DETROIT – Chuckie O’Brien, a close associate of Jimmy Hoffa, has died at age 86 at his home in Florida, according to O’Brien’s stepson Jack Goldsmith.
To Chuckie O’Brien, Hoffa was more than a father figure. Chuckie O’Brien became Hoffa’s driver and confidant. On July 30, Hoffa went to a lunch meeting with mob leaders at the Red Fox Restaunt on Telegraph Road. The mob stood him up, Hoffa waited an hour and a half and was last seen getting in a car with three other men. The FBI belive Chuckie O’Brien was driving.
But Chuckie O’Brien had an alabi, delivering a salmon to teamster official Bobby Holmes. Later police K-9′s found Hoffa’s scent in the suspect car along with hair. Chuckie O’Brien went before a grand jury and pleaded the fifth.
Chuckie O’Brien’s son, Jack Goldsmith, teaches at Harvard and wrote a book about his father. The book asserts he had nothing to do with Hoffa’s death and then points out the FBI knew he didn’t have any involvement and never charged him with anything.
Chuckie O’Brien was 86 years old when he died.
Related: Is Jimmy Hoffa really buried under the Renaissance Center?
Rise and fall of Jimmy Hoffa: Listen to all of ‘Shattered’ podcast Season 4 now
When you hear the name Jimmy Hoffa, you probably think of the former Teamster boss’ iconic disappearance, but his story is much more than a murder mystery.
It’s about power, loyalty, betrayal, organized labor and organized crime. It’s a story about how far people will go to get what they want.
Once you start looking into Hoffa, you find yourself down a rabbit hole of dark tunnels. You look at the Teamsters Union and end up at Richard Nixon, Bobby Kennedy and the JFK assassination. All of these roads lead back to Hoffa’s obsession with power.
There was nothing he wouldn’t do to have it, and hold onto it, and once he lost everything, how far would he go to get it back?