The Sinister Disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa

- This week on the season premiere of Buzzfeed Unsolved, we cover the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa, a prominent figure in the teamsters union and also the mob. - Big name. - Yeah, everyone knows Jimmy.

I don't think a lot of people know what happened to Jimmy, but they know of Jimmy. - Well, I don't think many people know what happened to him. - Nobody knows what happened to Jimmy technically.

He disappeared, - Yeah. - That's why we're here. - That's the whole show.

- That's why we're in the office, right? - Well, why don't we learn about it? - Should we?

- Yeah. - Okay. James Riddle Hoffa served as the International Brotherhood of Teamsters' president from 1958 to 1971.

The Teamsters were originally known as a labor union for drivers. At age 18, Hoffa succeeded in getting dock workers better pay by organizing a strike. He began organizing for the Teamsters a year later, and gradually rose through the ranks.

Hoffa's influence as president of the Teamsters in the US was significant. At the time, 90% of US transportation was controlled by the Teamsters, who were controlled by Hoffa. In 1941, Hoffa and the Teamsters were engaged in a turf battle with rivals in Detroit.

It's here, according to author and reporter Dan Moldea, that Hoffa got involved with the Mob. Hoffa hired the Mob to get rid of these rivals in the city, and although this worked, after this, the Mafia essentially owned Hoffa. - [Shane] This is not a good outlook, or probably a good stance to have.

The Mob seems very handy. You just give 'em some money. - [Ryan] No, okay, see, this is where you're starting to fall into the trap of the Mob.

- [Shane] I know, I know. That's why I have a hard stance, like I'm never gonna work with the Mob ever. - Oh, wow, how noble of you.

- So if you're in the Mob out there-- - You're such a hero. - Because it seems so convenient. - No it doesn't!

- It does. - No one's thinking in their normal life, like, ah, if only had the Mob to fucking clean this house. - Right.

Someone's giving ya trouble? - What Herculean task have you encountered that you're like, man, I really wish I could use the Mafia right now. - I mean, I have my old couch still.

I could call the Mob to take my old couch. - That would be the dumbest reason to be indebted to the Mob that I could ever think of. - I'll tell 'em it's dirty.

Ah, just took this couch-- - And now you're dirty. - It's gotta go. - And now you're dirty.

- Whatever. What are they gonna me do? - Anything.

That's how the Mob works! - But then I do one favor for 'em, and I'm clean. - No, that's not how it works.

- Yeah. - The Mob and Hoffa formed a symbiotic relationship. The Mob was able to benefit from taking loans out of the Teamsters' pension fund, funneling these funds into the financing of many Las Vegas casinos.

Hoffa and the Teamsters, in turn, got a favorable return on these loans. Despite Hoffa's connections to the Mob, he was beloved by union workers, as he was known for increasing benefits and wages for workers. Hoffa had a stable relationship with the Mob in the 1940s and 1950s, but this began to splinter after he went to prison.

Hoffa started serving a 13 year sentence behind bars in 1967 for crimes including bribery, jury tampering, and mail fraud. Then, in 1971, President Richard Nixon pardoned Hoffa with the promise that Hoffa would abstain from any union involvement until 1980. This pardon would oddly set into motion events that would lead to Hoffa's downfall.

Four years later, in early July, federal investigators found that the Teamsters' largest pension fund had been robbed of hundreds of millions of dollars, and only two weeks later, Hoffa vanished. The timing of these two occurrences seems to suggest more than a coincidence, with the discovery of hundreds of millions of dollars going missing from the Teamsters pension fund, and Hoffa barred from the Teamsters and free from jail. It stands to reason that Hoffa could have made it known to investigators that the Mafia was involved with the Teamsters' pension funds.

Obviously, the Mafia would not want this to happen. As such, let's examine Hoffa's disappearance. On July 30, 1975, 62 year old Hoffa was seen outside a Detroit area restaurant, called the Machus Red Fox.

According to notes written by Hoffa to his family, Hoffa was asked to meet two acquaintances at 2:00 PM at this restaurant. The acquaintances were suspects Anthony Tony Jack Giacalone and Anthony Tony Pro Provenzano, both members of the Mafia. Provenzano was also a Teamster, however, neither Giacalone nor Provenzano showed up to the meeting, and they both insisted that there had been no meeting organized when questioned by the FBI.

