Jimmy Hoffa’s remains have been at the center of a decades-long mystery after the union leader vanished following a lunchtime meeting at a Michigan restaurant.
The location of Hoffa’s remains posed such a large amount of public curiosity that his fate has long been a pop culture reference point. Investigators have been tipped to search anywhere from suburban Detroit yards to the foundation of Giants Stadium, states away, in the effort to discover what happened to the missing man after his disappearance in 1975.
Now a field in Oakland Township, north of Detroit, is the latest potential resting place of Hoffa’s remains, following information from reputed gangster Tony Zerilli. When Hoffa was last seen outside the Machus Red Fox in the Detroit area, a massive search kicked off to find him, and then ultimately, his body.
Back in January and nearly 40 years after the fateful Red Fox meeting, Zerilli claimed that Hoffa was temporarily buried in a field in the area with the intent to move Hoffa’s remains once the heat died down.
And while many claims have been made about Hoffa’s remains in the nearly 40 years he’s been gone, police admitted Zerilli’s tale might check out this time. Generally, made men ain’t supposed to make statements, but Zerilli had a compelling motivation — at the time, he admitted:
“I’m dead broke. I got no money … My quality of life is zero.”
Even Hoffa experts deemed the tip possibly credible, and back then, retired FBI investigator Andrew Arena told the network:
“If anybody is going to know it’s going to be people like him. There was a select few in the inner circle. He would have been part of that inner circle.”
CNN confirms that Zerilli’s tip on Hoffa’s remains is the subject of the current search warrant executed on the location, saying:
“Agents on Monday morning were executing a search warrant for a field in Oakland Township, north of Detroit, based in part on information provided by Tony Zerilli, a man alleged to have been a mobster.”
Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said of the search:
“It’s my fondest hope that we can give that closure, not just to the Hoffa family, but also to the community.”
Despite the ongoing search for Hoffa’s remains, the union boss was declared officially dead in the early 80s.