The FBI is asking the public for tips on the fate of the late Teamsters leader and known mob associate Jimmy Hoffa, whose disappearance has long remained a mystery.
On Thursday, one day after the 50th anniversary of the date Hoffa went missing, the FBI Detroit Field Office said it “remains committed to following all credible leads and is seeking information to assist in moving this case forward.”
The bureau confirmed the investigation remains active and urged anyone with knowledge of the case to step forward.
“As the 50th anniversary of Mr. Hoffa’s disappearance approaches, the FBI Detroit Field Office remains steadfast in its commitment to pursuing all credible leads,” Cheyvoryea Gibson, FBI Detroit’s special agent in charge, said in a statement.
The FBI said it has jurisdiction over missing-persons cases that involve possible federal violations, such as kidnapping or organized crime. Both are believed to apply to Hoffa’s situation.
During his 14-year tenure as president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Hoffa had strong ties to American mobsters and was even implicated in their criminal activities. In 1967, he was sentenced to 13 years in prison after being convicted of jury tampering, fraud, and using pension funds to pay mobsters in exchange for kickbacks. His sentence was then commuted by former President Richard Nixon in 1971, but he was unable to return to the labor union he had led.
Hoffa tried to regain control of the Teamsters until his disappearance on July 30, 1975, when he was last seen standing outside a Detroit restaurant. Hoffa was supposed to meet two mobsters at the establishment, but he reportedly called his wife to say they never showed up before he went missing.
Seven years later, he was legally declared dead by a local Michigan judge despite his body never being found. The exact location of his burial remains unknown.
The FBI’s statement comes after Hoffa’s son urged President Donald Trump to release the bureau’s files on his father’s disappearance and presumed death.
“I call on President Trump to release the Hoffa files once and for all,” James Hoffa said on the Fox Nation television series Riddle: The Search for James R. Hoffa with journalist Eric Shawn. The two latest episodes were released on Wednesday.
The descendant of the deceased union leader noted that while the FBI has released thousands of pages of related documents related to his father, much of the information is redacted.
“Let’s find out what really happened. President Trump, release the files,” James Hoffa added. “I don’t know what’s in those files. That’s why we have to have them released, and the American public, the Teamsters union, the Teamsters union members, our family deserves it, and I think you’ll do it.”
JIMMY HOFFA’S SON ASKS TRUMP TO RELEASE FBI FILES ON 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF FATHER’S DISAPPEARANCE
Trump has not recently commented on the Hoffa family’s calls to release the FBI files.
However, shortly after taking office in January, the president ordered Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard to declassify documents pertaining to the 1960s assassinations of former President John F. Kennedy, former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. It’s possible Trump can do the same with the Hoffa files.