Giacalone and Provenzano technically have alibis the day of Hoffa's disappearance. Giacalone was at the Southfield Athletic Club, noticeably chatting up people he knew and didn't know. Investigators suspected this behavior as Giacalone trying to solidify an alibi.

Provenzano was in New Jersey, not Michigan, with his brother Salvatore Sammy Pro Provenzano all afternoon, playing cards in a union hall. So they both-- - Rock solid. Huh?

- Almost too rock solid, and that's what investigators noted, because it was like, look at me, I'm over here talking to people. Hey, how's it going? - Look at me.

This is where I am. - Yeah, look at me. I'm definitely not murdering somebody right now.

- It's 3:16 PM on this date, and I'm here talking to you. - It's me, Tony Pro. Note the time!

Note the time. - Let's take a photo with today's newspaper. - Yeah, here's a big clock.

(laughing) After Giacalone and Provenzano didn't show, Hoffa calls his wife, Josephine, around 2:30 PM, from a nearby hardware store pay phone, to tell her what had happened. There were five witnesses who told investigators that they saw Hoffa in the restaurant parking lot, looking like he was waiting for someone that afternoon, as Hoffa was fairly famous and recognizable at the time. Additional witnesses said that a burgundy Mercury Marquis with three men inside picked up Hoffa in the parking lot.

It stands to reason that Hoffa entering that car was the last time he was seen alive. The following morning, on July 31, 1975, Hoffa's car was found in the restaurant parking lot. - [Shane] Obviously, I wouldn't wanna be kidnapped and murdered or mysteriously vanished from the earth.

It's kinda neat to have people talk about your last known whereabouts, though. - [Ryan] Yeah, yeah. Like there's like, oh, I saw Shane at the D&B.

He was playing-- - [Shane] The Dave and Buster's? - Yeah, he was playing Flamin' Finger, and then some men came over, grabbed him by the arm. - He got in a Mercury Marquis.

- Yeah, he got into a Mercury Marquis, yelling, "I still have tickets! " (laughing) - I haven't cashed out yet, bro! I'm gonna buy some disappearing ink.

(laughing) - [Ryan] Witness statements that Hoffa entered a burgundy Mercury Marquis with three men seems to be corroborated by DNA evidence from years later. A hair found in the car was confirmed to belong to Hoffa, therefore, it's plausible, if not likely, that this is the car that transported Hoffa to the secondary location where he was killed. Witnesses stated that the driver of the car looked to be a man named Charlies Chuckie O'Brien, who was known to be like a surrogate son, and protege to Hoffa.

The thing to look at Hoffa probably would not put himself into a car, into a dangerous situation unless there were people in the car that he trusted. - [Shane] Yeah. - And this guy was one of 'em.

So I think that's the key to any good ploy, right? You've gotta get someone that someone-- - Trusts. - That someone trusts, so if someone were gonna whack me, and I saw you in the car, I'd go, well, obviously, everything's okay.

Shane's in the car. - Come on in! I'm just going around the block.

Come on in, Ryan. Come on in. - Okay, I'm never getting into a car with you ever again.

- Get the (beep) into the car. - [Ryan] O'Brien always denied that Hoffa entered that car, and any involvement with Hoffa's disappearance. However, O'Brien was scrutinized by investigators after Hoffa's disappearance, with some maintaining that O'Brien's relationship with Hoffa had suffered after O'Brien felt that Hoffa should have gotten him better positions in the Teamsters.

- I mean, I know how those guys operate. They just kinda cross their arms, and didn't happen. - It's a good De Niro face.

(dramatic music) (laughing) Hoffa's daughter has said that O'Brien, quote, "was driving the car my father disappeared "in the vicinity of The Red Fox," end quote, and reason that quote, "if my dad's hair was in the car, "he was there," end quote. Investigators also noticed the car was recently cleaned. O'Brien said he was using the car to run errands, like transporting a 40 pound package of salmon from Detroit at Teamster headquarters to a union official's house.

He said that the salmon had spilled blood in the backseat, so he needed to get it cleaned. German shepherds also found Hoffa's scent in both the backseat and the trunk. Hoffa's son has said when he asked O'Brien if he was involved in his father's disappearance, O'Brien quickly fled the room.

- Good poker face. (laughing) Whoo! - I don't like that question.

See you later. Searches for Hoffa included both literal searches in the area and searches through phone and other records, but unfortunately, Hoffa's body was never found. Before we get into the theories, one thing seems to be generally agreed upon, that Hoffa, in some way, was killed by the Mafia.

