REMEMBER WHEN: Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa’s disappearance

Las Vegas Review-Journal

2 years ago

Teamsters Union president Jimmy Hoffa is seen in Washington on July 26, 1959. Saturday, July 30 ... — Teamsters Union president Jimmy Hoffa is seen in Washington on July 26, 1959. Saturday, July 30, marks the 47th anniversary of Hoffa’s disappearance. (AP Photo, File)

Al Pacino played Jimmy Hoffa in the Netflix movie “The Irishman” alongside Robert De Niro, who played hit man Frank Sheeran. (Netlfix US, LLC)

Caesars President Nate Jacobson poses with Jimmy Hoffa during the grand opening of Caesars Palace on August 5, 1966, in Las Vegas. (Las Vegas News Bureau)

The exterior of the Aladdin hotel and casino on South Las Vegas Boulevard just north of East Harmon Avenue. The Aladdin, whose construction was bankrolled by the Teamsters Central States Pension Fund, was imploded in 1998.

Jimmy Hoffa, seated next to moderator Ned Brooks, with Lawrence E. Spivak (standing) during an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on July 9, 1961. (NBC Photo/Las Vegas News Bureau)

Elvis and Pricilla Presley on their wedding day at the Aladdin hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip on May 1, 1967. (Las Vegas News Bureau)

In this Sept. 30, 1957 file photo, Jimmy Hoffa, then Teamsters vice president and leading candidate to succeed Dave Beck as the IBT’s new president, waves to delegates at the opening of the Teamsters Union convention at Miami Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/File)

This March 22, 2009 file photo shows Giants Stadium from the air, in East Rutherford, N.J. Self-described hit man Donald “Tony the Greek” Frankos claimed that ex-Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa was buried under the western end zone at the stadium, but the FBI found no evidence to support the claim. (AP Photo/File)

It’s a name that seems to come up every time somebody finds human remains, whether at Lake Mead or anywhere else.

Jimmy Hoffa.

And Saturday marks a very serious milestone in the case that launched a thousand quips.

On July 30, 1975, the former Teamsters president arrived at the Machus Red Fox restaurant in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, for a meeting with reputed mob leaders. He was never seen again.

By that time, Hoffa had already stepped down as leader of the Teamsters — he had been released from prison in 1971 on the condition that he not participate in union activities for 10 years. But he never left the public consciousness.

Since his disappearance, theories about his final resting place have spread like wildfire. Rumors have claimed that whatever’s left of Hoffa is buried under a swimming pool in Michigan, in a swamp in Florida and even beneath the end zone of the old Giants Stadium in New Jersey.

As of this writing, no remains have been found.

Hoffa’s influence extended all the way to Las Vegas. As Jeff German chronicled during Season 2 of the Review-Journal podcast “Mobbed Up,” the Teamsters Central States Pension Fund bankrolled many of the casinos that put the Las Vegas Strip on the map, including Caesars Palace, the Desert Inn and the Aladdin.

“Everybody seemed to love, you know, Uncle Jimmy, and he was taken care of in the hotels,” Geoff Schumacher, vice president of exhibits and programs for The Mob Museum, told German. “He was in all of the elite circles in the city. And he, you know, he could make or break just about anybody in town, so he was very powerful.”

And Hoffa has been portrayed multiple times in movies, most recently by Al Pacino in the 2019 Netflix film “The Irishman.” Pacino received his most recent Academy Award nomination for playing the labor leader who refuses to disappear from American culture.

Contact Paul Pearson at ppearson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @EditorPaulP on Twitter.