The Hoffa case: one of the unsolved mysteries of the twentieth century
One of the greatest puzzles in contemporary history is undoubtedly the "Hoffa case". The twentieth century was, without fear of denial, the century of unsolved cases, unsolved mysteries, great questions without truth. And the controversial facts are countless: the Kennedy case, the Moro case, the massacres, the strategy of tension, the death of Kennedy's brother, the murder of P. Mattarella, Joe Petrosino …
However, there is one case that more than any other has become over time a real puzzle, an enigma without solution, a real dilemma for historians and researchers from all over the world: the Hoffa case .
Probably the name of Hoffa will say very little to 99 percent of Italians, but in the United States, especially until about twenty years ago, the Hoffa case and the life of this figure were on everyone's lips.
Hoffa was, from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s, a leading figure in the United States and indelibly marked the history of that country. For a decade he was at the head of the Teamsters , the famous haulers' union, and also thanks to this long presidency he became one of the most powerful men in America.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s Hoffa was the number one enemy of the Kennedy brothers, JFK and Bobby and their rivalry became legendary.
Hoffa was, to be honest, an extremely controversial, obscure, complex, enigmatic figure. His life was a continuous succession of lights and shadows, of ups and downs, of successes and defeats, of valuable things and of facts that were questionable to say the least.
Historically proven was undoubtedly his long "friendship" with real Italian-American mafia bosses and with unsavory characters in general.
According to some historians, Hoffa also played a role in planning Kennedy's assassination – a theory, however, it must be said, never supported by evidence or proven in any way.
Multifaceted, histrionic, mysterious, occult, enigmatic, powerful, influential, divisive, Hoffa was in those years a character that half of America was discussing and, after his death, he entered by right into myth and legend.
The problem is precisely this … his "disappearance". Hoffa disappeared into thin air on July 30, 1975 and, from that moment, nothing more was known about him. That day, in Detroit, one of the greatest enigmas of all contemporary history, Western and perhaps not only, took place. Let us try to briefly explain what happened in that mischief July 30, 1975.
Hoffa, then 62, had been out of prison for about 4 years (Nixon had "kindly" given him 7 years in prison) and was about to take back the leadership of the Teamsters , a leadership he was forced to leave in 1967 due to "force majeure" (in that year he went to prison).
On that day Hoffa had an appointment with two men linked to the mafia ( the Genovese family to be precise) and these two individuals answered the name of Tony Giacalone and Tony Provenzano. Hoffa had to clarify some situations with them and they therefore decided to meet in the early afternoon at the parking lot of the "Red Fox" , a refined and elegant restaurant of the time.
Hoffa was seen, by some witnesses, in that parking lot for the last time around 14.45… then… nothing. He was as if swallowed up and no one knew anything more about him.
This case has been brought to the fore in recent times by Scorsese's splendid film “The Irishaman” (2019), a film in which the role of ours is (beautifully) played by Al Pacino.
Scorsese's work shows how Hoffa is killed by a certain person (I do not reveal his identity so as not to spoil the surprise for those who have not yet seen him), however the "reconstruction" staged by the Italian-American filmmaker perplexed and the historical veracity of this “version” was questioned by many.
In these 46 years everything and the opposite of everything has been said about Hoffa's disappearance, about the real reasons for the murder, about the instigators and about the identity of the killer. Hundreds of theories, inferences, hypotheses, suggestions, fantasies, declarations have characterized the complex research work on this obscure and disturbing case.
Three are the great authors / scholars who in recent years have provided the most robust, serious and rigorous hypotheses ever and these respond to the name of D. Moldea, A. Sloane and J. Goldsmith. Among the three, the most authoritative is Dan E. Moldea, a man who dedicated 46 years of his life to the "Hoffa case".
In his wonderful “The Hoffa Wars” (1978) he describes the whole story in a sumptuous and hyperdocumented way, explaining every single detail. In the opinion of the writer, Moldea's research represents the most precise, correct, truthful, rigorous and documented there is in circulation on that dramatic and mysterious story. For the record Moldea identifies in the person of S. Briguglio, a mafia killer, the material perpetrator of the Hoffa crime.
The post The Hoffa case: one of the unsolved mysteries of the twentieth century appeared first on Atlantico Quotidiano .
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Atlantico Quotidiano at the URL http://www.atlanticoquotidiano.it/quotidiano/il-caso-hoffa-uno-dei-misteri-insoluti-del-novecento/ on Sat, 12 Jun 2021 03:51:00 +0000.