a $7,000 deposit. The government's case collapsed after their main witness was murdered in September 1974. 

In 1979, the FBI’s hidden microphones in Dorfman's insurance agency led to the indictment of Dorfman and four others in May 1981. He was convicted in December 1982. Three days before his sentencing, he was murdered outside the Lincolnwood Hyatt parking lot in Lincolnwood, Illinois, perhaps to prevent him for cooperating with authorities to avoid a 55-year prison sentence.

​Alan King portrayed "Andy Stone" in Casino, based on elements from Allen Dorfman's life.