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Daily Mail
a day ago
- Daily Mail
Jimmy Hoffa's family still hopes his body will be found 50 years after the mafia-linked union boss disappeared without trace
Jimmy Hoffa's son still believes that his father's remains will someday be found. 'Sure, it's a long shot. But you hope against hope that maybe they'll come across something, anything that would bring us closure after all these years,' James Hoffa Jr., 84, told Daily Mail. 'You want to know what happened to your father.' It was 50 years ago on Wednesday – July 30, 1975 – that the charismatic, yet controversial labor leader vanished from a suburban Detroit parking lot. He was never seen again, at least publicly. His corpse has never been found despite countless searches. And nobody has ever been charged for his disappearance. What happened to the once-powerful union boss became one of the late 20th century's most enduring mysteries – a whodunnit above which question marks linger to this day as law enforcement agencies and news outlets still receive tips about the location of his remains. As recently as July 2022, for example, a deathbed statement of a man who in the late summer of 1975 worked at a landfill near the Pulaski Skyway in New Jersey prompted the FBI to dig for a steel drum the man said contained the labor leader's body parts. The pursuit came up empty. Hoffa's disappearance and the mafia figures popularly suspected of causing it rattled the labor world, captured the imaginations of conspiracy theorists, became a punchline for comedians and captivated the nation from the mid to late 1970s. A half-century later, it also still haunts his family. 'Thank you for remembering that sad time for us. But it hurts to talk about it,' his daughter, Barbara Crancer, 87, a retired judge in St. Louis, told Daily Mail. She referred questions to her brother in Michigan. 'It's still so emotional, so painful for us all,' said Hoffa Jr., who was a young union lawyer at the time of the disappearance and went on, like his dad, to lead the International Brotherhood of Teamsters from 1988 to 2022. The elder James Riddle Hoffa was born in Indiana in 1913 and moved to Detroit, where he dropped out of school at the age of 14 to support his mother and three siblings after their father died in 1920. His activism stemmed from his fury as a teenager about the low wages and poor labor conditions at the grocery company where he worked. He was 19 when he took a job as an organizer with his Teamsters local in Detroit. Partly because of his efforts over the next several decades, the union representing American and Canadian truck drivers, warehouse workers and laborers in a variety of other freight-industry jobs grew from about 75,000 members in the early 1930s to about 1.5 million in the 1950s. At that peak during the post-WWII economic boom, companies were rushing to deliver products to customers. Hoffa – whose presidency of the union lasted from 1957 to 1971 – built the union's power largely on what he called 'quickie strikes' that held up freight deliveries. Companies feared him, his strong-arm tactics, and the sway he seemed to have among workers. Union brass credit him to this day with the job security and living standards of its members. But Hoffa had many corruption scandals that also gave the Teamsters – and the labor movement in general – a black eye. He was arrested in 1957 on allegations of trying to bribe an aide serving a US Senate committee investigating union practices. Although cleared on those charges, he faced more arrests after US Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy vowed to root out organized crime, especially from the labor movement. Hoffa went to prison after convictions first for jury tampering, then for fraud by misusing the Teamsters' pension funds. He tried leading the union from inside a federal prison but ultimately resigned as president as part of an agreement with President Richard Nixon, who commuted his sentence in 1971 on the condition that he not directly or indirectly manage any union for at least nine years. Hoffa nevertheless tried to regain his presidency of the Teamsters in the mid-1970s despite pushback from the mafia, which by then had infiltrated the union. On the day of his disappearance, he was scheduled for a 2pm meeting at the Machus Red Fox, an upscale eatery in the northern Detroit suburb of Bloomfield Township, with Anthony Giacalone, a purported kingpin in a Detroit-based mafia. The FBI believes that Giacalone set up the appointment in hopes of brokering a reconciliation between Hoffa and Anthony Provenzano, a labor racketeer connected to the notorious Genovese crime family. Hoffa had met and been close with Provenzano in prison before the two had a bitter falling out. Hoffa noted Giacolone's initials and the time and location of the appointment on his office calendar: 'TG-2pm-Red Fox.' But the meeting never took place. Hoffa called his wife, Josephine, from a nearby pay phone at about 2.30pm that afternoon to say the two mobsters had stood him up and that he would be home by 4pm. His family contacted the police when he hadn't returned by the next morning. A witness told detectives that Hoffa – whose years of union leadership had made him recognizable throughout metro Detroit – had left with some other people at about 2.50pm in the back of a maroon vehicle believed to be a Mercury Marquis Brougham, rather than in his own, which was still parked in the restaurant's lot. Authorities ultimately took possession of that other car, which turned out to belong to Giacalone's son, Joseph, but was believed to be driven that day by Charles O'Brien, a union