May 8, 1941: Born in Youngstown to James and Agnes Farkas Traficant of Samuel Street.

June 7, 1959: Graduates from Cardinal Mooney High School on Youngstown’s South Side.

1960-62: Plays college football at University of Pittsburgh.

April 20, 1963: Graduates from Pitt with a bachelor’s degree in physical education.

1963: Drafted in the 20th round by the Pittsburgh Steelers but does not make the team.

Late 1960s-71: Consumer finance coordinator, Youngstown Area Community Action Council.

1971-81: Director, Mahoning County Drug Program. Traficant’s program established a parent awareness group and attempted to educate families about substance abuse.

1973: Receives master’s degree in administration from Youngstown State University.

1975: Breaks into politics as chairman in successful campaign of Mahoning County Recorder John Hudzik and later is involved in successful campaign of Youngstown Mayor Philip Richley.

1976: Receives master’s degree in counseling from YSU.

September 1979: Begins accepting campaign contributions, many of which he does not report as required by law, from dueling mob factions based in Pittsburgh and Cleveland.

Nov. 5, 1980: Elected Mahoning County sheriff over incumbent George Tablack.

Week of Nov. 10, 1980: Meets with Cleveland organized crime figures Charles and Orland Carabbia at the Struthers home of Carabbia’s mother to discuss his loyalty to the Cleveland mob faction and covering up mob donations to his campaign for sheriff. Tape recordings of the meeting become key evidence in subsequent criminal and tax trials.

Dec. 13, 1980: Charles Carabbia disappears. He has never been found.

Jan. 5, 1980: Takes office as Mahoning County sheriff.

June 15, 1981: According to the FBI, signs a confession saying he accepted bribes from mob figures with the understanding he would let them continue to operate in Mahoning County. Traficant later says the confession was forged.

March 1982: Admits he accepted $55,000 from mobster James V. “Brier Hill Jimmy” Prato during his 1980 campaign, but claims it was part of an undercover investigation.

Aug. 9, 1982: Pleads innocent to a two-count federal indictment for bribery and tax evasion.

April 23, 1983: Federal trial begins in Cleveland. He serves as his own lawyer with help from disbarred Youngstown attorney George Alexander.

June 16, 1983: Acquitted of accepting mob bribes.

Nov. 6, 1984: Defeats incumbent U.S. Rep. Lyle Williams in 17th District congressional race.

December 1984: Hires a staff that includes former Youngstown fire Chief Charles O’Nesti. O’Nesti previously had worked on his campaign for sheriff.

Nov. 12, 1986: Case goes to trial in U.S. Tax Court on new violations of tax evasion stemming from money that was taken from the mob.

Nov. 10, 1987: U.S. Tax Court Judge B. John Williams Jr. rules Traficant must pay taxes on $108,000 in mob bribes from 1980.

1987-88: Traficant runs for the Democratic presidential nomination, winning one delegate.

December 1988: Christine Alexander, daughter of self-styled political consultant George Alexander, says Traficant put her and her sister, Marise, on his payroll even though they did no work for him.

August 1989: Begins accusing the Justice Department of withholding evidence that contradicted its case against Nazi war criminal John Demjanjuk.

Aug. 29, 1989: A 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel upholds the Tax Court ruling against Traficant.

July 1996: In wiretap conversations, Mahoning Valley mob boss Lenine “Lenny” Strollo tells O’Nesti he wants to talk to Traficant for 30 minutes to complain about being harassed by the FBI.

1997: For the first time, Traficant sides with the Republicans on votes more often than with his own party.

Dec. 6, 1997: FBI alleges O’Nesti was a liaison between mobsters and public officials.

Dec. 10, 1997: Strollo and 29 organized crime underlings are indicted in one of the largest mob sweeps in the Mahoning Valley.

February 1998: Traficant tries to arrange a deal between city, county and state officials, Palisades Baseball Ltd. and controversial Cleveland developers Sam and Jeff Moffie to bring minor league baseball to Niles. Niles City Council rejects the plan upon learning of the Moffies’ clouded business history, and the Cafaro Co. steps in to build a ballpark at Eastwood Mall.

March 19, 1998: O’Nesti is charged with racketeering conspiracy and lying to a grand jury. He pleads guilty 11 days later.

Feb. 16, 1999: Strollo pleads guilty to tax fraud and racketeering.

Feb. 29, 1999: O’Nesti dies before being sentenced.

June 15, 1999: Alexander is indicted for racketeering-related crimes stemming from his involvement in local organized crime.

Oct. 25, 1999: Alexander pleads guilty to racketeering in federal court. He is later sentenced to 72 months in prison.

Jan. 6, 2000: Traficant turns over subpoenaed office records to federal investigators conducting a new probe of the congressman. Probe is focusing on extortion, bribery and tax offenses relating to his public office and his family’s horse farm in southern Mahoning County.

March 7, 2000: In his closest election, Traficant defeats three challengers by taking 50.1 percent of the vote in the Democratic congressional primary.

June 29, 2000: Traficant announces he will vote to retain Republican J. Dennis Hastert as speaker of the House in 2001 if both men win re-election, angering democratic leaders.

July 18, 2000: Construction contractor who did work on Traficant’s Green Township farm, A. David Sugar, is indicted on charges that he lied to a grand jury investigating the congressman and obstructed justice.

