“He was a great man.”
James P. Hoffa is using the July 30 anniversary of his father’s disappearance to renew calls for answers in one of America’s most enduring mysteries.
With the 51st anniversary of Jimmy Hoffa’s disappearance now just two weeks away, the family of the legendary labor leader is urging the FBI not to shut down the missing person investigation and instead disclose what it knows about who was responsible for his death.
“We, and likely many other Americans, would rather have the case solved, not shelved,” Hoffa’s son, James P. Hoffa, told INC News.
James Hoffa said he was stunned by the possibility that federal authorities could close a case that has held national attention for decades. “I’m shocked that the government would close such a prominent case. This case is of national interest to all, and all the efforts of the FBI should continue to go to solving it,” he said. “We want the case solved. The family wants to have accountability for this horrible crime. We want the case solved so that the family can have closure.”
James P. Hoffa tells Fox News that the FBI should disclose who killed his father and bring the long-running case to a resolution. (Fox Nation)
In a letter obtained by INC News and addressed to FBI Director Kash Patel, Hoffa said he and his sister, Barbara Crancer, would consider it “disturbing” if the bureau closed the investigation. He pressed Patel to make public all information the FBI has gathered about his father’s disappearance.
“It is important to us, and the country, that the truth about my father’s disappearance [be] told and those involved in his disappearance, even if they are deceased, be exposed,” Hoffa wrote. “My sister Barbara and I urge the FBI to keep the case open and active, and to continue the investigation.”
“We have a hole in our hearts,” the Hoffa family says of the father and grandfather who vanished 51 years ago. (The Hoffa Family)
READ MORE: NY Mom Jamey Carney’s Boyfriend Asked for Money Days Before Her Ireland Murder
Jimmy Hoffa vanished July 30, 1975, on his way to what he thought was a meeting to help in his bid to regain the Teamsters union presidency.
He was last seen in the parking lot of the Machus Red Fox restaurant in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, at about 2:30 p.m. local time getting into a car that whisked him away.
Jimmy Hoffa’s remains have never been recovered and no one has been charged in connection to his disappearance.
In the documentary series, “Riddle, The Search for James R. Hoffa,” streaming on Fox Nation, one theory speculates Jimmy Hoffa was picked up at the restaurant by Detroit mob capo Vito “Billy Jack” Giaclone and mobster Anthony “Tony Pal” Palazzolo, and driven to a nearby home owned by mobster Carlo Licata, where he was killed.
The theory states his remains were then possibly disposed of in a mob-run sanitation facility in Hamtramck.
Jimmy Hoffa was allegedly told that he would be meeting with Giacalone’s brother, powerful Detroit mobster Anthony “Tony Jack” Giacalone, and New Jersey Teamsters local president Anthony “Tony Pro” Provenzano, a bitter union enemy who was also a capo in the New York City-based Genovese crime family.
He needed the support of Provenzano’s 10,000-member New Jersey local in his campaign for the union’s top job.
While there have long been conflicting theories about Jimmy Hoffa’s fate, Fox Nation reported that an informant told the FBI that he was present when Jimmy Hoffa died and said that Vito “Billy Jack” Giacalone was the person who killed him.
Such information would have been documented in FBI records, called 302s. But so far, the information has not been made public.
“We and likely many other Americans would rather have the case solved, not shelved. We seek closure, not millions of documents that continue the mystery,” Hoffa’s son wrote to Patel.
The status of the criminal case is unclear.
In a statement to INC News, the FBI said it is “dedicated to deliver[ing] transparency to the American public.”
“The release of these historic files on Jimmy Hoffa’s disappearance is yet another step in that direction,” the FBI said.
The bureau previously released thousands of documents, but most are heavily redacted and hide potentially vital information.
James Hoffa suggested the unredacted files could be turned over to the National Archives, without the case being shut down.
“We want the case solved, we don’t want tons of redacted paper sent to us,” James Hoffa said.
The FBI’s Detroit field office has taken over the case, and the bureau has said it continues to take the investigation seriously.
“The FBI has worked for five decades to investigate every lead and process evidence related to this investigation,” a spokesperson told INC News. “FBI offices across the country have assisted over the years and we have received countless tips and information from the public, which has been of tremendous help to the FBI. We appreciate the public, and more importantly, the Hoffa family’s assistance and support over the years.”
James Hoffa said, “It is time for the FBI to solve the case and to hold people accountable and name names, even if they are deceased, to solve this national mystery.”
The eight-part series “Riddle, The Search for James R. Hoffa,” is streaming on Fox Nation.
