Panel says US bungled chance for crime inquiry

The Labor Department missed "unprecedented opportunities" to investigate some of the nation's most notorious organized-crime figures by bungling its investigation of the Teamsters Union pension fund, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations concluded. The report blamed bureaucratic infighting and incompetence at high levels of the Labor Department for the mishandling of the investigation of the $2.2 billion fund, prompted by the disappearance of former Teamsters president Jimmy Hoffa.