Nation: FBI passes off Jimmy Hoffa case to Michigan authorities

http://www.nandotimes.com/nation/story/333439p-2783982c.html ^ | March 29 2002 | The Associated Press

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

Nation: FBI passes off Jimmy Hoffa case to Michigan authorities

The Associated Press

DETROIT (March 29, 2002 9:30 p.m. EST) - The FBI announced Friday it will refer its findings in the nearly 27-year-old disappearance of former Teamsters President James R. Hoffa to local prosecutors for possible state charges.

No federal charges will be filed for now, though they may if more information is uncovered, said Special Agent Dawn Clenney of the FBI's Detroit office.

"The FBI will continue the investigation of the Hoffa case. We will run down every lead as we have in the past," Clenney said. "We think there is a possibility that the state can pursue charges."

FBI agents hope to meet with Oakland County Prosecutor David Gorcyca to review the case and discuss whether state charges apply, Clenney said.

Gorcyca did not immediately return messages seeking comment, but he told The Detroit News he must review every criminal case "whether the person's last name is Hoffa or Jones."

Gorcyca said he couldn't speculate on the likelihood that his office would bring charges.

On Thursday, John Bell, special agent in charge of the FBI's Detroit bureau, told The Detroit News the federal case was stymied because of the time elapsed since Hoffa disappeared from a restaurant parking lot July 30, 1975.

Clenney, who spoke Friday on Bell's behalf, declined to elaborate.

Bell's comments followed the FBI release of 1,330 pages from its investigative file to the News. Clenney said the timing of the release and the comments on federal charges were coincidental.

The released documents showed the case still was active as of January, when investigators were pursuing leads in Baltimore and Indianapolis.

The FBI turned over the entire 3,432 pages from its file to U.S. District Judge Victoria A. Roberts in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. The judge will decide what other material, if any, should be released to the public.

The case returned to the limelight in September, when the News reported DNA evidence placed Hoffa in a car that investigators had long suspected, but were never able to prove, was used in the disappearance.

The DNA from Hoffa's hair matched that of a strand of hair found in a borrowed 1975 Mercury Marquis Brougham driven by longtime Hoffa friend Charles "Chuckie" O'Brien the last day Hoffa was seen alive, the report said.

O'Brien told investigators in 1975 he borrowed the car, owned by the son of reputed Mafia figure Anthony Giacalone, to deliver a frozen salmon to Robert Holmes, then president of Teamsters Local 337.

The delivery was near the restaurant where Hoffa was supposed to meet with Giacalone and New Jersey Teamsters boss and underworld associate Anthony Provenzano. Neither showed up. Both said no meeting was scheduled.

O'Brien has denied having anything to do with Hoffa's disappearance.

Teamsters President James P. Hoffa, the late union leader's son, declined comment, a union spokesman said.

Hoffa's daughter, Barbara Ann Crancer, a municipal judge in St. Louis, said the FBI volunteered to mail her a copy of the newly released documents.

"I don't see this as an ending. I see this as the FBI washing their hands of the situation," Crancer said Friday. "I plan a wait-and-see attitude until I've been able to see the FBI report and analyze what it contains."

[aristeides]

Dubya doing a little favor for James P. Hoffa?

Did Jimmy Hoffa disappear when he did because he lost White House protection with the fall of Richard Nixon?

[OwenKellogg]

I've got a close friend in the Oakland County prosecutor's office. I'll try to get an update this weekend.

[Kermit]

Posted here, but no one was interested. I thought it'd get a bigger reaction.

[Atchafalaya]

He is part of the fish that they eat up there. What a thought.

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

Hmmm I wonder why it didnt come up in a search?

[Sonny M]

Dubya knows that if he gets a conviction in the Hoffa case, he's got Hoffa's endorsement in 2004. The teamsters generally go dem's, and Hoffa is a Dem, but he's not partisian, he goes to whatever he feels is in the teamsters best interest and isn't afraid to bite down on dems.

