FBI begins digging Michigan field in search for Jimmy Hoffa after former mafia leader says he know where union leader is buried
- Claims Hoffa buried in field 20 miles from diner where he was last seen
- Feds say mobster claim is the most interesting yet
By MICHAEL ZENNIE PUBLISHED: 14:54 GMT, 17 June 2013 | UPDATED: 10:25 GMT, 18 June 2013
FBI agents have today begun digging up a field in Oakland Township, Michigan, after an aging mob leader claimed that Jimmy Hoffa was buried there. The excavation site is 20 miles north of the restaurant where the powerful labor leader was last seen in July 1975. Former Detroit underboss Anthony Zerilli, 85, has said Hoffa was murdered by mobsters who dumped his body in a shallow grave. The eastern Michigan field is only the latest place federal agents have looked for the remains of the Teamsters Union president. His disappearance without a trace remains one of the biggest crime mysteries in American history. Previous searches have included the suburban Detroit home a former mob enforcer and an eastern Michigan horse farm. It has also been claimed Hoffa's remains are entombed beneath the former Giants Stadium in New Jersey and beneath the headquarters of General Motors.
Full-scale: FBI agents have set up shop in a field that was once owned by a top mafia figure. They believe Jimmy Hoffa could be buried in a shallow grave here
Search: Federal agents can be seen cutting down the tall grass in the field where they were told Hoffa's remains are buried
Full force: Dozens of cars line the grassy field where FBI agents began searching for Hoffa's body
WDIV-TV reports federal agents received a search warrant for the property after conducting 'extensive' interviews with Zerilli.Authorities say they are hopeful that the tip from Zerilli, who is the son of one of Detroit's most powerful mob bosses, could finally bring closure to the case after nearly four decades. The property was owned in 1975 by Jack Tocco, Zerilli's cousin, who reportedly became head of the Detroit mafia after Hoffa vanished.
A house and barn used to stand on the land, though both building were later torn down. Zerilli says Hoffa was taken to the property after meeting with two organized crime figures at the Macus Red Fox Restaurant in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. The mob insider said he was told by a mob enforcer that Hoffa, 62, was executed on the property and then buried.
Hunt for Hoffa: The field where FBI agents are searching is 20 miles north of the suburban Detroit restaurant where he was last seen in 1975
Mob royalty: Tony Zerilli, 85, was the second in command of the Detroit mafia before he was indicted and sent to prison. Now, he says, he's 'dead broke'
Turncoat? Zerilli, seen here in his federal prison photo, has told the FBI to look on property once owned by his cousin, who was the head of the Detroit mafia
The mafia initially planned to move the body to a hunting lodge upstate, but police pressure became so intense after Hoffa's disappearance that 'once he was buried here he was buried and they let it go,' Zerilli told WDIV in an interview in January. Zerilli and his cousin Tocco, led the organized crime families in Detroit until 1996, when both were indicted on racketeering charges. He was sent to prison in 2002 and released in 2008.
'Clearly when he returned [from prison] he would’ve been a person, based on his position in the hierarchy, who would have been able to learn the facts and circumstances surrounding the disappearance of James Earl Hoffa,' said Corbett.Despite being mob royalty, Zerilli says he is now 'dead broke.' When he went to Tocco and asked for money, he said, Tocco refused.
Now, Zerilli is writing a book about the Detroit Partnership - the Motor City's mafia. 'The bureau had a short list of people they wanted to talk to about that and I can’t think of anybody on that list who was more highly placed then Anthony Zerilli,' Corbett told WDIV in January. 'This is certainly the most interesting and attractive lead that has come up since I’ve been involved with this - and I think the bureau would react the same way.'
Fanning out: Federal agents spread out across the property. There is no telling how much of the field they will have to excavate
It's unknown how long the FBI will have to search the property to determine whether or not Hoffa is buried there
Jimmy Hoffa waves to delegates at the opening of the Teamsters Union convention at Miami Beach, Florida in 1957'I think the interesting thing about the Hoffa disappearance was that it was compartmentalized to only a few people, ' Arena said. 'They kept that thing quiet.'But now Mr Zerilli wants to set the record straight about what happened to Hoffa -- and to make a few bucks (he has a book in the works).
He denies ever being in the mafia or having anything to do with Hoffa's disappearance.
'What happened to Hoffa had nothing to do with me in any way, shape or form,' Zerilli said.The feds, however, are convinced that Zerilli knows what happened.
