JERSEY CITY, NJ – The FBI will have to continue searching for the body of Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa who was last seen in suburban Detroit in 1975 as he was getting ready to meet with a Detroit crime family.
Working on evidence that Hoffa’s body was buried under a bridge in Jersey City, the FBI this week said that search came up negative.
“Nothing of evidentiary value was discovered during that search,” said Mara Schneider, an FBI spokeswoman. “While we do not currently anticipate any additional activity at the site, the FBI will continue to pursue any viable lead in our efforts to locate Mr. Hoffa.”
The mystery of Jimmy Hoffa’s death has intrigued generations of Americans. A New Jersey urban legend was that he was buried in the endzone of the former Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, but when that stadium was demolished to make way for Met-Life Stadium, Hoffa wasn’t there, effectively ending the local myth.
Last year, the FBI said it had credible evidence that Hoffa was buried under the Pulaski Skyway in Jersey City and obtained a search warrant to excavate the area adjacent to an old landfill.
Hoffa was last seen on July 30, 1975. He was reportedly meeting with Detroit mobster Anthony “Tony Jack” Giacalone and New Jersey mobster Anthony “Tony Pro” Provenzano at a restaurant near Detroit.
The tip was given to the FBI by Frank Cappola, son of the PJP Landfill owner Paul Cappola. Cappola said on his deathbed, his father told him he had buried Hoffa in a steel drum. Worried that the FBI could find the body on his property, Capploa instead claimed he buried Hoffa on state property adjacent to his landfill.