Once upon a time, long ago, a man disappeared. Poof! He'd met up with some old friends for a late lunch, and was never seen or heard from again. His name was Jimmy Hoffa. He was an ex-con with ties to organized crime and he was the former president of one of the most powerful labor organizations in the U.S., the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. It happened in July, 1975. He was 62.
He'd started out as a labor organizer during the bleak days of the Great Depression, and earned a reputation for being tough and scrappy and street smart. He was popular with the rank and file, and was eventually elected President of the IBT in 1957. (His mentor, IBT president, Dave Beck, had been convicted of bribery and was on his way to prison.) Hoffa perfected some pretty rough tactics during his time as president and was scary powerful. By 1964, most freight haulers and truckers in North America were Teamsters, and, it is said, he was eyeing air transport.
During that same period, some of the Teamster locals had become little more than cash cows for organized crime, and the Teamster Pension Fund had bankrolled a number of mob -run operations in Las Vegas, The U.S Justice Department spent a lot of time and money trying to nail Hoffa, and in1964, he was finally convicted of bribing a grand juror, and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
In '71, President Nixon commuted his sentence with the stipulation that he stay away from the Teamsters for 10 years. But by '75, Hoffa had decided to challenge that stipulation and regain control of his union. And so he was invited to lunch at a restaurant in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, on July 30, 1975, by some old friends to discuss his future.
Ever since his disappearance, more than 30 years ago, there have been uncountable theories proposed about what might have happened,( most agreeing that Jimmy is dead), and many a crazy wild goose chase to find his remains. His body has been assumed, variously, to be part of the foundation of so many construction sites it's taken on the dimensions of a holy relic, with pieces everywhere. Then there's the usual New Jersey landfill theory, or the fact that Hoffa is now part of a car bumper.
Which brings us to Hidden Dreams. Seriously. I am not making this up. May, 2006, the FBI, who we all assumed was really busy with the War On Terror, got a tip about a horse farm. So on a beautiful spring day, they deployed between 40 and 50 agents. Yes. Between 40 and 50 agents, to a horse farm somewhere in Michigan for about two weeks, to look for the remains of a guy who disappeared 30 years ago.
Now, the Detroit News has finally ferreted out the cost of this enterprise from the U.S. Justice Department: $160,000 to replace a barn the FBI had to demolish while searching for remains; $24,741 for excavation; $18,270 for portable horse stalls; $5,418 in anthropological services; $680 for portable toilets, etc. You get the picture. The total bill was over $200,000. But that doesn't include the travel costs or the salaries of the 40 -50 agents involved in the dig. And FBI Director Mueller said he'd do it all again.
He'd started out as a labor organizer during the bleak days of the Great Depression, and earned a reputation for being tough and scrappy and street smart. He was popular with the rank and file, and was eventually elected President of the IBT in 1957. (His mentor, IBT president, Dave Beck, had been convicted of bribery and was on his way to prison.) Hoffa perfected some pretty rough tactics during his time as president and was scary powerful. By 1964, most freight haulers and truckers in North America were Teamsters, and, it is said, he was eyeing air transport.
During that same period, some of the Teamster locals had become little more than cash cows for organized crime, and the Teamster Pension Fund had bankrolled a number of mob -run operations in Las Vegas, The U.S Justice Department spent a lot of time and money trying to nail Hoffa, and in1964, he was finally convicted of bribing a grand juror, and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
In '71, President Nixon commuted his sentence with the stipulation that he stay away from the Teamsters for 10 years. But by '75, Hoffa had decided to challenge that stipulation and regain control of his union. And so he was invited to lunch at a restaurant in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, on July 30, 1975, by some old friends to discuss his future.
Ever since his disappearance, more than 30 years ago, there have been uncountable theories proposed about what might have happened,( most agreeing that Jimmy is dead), and many a crazy wild goose chase to find his remains. His body has been assumed, variously, to be part of the foundation of so many construction sites it's taken on the dimensions of a holy relic, with pieces everywhere. Then there's the usual New Jersey landfill theory, or the fact that Hoffa is now part of a car bumper.
Which brings us to Hidden Dreams. Seriously. I am not making this up. May, 2006, the FBI, who we all assumed was really busy with the War On Terror, got a tip about a horse farm. So on a beautiful spring day, they deployed between 40 and 50 agents. Yes. Between 40 and 50 agents, to a horse farm somewhere in Michigan for about two weeks, to look for the remains of a guy who disappeared 30 years ago.
Now, the Detroit News has finally ferreted out the cost of this enterprise from the U.S. Justice Department: $160,000 to replace a barn the FBI had to demolish while searching for remains; $24,741 for excavation; $18,270 for portable horse stalls; $5,418 in anthropological services; $680 for portable toilets, etc. You get the picture. The total bill was over $200,000. But that doesn't include the travel costs or the salaries of the 40 -50 agents involved in the dig. And FBI Director Mueller said he'd do it all again.
(Copyright, 2007)
1 comment:
Well said.
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