Skip to main content
Open Main Menu Navigation
Open Search
Cloudy icon
24
º
Go to the WDIV homepage
Join Insider
Sign In
Open the WDIV ClickOnDetroit Help Desk
Search
News
Watch Live
Local News
Traffic
National
World
Entertainment
Travel
Health
Decision 2024
Politics
Elections
Community
Local 4+
Watch Local 4+
A Conversation With
What's In That Garage
Detroit Sports+
Live in the D
Help Me Hank
Investigations
Flashpoint
Tasty Tuesday
Solutionaries
TV Listings
NEXTGEN TV
MeTV Detroit
Weather
Weather News
Alerts
MIPics
School Closings
Forecasting Change
Sports
Detroit Sports+
Lions
Lions Stats
Tigers
Tigers Stats
Red Wings
Red Wings Stats
Pistons
Pistons Stats
Wolverines
Spartans
Olympics
4Frenzy
Features
Go 4 It
Watch Local 4+
Parade
Events Calendar
Vote 4 The Best
4YI
MIPics
All 4 Pets
Brag Book
Money Minute
Sunshine Awards
In The D
In Your Neighborhood
Food
Contests & Rules
Live In The D
Dine In The D
Click On Deals
Couch Club
What's The Buzz
Events Live Guide
Ann Arbor
Headlines
Topics
Sports
Events
Ann Arbor Weather
Get Involved
Contact Us
Help Center
Meet The Team
Careers at WDIV
Advertise with us
Newsletters
News
Local 4+
Weather
Sports
Features
Live In The D
Ann Arbor
Contact Us
Newsletters
News
Local 4+
Weather
Sports
Features
Live In The D
Ann Arbor
Contact Us
Newsletters
Close
News
Gallery: The Hoffa disappearance 'cast of characters'
Published:
October 16, 2019 at 4:07 AM
Tags:
News
,
Jimmy Hoffa
Full Screen
1 / 28
Previous photo
Next photo
No description found
No description found
No description found
No description found
Josephine Hoffa: Jimmy Hoffa's wife. Likely among the last people to speak to Hoffa. According to the FBI HOFFEX Memo, she received a phone call from her husband at 2:15 p.m. on July 30. She died in 1980.
James P. Hoffa: Jimmy Hoffa's son was vacationing in Traverse City when his father disappeared. According to the FBI's HOFFEX Memo, James Hoffa was "cooperative and provided information regarding activities of [Jimmy Hoffa]." The younger Hoffa was elected Teamsters president in 1998. He continues to serve in the office his father had held.
Barbara Crancer: Hoffa's daughter, seen here with her father, was living in St. Louis with her husband and child at the time of his disappearance. She later went to law school and became a Missouri judge.
No description found
Chuckie O'Brien: The one-time Hoffa protege was, according to the FBI's HOFFEX Memo, "[w]ell known by Teamsters officials and Detroit La Cosa Nostra." O'Brien claimed to have seen Hoffa on July 30 in the Red Fox parking lot. He denied any role in Hoffa's disappearance. According to the FBI: "He is known as a habitual liar." He reportedly lives in Florida. (AP Photo)
Tony Giacalone: The FBI's HOFFEX Memo called Giacalone a "Detroit La Cosa Nostra lieutenant and street boss." Hoffa was at the Mauchus Red Fox on July 30 believing he and Giacalone were to have a lunch meeting. Giacalone denied any such meeting was to take place. He spent the afternoon at the Southfield Athletic Club. Giacalone died in 2001.
Vito Giacalone: Tony Giacalone's brother and, according to the FBI's HOFFEX Memo, a "Detroit La Cosa Nostra lieutenant." The FBI believes he was with his brother on July 26, 1975 "when meeting set with [Jimmy Hoffa] for July 30, 1975. He died in 2012.
Raffaele "Jimmy Q" Quasarano: Because of "violent activities in the past," FBI sources considered Quasarano "to be involved in actual murder" of Hoffa. He died in 2001. (image courtesy of Gangster Report and "Killing Jimmy Hoffa")
Paul Vitale: The HOFFEX Memo listed Vitale (left) as a "known Detroit La Cosa Nostra member. Sources told the FBI he was an associate of Quasarano (right). He was believed to be involved in Hoffa's disappearance in Quasarano was. (image courtesy of Gangster Report and "Killing Jimmy Hoffa")
Rolland McMaster was the former Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 299 in Detroit under both Hoffa and Frank Fitzsimmons. According to the FBI, McMaster was "suspect in numerous acts of violence within the Teamsters Union." The year before he died at age 93 in 2007, investigators searched his Milford farm but didn't find the body.
