It turned out to be a promising clue to the location of the remains of Jimmy Hoffa, the boss of the Teamsters union who disappeared 47 years ago: the deathbed account of a man who claimed to have buried the body in a barrel with an excavator in Jersey. in Jersey City, New Jersey
But Thursday, the FBI announced that a nine-month investigation, including two visits to the site, had turned up nothing.
The search centered around a former garbage dump where the dying man, Paul Cappola Sr., claimed he buried Mr. Hoffa in 1975, shortly after the embattled labor leader disappeared in Michigan. Officers visited the site in October to conduct tests and again in June to dig for evidence.
“Nothing of evidence was found during that search,” said Special Agent Mara R. Schneider, a spokeswoman for the Detroit field office that led the investigation into Mr. Hoffa’s disappearance. “While we do not currently expect additional activity at the site, the FBI will continue to pursue viable lead in our efforts to locate Mr. Hoffa.”
In the summer of 1975, shortly after Mr. Hoffa’s disappearance, Paul Cappola was working at the former PJP landfill under the Pulaski Skyway with his son, Frank Cappola, who later said he remembered some men driving up and had a heated exchange with his father out of earshot.
Years later, in 2008, the elder Cappola, in serious health, told his son what had happened that day: The visitors said that Mr. Hoffa’s remains were being delivered to the landfill and that he would bury the body. They indicated exactly where to go.
But later, when the body arrived, Paul Cappola secretly changed the cemetery in the middle of the night, he told his son. He believed that the landfill, which had long been associated with organized crime, was under surveillance, so he chose a site but close by.
“My father, trusting no one, decided to dig a second hole with a company excavator and place Hoffa in that location,” Frank Cappola would later write in an affidavit.
In 2019, Frank Cappola first shared this account with journalist Dan Moldea, who has written extensively about Mr Hoffa since he disappeared. Mr Moldea said the story showed promise because of previous statements and tips about the landfill, and he forwarded the account to authorities.
Mr Moldea said on Thursday that he was disappointed with the investigation’s findings, but added a touch of intrigue to a yarn already rich in twists. He said a recent ground radar survey by a private company found disturbances and apparent objects below the surface of the ground near where the FBI was looking, but not the same spots. He said the data was recently forwarded to the FBI
“I am more than happy to accept this verdict,” he said on Thursday, “but there is a lingering issue that I believe remains unresolved. This is a stone that has not been turned.”
The Jersey City site is the latest in a decades-old string of failed searches for the missing union boss. Tips and clues suggesting he was buried in various locations in Michigan or under the former Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands also ended up with officers empty-handed.
