I’m Jason Partin, a close-up magician who also consults small teams.

I was born Jason Ian Partin, son of Edward Grady Partin Junior and grandson of Edward Grady Partin Senior, the Baton Rouge Teamster leader portrayed in several movies as the surprise witness who sent Jimmy Hoffa to prison.

My grandfather was also involved in the plot to kill both Bobby Kennedy and President John F. Kennedy, though the primary suspects were listed only as Jimmy Hoffa and two of his colleagues, New Orleans mafia boss Carlos Marcello and Miami mafia boss and Cuban exile Todos Traficante Junior.

After Hoffa went to prison, he sent word to all mafia families that he’d forgive the collective $121 Million they owed if somehow my grandfather could be influenced to change his testimony; that meant he had to remain alive. Because of my dad’s identical name, my childhood household was targeted by low-level mafia goons trying to kidnap me, most of them from New Orleans boss Carlos Marcelo’s group, who owed Hoffa $21 Million from the Teamster pension fund that Marcello used to build New Orleans hotels.

I was an infant immersed in inexplicable violence. My teenage mother, Wendy Anne Rothdram Partin, became overwhelmed and abandoned my dad and me twice. The second time, my dad was in Kingston, Jamaica, seeing a Bob Marley show and buying narcotics in bulk to resell in Baton Rouge; I was taken into state custody and placed with legal guardians, Mr. and Mrs. James “Ed” White, who raised me for the next five or so years.

Hoffa vanished from a Detroit parking lot in July of 1975, ending the call for mafia to change my grandfather’s testimony. After a few years of three-way custody battles in court between my father, mother, and Mr. and Mrs. White, whom I called PawPaw and MawMaw,  I returned to my biologic family and alternated between my mom and dad.

My grandfather went to prison in 1980, my father in 1985. My mom had another bout of depression, and I was emancipated at age 16, became a legal adult on paper, able to sign contracts without parental approval. I joined the U.S. army’s delayed entry program, and requested to serve in the 82nd Airborne infantry; I opted to have $100 per month removed from my paycheck to go towards the G.I. Bill, which would give me $36,000 for college after four years of service.

I served in the first Gulf war of 1990-1991, Desert Shield and Desert Storm. I spent three years on the quick reaction force of presidents George Bush Senior and Bill Clinton, was granted a diplomatic passport for unarmed peacekeeping in the Middle East, and was eventually honorably discharged from official active service. I joined the national guard, and maintained informal ties with former colleagues.

After completing college and graduate school with a couple of engineering degrees, I had a few jobs and then invented a few medical devices, mostly bone and soft tissue implants to accelerate healing of broken and arthritic bones. I co-founded companies centered on the technologies, spent a decade doing that work, and then created and led hands project-based college courses in physics, engineering, and socially-responsible entrepreneurship.

Currently, I’m a magician – a hobby I’ve kept since I lived with PawPaw and MawMaw – and I spend time writing a memoir about growing up with the Partin family, with my perspective on what happened to Hoffa and Kennedy, why it still maters, and how we can use what we learn to complete what I hoped for in the Middle East, peace; ,my former colleagues continued that uphill battle, and here we are today.

I chose to write narrative memoir rather than true-crime, because I only know what I experienced, not what is ultimately true, and because narrative memoirs are more easily adapted to media like film, streaming, or whatever format future information is shared globally.

You can reach me via Linkedin or at JasonPartin.com

Peace,

Jason Ian Partin