Murder: True Crime Stories - UNSOLVED: Jimmy Hoffa 2

Episode Date: August 21, 2025

Nearly 50 years after his disappearance, Jimmy Hoffa’s story refuses to stay buried. In this episode, we explore the mafia’s code of silence, a missing oil drum in New Jersey, and the final witness who may have known exactly where Hoffa’s body was hidden. As theories multiply, one question remains: will this cold case ever be solved? Murder: True Crime Stories is a Crime House Original Podcast, powered by PAVE Studios. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. For ad-free listening and early access to episodes, subscribe to Crime House+ on Apple Podcasts. Don’t miss out on all things Murder: True Crime Stories! Instagram: @murdertruecrimepod | @Crimehouse TikTok: @Crimehouse Facebook: @crimehousestudios X: @crimehousemedia YouTube: @crimehousestudios To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey everyone, it's Carter. If you're loving murder, true crime stories, you won't want to miss our fellow Crime House original show. Conspiracy theories cults and crimes. Every Wednesday, you'll get to explore the true stories behind the world's most shocking crimes, deadly ideologies, and secret plots, from mass suicides and political assassinations to secret government experiments and UFO cults. Follow conspiracy theories, cults, and crimes now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you listen.

And for ad-free listening and early access to episodes, subscribe to Crimehouse Plus on Apple Podcasts. This is Crimehouse. People are innately curious. We have a drive to discover and understand. It's why we've made so much progress as a species, creating technology that once seemed like science fiction and learning how to treat diseases that used to be death sentences. That curiosity is also what makes it so hard to accept

that there are some things we may never know. After Jimmy Hoffa went missing in 1975, his disappearance became a part of American culture. Despite decades of work, the FBI turned up more questions than answers. Since then, the case has been awash in gossip, speculation, and false hope. Even so, the search continues 50 years later, and the answer could always be around the the corner. Because if Jimmy Hoff approved anything, it's that you should never count him out. People's lives are like a story. There's a beginning, a middle, and an end, but you don't always know which part you're on. Sometimes the final chapter arrives far too soon, and we don't always get

to know the real ending. I'm Carter Roy, and this is Murder, True Crime Stories, a Crime House original show powered by Pave Studios. Every Tuesday and Thursday, I'll explore the story of a notorious murder or murders. At Crime House, we want to express our gratitude to you, our community, from making this possible. Please support us by rating, reviewing, and following

murder, true crime stories, wherever you get your podcasts. Your feedback truly matters. And to enhance your murder, true crime stories listening experience, subscribe to Crime House Plus on Apple Podcasts. You'll get every episode ad-free, and instead of having to wait for each episode of a two-part series, you'll get access to both at once, plus exciting bonus content. This is the second of two episodes on the 1975 disappearance and presumed murder of 62-year-old Jimmy Hoffa.

Last time, I told you about Jimmy's career as a labor leader, going from small-time organizer to president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. I also filled you in on his time in prison and the fateful business meeting that led to his mysterious disappearance. Today, I'll take you along as detective's search for Jimmy in one of the most infamous FBI investigations in U.S. history. Despite a long list of potential suspects, the Bureau struggled to move the case forward. To this day, there aren't any clear answers about what happened to Jimmy. Well, lots of people out there think they know the truth. All that and more coming up. On July 30th, 1975, 62-year-old Jimmy Hoffa headed to the Macchus Red Fox restaurant in suburban Detroit.