The Hoffex memo, a document written in January 1976, by federal investigators indicates that authorities suspected that the Mafia, concerned that Hoffa would make it known they had infiltrated the Teamsters, and accessed its pension fund, to pay for its illegal operations, decided to kill him. As for the question of why Hoffa would divulge information to investigators, one book on the case, I Heard You Paint Houses, suggests that the Mafia was concerned that Hoffa, who was anxious to get back into union leadership, would be willing to swap information with the authorities to lift his 1980 restriction on union activity that Nixon ordered. Hoffa was also apparently vocal about trying to get the Mob out of the union, and the union's pension fund.

Even still, despite knowing that someone in the Mob likely killed Hoffa, investigators could never figure out who it actually was. Four months into the investigation, Ralph Picardo, an inmate in New Jersey, claimed that he had information obtained while one of Hoffa's killers visited him in prison. Picardo's information allowed the investigators to form their list of suspects, most of which were connected to Provenzano, one of the men that Hoffa was supposed to meet the day he disappeared, however, all of the suspects eventually took the fifth, and didn't testify, which dashed any hope of an indictment and led to an essential cold case, and with that, let's get into the theories.

One theory is that Hoffa was killed by Salvatore Briguglio, at Rolland McMaster's horse farm in Milford Township. McMaster was an enforcer for the Teamsters. This theory is supported by The Hoffa Wars author, Dan Moldea, who interviewed Salvatore Briguglio before Briguglio was killed.

In 2006, the FBI searched for Hoffa at the horse farm, to no avail. However, Moldea believes that Briguglio killed Hoffa at the farm, and that his body was then put in a 55 gallon drum, and sent to a Mafia controlled landfill in New Jersey, in a Gateway Transportation truck. The trucking company's president was a Teamster pension fund trustee.

- [Shane] This is why the Mafia works, I gotta be honest, because you've got an entire network of people who are there to assist you, and provide alibis and make things happen in covert ways. - Obviously, they're doing deeds of evil. - For sure.

- But you can say that you could admire the commitment to unity. - Yeah. I mean, don't kill people.

- Don't kill people. - I think we've said that on this show before. I'd like to say it again.

Don't murder. - But you could admire the sense of family. - Yeah, familia.

- Familia. Vin Diesel, The Fast and the Furious. - Yeah.

- They're all criminals, in that movie, by the way. - They stole DVD players. They should rot in prison for the rest of their lives.

- They didn't steal. They're straight up murking people in the street in those movies. - Were they?

- Yeah, they're like running people over in cars, causing millions of dollars of property damage, but Familia. - Familia. - You could ride with me any day.

Pass me a Corona. (Shane mumbling) The second theory is that Tony Provenzano ordered the hit on Hoffa. Federal investigators theorized that Provenzano organized the hit because of conflict between Hoffa and Provenzano that occurred while they were imprisoned together in Pennsylvania.

Their conflict grew to the point where the two despised each other. According to Hoffa's son, Tony Provenzano, as Hoffa's enemy, was thought to have been influencing Frank Fitzsimmons, who was Hoffa's successor in the Teamsters. In 1974, Hoffa said that Provenzano had threatened to kidnap his loved ones, or pull his guts out if he tried to become president of the Teamsters again, as their mutual contempt increased.

- I'm gonna pull your guts out. (laughing) Was that good? - That's pretty good.

- It's probably, it's probably exactly-- - I don't even know what you say to someone when they say-- - I'm gonna pull your guts out. - Yeah, that's-- - Hey, I love it. - It's incredibly vivid.

- I'm gonna start using that around the office. - Yeah, that's a-- - You cut in that coffee line again, I'm gonna pull your guts out. - Jesus Christ.

All right, I guess I'll go to the other coffee machine. - Yeah, that's good. - Holy shit.

- I'm gonna pull your guts out. - Don't talk to Shane in the morning. - Also, that's gru, like if you kill someone, great.

You just give 'em a little stab. - He's disemboweling somebody. - Yeah, he's like, (vocalizing) - What the fuck.

Small intestine, liver. (Shane making slurping sounds) Oh, he's eating it now, too. - He's eating it up like spaghetti.

- He's like one of The Walking Dead zombies. All right. Yeah, whatever.

The third theory is that Richard Kuklinski, aka, The Iceman, killed Hoffa. Kuklinski was a hit man and serial killer, who was interviewed for hundreds of hours by author Philip Carlo, while Kuklinski was in prison. During the interviews, Kuklinski, who has since died, claimed to have been paid $40,000 to kill Hoffa by the Mob.

