[3] He was elected the local's business agent in 1901, and president of the newly organized Boston Team Drivers' Joint Council in 1902.

In mid-December, Shea was confronted in his office by Teamster leader who shot at him four times and forced him to dance a jig before fleeing.

[12] On July 12, 1904, 18,000 members of the Amalgamated Meat Cutters working in the meatpacking industry in Chicago walked off the job to win higher wages.

On July 26, Shea agreed to let them walk out the next day, declaring that the walkout was not a sympathy strike but "It is, therefore, to protect ourselves" and prevent the packers from breaking the union.

[13] In the midst of the strife in Chicago, Cornelius Shea was re-elected by acclamation on August 8, 1904, at the Teamsters convention in Cincinnati, Ohio.

By April, 5,000 workers were on the picket line in front of the 26 local companies represented by the National Tailors' Association (an employer group).

[20][21][22][23] On April 16, anonymous charges of graft against Shea and other strike leaders were filed with office of Mayor Edward Fitzsimmons Dunne (who had been inaugurated only days earlier).

Local and state courts issued numerous injunctions against the unions, ordering them to stop picketing and return to work.

[28] The strike ended not through the efforts of the EA or the unions, but due to allegations of graft made by team owner John C. Driscoll.

Thorne and the other employers countered that Shea and other union leaders had asked for bribes ranging from $20,000 to $50,000 to call off the current strike.

[34][35] The evening of June 3, Thorne swore out arrest warrants for Shea on charges of criminal libel for making in-court accusations of bribery.

[39][40] On June 12, Chicago newspapers revealed that Shea was living in a local brothel called the Kentucky Home, and kept a 19-year-old waitress (Alice P. Walsh) as a mistress.

Albert Young announced that Shea had mismanaged the Chicago sympathy strike and that he would run for president at the union's convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in August.

Turley was defeated for re-election as well, and members of Shea's slate won every office on the international union executive board.

[2][46][47] An outraged Albert Young threatened to lead a majority of the Teamsters in Chicago, New York City and San Francisco out of the union to form a rival organization.

[49] In July 1906, Albert Young, still the Teamsters' general organizer, announced he would run against Shea at the union's convention in August.

But Shea made a dramatic speech on the convention floor in which he said his defeat would ensure his conviction in his upcoming conspiracy trials and enable the union's foes to destroy the Teamsters.

After the test votes, 50 delegates followed Young out of the convention hall on August 9 to form their own organization, the United Teamsters of America (UTA).

Samuel Gompers was called to Chicago to help prevent the breach, but his mediation efforts ultimately proved unsuccessful.

In late August, Shea ordered all Teamster locals to hold meetings to vote on whether they wished to remain with the IBT or go with the secessionist UTA.

[54] After two weeks of legal maneuvers, the trial began on November 30 with a major bombshell: Albert Young had pleaded guilty to conspiracy and turned state's evidence against Cornelius Shea.

The following day, Young alleged that he, Shea and three others had each received a $300 bribe from the tailors' union in order to call the April 6 sympathy strike against Montgomery Ward.

[65] The final 15 years of Cornelius Shea's life were spent in Chicago, where he associated with gangsters, rose in the ranks of at least one gang, and engaged in labor racketeering.

He joined Timothy D. "Big Tim" Murphy's Irish American gang, and was allegedly involved in a number of crimes.

[68] On June 10, 1918, Shea was arrested for allegedly demanding bribes from scrap and junk dealers in exchange for not calling strikes against their businesses.

[76] Shea allegedly used his union office to extort money from theater owners in exchange for refusing to call strikes against their businesses.

[20][21][66][77] On May 6, 1922, Shea, Murphy, Jerry Horan, and five other labor leaders were arrested and charged with the murder of a Chicago police officer.

He joined Sangerman's Bombers, a group of bomb terrorists which had emerged from the remnants of the James Sweeney gang, and did work for Al Capone's Chicago Outfit.

Public opinion finally turned against the gangs, and the number of bombings in Chicago declined dramatically as extortionists sought more subtle means of intimidating victims.

[66] Unwilling to take sides in the gang war, Shea continued to work as secretary-treasurer and business agent for the union and engaged in low-level extortion for the next five years.