After getting out of prison a few years earlier, Jimmy was desperate to return to his former glory as the head of the Teamsters Union. To do that, he had to make amends with one of the union's most important allies. the mafia. Jimmy wasn't totally sure why, but they turned on him in recent years. He hoped today's lunch meeting would be the first step in rekindling their relationship. Still, he knew going to the restaurant was a risky move. Any meeting with the mob, even one in broad daylight, was a potential trap. But Jimmy thought it was worth the risk. It was the last. It was the last mistake he ever made. Around 2.30 p.m., Jimmy Hoffa went missing, never to be seen again. The investigation into his disappearance began the following morning on July 31st. As the sun

rose over the city, state police and hordes of journalists rushed to the last place Jimmy was seen, the Red Fox's parking lot. Before long, the unassuming restaurant 20 miles from Detroit would become the epicenter of the country's greatest mystery. The most obvious piece of evidence was Jimmy's car, a dark green 1974 Pontiac Granville. It was parked just a few dozen feet away from the entrance to the Red Fox. Unfortunately, the car didn't offer many hints about what happened. And a thorough examination of the vehicle didn't turn up anything incriminating. No blood, fibers, or signs of foul play. An early dead end. So detectives searched for witnesses instead. A couple of customers said they spoke to Jimmy at around 2.15 on the afternoon he went

missing. Like many Detroit natives, the men were big fans of Jimmy. When they were big fans of Jimmy, when they saw him standing near his car, they jumped at the chance to say hi. According to them, he seemed to be in a good mood, taking time out of his day to shake their hands and have a friendly conversation. Shockingly, almost nobody else saw Jimmy in the parking lot that day. And even though he made a few calls from the payphone inside the Red Fox, none of the staff remembered seeing him. He was when one of the most recognizable men in the country. So he'd either kept a very low profile or something else was making people keep their mouths shut.

And before long, detectives realized why that might be. A few days later on August 2nd, 1975, the FBI took over the investigation. Almost immediately, they discovered Jimmy Hoffa was at the center of an underground war. When it came to the Teamsters, his main rival was the Union's current president, Frank Fitzsimmons.

Frank's son, Richard, was the vice president of the IBT's Detroit chapter, a position that had once belonged to Jimmy. Just three weeks before Jimmy's disappearance, someone had snuck a bomb into Richard's car. It exploded while he was drinking at a bar nearby. The culprits were never found, but some people believed Jimmy was behind it. The FBI wondered if Frank and Richard had put out a hit on Jimmy as revenge. Beyond the Fitzsimmons men, the authorities also had their eyes on mobsters Anthony Provenzano and Anthony Jackaloney.

According to Jimmy's calendar, he was supposed to meet with both of them at the Red Fox that day. The FBI reasoned that Jimmy's abductors were either acting on behalf of the Detroit Mafia or Frank Fitzsimmons. In all likelihood, they were connected to both. But to learn more, the Bureau needed someone to talk. Agents spoke to Jimmy's friends and rivals in the teamsters, his family, and the mobsters he was supposed to meet at the restaurant. None of it led anywhere helpful. The mafia's coat of silence called Omerta was strictly enforced.

Whoever was responsible, no one wanted to get on their bad side. What investigators really needed was some hard evidence. something they could use to pressure potential witnesses into cooperating. That was easier said than done, though. The authorities had already taken Jimmy's Pontiac into evidence but didn't find any clues. That meant he either died in the parking lot where he disappeared or he was taken to another location. Jimmy wasn't the kind of guy to back down from a fight. and since there were no signs of foul play, investigators theorized he left the restaurant willingly.

There was only one problem with that version of events. Jimmy Hoffa wasn't stupid. He dealt with the mafia for years. He knew how dangerous they were. If the mob wanted to take him to a second location, it would have taken a lot of convincing. So if he did get into a car willingly, the driver must have been someone he trusted with his life. Enter 41-year-old Charlie O'Brien, known to his friends as Chuckie. Jimmy was Chuckie's father figure, but he also had close ties to the mob and worked for Anthony Jackaloney.

