MUGSHOTS: HOFFA: THE MAN WHO VANISHED (TV)
Summary
One in this series of biographies that chronicle a subject's criminal record and/or legal woes. This episode originally aired in August 1999 during a "Mob Week" cluster of the series "Crime Stories." It focuses on the colorful life and presumed death of Jimmy Hoffa, dubbed by the program "labor leader, hero of the working man, face of the mob, and a bitter lifelong enemy of the Kennedys." The narrative begins by recalling the fateful afternoon in July 1975 on which Hoffa was to meet with Tony Provenzano, an alleged crime boss, at a Detroit restaurant to discuss and resolve their longtime feud. Three and a half years out of prison, Hoffa had ambitions to lead the International Brotherhood of Teamsters once again, viewers learn. Hoffa was apparently willing to betray his Mafia friends in order to regain control of the union, the program suggests, although no one would ever discover his intentions -- because he vanished that afternoon and was never seen again. Next, the program explores the many theories surrounding Hoffa's disappearance. Arthur A. Sloane, author of "Hoffa," speaks of one theory that maintains that Hoffa was strangled and his body ground up in a trash compactor, then deposited in a mob-owned dump in New Jersey. Mobster Charles Allen relates another theory that suggests that Hoffa was killed and dumped in a Florida swamp. Yet another rumor regarding Hoffa's demise tells of his supposed burial beneath the end zone of Giants Stadium in New Jersey. The narrator notes that neither a witness nor any evidence has come to light in more than twenty-five years. Attorneys and journalists, among others, talk about major events in Hoffa's life that led up to his disappearance, including the 1957 Senate McClellan Committee proceedings (shown in film footage), which investigated corruption in labor unions, and the 1962 Test Fleet case, in which Hoffa was accused of profiting solely from a business listed under his wife's maiden name. Victor Navasky, author of "Kennedy Justice," discusses the power of the teamsters. John Siegenthaler, former editor of the Nashville Tennessean, comments on Hoffa's first encounter with future attorney general Robert Kennedy, and Pierre Salinger speaks of the rivalry between the two men. Prosecutor James F. Neal talks about the Justice Department special unit created by Kennedy nicknamed the "Get Hoffa Squad." Footage is shown of President John F. Kennedy on the day of his assassination in 1963 and of the murder of the president's brother Robert in 1968, during Hoffa's prison sentence. As the program concludes, participants note the impact Hoffa had on organized labor in the United States.
Cataloging of this program was made possible by The New York Community Trust - Haas Foundation Fund.
Details
- NETWORK: Court TV
- DATE: November 30, 1999 10:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:45:46
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:65889
- GENRE: Public affairs/Documentaries
- SUBJECT HEADING: Biography; Organized crime; Missing persons; Trade-unions
- SERIES RUN: Court TV - TV series, 2000-
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Jim Zarchin … Executive Producer
- Scott Galloway … Producer
- Terry Benes … Producer, Writer
- Filosi Nelson, Kathy … Producer, Writer
- Elana Bluestine … Associate Producer
- Ellen West … Associate Producer
- David Pozner … Music by
- Charles Allen
- Hoffa, James R. "Jimmy"
- John F. Kennedy
- Robert Kennedy
- Victor Navasky
- James F. Neal
- Tony Provenzano
- Pierre Salinger
- John Siegenthaler
- Arthur A. Sloane