organizer who had been a close friend and protégé of Hoffa. A police crime dog picked up Hoffa's scent. Detectives also recovered a strand of hair in the back seat that DNA testing in 2001 confirmed matched a sample from Hoffa's hairbrush. Both Giacalone and Provenzano, who are long dead, had alibis for the afternoon of Hoffa's disappearance and denied having made the appointment at the Red Fox. Local police, state police and the FBI received thousands of tips about Hoffa's fate, responding to some by digging up fields, a horse farm, driveways and landfills searching for signs of his remains. The recovery efforts seemed so common in metro Detroit that locals would joke, 'They're looking for Jimmy,' at the mere sight of a track hoe. Authorities declared Hoffa legally dead in 1982. That same year, one of his associates told a Senate committee that Hoffa had been killed on Provenzano's orders, and that Provenzano's minions ground him up 'in little pieces,' which they 'shipped to Florida and tossed in a swamp.' Donald 'Tony the Greek' Frankos, a purported mafia hitman, claimed to have been part of a group that dismembered Hoffa's corps e and buried it in cement at Giants Stadium in New Jersey. Another theory surmised that Hoffa was killed near the restaurant where he was abducted and his body parts run through a shredding machine at a mob-owned garbage disposal company north of downtown Detroit. That plant burned down in an arson fire half a year later. A mob lawyer claimed that Hoffa's remains were buried at the former Savannah Inn and Golf Country Club in Georgia. Another theory asserted that he was buried in the concrete foundation of General Motors' seven-tower, 73-story Renaissance Center in Detroit. Frank 'The Irishman' Sheeran claimed to have taken part in killing Hoffa in Detroit, although prosecutors didn't buy his story and never prosecuted him. Sheeran's account was made famous by Martin Scorsese's 2019 Netflix film The Irishman, in which he was played by Robert De Niro. Some theories speculated that Hoffa never disappeared at all but rather faked his own death and ran off to be with a mistress, or to avoid financial problems, or to escape threats from mafia families tied to the Teamsters. Hoffa was declared legally dead in 1982. The theory prosecutors put forward during a 1975 grand jury was the mob had been raiding the Teamsters' pension fund and put a hit on Hoffa to stop him from going to police Other theories surmised that the then leadership of the Teamsters ordered a hit on Hoffa to silence him. The theory prosecutors put forward during a 1975 grand jury investigation was that the mob had been raiding the Teamsters' pension fund and put a hit on Hoffa to prevent him from disclosing it to authorities. But prosecutors lacked conclusive evidence to charge anyone, causing hopes of ever solving Hoffa's disappearance to fade in the 1980s and 1990s. Although the case is inactive in Eastern Michigan's US Attorney's office, it is not officially closed. Most of the named suspects – a list of mafia members or union operators with mob ties – have since died, and with them the long litany of late-night comedians' jokes about their gangster nicknames. Meanwhile, the old-school and clubby Machus Red Fox restaurant closed in 1996 and reopened a year later as Andiamo, meaning 'Let's go' in Italian. Despite much urging, the new owner, restaurateur Joe Vicari chose against renaming the place after Hoffa, deeming that 'would be in bad taste.' At one point in the ensuing decades, the restaurant did name a dish for the union boss – Aragosta alla Hoffa, a lobster tail in garlic butter sauce served with broccoli rabe and mushroom risotto. The lore of Hoffa's disappearance lives on vintage matchbooks, swizzle sticks and ashtrays from the restaurant selling for high-dollar on Ebay, and in dozens of books, songs and movies about the mystery, as well as a video game. Hoffa Jr. said he must have driven by the restaurant 'a thousand times' since his father's disappearance, but 'never had the stomach to go in.'
Chicago Tribune
4 days ago
- Chicago Tribune
Today in Chicago History: Cubs pitcher Greg Maddux records 3,000th strikeout at a wet Wrigley
Here's a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on July 26, according to the Tribune's archives. Is an important event missing from this date? Email us. Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago) 1964: Jimmy Hoffa, president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, was found guilty in Chicago on three of 20 counts of fraud related to the Teamsters' Central States Pension Fund and one count of conspiracy. He was convicted of jury tampering earlier that year. 1985: Old St. Patrick's Church held its first 'World's Largest Block Party.' Tickets were $15 and entertainment included Stanley Paul & His Orchestra and the Jesse White Tumblers. The church discontinued the annual event in 2020. 2005: After a lengthy rain delay, Chicago Cubs pitcher Greg Maddux recorded his 3,000th career strikeout. Maddux caught San Francisco Giants shortstop Omar Vizquel looking at a third strike to end the third inning. Maddux, who was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2014, became the 13th member of the 3,000 strikeout club and the ninth pitcher in history with both 3,000 strikeouts and 300 victories. 2016: Park Ridge native Hillary Clinton became the first woman nominated to lead a major American political party in a run toward the White House. Subscribe to the free Vintage Chicago Tribune newsletter, join our Chicagoland history Facebook group, stay current with Today in Chicago History and follow us on Instagram for more from Chicago's past.
