Producer’s notebook: Tracking the fate of Jimmy Hoffa

In March of 2018, veteran producer Dan Cohen and I were handed a seemingly impossible assignment: Find out what happened to Jimmy Hoffa. Our host would be Eric Shawn, the veteran Fox News senior correspondent known for his dogged and principled reporting. The project eventually became Riddle: The Search for James R. Hoffa, a FOX Nation documentary series that I naively assumed would be a one-off, some neat 50-minute story wrapped in the mystery and mythology of Detroit’s labor history and the enduring enigma of Hoffa’s 1975 disappearance. But I was wrong. And Eric made sure of that.

What followed over the next seven years would become some of the most important work of my three-decade career in journalism. That first spring and summer, we traveled to Detroit three times, tracking down former attorneys, reporters, experts and historians. We interviewed Charles Brandt, author of I Heard You Paint Houses, pored over Temple University’s photo archives and the heavily redacted HOFFEX memo, and even revisited the now-infamous house on Beaverland Street—allegedly the site where mob hitman Frank Sheeran killed Hoffa. The result was a thoroughly researched, compelling first season. When FOX Nation launched in November 2018, we felt we had accomplished something meaningful. Yet, we knew there was more to do.

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Too many leads were unproven. Too many theories clashed. Too many families—most notably the Hoffas—still had no answers. And so, we kept digging.

Eric’s journalistic pedigree is no accident. This is the same reporter who landed exclusives with Bernhard Goetz and Joey Buttafuoco, who covered O.J. Simpson and John Gotti with the same tenacity he brought to this Hoffa investigation. He doesn’t just follow a story—he chases it down, interrogates it, and doesn’t let go until the truth emerges.

With producer Bud Knapp, we expanded our investigation beyond Detroit, entertaining the decades-old theory that Hoffa was transported to New Jersey and buried at Moscato’s Dump in Jersey City. We interviewed the sons of the original dump owners—Phil Moscato Jr. and Frank Cappola—and followed their compelling claims that Hoffa was killed in Detroit, moved across state lines, and buried near the Pulaski Skyway. After all, it’s what their fathers told them.

We scoured Essex, Bergen, and Morris Counties in New Jersey, driving everywhere and interviewing anyone connected. We examined everything—even a theory that he may be buried under a backyard pool in East Rutherford owned by Gabriel Briguglio, a 1975 New Jersey resident and the last living suspect with alleged mob connections. By the end of Season 3 and 4 of Riddle, Eric had dismantled several prominent theories, but kept the family—Jimmy’s children, James P. and Barbara—updated, respectfully, as if our work might one day help bring them closure.

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Then, something remarkable happened. In 2021, based on our reporting, the FBI conducted a dig under the Pulaski Skyway. I remember visiting the site myself before it made headlines, spotting disturbed ground and security cameras perched ominously above. The bureau confirmed to the press in June 2022 that a dig did in fact happen in October of 2021, but Hoffa was not found. While they found nothing, it was proof that our work was resonating.

Still, we pressed on. Our research eventually exposed the weak foundation of the New Jersey theory, a theory that, in 1975, the Briguglio brothers, Sal and Gabe, as well as the Andrettas, Thomas and Steven, came to Detroit to murder Hoffa and make him disappear. Combing through our research, we realized that the theory was largely built on the word of convicted felon Ralph Picardo, a pathological liar serving time for manslaughter. His claims about the Briguglio and Andretta brothers were part of a desperate attempt to reduce his sentence, not credible evidence.

And so, we turned back to Detroit.

With help from Scott Burnstein of Gangster Report, Eric led us back to where it all began. By Season 6, our investigation had cleared Gabriel Briguglio’s name, casting doubt on author Dan Moldea’s long-held assertions. Moldea, once the authoritative voice on the Hoffa case, had appeared to rely on the same faulty source—Picardo. In our series Riddle, he often stated that “Picardo was state of the Art.” We had the confidence to know that while it was smart for the FBI to follow that lead back in 1975, in 2025 it just didn’t make sense anymore.

Eric continued working, meticulously sifting through FBI files, cold leads, and firsthand interviews. Eventually, we sat down with the last living suspect, Gabriel Briguglio, who spoke candidly—finally free of decades of suspicion. In early 2025, we achieved a milestone: finally chatting with the Hoffa family on a phone call that would ultimately lead to our interview with James P. Hoffa for Season 7.

Fifty years after Jimmy Hoffa disappeared, we were face-to-face with his son James P. Hoffa, listening to the heartbreak and frustration only a family can feel. Eric’s interview was respectful, pointed, and powerful. It wasn’t about chasing headlines—it was about chasing the truth. He asked the questions that mattered, because the story still matters. We felt a connection to James P. “Fox has followed this all the way“, he said, aas if to give us the “OK”, to try and help them get some type of closure in this 50-year mystery. It was important to all of us in the room that day.

This wasn’t just a documentary. It was a mission—one built on empathy, tenacity, and journalistic responsibility. Eric never lost sight of the human cost of this story. He never lost interest in the truth, and he never got discouraged, even when the trail went cold. He just kept going, because that’s what good journalists do.

From 2004, when he entered the Beaverland house to test floorboards for blood, to Season 7 of Riddle, which is out on FOX Nation right now, Eric Shawn has been the soul of this investigation. The dignity, professionalism, and rigor he brought to this project is unmatched.

So if you watch Riddle: The Search for James R. Hoffa, don’t just watch it for the mystery. Watch it to understand what true investigative journalism looks like.