His full name is James Riddle Hoffa. But everyone knew him as Jimmy. A labor leader who thrived in the rough and tumble world of union organizing, of contracts, and picket lines ... and of standing up for workers right no matter what. When he disappeared it was front-page news. But how many imagined we'd still be talking about that moment 50 years later with the basic question of "what happened?" still unanswered.
The day he disappeared — July 30, 1975 — Hoffa was 62 years old. By then he was a former Teamsters president — released from federal prison where he served time for bribery and focused on reclaiming his place atop the union. He pursued this goal while fully aware of his ongoing status as both a legendary figure in U.S. labor history and in American pop culture.
As a teenager in Detroit, Hoffa took to union organizing early on in the grocery business. He was smart and tough. With an emphasis on tough. A natural strategist, he knew how to pick his targets, organize strikes and boycotts, and he rose through the Teamster ranks earning the deep loyalty of truckers and warehouse workers in a city that was becoming an industrial powerhouse thanks to the automobile industry.
In 1957, Hoffa was named president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
It was a union that was already deeply involved in corrupt activities.
Hoffa negotiated important national contracts for truckers, even as he battled federal officials looking into union ties to organized crime.
During his first year as head of the Teamsters, there were high-profile hearings on Capitol Hill in Washington and famous clashes with a young lawyer working for the Senate Labor Committee named Robert F. Kennedy, all of it televised coast to coast in grainy black-and-white images. It was a confrontation made for TV.
It wasn't the last time RFK and Jimmy Hoffa would square off. When John F. Kennedy became president, his brother Robert became his attorney general and used his newfound authority to continue to investigate Hoffa.
Eventually, in 1967, Jimmy Hoffa was sent to federal prison having been convicted of bribing a member of a grand jury alongside a separate fraud conviction. After unsuccessful appeals, Hoffa would spend more than four years under lock and key.
It was then-President Richard Nixon who commuted his sentence in 1971 — but there was a catch. Hoffa would go free, but he was forbidden from participating in union activities. A deal was struck, but once out of prison, Hoffa quickly began working to challenge that edict. He began angling to regain the top job at the Teamsters, but that effort was stymied by the fact that the union's current leaders liked being in charge. And they had ties of their own to organized crime and were now firmly in control of the union. In short, Hoffa's old cohort was now a powerful enemy. And they had their own corrupt (and lucrative) operations to protect.
All of which brings us to the events marked by today's milestone anniversary.
On that late July day 50 years ago, Jimmy Hoffa had an afternoon meeting planned at the Macchus Red Fox restaurant in Bloomfield Township in the Detroit suburbs. Long closed, it was one of those dimly lit places with deep, plush booths. It's believed that Hoffa planned to meet with a pair of local organized crime leaders.
Hoffa pulled into the parking lot that day. He has not been seen since.
And with his sudden and unexplained disappearance, an already sizable legend became one of the great, enduring mysteries of our times.
What happened to Jimmy Hoffa? Countless theories and conspiracies were born: The mob grabbed him and disposed of the body. He now resides under a freeway in Detroit, or even more famously, under the end zone of Giants Stadium in New Jersey. All such theories are gruesome. None has yet been borne out by evidence.
Every year, it seems, new leads are found. A new witness. Another theory. Yellow police tape goes up somewhere. Backhoes and other equipment are brought in. A search ensues.
Then ... nothing. Hoffa was 62 years old when he disappeared.
Though Hoffa was declared legally dead by a Michigan probate court in 1982 — seven years after his disappearance — officially, the Detroit branch of the FBI says the case remains open.
Public Service Announcement: The FBI Detroit Field Office Marks the 50th Anniversary of James “Jimmy” Hoffa’s Disappearance. pic.twitter.com/uplvjuxcyC
— FBI Detroit (@FBIDetroit) July 30, 2025
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters union in Washington, D.C., marked the anniversary with a statement from current President Sean O'Brien, praising Hoffa's legacy in labor and decrying the "relentless cultural jokes" made of his life.
"For too many years, his death has been the subject of relentless cultural jokes, losing sight of the fact that a family lost a husband and father, and our nation lost an extraordinary leader," O'Brien's statement read. "Today and always, we remember James R. Hoffa — not for the tragedy of his death but for his enduring legacy. He was a visionary with remarkable courage and conviction."
In a former remembrance on the union's website, there's a quote from Hoffa describing the ultimate goal of unionism as "creating sustainable, skilled employment that allows Americans to earn a fair wage with benefits that allows them to pay for housing and food on the table and sustain a middle-class lifestyle."
Dozens upon dozens of books have been written about the disappearance. And, of course, Hollywood has weighed in. Jack Nicholson did a star turn as Hoffa in 1992, while Al Pacino won fine reviews for his portrayal of the embattled labor leader in Martin Scorsese's more recent film, The Irishman.
These likely aren't the last.
And so continues the story and legend of one Jimmy Hoffa.
Copyright 2025 NPR
