February 13, 1913
Last seen July 30, 1975

Racketeer and Gambler

Labor leader Jimmy Hoffa had a mutually beneficial, but unethical, relationship with the Mafia (Italian organized crime). He escaped fraud charges only to be convicted of jury tampering, a felony charge. After President Richard Nixon reduced his sentence, Hoffa was ordered to stay out of labor policy for the remainder of his original sentence. He was abducted on July 30, 1975, and declared dead in 1982. New evidence may result in the arrest of his murderers as early as 2003.

A tough young man

The third of four children, James Riddle Hoffa was born in Brazil, Indiana. His father, John Cleveland Hoffa, was a coalminer who died in 1922, when “Jimmy” was just a boy. Soon after she was widowed, his mother, Viola Riddle, moved her family to Clinton, Indiana. In 1924 the family moved to Detroit, Michigan.

In order to support his...