(WWJ) - It seems like Michiganders can't go too long without a good Jimmy Hoffa headline and with the recent unidentified bodies unearthed from watery graves in Lake Mead, there has been a renewed social media interest in mob culture and in Hoffa's unsolved disappearance from the mid-1970s.
According to Fox 6, the internet has blown up with speculation related to the infamous head of the Teamsters union after shoes from one of two bodies — recently unearthed from a drought-stricken reservoir on the Nevada-Arizona border — dated back to 1975 to 1980.
Police said in that case, the unidentified man had died from a gunshot wound and stuffed in a barrel which Geoff Schumacher, vice president of The Mob Museum in Las Vegas, said is "signature for a mob hit."
Las Vegas — a mere 30 minute drive west of the reservoir— has a violent and colorful history with the mob who founded the famous strip; central figures who called Sin City home included Benjamin "Bugsy" Segal, Moe Dalitz and Meyer Lansky.
Related
The city's mob history has come full-force over the discovery of the two bodies since May 1 at Lake Mead. Authorities said drought conditions exposed the bones along the shoreline where recreationists were able to spot them.
As reported by Fox 6, the remains have not been identified by authorities and the internet theories connecting the bodies at Lake Mead to Hoffa's unsolved disappearance are strictly social media conjecture.
But it still begs the question: Who killed Hoffa and where is his final resting place?
At the peak of his power in 1975 and almost 2,000 miles away from Lake Mead, Hoffa was seen emerging from the Red Fox restaurant in Bloomfield Hills between 2:30 and 3 p.m. on July 30.
Hoffa reportedly met with reputed Detroit mob enforcer Anthony "Tony Jack" Giacalone and alleged New Jersey mob figure Anthony "Tony Pro" Provenzano.
He was never seen or heard from again.
In the wake of Hoffa's disappearance, 50 witnesses were called before a federal grand jury, but no charges were ever brought and his case remains one of America's most iconic mysteries.
Dozens of digs have turned out to be a waste of time. Ranches, farms, driveways on both the east and west sides of the metro area were dug up in search of Hoffa's resting place.
Related
As recently as November of 2021, an informant for a member of "Tony Pro's" New Jersey mob crew led the FBI to a mob-connected toxic waste dump under the Pulaski Skyway in Jersey City; while the investigation was yet another dead end, there is one bit of information the informant gave that is turning heads in 2022.
According to the FBI, the informant said Hoffa was shot and his body stuffed inside a 55-gallon drum.
So, could there be a connection to the body found in a rusted out barrel on Lake Mead?
“I’m relatively sure it was not Jimmy Hoffa,” former Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman said Monday via the Associated Press.
Goodman served as a defense attorney who represented Mafia figures including ill-fated Anthony “Tony the Ant” Spilotro before serving three terms as a martini-toting mayor who made public appearances with a showgirl on each arm, the AP reported.
However, Goodman added, a lot of his former clients seemed interested in “climate control” — mob speak for keeping the Lake Mead's water level up and bodies down in their watery graves.
The enigma and internet interest surrounding the man found in the barrel has prompted Las Vegas resident and philanthropist Justin Woo to offer funding to DNA test the remains, as reported by the Review Journal.
While the connection between the newly discovered body and Hoffa's disappearance remains loose, the abundant theories stating that the former Teamster boss is ground up in a Florida swamp or buried under the Giants Stadium in New Jersey doesn't make the Lake Mead connection very far-fetched.
It does, however, remain a mystery.
“There’s no telling what we’ll find in Lake Mead,” Goodman said. “It’s not a bad place to dump a body.”