The FBI wondered if Jackaloney had sent him to pick Jimmy up. It seemed like a long shot. Chucky was fiercely loyal to the Hoffa family, but after digging into him some more, detectives realized Chuckie might have had a change of heart. The year before Jimmy went missing in 1974, Chuckie was going through a rough patch. After a contentious divorce,

Chuckie had gone on a spending spree to try to cheer himself up. Along the way, he accumulated a boatload of debt. To get back on his feet, he'd gone to the Hoffa family for a loan. He was supposed to use the money to invest in a condominium development project, but the venture failed. Chucky lost the money, which was apparently the final straw for Jimmy. As punishment, he caught him. his foster son off in the fall of 1974. The FBI figured the split might have been enough for Chuckie to turn on Jimmy.

And the more they learned, the more suspicious Chuckie looked. It turned out, Chuckie was driving Jackaloney's son's car on the afternoon Jimmy went missing. According to Chuckie, he was using the vehicle to run errands for his boss. Around 1 p.m. that day, he picked up a bunch of fresh, bloody fish in a leaky plastic container. He brought the catch over to a friend, then had to stop by a car wash to clean up the back seat, which was now covered in fish guts. After that, around 2.15, he claimed he met up with Jackaloney, who gave him an envelope with $100 inside. Chuckie's kids had birthdays coming up, and the money was for their presence. The Bureau didn't buy his story for a second.

They took the car into evidence, and forensics experts went over the interior with a fine-toothed comb. Soon enough, dogs in the canine unit detected Jimmy Hoffa's scent in the back seat, the exact spot where Chuckie allegedly spilled the pack of. at fish. But Chuckie didn't waver. He insisted the dogs smelled the fish, not human blood. Since this was before DNA testing, the FBI couldn't prove him wrong. But they could search his house for more evidence. Once again, they came up empty. The place was clean. And the more the Bureau dug into their story, the more doubts they had. Chuckie really did seem loyal to his foster father. By September 1975, after a month of investigation, the FBI was stumped. The

mafiosos weren't talking, and neither was anyone else. With each passing day, it seemed less likely that Jimmy was still alive. Pressed for time, the Hoffa family stepped in. They offered a staggering $200,000 to anyone with information about his disappearance. Adjusting for inflation, that would be a million dollar reward today. And that was an all. Alongside the money, the FBI decided to assemble a grand jury in Detroit. That would allow them to subpoena witnesses without officially bringing criminal charges against anyone. Each and every person on their suspect list would have to go down to the courthouse and testify on the record. Normally, the threat of perjury would be enough to get the truth, but agents knew they were dealing with a different kind of witness here.

If a grand jury couldn't crack their code of silence, they had to accept the case might never be solved. On September 2nd, 1975, a federal grand jury convened in Detroit to investigate the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa. For weeks, witness after witness was called into court. Some, like Chuck E. O'Brien, stuck to their original stories. Others, including Anthony Jackaloni and Anthony Provenzano, refused to talk at all. Instead, they repeatedly pleaded the fifth.

Just as the FBI agents feared, the mafia's code of silence remained intact inside the courtroom. But on the outside, things were very different. While the grand jury didn't get the results the FBI was hoping for, they did catch a break from an unlikely source. On September 5th, an associate in Provenzano's crew, Ralph Picardo, secretly sent word to the feds that he wanted to snitch. Like any good mobster, Ralph wasn't going to flip for free, though. He was serving 17 to 20 years in a New Jersey prison for manslaughter,

and he wanted time shaved off his sentence, since he was one of the only people willing to talk, the FBI agreed to bargain after they heard what he had to say. Ralph's intel was from a visitor who came to see him a couple of days after Jimmy Hoffa went missing. A higher up in Provenzano's crew named Stephen Andreda. According to Ralph, Stephen confessed to disposing of Jimmy's body as part of a four-man team.

