Why Are We Still Looking for Jimmy Hoffa?

Photo via Biograhy.com

  A tip from the son of a former mob boss in January sentFBI investigators to the Oakland Township in Michigan, where they began to search for former Teamster President James Hoffa, supposedly buried in the area.  Agents sent a team with a bull dozer to start tearing up a field outside of the suburb of Detriot shortly after, but after three days of fruitless digging, the search has been called off. Hoffa was last seen in 1975, although the case of his disappearance remains open.  The Oakland search was thesecond dig in a year, after police and the FBI failed to find Hoffa’s body in Roseville, Michigan.

  The interest in the case of Jimmy Hoffa remains high, especially in Detroit where labor unions are a large part of life, partly due to the importance of Hoffa’s accomplishments and the reminder of the former power of organized crime.  Hoffa rose through the ranks of the truck drivers’ union called the Teamsters, and grew it into the largest labor union in the United States.  The union experienced high power during Hoffa’s reign, which ended in an FBI investigation into the Teamsters and Hoffa going to prison.  Shortly after his release, Hoffa disappeared.  It is widely presumed a meeting with mafia bosses went south and ended in an order for Hoffa’s murder. 

Oakland Township/ Landsat.com

  The most recent dig drew a crowd, not only interested parties and media professionals, but also some protestors trying to highlight the waste of time the search for Hoffa should be considered to be.  One man in a horse mask told media that how Hoffa was murdered is a pointless question after 38 years.  Some also speculate the tip was formulated to help the informer Tony Zarelli, who is selling a book about the Hoffa story.