New York Congressman Seeks Jimmy Hoffa FBI File

Posted on: February 28, 2021, 02:35h. 

Last updated on: February 28, 2021, 04:53h.

Larry Henry Read More
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A New York congressman has asked the federal government to release the full FBI case file on former labor leader Jimmy Hoffa. Decades ago, the Detroit-based labor boss helped secure millions in Teamsters Union loans for Las Vegas casino construction.

Jimmy Hoffa
Jimmy Hoffa looks at attendees at a 1959 event. Hoffa went missing in 1975 from the parking lot of a suburban Detroit restaurant, where he was scheduled to meet with Mafia bosses. (Image: Toledo Blade)

US Rep. Lee Zeldin (R) has filed a congressional request with the Department of Justice seeking tens of thousands of pages of documents regarding the former Teamsters president, according to Eric Shawn, a Fox News anchor and reporter.

Shawn said it could be months before the federal government decides whether to release the files.

Hoffa went missing in July 30, 1975, from the parking lot of the Machus Red Fox restaurant in suburban Detroit. He was scheduled to meet that afternoon with Mafia leaders to resolve differences. A judge declared him dead seven years after he went missing.

No one has been criminally charged in the 62-year-old Hoffa’s death. His body has never been recovered.

While some redacted documents were released years ago to Hoffa family members and the Detroit Free Press newspaper, “The vast majority of material remains secret,” Shawn wrote Sunday in the New York Post. A  video version of the story appears on the Fox News site.

Zeldin said that after about 25 years, items such as the Hoffa file should be declassified, “and here we are, it’s been 45 years.”

You still have members of the Hoffa family, members of the Teamsters, and the public interest in this information,” he said. “It is a message to let them know that Jimmy Hoffa has not been forgotten. His legacy lives on, and we will not rest until we get these answers.”

Former federal prosecutor Alex Little said he thinks the documents will be released.

“It is important US history,” he said. “We are talking more than 40 years after a crime. There is no crime to prosecute. The public interest is greater.

New Jersey Burial Site

In January, Shawn reported that he and investigative journalist Dan E. Moldea have located a site in New Jersey where Hoffa possibly was buried. The Washington, D.C.-based Moldea is considered the country’s top expert on Hoffa. Moldea is the author of 1978’s The Hoffa Wars and other nonfiction books on organized crime.

An episode featuring the possible burial site appears in Shawn’s multipart series Riddle, The Search for James R. Hoffa. The series is on the Fox Nation subscription site. Hoffa’s middle name is Riddle.

Shawn and Moldea have reported that Hoffa’s body was transported from Detroit and buried in a 55-gallon drum at a former Genovese crime family dump site in Jersey City, N.J. The site is beneath the Pulaski Skyway connecting Jersey City and Newark.

Shawn said in a recent report that no digging at the site can occur without law enforcement approval. That approval has not been granted.

Las Vegas Casino Loans

Beginning in the 1960s, Hoffa was instrumental in lining up millions of dollars in Teamsters loans for casino construction in Las Vegas. Some loans went to hotel-casinos managed by underworld figures.

During this era, organized crime members or their associates skimmed untaxed revenue from some hotel-casinos in Las Vegas. This period is depicted in the 1995 Las Vegas Mafia movie Casino.

Hoffa sometimes was a visible presence in Las Vegas. For instance, after helping secure a $10.5 million loan for Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip, Hoffa attended the resort’s 1966 grand opening, according to the Las Vegas Sun.