Jimmy Hoffa and Las Vegas Connections

For more than 30 years the disappearance of Teamster boss Jimmy Hoffa has remained a mystery.  Oh there have been rumors and Elvis like sitings but nothing has ever come to fruition.  Even last spring they dug up a Michiagn farm looking or his body.  For as long as I can remember the rumors abound that he was buried between the goal posts at Giants Stadium.

A new book out called "I Heard You Paint Houses" by Charles Brandt.  Brandt was Frank "the Irishman" Sheerhan's long time friend and lawyer.  Sheerhan said you don't just say your going out to whack some guy, you say you are going to paint a house. (blood on the walls maybe?)  Sheerhan killed people for mob boss and kingpin Russell Bufalino 25-30 hits in all.

Dying of cancer, Sheerhan told his story to Brandt. The story of Jimmy Hoffa and the day he died, how it happen, why it happened and what happened to Jimmy's body.

You might say that the murder of Jimmy Hoffa began and ended in Las Vegas.  Hoffa was killed because of mob activities on the Las Vegas Strip, and it is likely the only person still alive with personal knowledge of Jimmy's death is someone who lives in a quiet neighborhood in Las Vegas.

It is said that Hoffa was not controlled by the mafia, but he was beholden to them.  They were instrumental in helping him land the Teamster presidency.  When Jimmy went to prison, his successor Frank Fitzsimmions was under Mafia control and did what he was told.  Making sure that the loans from the pensions were available for the Las Vegas casinos.  Hoffa was a threat to that and in July of 1975 he vanished forever.

Stan Hunterton of the Detroit Strike Force ran up against a brick wall, they knew he had gone to a certain restaurant and picked up in a certain car supposedly to attend a meeting with Mafia figures Tony Giacalone and Tony Provenzano and that is where their trail went cold.  Hunterton and his team were sure that it was a mob hit and during the investigation they sent to jail over 30 mob figures for crimes unrealated to Hoffa.  Even Frank Sheerhan who went to prison for 32 years for racketeering.  He always was the prime suspect but never broke under their investigation.  The team had the car and forensic evidence from the house, but could never break anyone to tell them what happened.  Hunterton does say that the confession fits pretty much what they felt happened.

So what did happen to Jimmy's body?

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