He explained that, at the ultimate orders of powerful Mob figure Russell Bufalino, he drove to Detroit to four other Mob members, most likely, Tony Provenzano, Gabriel and Salvatore Briguglio, and Thomas Andretta, and picked up Hoffa at a suburban restaurant. They then knocked Hoffa out, stabbed him with a hunting knife in the skull, and transported the body to New Jersey in a car trunk that was later crushed and sold as scrap metal. Kuklinski said, quote, "He's part of a car somewhere "in Japan right now," end quote.

Patrick Kane, a police officer who was part of the effort to put Kuklinski behind bars, believes that Kuklinski is telling the truth. However, others dismiss Kuklinski's claims, saying that he was a gross liar and exaggerator. Robert Garrity, crime expert and former FBI agent, has called this claim, quote, "the most embarrassing one to date," end quote.

I don't know why I feel like it's more despicable for someone to brag that they killed more than they actually did. I feel, it's just another level of this man being a terrible person. I don't think he was actually the killer.

I think he just wants people to think he's the killer. It seems consistent with his character. - Yeah, yeah, he's a balognster.

- But he does want us to believe that he's part of a car in Japan right now. - Yeah, so he got taken to a compactor or something. - Yeah.

- Like at the end of Brave Little Toaster. - That's a deep cut. - Whatever.

- [Ryan] The fourth theory is that Mob killer Frank Sheeran, aka, The Irishman, killed Hoffa on orders from Russell Bufalino. Sheeran spent some of his last weeks interviewing and possibly confessing with author Charles Brandt. Ironically, Hoffa was the one to originally hire Sheeran to be a killer, as Hoffa is said to have used Sheeran to get rid of his rivals and secure his leadership in the Teamsters.

Sheeran claims that after they picked up Hoffa at the restaurant, they drove Hoffa to an empty home, where he shot Hoffa in the back of the head, as he walked inside. Sheeran then left, as the body was taken to a funeral home controlled by the Mob, where he was cremated. Sheeran apparently felt very guilty for betraying Hoffa, but did so because he would also be killed if he refused.

Sheeran said that he purposefully sat in the front passenger seat of the car, to send a secret warning to Hoffa. Hoffa always sat in the front passenger seat, so Sheeran hoped that Hoffa would notice there was something amiss with the gathering. Hoffa's son reportedly said that he believed that his father would've entered the car with Sheeran inside, and that he wouldn't have done that if it had been other suspects.

Furthermore, according to the FBI, Sheeran was in the Detroit area when Hoffa vanished. Sheeran even named a house where the murder took place, but attempts to locate Hoffa's blood evidence led nowhere. According to reporter David Ashenfelter, it's possible Sheeran is telling the truth, but there isn't really any evidence apart from his word.

It's possible that Sheeran may have wanted to clear his guilty conscience before dying, especially with his strong Catholic faith. I don't understand why a man who was close to Hoffa, who is a hit man, would say these things unless he did them. - [Shane] Yeah.

- [Ryan] Right? Like it doesn't seem like this guy is out for fame. - [Shane] Especially if he feels guilty about it.

- [Ryan] He feels guilty, right? - [Shane] You're not gonna be like, let me spin a funny yarn about how awful I feel inside. - [Ryan] Yeah, yeah, exactly.

- [Shane] It's an odd thing to fib about. - [Ryan] No, it's weird. There's not a lot of, I don't see a lot of motive behind that.

- [Shane] No. - [Ryan] Where this theory gets interesting is the possible involvement of Russell Bufalino, who Sheeran claims co-ordered the hit. A PBS investigation into Hoffa, and taped conversations with President Nixon revealed that Hoffa's successor and Mafia member, Frank Fitzsimmons worked with President Nixon, to pardon Hoffa and get Hoffa out of prison.

But also, they suggest that Fitzsimmons played a role in the union ban on Hoffa until 1980. The tapes indicate that Fitzsimmons wanted Hoffa out of prison so he could keep control of the Teamsters that supported Hoffa. However, Fitzsimmons didn't want Hoffa to be able to seize power, hence the restriction.

On Nixon's side, Nixon thought that pardoning Hoffa would endear him to workers, because as Attorney General John Mitchell said in the tapes, quote, "He's just a tough, beer-drinking, "no good son of a bitch like most of them are," end quote. - I do like that. I'd trust a guy like that.