Allegedly, Stephen and his brother Thomas joined a hitman named Salvatore Briguglio and his brother Gabriel. Also known as Sally Bugs, Salvatore was one of Provenzano's top enforcers and was already near the top of the suspect list. Ralph said they'd stuff Jimmy's remains in a 55-gallon oil drum and shipped it off to New Jersey. The barrel method was apparently the standard way Provenzano got rid of bodies after putting out hits. According to Ralph, the drums usually ended up buried in a mafia-owned landfill called Brother Moskado's Dump. Agents pressed him to reveal the person who actually pulled the trigger, but Ralph claimed he didn't know. The only thing he was sure of was that Anthony Provinzano ordered Sally Bugs to kill him. Jimmy. After talking to Ralph, the FBI still had a lot of questions, but now they finally

had some answers. At least, they hope they did. In the winter of 1975, they got a search warrant for Brother Mosquados. They were hopeful they'd recover Jimmy's body there. But it quickly became clear the dump wasn't exactly easy to examine. probably by design. It was massive, toxic, and the ground was nearly frozen at that time of year. Agents were forced to abandon their search without making much progress. They'd already tried to get Sally Bugs and Gabriel to talk during the grand jury. It hadn't worked, but without any hard evidence, all the FBI could do was keep trying.

The Bureau tried calling the two sets of brothers in to testify. again before a second grand jury. Predictably, none of them said much, pleading the fifth whenever possible. Although it was incredibly frustrating, the FBI wasn't giving up just yet. For the next few years, they threw every resource at their disposal toward the investigation. They had hundreds of agents on the ground working informants, picking through evidence, and chasing leads that went nowhere. Eventually, they had to admit defeat. In 1982, seven years after his disappearance, the case ran cold,

and Jimmy Hoffa was officially declared dead. For the next two decades, there was little to no progress in the search, and conspiracy theories sprang up in place of answers. Some people came to believe that Jimmy had faked his death, while others insisted he was buried beneath the New York Giants football stadium. Before long, Jimmy's disappearance became a fixture in national discourse, a punchline in comedies like The Simpsons, and a recurring subject for true crime exposés. But eventually, it slowly faded from relevance.

Until 2001, when a former associate of Jimenez, Jimmy's, an elderly teamster named Frank Sheeran, dropped a bombshell. In an interview with a Fox News reporter, Frank claimed he personally killed Jimmy back in 1975. The revelation renewed public interest in the case, and soon prosecutors and FBI agents met in Detroit to review old evidence and see if there was any truth to Frank's claims. Regardless of what they thought, Frank planned on getting his story out there. He started working on a book with lawyer Charles Brandt.

Although Frank passed away in 2003, a year before the memoir was released, it became a massive hit. The book, titled, I heard you paint houses, went into detail about Frank's work as an enforcer for the Teamsters, and the final moments of Jimmy's life. The first half of his story aligned with what the FBI had already figured out. According to Frank, the mafia turned on Jimmy Hoffa and wanted to stop him from gaining control of the Teamsters Union. While Jimmy had been their ally in the past, the mob was making more money with his successor, Frank Fitzsimmons, in charge.

It was that simple. They didn't want to strike. strong leader like Jimmy coming in and spoiling their operation. But that's where the similarities ended. Frank claimed the FBI's top suspects, Anthony Provenzano or Anthony Jacaloni, weren't responsible. He said the Pennsylvania-based Bufolino crime family had ordered the hit. According to Frank, on July 30, 1975, he and the driver picked Jimmy up in the Red Fox Party. parking lot. Because Frank had known Jimmy for years, he willingly came along for the ride,

just like the FBI theorized. The driver then took them to an abandoned house in Detroit, where Jimmy thought they were finally going to have the scheduled meeting. As they walked up the driveway, Frank drew his pistol. Jimmy didn't bat an eye. He thought Frank was protecting him in case things went south. But then, when Jimmy stepped inside the house, Frank shot him twice in the back of the head. Soon afterward, a mob cleanup crew arrived to dispose of the evidence, and Frank fled the scene.

