James “Jimmy” Hoffa, subject of the 1992 Jack Nicholson movie Hoffa (poster below) and numerous conspiracy theories, disappeared in 1975 at the age of 62. Once the powerful president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) labor union, police are searching for his body based on yet another tipoff.
The IBT still exists, representing blue-collar workers across the United States and Canada. In Hoffa’s time, influence in elections and ties to organized crime were inherent to union culture. Hoffa himself was convicted of jury tampering in 1964, and the latest tip regarding the location of his body came from alleged mobster Tony Zerilli, CNN.com reports.
After the conviction and prison time, Hoffa was trying to regain power in the IBT. He disappeared from the parking lot of a restaurant where he was supposed to be meeting with IBT leadership, writes the WashingtonPost.com. Various crime bosses and mobs wanted him dead at the time.
According to the AP.com, tipoffs since then have led police to dig up a swimming pool in 2003, a horse farm in 2006, and a garage in 2012, all to no avail. FBI agents digging up Zerilli’s Detroit-area field since Monday have found only concrete slabs and dirt, and the search will continue Wednesday. Zerilli, who is selling related merchandise, has been accused of taking advantage of past false leads and lying to the police to make a profit.
As former federal prosecutor Keith Corbett said on Monday, “Anytime you look for somebody and don’t find the body, it is embarrassing. The thing the public isn’t aware of but police know is there are a lot of dead ends in an investigation.”