- So basically, this is now entering into collusion between the president of the United States and the Mob. - Yeah. - The president wants to get on the good side of the working class, and the Mob wants to get Hoffa out so they could be on the good side of the union, but they don't want him to seize power in the union, so they get Nixon to put this ban on him.

- The president and the Mob. That sounds a little far fetched, Ryan. - Well, it's on tape.

- I know. That's crazy. - Documents at Wayne State University's Reuther Labor Library revealed that members of the Provenzano mob group sent a representative to Vegas to deliver $500,000 to Charles Colson, special counsel to Nixon.

The documents go on to show that more money from the Mob was sent to Nixon for the restricted Hoffa pardon, nearly one million dollars in total. This was around the time of the Watergate scandal, and according to a Department of Justice memo, this money could've been used to try to cover up Watergate, though the mob payments to Nixon were never confirmed. So the Mafia just purchased the president of the United States for a million dollars.

- Yeah. - Crazy. - Yeah.

- [Ryan] The documents suggest that Hoffa could've been suspicious of this. It's theoretically possible he could've been preparing to go public with the information that the Mob paid off President Nixon. This would have made Russel Bufalino, one of the most powerful figures in the American mob, very nervous.

Additionally, in 1975, Time Magazine published an article that linked Bufalino to the CIA via Mafia and CIA goings on in Cuba. According to journalist Matt Birkbeck, this destroyed Bufalino's carefully protected secrecy, and after its publication, Bufalino was determined to silence anyone who would shed more light on his activity. He got wind that Hoffa and some other mobsters, including Sam Momo Giancana, and John Roselli, were going to meet with the Church Committee, which was looking into the CIA and its activity in Cuba, and sure enough, Giancana, Roselli and Hoffa were all killed in various ways after Bufalino heard about their plans.

It seems kinda cut and dry there, but you know-- - [Shane] Do we know how those other two were disappeared? - [Ryan] I'm sure they were whacked in various ways. - I think I'm just wrapped up in how sad it would be to get murdered by the Mob.

- Yeah, 'cause, again, there's nothing you can really do. - No. They probably lure you into a false sense of security, too.

- Yeah. - Oh, we're just gonna go pick up some salmon or something, and then-- - Yeah. The fifth and final theory I'll explain today is that Hoffa is still alive.

I would imagine this is mainly theorized due to the fact that Hoffa's body was never found. One bleak version of this theory suggests that not only is Hoffa alive, but he's still in custody of the Mob. Another happier version of this theory suggests that Hoffa ran off with a go-go dancer to South America.

Either way, in 1982, Hoffa was officially declared dead. - I just wanna know where the go-go dancer came from. Did someone a man who looked like him with a go-go dancer?

- Probably a place that holds go-go dancers to do go-go dancing. - What? - He probably went to a go-go dancing facility.

- Yeah. - And then met this go-go dancer, and was like, do you wanna go to South, why are we going into the details of this? - 'Cause you just said, one sentence, you were like, other people think he's with a go-go dancer.

- It's an internet theory! - There's nothing else-- - This is a product of the boards. I don't know.

- Oh, you've gotta get off those boards, man. - [Ryan] As of 2015, the case wasn't closed, but it was considered inactive. Thousands of tips have been examined by investigators, the vast majority of which have led nowhere.

Barbara Crancer, Hoffa's daughter, has said that she doubts the case will ever be solved, considering most of the suspects are now dead. Investigators tend to agree with this sentiment. - I guess the lesson learned is don't get involved with the Mob.

- Well, you've grown. - I've grown. - Because in the beginning of the episode, you said-- - At the start of the story, I was ready to call 'em up, and have 'em just do all my tasks.

- Yeah, move your couch out of your apartment, stuff like that. - But now I've learned a thing or two. I don't wanna end up rolled up in a carpet.

- Yeah. - Being dumped in the Pine Barrens, so yeah. - Yeah, you don't wanna walk into your apartment, see a bunch of just plastic sheeting laid on the ground.

- Oh, that's never good, right? - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - Yeah.

- You know you're about to be whacked. Before you know it, the last thing you see is the inside of a trunk, taken to a secondary location, people are calling you, looking for where you are, 10 years later, two assholes sit in a room, talking about the disappearance of you, and little do they know, maybe you were with the go-go dancer in South America. I don't know.

Perhaps one day, a new break in the case will shed some light on what happened that one afternoon in Michigan, but for now, the case remains unsolved.