A man told police he believes he saw the longtime teamsters boss being buried in Detroit 35 years ago. Hoffa was last seen on July 30th, 1975.
Michigan officials are planning to test the soil underneath a suburban Detroit driveway in the latest effort to find Jimmy Hoffa, the former labor leader who's certainly dead but who has sparked one of the longest searches for a missing person in U.S. history.
The death of Hoffa -- who disappeared July 30, 1975, in what's believed to be an organized crime hit -- has almost eclipsed his legendary life. As head of the Teamsters, Hoffa redefined the pugnacious labor leader role, fighting fearlessly to improve the lot of his members while at the same time having longstanding dealings with Mafia figures. The Mafia provided muscle at times and effectively went into partnership with Teamster pension funds.
There have been reports that the mob disposed of Hoffa’s remains in a Florida swamp, but the most famous theory is that he was buried beneath the goal posts of the old Giants Stadium in Rutherford, N.J. The argument for the Jersey spot was supported by organized crime’s longstanding association with construction unions and by the mob’s favored disposal site in the Jersey marshes. However, radar never found any evidence of remains in Jersey, and the stadium has since been demolished.
The Detroit area has also been a center of Hoffa speculation because his former power base was in the local Teamsters chapter and because it's the last place he was seen. He was to have lunched with two Mafia leaders, one of whom had also served as a Teamsters official from New Jersey, at a restaurant in suburban Bloomfield Township.
Tips that his remains were buried in and around Detroit include the 2003 reports that Hoffa was buried under a swimming pool or under the floor of a Detroit home and the 2006 report that he was buried at a horse farm.
The latest round of speculation was sparked by a tip from an unidentified man who said he saw a body buried under a driveway some 35 years ago and “thinks it may have been Jimmy he saw interred,” Roseville Police Chief James Berlin told reporters this week.
“We are not claiming it's Jimmy Hoffa -- the timeline doesn't add up,” Berlin added. “We're investigating a body that may be at the location.”
The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality used radar to probe the soil under the driveway and found “that the earth had been disturbed at some point in time,” Berlin said. On Friday, the state department will take soil samples to be sent to Michigan State University for analysis. Results could come next week.
For today’s generation, which has seen a sharply reduced union movement and an economy in which raises are often in short supply, it's hard to understand the standing of Hoffa or the Teamsters during his tenure. Movies have been made about the fiery leader and the power he had to bring home large raises. One of the more famous films starred movie tough-guy Sylvester Stallone in the aptly menacingly titled, “F.I.S.T.”
Hoffa’s was a life made for conspiracy buffs. In addition to his ties with organized crime, Hoffa conducted a famous feud with Robert F. Kennedy, who pursued Hoffa from 1957 through the end of Kennedy’s tenure as U.S. attorney general in 1964. By then, Hoffa had been twice convicted of charges including attempting to bribe a grand juror and of fraud in connection with the misuse of union pension funds.
Less than five years into his 13-year sentence, Hoffa was released from prison when President Nixon commuted his sentence to time served in 1971.
The Teamsters endorsed Nixon’s reelection in 1972, even though the union had supported Democrats previously.
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Michigan officials are planning to test the soil underneath a suburban Detroit driveway in the latest effort to find Jimmy Hoffa, the former labor leader who's certainly dead but who has sparked one of the longest searches for a missing person in U.S. history.
The death of Hoffa -- who disappeared July 30, 1975, in what's believed to be an organized crime hit -- has almost eclipsed his legendary life. As head of the Teamsters, Hoffa redefined the pugnacious labor leader role, fighting fearlessly to improve the lot of his members while at the same time having longstanding dealings with Mafia figures. The Mafia provided muscle at times and effectively went into partnership with Teamster pension funds.
There have been reports that the mob disposed of Hoffa’s remains in a Florida swamp, but the most famous theory is that he was buried beneath the goal posts of the old Giants Stadium in Rutherford, N.J. The argument for the Jersey spot was supported by organized crime’s longstanding association with construction unions and by the mob’s favored disposal site in the Jersey marshes. However, radar never found any evidence of remains in Jersey, and the stadium has since been demolished.
The Detroit area has also been a center of Hoffa speculation because his former power base was in the local Teamsters chapter and because it's the last place he was seen. He was to have lunched with two Mafia leaders, one of whom had also served as a Teamsters official from New Jersey, at a restaurant in suburban Bloomfield Township.
Tips that his remains were buried in and around Detroit include the 2003 reports that Hoffa was buried under a swimming pool or under the floor of a Detroit home and the 2006 report that he was buried at a horse farm.
The latest round of speculation was sparked by a tip from an unidentified man who said he saw a body buried under a driveway some 35 years ago and “thinks it may have been Jimmy he saw interred,” Roseville Police Chief James Berlin told reporters this week.
“We are not claiming it's Jimmy Hoffa -- the timeline doesn't add up,” Berlin added. “We're investigating a body that may be at the location.”
The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality used radar to probe the soil under the driveway and found “that the earth had been disturbed at some point in time,” Berlin said. On Friday, the state department will take soil samples to be sent to Michigan State University for analysis. Results could come next week.
For today’s generation, which has seen a sharply reduced union movement and an economy in which raises are often in short supply, it's hard to understand the standing of Hoffa or the Teamsters during his tenure. Movies have been made about the fiery leader and the power he had to bring home large raises. One of the more famous films starred movie tough-guy Sylvester Stallone in the aptly menacingly titled, “F.I.S.T.”
Hoffa’s was a life made for conspiracy buffs. In addition to his ties with organized crime, Hoffa conducted a famous feud with Robert F. Kennedy, who pursued Hoffa from 1957 through the end of Kennedy’s tenure as U.S. attorney general in 1964. By then, Hoffa had been twice convicted of charges including attempting to bribe a grand juror and of fraud in connection with the misuse of union pension funds.
Less than five years into his 13-year sentence, Hoffa was released from prison when President Nixon commuted his sentence to time served in 1971.
The Teamsters endorsed Nixon’s reelection in 1972, even though the union had supported Democrats previously.
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Buckle up dogs in cars? New Jersey voters divided on proposed law