Tony Provenzano: "New Jersey La Cosa Nostra member and Teamsters Local 560 officer" at the time of Hoffa's disappearance, Provenzano (right) is photographed here with Jimmy Hoffa. The two served time together in Lewisburg Penitentiary where, the FBI reports, they had a "falling out." Provenzano was later convicted of murder and racketeering. He died in prison in 1988 at age 71.
Sal Briguglio: According to the HOFFEX Memo, Briguglio was a "trusted associated" of Provenzano and "reported by Newark source to be involved in actual disappearance." Briguglio was gunned down in New York's Little Italy in 1978.
Stephen Andretta, Thomas Andretta, Gabe Briguglio: According to the FBI's HOFFEX Memo, all three men were "trusted associate[s] of "TONY PRO." A "Newark source" told the FBI that all three were "involved in the actual disappearance of [Jimmy Hoffa]."
Frank Sheeran: Sheeran was president of Teamsters Local 326 in Delaware and long-time Hoffa ally. The FBI's HOFFEX Memo described him as a "known associate of RUSSEL BUFALINO, La Cosa Nostra Chief, Eastern Pennsylvania." The FBI believed his was in Detroit area at the time of Hoffa's disappearance. Before he died in 2003, Sheeran confessed to killing Hoffa.
No description found
Louis Linteau, far right, was a former Teamster official and owner of Airport Service Lines in Pontiac. A friend of Hoffa, Linteau claims Hoffa called him at 3:30 p.m. on July 30 to say Giacalone didn't show for their meeting. Linteau's business associated Cynthia Green (not pictured) corroborated some of Linteau's statements to the FBI but didn't always agree with the times and dates Linteau provided. (Image courtesy of Reuther Library Wayne State)
Joey Giacalone: Tony Giacalone's son. According to the FBI HOFFEX Memo, the younger Giacalone was "not known to be Detroit La Cosa Nostra member." However, Joey Giacalone lent his car, a burgundy 1975 Mercury, to Chuckie O'Brien that afternoon. DNA tests conducted in 2001 on a strand of hair found in the car conclude that the hair belonged to Jimmy Hoffa.
Marvin Adell was described by the FBI as a "wealthy Detroit industrialist." Adell allowed Chuckie O'Brien to live at his house. The week of Hoffa's disappearance, Adell was giving O'Brien a ride to the Machus Red Fox parking lot where he would wait for a ride to his office downtown.
Frank Fitzsimmons: A one-time Hoffa ally and Hoffa's hand-picked successor to lead the Teamsters while he was in prison, Fitzsimmons (left) did not want to relinquish power to his old boss. By 1975, according to the FBI HOFFEX Memo, Fitzsimmons was "reported enemy of [Jimmy Hoffa]." He died in 1981.
Joseph Bane, Jr.: President of Teamster Local 614 in Pontiac at the time of Hoffa's disappearance. According to the FBI, Bane was a close friend of Linteau but not particularly close to Hoffa. Bane "spent first week after the disappearance at [Hoffa] residence." He died in 2010.
Robert Holmes was a Teamsters business agent. He was a personal friend of Chuckie O'Brien. He picked up O'Brien at the Machus Red Fox parking lot and drove him to work during the week of Hoffa's disappearance.
Tony Zerilli: In 1976, the FBI HOFFEX Memo listed Zerilli as the "current underboss who reportedly runs Detroit La Cosa Nostra." He was in prison at the time of Hoffa's disappearance. Zerilli has since both denied being a member of organized crime and claimed Hoffa wouldn't have been killed in 1975 if he wasn't in prison at the time. However, according to the FBI: "Sources indicate no Detroit hit would be made without his approval." Zerilli died in April 2015.
Joseph Zerilli:While described as the "boss of Detroit La Cosa Nostra" in the FBI's HOFFEX Memo, the feds also claimed that Zerilli was "reported to be senile" by the mid-1970s. Said to have helped found the notorious Purple Gang, Zerilli was at one time considered among the most powerful mafia bosses outside of New York's Five Families. He died in 1977.
Jack Tocco: Described by the FBI HOFFEX Memo as a "Detroit La Cosa Nostra lieutenant." The FBI believed he oversaw day-to-day mafia operations in 1975 because Tony Zerilli was in prison. Tocco was convicted on RICO charges in the late-1990s and served time in federal prison. He died in 2014.