New Lead in Jimmy Hoffa Case

I can remember when the name 'Jimmy Hoffa' was in the news just about every day. Not because of his disappearance, but because of all the allegations that the was a gangster and was suspected of La Cosa Nostra (by the way, that's Italian for "our thing") involvement.

Flash forward from the days when he was one of the most powerful labor leaders in history to July 30, 1975 when Hoffa just disappeared from the face of the earth. What happened to Hoffa and where was he "dumped' has been a subject of discussion for decades.

New leads in the mystery have surfaced recently and the search is on in the Oakland, Detroit area.

He was buried in a Detroit Driveway. He was chopped up and dumped into the Atlantic. He was buried in the end zone of Tiger Stadium. Speculation on the final "resting place' of Jimmy Hoffa has practically been a parlor game for decades. Now, a new lead in that case has surfaced.

The 'lead' in this decades-old mystery came from one Tony Zerilli who is the 85 year old son of a reputed Detroit wiseguy Joseph Zerilli. According to Tony Zerilli, Hoffa's body was dumped in Orange county following the kidnap and murder of Hoffa from the parking lot of the Machus Red Fox Restaurant back in 1975.

The question arises as to whether Zerilli is a reliable source or just another person looking for some ink. Well, according to Dan Moldea, author of the book "The Hoffa Wars", "This isn't some screwball.l He's the right man at the right time. His father would have had to sign off on this. The question is: Would his father or his father's associates have confided in him? I find it very possible that they did."

Moldea's assessment would certainly hold water since, Tony Zerilli would have been in his late 30's when all this went down and would certainly been a part of the "family business" at that age.

If I might inject the final note of irony in this story: Hoffa's middle name was "Riddle."