It seems to be a promising lead to the location of the remains of Jimmy Hoffa, the boss of the Teamsters alliance who disappeared 47 years ago: the account of a man who buried his body in a barrel with an excavator in New York City. Jersey. City, NJ
But on Thursday, the FBI announced that a nine-month investigation that included two site visits had turned up nothing.
The search centered around an old dump where the dying man, Paul Cappola Sr., announced he buried Mr. Hoffa in 1975, shortly after the embattled union leader disappeared in Michigan. Officers visited the site in October to conduct inspections and again in June to look for evidence.
Agent Mara R. Schneider, a spokeswoman for the Detroit field office, which has led the investigation into Mr Hoffa’s disappearance, said: “Nothing of provable value was discovered during the search. that search. “While we are not currently anticipating any additional activity at this location, the FBI will continue to pursue any possible guidance in our efforts to locate Mr. Hoffa.”
In the summer of 1975, shortly after Mr. Hoffa went missing, Paul Cappola was working at the old PJP Landfill below the Pulaski Highway with his son, Frank Cappola, who later said he recalled a Several men drove up and had a heated exchange with their father. out of ear range.
Years later, in 2008, the elder Cappola, in serious health, told his son what had happened that day: Visitors said that Mr. Hoffa’s remains were being be moved to the landfill, and he will bury the body. They showed exactly where it was going.
But then, when the body arrived, Paul Cappola secretly changed the burial site late at night, he told his son. He believed the landfill, long linked to organized crime, was being monitored, so he chose a place far from the property but close by.
“My father, who trusted no one, decided to dig a second hole with the company excavator and put Hoffa in that spot,” Frank Cappola later wrote in a sworn statement.
In 2019, Frank Cappola first shared this account with journalist Dan Moldea, who has written extensively about Mr Hoffa since before he went missing. Mr Moldea said the story was promising because of past statements and advice regarding the landfill, and he turned the account over to the authorities.
On Thursday, Mr Moldea said he was disappointed with the results of the investigation, but he added an element of intrigue in a yarn that was already heavily twisted. He said a recent ground-penetrating radar investigation by a private company found turbulence and obvious objects below the surface of the earth near where the FBI was looking, but not the same points. He said that the data was recently turned over to the FBI
“I am happy to accept this ruling,” he said on Thursday, “but there is a lingering issue that I believe remains unresolved. This is an unturned stone.”
The Jersey City website is the latest in a series of failed decades-long searches for the missing union boss. Tips and citations suggesting he was buried in various locations in Michigan or under the former Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands also ended up empty-handed.
