Tagged: Jimmy Hoffa

A search for ex-Teamster boss Jimmy Hoffa was called off this afternoon, Joseph Lichterman of Reuters reported. 

On Monday, authorities from the FBI began digging in Oakland Township, MI in search of Hoffa's body. Anthony Zerrili, an 85-year-old alleged mobster tipped off the agency, saying that Hoffa had been hit with a shovel and buried alive in a field near Detroit. 

We didn’t have an early spring this year, but it looks like an early summer. I say that because while it is still technically spring, the authorities are already engaged in what has been a late summer Michigan ritual, digging up a field to look for Jimmy Hoffa.

Usually, it strikes me as strange that this case still gets so much attention, but this year we’ve been so overwhelmed with news from Detroit that we probably need a little escape.

Here we go again.

The backhoe has been working away in a Michigan field surrounded by news trucks, satellite trucks and the breathless attention of local, national, and even overseas reporters.

It's yet another search for Jimmy Hoffa.

Federal agents revived the hunt for the remains of the Teamster president this week, bringing heavy excavation equipment to a field in Oakland Township, north of Detroit.

This time, the tip comes from an aging reputed Mafia captain.

Mr. Hoffa was supposed to be meeting with a New Jersey teamsters boss and a Detroit Mafia boss when he vanished in the summer of 1975 from a Detroit-area restaurant.

So 38 years later, why does anyone still care about where Jimmy Hoffa's body is buried? 

Michigan Radio’s political analyst Jack Lessenberry joined us today in the studio.

Listen to the full interview above.

It wouldn't be summer without a search for Jimmy Hoffa. We spoke with Michigan Radio's Jack Lessenberry about why we're still fascinated by the Hoffa disappearance all these years later.

And, we talked about the huge economic changes to mid-America with the author of the new book, "Nothin' But Blue Skies: the Heyday, Hard Times, and Hopes of America's Industrial Heartland."

And, Donna Posont, the director of Opportunities Unlimited for the Blind, joined us to discuss her group’s new project, Michigan Birdbrains.

Also, a diver found a bottle containing a message from nearly 100 years ago at the bottom of the St. Clair River. He joined us to talk about his discovery.

First on the show, the term “economy” is used constantly in news stories or opinion pieces about Michigan, its trials and tribulations, its budding recovery.

But John Austin would like to get us all thinking about the "blue economy," the one that is based on the Great Lakes and water-related industry.

John is the director of the Michigan Economic Center, which is affiliated with the Prima Civitas Foundation, and he joined us in the studio today.

Update 6/19: 

The search is over, Reuters reported this afternoon. FBI officials left the field in Oakland Township without a body.  

Update 4:25 p.m.:

Detroit News reporter Tony Briscoe is tweeting live from the dig.

Here we go again. There are choppers flying over filming the dig this time. From WXYZ TV:

DETROIT (AP) - A man who believes he knows where Jimmy Hoffa was buried says he's been interviewed three times by federal authorities since stepping forward in January.

Tony Zerilli tells Detroit TV station WDIV that the FBI has enough information for a search warrant to dig in Oakland County. He says he answered every question from agents and prosecutors.

The FBI declined to comment Monday.