It was a short anecdote without a lot of fanfare, and while it was believable to many, it came under fire from some critics. Investigative journalists and FBI agents who'd been involved in the case pointed out that the only source was Frank himself, which didn't exactly inspire confidence. After all, Frank was a lifelong criminal who'd served 13 years in prison for racketeering. Plus, he was clearly out to profit from his story. That's the reason he collaborated on the book with Brandt in the first place. Jimmy wasn't even

the only famous person he claimed to have murdered. In the book, Frank also said he killed Joe Gallo, a notorious New York mobster, but neither of his claims could be backed up by anything other than gossip. Still, the memoir did successfully revive interest in Jimmy Hoffa's disappearance, so much so that detectives in Detroit obtained a search warrant for the house where Frank claimed the murder took place, and on May 28, 2004, they actually found something. There was blood on some of the floor boards. Officers took the boards into evidence and sent them for testing. The world waited with bated breath to learn if Frank Sheeran was telling the truth. A few months later, they got the results. The blood on the floorboards

did not belong to Jimmy Hoffa. Just like that, the investigation was back at Square One. Actually, it was even worse than that. By then, many of the key players were no longer in the picture. Anthony Provinzano was arrested on unrelated charges in the late 70s. He died in prison in 1988. Jackaloney, the other mafia boss and top suspect, also served time on other charges. He passed away in his home in 2001. Sally Bugs, by far the strongest suspect, was murdered in 1978. It looked like the case had fallen apart for good. But a new break in the investigation was just around the corner. And this time, no one saw it coming.

Fear is the virus is trending on TikTok. Vaccines are poison. Then your yoga teacher says that sex traffic children are being sacrificed by satanic liberals. But it's all okay. Hey, the Great Awakening is coming. What is happening? Every week on Conspiratuality Podcast, we explore the fever dreams that suck friends, family, and wellness gurus down the right-wing cult spiral in a search for salvation. By 2006, Jimmy Hoffa had been missing for 31 years.

Most people believed his disappearance would never officially be solved. But while many of the players involved in the case were long gone, there were still a few witnesses left. People who had kept their malice shut for decades, waiting for the right moment to tell their stories. And in May, two of them finally decided to come forward. Donovan and Monica Wells had never actually met Jimmy Hoff. but they did know some of his enemies in the mob,

and according to them, the key to solving his murder lay at the 89-acre Hidden Dreams Farm outside of Detroit. Back in 1975, the Wells family had lived on the horse farm with the top Teamsters official. They claimed the officials spent the weeks before Jimmy's disappearance

digging a huge hole out in the yard, Then the day before Jimmy went missing, they overheard Anthony Provenzano saying to him, It's going to be a great day tomorrow. When they asked what Provenzano meant, the Teamsters official would only tell them it was about a meeting with Jimmy Hoffa. Sure enough, on the day of the disappearance, Monica Wells spotted three cars heading down a dirt road toward the new hole on the farm. When she asked about them, the Teamster told her, Blondes who talk too much don't get old. Monica had blonde hair, and it was pretty obvious what he meant.

From then on, she stopped asking questions. But by 2006, she decided she couldn't keep quiet anymore. She came forward and convinced the FBI to follow up on her story. On May 17th, the Bureau spent two weeks digging up the property in a frantic search for the body they had been after for so long. Unfortunately, once again, they failed to find what they were looking for. It was just another dead end. By that point, it seemed like Jimmy Hoff's case was a never-ending series of red herrings. Every few years, an old associate came out of the wood.

claiming to know the precise place he was buried. This continued even after Monica's claims were disproven. In 2012, police drilled into the concrete floor of a basement north of Detroit. The following year, the FBI searched a field outside of a nearby township. Each time, they came up empty-handed. But even 40 years of disappointment didn't stop some people from holding on to hope. investigative reporter Dan Moldea was one of them. He had followed the story from the beginning,

becoming one of the world's foremost experts on the case. After all that time, he believed he knew the true location of Jimmy's body. A spot the FBI had already investigated decades earlier. In 2019, Dan got in contact with a man named Frank Coppola, who used to be a lieutenant for a top New Jersey crime boss. When Coppola was a teenager, his father Paul was co-owner of Brother Moskado's dump, the landfill of the FBI tried to dig up back in 1976.

