- 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. (light suspenseful music) (eerie whooshing)
Their own channel?? FINALLY!! I tried subbing to buzzfeed blue to get updates, but the rest of their content doesn’t interest me, all I want is our bois
Yessss I can finally unsubscribe from Buzzfeed Blue, I really wasn't interested in their other content (although Outsmarted didn't look too bad). Looks like they'll have Ruining History and potentially some other series' on the channel too!
Anyway, this was a good jump back in to true crime. I'm a little surprised it took them this long to get to the Jimmy Hoffa case, but it was a good episode. A little confused as to why they censor swears now, but I enjoyed it. Can't wait for the rest of the season!
I love that they've added in end credits. It's a small thing but it's nice to see more recognition in-show for everyone who helps make this series happen. Also hoping we haven't seen the last of true crime reenactments.
Lol buzzfeedblue is going to lose a lot of subs
Hoffa didn't know to never go to a secondary location smh
"Where did the go-go dancer come from??"
"A... go-go dancing facility?"
Thank God they finally have their own channel. I honestly really enjoy a lot of buzzfeed videos, but in my opinion it just seems like almost everything else on buzzfeedblue is such garbage
a great case and such amazing news for the boys! super proud of them. it’s quite noticeable how much effort is going into this—from the organization of the channel and its playlists to the tweaks in editing and the end credits. just glorious. I loved them with simple 4 min long episodes already but the upgrade just makes me hella proud and excited for things to come.
also I love when I see people commenting that they love a case I never even heard about. I’m quite new to true crime and even more so to US-based cases so it’s exciting getting to know somethig this big! bless this show & their content which seems perfectly curated to me lol
Shane's sopranos reference in the end 🥂🥂