Today is July 30. While that might not be a popular date, it was the day that 50 years ago in 1975 that Jimmy Hoffa Sr. disappeared near the Machaus Red Fox in the Detroit suburban community of Bloomfield Township, Mich. Eyewitnesses saw him and even chatted with him. Yet, little did Hoffa and anyone in the vicinity know the man would never be seen ever again.
The last time Hoffa was ever seen in public was about 10 minutes to 3 p.m. Central Mountain Time on this date which is by coincidence a Wednesday as well. As shown in Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman (I Heard You Paint Houses), Hoffa had arranged a meeting with Anthony Giacalone, also known as Tony Jack, and Anthony Provenzano, also known as Tony Pro. Giacalone was considered to be a high-up in the Detroit Outfit of the Italian Mafia. Tony Pro was also a capo (captain) in the Genovese Crime Family.
Until his arrest, conviction and incarceration in federal prison in the mid-1960s, Hoffa had been the president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which mostly consisted of freight truck/delivery drivers. Hoffa had been wanting to take back his position but part of his release was that he couldn’t take direct or indirect management or supervision of a labor organization until March 6, 1980. He was released in late December of 1971. The Nixon Administration had commuted his sentence but there was some criticism that Hoffa had made a donation to Nixon’s re-election campaign as well as steering the IBT to endorse the Republican Party.
Hoffa, who was known to be a stickler for punctuality, was upset that by 2:15 p.m. he had been left waiting. He had gone to a payphone at a nearby hardware store to complain to his wife, Josephine. He had said he expected to be at their home on Lake Orion by 4 p.m. People observed Hoffa was pacing back and forth looking annoyed.
He had reportedly called Louis Linteau, a former rival in the IBT who had become his friend over the years. Linteau had left the union to start his own limo service and was helpful in arranging the meeting. Hoffa had reportedly stopped by Linteau’s office in Pontiac, Mich. at around 1:15 p.m. but Linteau was out for lunch. Linteau later said Hoffa had called him at 3:30 p.m. but authorities believe he could’ve been mistaken as it could’ve been an hour earlier.
Regardless of what happened or what people say they witnessed, the disappearance would become legendary. Hoffa was never seen again. There had been long suspicions that the Mafia killed him and buried his body somewhere. An urban legend grew that Hoffa’s body had been buried under the New York Giants Stadium located in East Rutherford, N.J. as it was being constructed during the summer of 1975. This was also parodied on The Simpsons’ “Last Exit to Springfield” where a human body-shaped dirt mound is in a football stadium.
Yet, this like others was discredited as when the stadium was demolished, no body parts were found anyway. In Bruce Almighty, given God-like powers, Jim Carrey’s main character reveals the body is located in Buffalo, N.Y. However, it’s over 600 miles between the Bloomfield Towmship area and East Rutherford. Even if someone risked transporting a body across state lines, they would run the risk of a breakdown, being pulled over by law enforcement or even having to stop at a weigh station where someone might want to search the vehicle.
The Irishman probably shows the most likely possibility to Hoffa’s end. In the movie, Hoffa (Al Pacino) willingly gets into a four-door sedan which is what eyewitnesses report. In the backseat is his reported friend, Frank Sheeran (Robert DeNiro), a Teamster who was also a reported hitman for the Mafia. His foster son, Charles O’Brien (Jesse Plemons) is the driver with hitman Sally Bugs (Louis Cancelmi), who was known to be a henchman for Tony Pro, is also in the car. O’Brien was friends with Tony Jacks and had been seen driving one of his cars which matched the Lincoln/Mercury model eyewitnesses say Hoffa entered.
Relatives of Hoffa and even O’Brien himself have said Plemons’ portrayal is mostly fictional and O’Brien would’ve never willfully drove Hoffa to a local building where he would be killed. After arriving at a house, Hoffa and Sheeran walk in to find it empty at which point Hoffa turns to leave and Sheeran shoots him twice in the back of the head, killing him. I feel the movie was showing how Hoffa would’ve gone willingly more than half an hour late to a separate location if he trusted that his friend and son were taking him there.
Accounts of Sheeran’s life, especially the hits he claimed to have done, have been mostly questioned and/or discredited. In real life, Sheeran may have been friends with Hoffa and mob boss Russell Bufalino (played by Joe Pesci), but many Mafia associates have said he never worked as a hitman. The Irishman has Sheeran and Bufalino on their way to a wedding for the daughter of Bill Bufalino (Ray Romano) who was an attorney for the Teamsters. However, it does look unlikely there would be a big wedding during the middle of a week.
In the 1992 movie Hoffa, Jack Nicholson plays the titular character and he is shot by a young man (Frank Whaley) who pretends to be stranded trucker awaiting help on a breakdown. The movie, directed by Danny DeVito, who plays the fictional Bobby Ciaro, a composite character of real people, has Hoffa being shot while he’s sitting in the back seat of his car, reading the newspaper. For a hit this high-profile, the Mafia wouldn’t dare do it in public especially during the day, even though they would have hit men shoot people in public.
Hoffa the movie ends with Bobby also being shot and put into the backseat with Hoffa’s body as the car is driven into the trailer of a truck that suddenly passed by with the movie ended as the truck speeds away. In some way, it’s almost a poetic way of how Hoffa is taken away in a semi-truck after being killed.
But what really happened to his body is probably most accurate in The Irishman as the body is cremated. It’s likely the Mafia knew the proprietors of a crematory or even had one as a legitimate front to dispose of bodies. After the body was burned, the ashes were probably just flushed down a toilet or poured down a sink drain.
Hoffa’s family couldn’t declare him legally dead until on July 30, 1982 at which time Sally Bugs, real name Salvatore Briguglio, had been gunned down in Little Italy, a neighborhood in Manhattan. Since then, anyone who is believed to have been connected to the case has died. Tony Pro died while in prison in Lompoc, Calif. in 1988. Linteau also died in 1988. Tony Jacks died in 2001 of heart failure and complications of kidney failure. Sheeran died in 2003 of cancer and O’Brien died in 2020 less than three months after The Irishman dropped on Netflix.
So what ever happened to Hoffa died with the people who were involve directly or indirectly with his death and disappearance. There’s been reports over the years of traces or suspected evidence of his body. Yet, I doubt it.
Hoffa’s disappearance also gave rise to the evil concept of labor unions as they were connected to organized crime. This allowed the Ronald Reagan Administration along with deregulation and outsourcing of jobs to change public opinion on unions.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 