Oct. 24, 2000: Sugar pleads guilty to the federal charges. He later was sentenced to one month in prison and six months of home confinement

Nov. 6, 2000: Clarence T. Broad, a worker on Traficant’s horse farm, is charged with obstructing a grand jury investigation. He was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison.

Nov. 7, 2000: Traficant easily defeats five challengers to be re-elected to Congress.

Nov. 21, 2000: Broad pleads guilty to obstructing justice with a plot to harm Traficant’s horse trainer. He later is sentenced to 27 months in prison.

Jan. 3, 2001: Traficant makes good on his promise to vote for a Republican speaker of the House, receiving a standing ovation from Republicans on the House floor and prompting his removal from the Democratic caucus. As a result, he gets no congressional committee assignments from either party.

May 4, 2001: Traficant indicted on 10 counts, including conspiracy to commit bribery, tax offenses, accepting illegal gratuities, obstructing justice and racketeering.

May 11, 2001: Traficant pleads not guilty “by reason of sanity” to the charges in Youngstown federal court.

May 14, 2001: Youngstown businessman John J. Cafaro pleads guilty to bribing Traficant in exchange for political favors. Cafaro would later testify against Traficant.

Oct. 26, 2001: Federal prosecutors file a superceding indictment against Traficant, adding a charge of racketeering and expanding counts of racketeering and bribery.

Nov. 9, 2001: Traficant again pleads not guilty to the superceding indictment.

Feb. 5, 2002: Traficant’s trial begins in Federal Court in Cleveland with jury selection.

Feb. 20, 2002: Traficant decides to run for Congress as an independent candidate.

April 11, 2002: Traficant found guilty.

May 6, 2002: Traficant files with the Trumbull County Board of Elections to run as an independent candidate.

July 15, 2002: Traficant begins defending himself against 10 House of Representatives rules violations before he House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct. The panel later votes to expel Traficant.

July 24, 2002: Traficant expelled from the House by a 420-1 vote.

July 30, 2002: Traficant sentenced to prison, fined $150,000 and ordered to repay the IRS $19,598 for money not claimed on is federal income tax returns.

Aug. 14, 2002: The Mahoning Valley Scrappers hosted Jim Traficant night, giving fans the chance to wear their most outrageous wigs and outfits and get a free ticket for their efforts.

Nov. 5, 2002: Former State Sen. Timothy J. Ryan captures the 17th Congressional District seat with nearly 52 percent of the vote. Traficant, in prison, received 15.5 percent.

December 2005: Traficant, who was serving time at the Allenwood Federal Correctional Institution in White Deer, Pa., was transferred to the Federal Medical Center in Rochester, Minn., with an undisclosed ailment.

January 2006: Traficant is selling 12 paintings which feature pastoral scenes and horses on his website. Another two were being auctioned on eBay. The buzz created over the art led prison officials to prohibit Traficant from workshop activities.

January 2009: Traficant balks at being placed at a Community Corrections Association facility in Youngstown for the last six months of his sentence. Traficant said he wouldn’t feel safe there because the agency’s executive director, Richard Billark, testified against the former congressman at his criminal trial.

Aug. 13, 2009: The Mahoning Valley Scrappers announced they will be canceling a “Traficant Release Night” event set for Sept. 2 after a flood of phone and emails objecting to the event.

Sept. 2009: Traficant is released from federal prison.

Feb. 2010: Traficant Co. LLC obtains an option to buy a 72-acre parcel of land from the owner of Allman General Store in an effort to bring a $250 million casino, hotel and indoor theme park to the area.

May 3, 2010: Traficant files nominating petitions to run as an independent candidate for Ohio’s 17th U.S. Congressional District.

July 6, 2010: Trumbull County Elections Board rules that Traficant is short of petition signatures required to get on the fall ballot, saying more than 1,000 signatures must be tossed out because the signers weren’t registered to vote, didn’t live in the congressional district or other reasons.

July 29, 2010: Supporters submit an appeal that questions 134 invalidated signatures in Mahoning County, 88 in Trumbull and 10 in Portage, as well as the number of petition signatures Traficant was required to collect.

Aug. 10, 2010: Trumbull County Board of Elections deadlocks 2-2 on whether to certify adjusted petition signatures obtained and the number of signatures needed for Traficant to run in the fall. The decision is handed off to Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner.

Aug. 25, 2010: Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner breaks the deadlock, ordering that petitions be held in abeyance until lingering issues in Summit and Mahoning counties are resolved.

Aug. 30, 2010: The Mahoning County Board of Elections approves 31 challenged petition signatures, giving Traficant enough valid signatures to appear on the Nov. 2 ballot as an independent candidate.

Oct. 14, 2010: Traficant asks Mahoning County commissioners to help him pressure the governor to approve the casino in North Jackson.

Nov. 2, 2010: Traficant loses election, taking second place in a three-way race for his former 17th District House Seat.

Jan. 1, 2011: Traficant releases his book, “America’s Last Minuteman,” a compilation of his one-minute speeches to Congress during his 17-year career.

Aug. 18, 2012: Traficant greets his supporters during a book-signing event at Barnes and Noble in Boardman, thanking them collectively and individually for staying true to the cause and not being “duped” by the media and his “other enemies.”