The Hill
04-07-2025
- Business
- The Hill
UPS offering buyouts to delivery drivers
The United Parcel Service (UPS) said on Thursday that it is offering buyouts to full-time U.S. delivery drivers as part of the company's 'largest network reconfiguration' ever. 'As we navigate an unprecedented business landscape, we are executing the largest network reconfiguration in UPS history,' the Atlanta-based company said in a statement. 'For the first time ever, in recognition of these unique circumstances, we are looking to offer our full-time U.S. drivers the opportunity to participate in a voluntary program that would provide an opportunity to receive a generous financial package if they choose to leave UPS,' the company added. The financial package that will be available to the drivers will be in addition to 'any earned retirement benefits, including pension and healthcare,' according to UPS. The company added that each driver 'would have the ability to decide if this voluntary program is beneficial to their family and the plans they have for their future.' The International Brotherhood of Teamsters President Sean M. O'Brien said UPS's buyout plan is 'an illegal violation' of the contract the union struck with the company that undercuts its agreement to create 22,500 more jobs. 'UPS is trying to weasel its way out of creating good union jobs here in America by dangling insulting buyouts in front of Teamsters drivers,' O'Brien said in a statement on Thursday. UPS said on Thursday that it had approached the union regarding the buyouts and that the company remains 'committed to the agreements we reached in 2023, as part of our contract negotiations.' UPS said in late April that it would cut around 20,000 jobs this year as part of a plan to lower costs and improve efficiency. In August 2023, UPS offered buyouts to pilots as demand dropped.
Yahoo
25-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
TEAMSTERS REQUEST UPS DATA ON HEAT PROTECTIONS, OVERTIME VIOLATIONS, STAFFING
Halfway into Historic Contract, UPS Remains Far Behind Fulfilling Key Provisions WASHINGTON, June 25, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The International Brotherhood of Teamsters on Tuesday issued a formal request for information to UPS on its current delivery of air-conditioned vehicles to drivers, outstanding grievances on overtime violations by the company, and the status of full-time job offers to tens of thousands of part-time workers. Nearly 340,000 Teamsters ratified an historic five-year agreement with UPS in August 2023, guaranteeing the delivery of at least 28,000 package cars and vans with air conditioning and the fulfillment of 22,500 permanent full-time jobs — key contract provisions that UPS may already be failing to live up to. "We are halfway into our union's national contract and the Teamsters are gravely concerned that UPS is not living up to its end of the deal," said Teamsters General President Sean M. O'Brien. "In so many ways — from the painfully slow delivery of air-conditioned vehicles to overworking our rank-and-file and failing to provide up-to-date information on new job opportunities — UPS has a lot of catching up to do to honor this agreement. The weather is getting worse, but still our members show up every single day to ensure this company remains the best in the business. The Teamsters' patience with UPS mismanagement is wearing thin." The Teamsters have given UPS until July 1 to respond to its information request. The union is demanding the current number of full-time job opportunities offered to part-time workers to-date, under Article 22 of the UPS Teamsters National Master Agreement. The company is also obligated to create 7,500 more full-time jobs during the last three years of the contract. The union is also asking for more details on all open and settled grievances related to overtime abuses under Article 37. The provision, known as the 9.5 list, protects workers who the company forces to work overtime and awards additional compensation to Teamsters who suffer repeated violations by UPS. Under Article 18 of the current contract, UPS must deliver new or replacement vehicles equipped with air conditioning to drivers nationwide, prioritizing Teamsters working in the company's Zone 1 delivery area. With oppressive summer heat already affecting major parts of the country, exceeding 100 degrees as far north as New York, Zone 1 workers in the hottest southern states like Texas, Arizona, and Nevada are still waiting for UPS to honor its legal and contractual obligations on heat protections. In its information request, the union is asking for all available data on the status of air conditioning and UPS's plans for the final rollout of the upgraded fleet. The Teamsters Package Division estimates that UPS has so far delivered only 10 percent of required air-conditioned vehicles, making the company's response to the request for information all the more urgent. "How does UPS expect to actually deliver 20,000 or more air-conditioned package cars and vans over the next two years, when the delivery giant is already so far behind? We want answers," O'Brien said. "The summer heat beating down on our members is no joke. UPS is playing a dangerous game with the lives of thousands of essential American workers." Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.3 million hardworking people in the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico. Visit for more information. Follow us on X @Teamsters and on Facebook at Contact:Kara Deniz, (202) 497-6610kdeniz@ View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE International Brotherhood of Teamsters
The Star
25-06-2025
- Business
- The Star
Teamsters president urges Congress to scrap AI state law ban
(Reuters) -The president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters urged Congress on Wednesday to scrap a proposal that would effectively bar states from regulating artificial intelligence for 10 years, calling it "a disaster for communities and working people." Teamsters president Sean O'Brien, who spoke at the Republican National Convention last year, said in a letter posted on social media site X that the measure "denies citizens the ability to make choices at the local or state level." "Pure and simple, it is a give-away to Big Tech companies who reap economic valueby continuing to operate in an unregulated void where their decisions and behavior are accountable to no one," he said. The letter from the head of the powerful union that represents more than 1.3 million workers, many of them in blue-collar jobs such as trucking, is the latest instance of bipartisan pushback against the measure in the lead-up to crucial votes by the U.S. Senate this week. Republican Sen. Ted Cruz authored the version of the measure included in President Donald Trump's sweeping tax-cut and spending bill. Proponents say the measure is necessary to allow small AI companies to experiment and lift the burden of complying with laws that differ from state to state. (Reporting by Jody Godoy; Editing by Jan Harvey)