[Elle Bee]

Teamsters generally go GOP ..... It was only under Government stooge Ron Carey & his merry band of thieving commies that the IBT went dem .........Bubba owned the cops

Mary Jo White's Tenure in the Southern District of New York ~ Capital Research Center

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[Elle Bee]

Fiz hired Chuck Colsen as IBT Genereal Counsel and the deal to slip James R. out of prison (while quietly barring him from the union) was cut. Fitz betrayed James Riddle Hoffa because th boys didn't want Hoffa back as he had begun to toss them from the union and pension funds

Giacalone and Provenzano used that weasel 'Chuckie' to set him up ..... the feds have never tried too hard in this case

there is still animus left over in Justice & FBI from Bobby Kennedy's 'Get Hoffa Squad'.

They tried Hoffa in Mempis and only got him for allegedly tampering with a juror (they rolled a business agent for immuinity)

Key Figures in Hoffa Saga

Friday, September 7, 2001

By The Detroit News, © Copyright 2001

Anthony "Tony Pro" Provenzano:
The FBI identified Provenzano as a former mob crew leader in the Genovese crime family. Hoffa was to meet Provenzano at the Machus Red Fox restaurant the day he vanished. Provenzano never appeared at the meeting, but allegedly masterminded the Hoffa killing, according to the FBI. Provenzano was convicted in 1978 of murder and extortion in a case unrelated to the Hoffa disappearance and died in prison in 1988 at age 71.

Anthony "Tony Jack" Giacalone:
Detroit mobster Giacalone allegedly arranged the Machus Red Fox meeting. He denied any involvement in the disappearance. In 1976, Giacalone was convicted of income tax evasion and served 10 years in prison. In 1996, he was charged with racketeering, but died last February at age 82 before the case was tried.

Salvatore "Sally Bugs" Briguglio:
Briguglio was one of the FBI's prime suspects in the killing of Hoffa. Briguglio was killed March 21, 1978, as he walked on a street in New York's Little Italy district. Two assassins shot Briguglio, 48, multiple times in the head and chest. No one was arrested for the slaying.

Gabriel Briguglio:
He was a brother of Salvatore and a former vice-president of a New Jersey Teamsters local. The FBI believes he was present when Hoffa was killed, an accusation Gabriel Briguglio denied. He was paroled in 1983 after he served seven years in prison for racketeering and extortion.

Thomas Andretta:
The FBI believes he witnessed Hoffa's killing. A Teamsters business agent, Andretta denied any knowledge of the Hoffa disappearance. He later was sentenced to a 20-year prison term on a racketeering conviction.

.

[Elle Bee]

Key Figures in Hoffa Saga


By The Detroit News, © Copyright 2001

   Anthony "Tony Pro" Provenzano: The FBI identified Provenzano as a former mob crew leader in the Genovese crime family. Hoffa was to meet Provenzano at the Machus Red Fox restaurant the day he vanished. Provenzano never appeared at the meeting, but allegedly masterminded the Hoffa killing, according to the FBI. Provenzano was convicted in 1978 of murder and extortion in a case unrelated to the Hoffa disappearance and died in prison in 1988 at age 71.

   Anthony "Tony Jack" Giacalone: Detroit mobster Giacalone allegedly arranged the Machus Red Fox meeting. He denied any involvement in the disappearance. In 1976, Giacalone was convicted of income tax evasion and served 10 years in prison. In 1996, he was charged with racketeering, but died last February at age 82 before the case was tried.

   Salvatore "Sally Bugs" Briguglio: Briguglio was one of the FBI's prime suspects in the killing of Hoffa. Briguglio was killed March 21, 1978, as he walked on a street in New York's Little Italy district. Two assassins shot Briguglio, 48, multiple times in the head and chest. No one was arrested for the slaying.

   Gabriel Briguglio: He was a brother of Salvatore and a former vice-president of a New Jersey Teamsters local. The FBI believes he was present when Hoffa was killed, an accusation Gabriel Briguglio denied. He was paroled in 1983 after he served seven years in prison for racketeering and extortion.

   Thomas Andretta: The FBI believes he witnessed Hoffa's killing. A Teamsters business agent, Andretta denied any knowledge of the Hoffa disappearance. He later was sentenced to a 20-year prison term on a racketeering conviction.

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