Union boss Jimmy Hoffa left his Michigan home for what was supposed to be a peace summit with mobsters Anthony Provenzano and Anthony Giacalone on 30th July, 1975. He never returned home.

But Hoffa was much more than just a Mafia stooge. He’d been involved in labour unions from the age of fourteen, rapidly rising through the ranks to become president of the powerful Teamsters Union by 1957. Under his leadership, the union ballooned to over 2 million members. And with great power came great corruption; Hoffa’s close ties to organised crime eventually landing him in federal prison for bribery and fraud.

In this episode, Rebecca, Arion and Olly explain why Hoffa’s intended memoir may have spurred the Mob on to silence him; discover how his father’s death led him into activism; and ponder whether it is *ever* a good idea to meet up in a parking lot… 

Further Reading:

• ‘Seven Years Later, Jimmy Hoffa Case Is Still a Mystery’ (The Washington Post, 1982): https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1982/07/31/seven-years-later-jimmy-hoffa-case-is-still-a-mystery/3ed452a7-78e4-4785-8eef-dd9a0a5782cb/

• ‘Jimmy Hoffa's Disappearance: What Really Happened To Him?’ (All Thats Interesting, 2024): https://allthatsinteresting.com/jimmy-hoffa-death

• ‘The Irishman’ (Netflix, 2019): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouLiC3oMHmE

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