Back then, they believed Jimmy was buried inside an oil drum, but they were never able to conduct a thorough search of the property. Now, decades later, the landfill was front and central. once again. According to Coppola, he and his father were working in the dump the day Jimmy disappeared. That night, a limousine pulled in and the owner, Mosquito himself, directed the car to a spot in the northeast area of the landfill. Coppola said his dad dug a hole there using an excavator. In 1989, 14 years later, the two of them happened to walk past the same spot. Coppola's dad pointed to the area and told him

that's where Jimmy Hoffa is buried Coppola was shocked that was the first time his father had actually admitted it still it wasn't Coppola's secret to share he didn't bring it up for the next nineteen years then in 2008 Coppola's dad was on his deathbed he asked his son to officially reveal the location of the body. He said he wanted to bring Jimmy home for the sake of his family.

Eventually, Coppola contacted reporter Dan Moldea to do just that. But they had trouble getting law enforcement on board with another excavation. After so many high-profile failures, they didn't want to waste any more time or money. Over the next few years, Dan kept trying. During that period, Coppola died, making Dan Moldea potentially the only person alive who knew where Jimmy Hoffa was buried. A year after Coppolo's death in 2021, the FBI finally agreed to follow up on his tip. They spent months excavating the area flag by his father. Unfortunately, in July of 2022, the Bureau announced that the search had come up empty once again.

That was the last known attempt to find Jimmy Hoffa's body. Today, his final resting place remains as much a mystery as it was 50 years ago. And since then, the winding investigation has overshadowed his legacy. even so there's no denying just how influential he was for better or worse as a young man jimmy overcame hardships that would have broken most people these early experiences made him tough self-interested and obsessed with power despite all that legions of working men trusted him to lead them Some believed his strong-arm tactics and alliance with the mob were necessary evils. Even when he went to jail for stealing pension money, among other charges, there were people who forgave him.

It's precisely that star power that made his former allies turn on him. The mafia believed that putting Jimmy back in charge of the Teamsters Union would cost them money. So they put a hit out on him. Or, at least we think they did. The fact is, we still have no idea what happened to Jimmy Hoffa. And at this point, it's safe to say we won't be finding out anytime soon. But it's worth asking ourselves. Does the way he died really matter?

Jimmy's story is about so much more than finding a body. It revealed the inner workings of institutions that once ruled the United States. The scandals that ruined him exposed how deeply corrupted the nation's most trusted establishments had become. Jimmy is a prime example of how someone can rise to power

in that kind of world only to fall. Thanks so much for joining us. I'm Carter Roy, and this is Murder True Crime Stories. Come back next week for the story of a new murder and all the people it affected. Murder True Crime Stories is a Crime House original powered by Pave Studios here at Crime House. We want to thank each and every one of you for your support if you like what you heard today. Reach out on social media at Crimehouse on TikTok and Instagram.

Don't forget to rate, review, and follow Murder True Crime Stories wherever you get your podcasts. Your feedback truly makes a difference. And to enhance your murder, true crime stories listening experience, subscribe to Crime House Plus on Apple Podcasts. You'll get every episode ad free, and instead of having to wait for each episode of a two-part series, you'll get access to both at once, plus exciting bonus content. We'll be back on Tuesday. Murder True Crime Stories is hosted by me, Carter Roy, and is a crime house original powered by Pave Studios.

This episode was brought to life by the Murder True Crime Stories team, Max Cutler, Ron Shapiro, Alex Benadon, Natalie Pertzowski, Lori Marinelli, Sarah Camp, Terrell Wells, Beth Johnson, and Russell Nash. Thank you for joining us. If you love murder, true crime stories, tune into the Crime House original conspiracy theories, cults, and crimes

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