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Jimmy Hoffa was the president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in the 1950s and 1960s, known for using his connections to organized crime. He was sentenced to prison in 1964 and mysteriously disappeared in 1975, never to be found. Hoffa has been immortalized in popular culture.
Jimmy Hoffa, born James Riddle Hoffa on February 14, 1913, served as president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in the 1950s and 1960s. His son, James P. Hoffa, has been president of the organization since 2008.
Raised in a working-class family, Jimmy Hoffa dropped out of school in the sixth grade just before the Great Depression. He took a job unloading produce from railroad cars, a position that sparked his initial interest in union activities. After being fired for arguing with a team leader, his next job was as a full-time union organizer for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Jimmy Hoffa took over as president of the Teamsters in 1957, after his predecessor was convicted of bribery and sent to prison.
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters wielded considerable power under the leadership of Jimmy Hoffa. Strikes and boycotts were common, but the union was known to use its connections to organized crime to influence resistant employers. President John F. Kennedy was also convinced that Jimmy Hoffa pocketed union funds for his own use. In 1964, Jimmy Hoffa was sentenced to 15 years in prison for attempted bribery of a grand jury. However, he was released in 1971 when President Richard Nixon commuted Hoffa’s sentence with the stipulation that he not participate in union activities for at least 10 years.
On July 30, 1975, Jimmy Hoffa mysteriously disappeared from the parking lot of the Machus Red Fox Restaurant in Oakland County, Michigan. He allegedly planned to meet with Anthony “Tony Jack” Giacalone and Anthony “Tony Pro” Provenzano, but both mob leaders had valid alibis and said they were unaware of the appointment when questioned by investigators. Jimmy Hoffa’s body was never recovered, but he was declared legally dead in 1982.
In popular culture, Jimmy Hoffa has been immortalized in numerous books, songs, films and television shows. In 1992, for example, the semi-factual film Hoffa starred Jack Nicholson as Jimmy Hoffa. In the first season of MythBusters, hosts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman unsuccessfully attempted to find the body of Jimmy Hoffa by using a ground-penetrating radar device to search for burial locations inside Giants Stadium. The popular video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City also features an “Easter Egg” that places Jimmy Hoffa’s body inside a vision-based bridge that was thrown into a cement mixer and built into a city structure.
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