Disclaimer: This article contains mentions of murder. Reader discretion is advised.
On July 30, 1975, Jimmy Hoffa, an American union organiser, vanished from a parking lot outside the Machus Red Fox restaurant in Bloomfield Township, Detroit. After seven years of his disappearance, Hoffa was declared dead, despite his remains never being found. The case has remained unsolved, and nobody has been charged with the disappearance. However, many suspect that Hoffa was murdered by the mob, the Independent reported.
According to The New York Times, Jimmy Hoffa had been losing his grip over the Teamsters’ Union, which he once presided over, even since the summer of 1975. He was found guilty of jury tampering and was sentenced to prison in 1964. Following his release after he served the sentence, he tried to get back into power within the union but was struggling to do so. Nonetheless, his relationship with the New Jersey Mafia boss, Anthony Provenzano, was getting increasingly strained too.
Jimmy Hoffa visited the Machus Red Fox to meet and talk to Anthony Provenzano and another mobster he knew. However, the men reportedly did not arrive at the restaurant. Hoffa disappeared shortly after that, leading to suspicions that the mafia was responsible for his disappearance. ABC 7 reported that millions of dollars and many hours have been spent on investigating Hoffa’s disappearance. They reportedly have been concluding every possible tip relating to the case.
Construction sites and landfills had been dug up. Meat grinders and car crushers had been checked. Several claims made by those even distantly acquainted with him had been cross-checked. But Jimmy Hoffa’s disappearance remains unsolved, nearly half a century later.
Who killed Jimmy Hoffa?
Over the years, several people have claimed to have clues on the disappearance of the labor union leader. In 2021, the FBI initiated an investigation of a former landfill in Jersey City. This was after a man, on his death bed, revealed that he buried Jimmy Hoffa’s body underground in a steel drum. However, like many searches that preceded this one, the digging ended without any fruitful answers about Jimmy Hoffa’s death.
Frank Cappola was a teenager when he worked at the former landfill with his father, Paul Cappola Sr. Many years later, when Frank died in March 2020, he told his friend of his father’s confession. According to Frank, his father revealed that a gang of anonymous men had instructed him to bury Jimmy Hoffa’s body in a steel drum. This added to the suspicions that Hoffa had been killed by the mob, according to the BBC.
In New Jersey, urban legend suggests that Hoffa is buried under the old Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands. In 2023, Fox News reported that a group of non-profit cold case investigators, The Case Breakers, might have found the burial site. The group claimed that he was buried next to the Milwaukee Brewers’ stadium. A cadaver dog called Moxy reportedly responded to the location that the investigators found. However, that too was a futile search as the suspicions around Hoffa’s death continue to be as loud as ever.
Killing Jimmy Hoffa is a 2014 documentary that explores the details of the life and death of Hoffa. It delves into the possible suspects in Hoffa’s death and the events that preceded his mysterious disappearance. It is currently streaming on Prime Video.
