{"id":9005,"date":"2025-08-02T12:01:25","date_gmt":"2025-08-02T12:01:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/producers-notebook-tracking-the-fate-of-jimmy-hoffa\/"},"modified":"2025-08-02T12:01:25","modified_gmt":"2025-08-02T12:01:25","slug":"producers-notebook-tracking-the-fate-of-jimmy-hoffa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.euro-tv.ro\/news\/producers-notebook-tracking-the-fate-of-jimmy-hoffa\/","title":{"rendered":"Producer’s notebook: Tracking the fate of Jimmy Hoffa"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

In March of 2018, veteran producer Dan Cohen and I were handed a seemingly impossible assignment: Find out what happened to Jimmy Hoffa.\u00a0Our host would be Eric Shawn, the veteran Fox News senior correspondent known for his dogged and principled reporting. The project eventually became Riddle: The Search for James R. Hoffa<\/i>, a FOX Nation<\/a> documentary series that I naively assumed would be a one-off, some neat 50-minute story wrapped in the mystery and mythology of Detroit\u2019s labor history and the enduring enigma of Hoffa\u2019s 1975 disappearance. But I was wrong. And Eric made sure of that.<\/p>\n

What followed over the next seven years would become some of the most important work of my three-decade career in journalism.\u00a0That first spring and summer, we traveled to Detroit three times, tracking down former attorneys, reporters, experts and historians. We interviewed Charles Brandt, author of I Heard You Paint Houses<\/i>, pored over Temple University\u2019s photo archives and the heavily redacted HOFFEX memo, and even revisited the now-infamous house on Beaverland Street\u2014allegedly the site where mob hitman Frank Sheeran killed Hoffa. The result was a thoroughly researched, compelling first season. When FOX Nation<\/i>\u00a0launched in November 2018, we felt we had accomplished something meaningful. Yet, we knew there was more to do.<\/p>\n

JIMMY HOFFA\u2019S SON: WHO KILLED MY DAD, WHY, AND WHAT IT DID TO MY FAMILY<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Too many leads were unproven. Too many theories clashed. Too many families\u2014most notably the Hoffas\u2014still had no answers. And so, we kept digging.<\/p>\n

Eric\u2019s journalistic pedigree is no accident. This is the same reporter who landed exclusives with Bernhard Goetz and Joey Buttafuoco, who covered O.J. Simpson and John Gotti with the same tenacity he brought to this Hoffa investigation. He doesn\u2019t just follow a story\u2014he chases it down, interrogates it, and doesn\u2019t let go until the truth emerges.<\/p>\n

With producer Bud Knapp, we expanded our investigation beyond Detroit, entertaining the decades-old theory that Hoffa was transported to New Jersey and buried at Moscato\u2019s Dump in Jersey City. We interviewed the sons of the original dump owners\u2014Phil Moscato Jr. and Frank Cappola\u2014and followed their compelling claims that Hoffa was killed in Detroit, moved across state lines, and buried near the Pulaski Skyway. After all, it\u2019s what their fathers told them.<\/p>\n

We scoured Essex, Bergen, and Morris Counties in New Jersey, driving everywhere and interviewing anyone connected. We examined everything\u2014even a theory that he may be buried under a backyard pool in East Rutherford owned by Gabriel Briguglio, a 1975 New Jersey resident and the last living suspect with alleged mob connections.\u00a0By the end of Season 3 and 4 of Riddle<\/i>, Eric had dismantled several prominent theories, but kept the family\u2014Jimmy\u2019s children, James P. and Barbara\u2014updated, respectfully, as if our work might one day help bring them closure.<\/p>\n

JIMMY HOFFA’S FAMILY CALLS ON TRUMP TO RELEASE FBI FILES<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Then, something remarkable happened. In 2021, based on our reporting, the FBI conducted a dig under the Pulaski Skyway. I remember visiting the site myself before it made headlines, spotting disturbed ground and security cameras perched ominously above. The bureau confirmed to the press in June 2022 that a dig did in fact happen in October of 2021, but Hoffa was not found. While they found nothing, it was proof that our work was resonating.<\/p>\n

Still, we pressed on. Our research eventually exposed the weak foundation of the New Jersey theory, a theory that, in 1975, the Briguglio brothers, Sal and Gabe, as well as the Andrettas, Thomas and Steven, came to Detroit to murder Hoffa and make him disappear. Combing through our research, we realized that the theory was largely built on the word of convicted felon Ralph Picardo, a pathological liar serving time for manslaughter. His claims about the Briguglio and Andretta brothers were part of a desperate attempt to reduce his sentence, not credible evidence.<\/p>\n

And so, we turned back to Detroit.<\/p>\n

With help from Scott Burnstein of Gangster Report<\/i>, Eric led us back to where it all began. By Season 6, our investigation had cleared Gabriel Briguglio\u2019s name, casting doubt on author Dan Moldea\u2019s long-held assertions. Moldea, once the authoritative voice on the Hoffa case, had appeared to rely on the same faulty source\u2014Picardo. In our series Riddle<\/i>, he often stated that “<\/i>Picardo was state of the Art.<\/i>” We had the confidence to know that while it was smart for the FBI to follow that lead back in 1975, in 2025 it just didn\u2019t make sense anymore.<\/p>\n

Eric continued working, meticulously sifting through FBI files, cold leads, and firsthand interviews. Eventually, we sat down with the last living suspect, Gabriel Briguglio, who spoke candidly\u2014finally free of decades of suspicion. In early 2025, we achieved a milestone: finally chatting with the Hoffa family on a phone call that would ultimately lead to our interview with James P. Hoffa for Season 7.<\/p>\n

Fifty years after Jimmy Hoffa disappeared, we were face-to-face with his son James P. Hoffa, listening to the heartbreak and frustration only a family can feel. Eric\u2019s interview was respectful, pointed, and powerful. It wasn\u2019t about chasing headlines\u2014it was about chasing the truth. He asked the questions that mattered, because the story still matters. We felt a connection to James P. “<\/i>Fox has followed this all the way“,<\/i>\u00a0he said, aas if to give us the “OK”, to try and help them get some type of closure in this 50-year mystery. It was important to all of us in the room that day.<\/p>\n

This wasn\u2019t just a documentary. It was a mission\u2014one built on empathy, tenacity, and journalistic responsibility. Eric never lost sight of the human cost of this story. He never lost interest in the truth, and he never got discouraged, even when the trail went cold. He just kept going, because that\u2019s what good journalists do.<\/p>\n

From 2004, when he entered the Beaverland house to test floorboards for blood, to Season 7 of Riddle<\/i>, which is out on FOX Nation right now, Eric Shawn has been the soul of this investigation. The dignity, professionalism, and rigor he brought to this project is unmatched.<\/p>\n

So if you watch Riddle: The Search for James R. Hoffa<\/i>, don\u2019t just watch it for the mystery. Watch it to understand what true investigative journalism looks like.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

– FOX NEWS<\/p>\n

This article appeared on the website foxnews.com
\nThis article is taken based on Law no. 8\/1996 of Romania. News does not enjoy copyright, so they can be taken, this is our right to take news and information in its entirety and distribute them further. The content was made available to us through the rss mechanism
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In March of 2018, veteran producer Dan Cohen and I were handed a seemingly impossible assignment: Find out what happened to Jimmy Hoffa.\u00a0Our host would be Eric Shawn, the veteran Fox News senior correspondent known for his dogged and principled reporting. The project eventually became Riddle: The Search for James R. 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