50 years after Jimmy Hoffa was last seen, his disappearance remains a mystery
By Paula Wethington
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DETROIT, Michigan (WWJ) — Wednesday marks 50 years since the former labor union leader Jimmy Hoffa was last seen alive in Metro Detroit, and his whereabouts have yet to be resolved.
James Riddle “Jimmy” Hoffa was president of the powerful International Brotherhood of Teamsters union from 1957 to 1971. He was widely known to have been involved with organized crime, as CBS News reported.
He served federal prison time after a 1964 conviction of jury tampering and subsequent convictions of fraud and conspiracy. President Richard Nixon commuted his sentence, and Hoffa was released from prison. The early prison release was on the stipulation that he stay out of union politics until 1980.
Hoffa was last seen on July 30, 1975, in Oakland County. That’s also the date that the last known photo of him was taken in a parking lot of the old Machus Red Fox Restaurant in Bloomfield Township.
He was scheduled to meet that day with reputed Detroit mob enforcer Anthony “Tony Jack” Giacalone and alleged New Jersey mob figure Anthony “Tony Pro” Provenzano at the Macchus Red Fox.
No one has seen Hoffa since.
Many believe he was murdered after going to the restaurant, including author Scott Burnstein, who has been giving lectures and interviews in Southeast Michigan this summer about the crime mystery.
While there is a long list of theories and speculations for his final resting spot, some locations have been considered seriously enough at times for organized digs. One of those searches included an Oakland Township field where the FBI led a dig in 2013. Another search took place in 2021 at a former New Jersey landfill site.
Despite his body never being found, Hoffa was declared legally dead in 1982.
There have been no arrests in connection with his death. Hoffa’s disappearance remains one of Michigan’s biggest mysteries.
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