Call off the search? Source says Jimmy Hoffa was put through wood chipper

FILE - In this Aug. 21, 1969 file photo, Teamsters Union leader James Hoffa is shown in Chattanooga, Tenn. The FBI has seen enough merit in a reputed Mafia captain's tip to once again break out the digging equipment to search for the remains of Hoffa, last seen alive before a lunch meeting with two mobsters nearly 40 years ago. Tony Zerilli told his lawyer that Hoffa was buried beneath a concrete slab in a barn in a field in suburban Detroit in 1975. (AP Photo/File)

Members of an FBI evidence response team look over an area being cleared in Oakland Township, Mich., Tuesday, June 18, 2013 where officials continue the search for the remains of Teamsters union president Jimmy Hoffa, who disappeared from a Detroit-area restaurant in 1975. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

On the heels of another futile search for the body of former Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa, a law enforcement source has just one piece of advice: stop digging.

The source, who was close to the original investigation into Hoffa’s disappearance in 1975, tells DNAinfo New York that Hoffa’s remains will never be found – because he was run through a wood chipper.

Hoffa was last seen on July 30, 1975, when he was to meet with reputed Detroit mob enforcer Anthony "Tony Jack" Giacalone and alleged New Jersey mob figure Anthony "Tony Pro" Provenzano at a restaurant in Bloomfield Township, north of Detroit. The 62-year-old Hoffa was never seen or heard from again.

According to the source, on the night of his disappearance, Hoffa was lured to the Red Fox restaurant by his “adopted” son, Charles “Chuckie” O’Brien. After dinner, Hoffa and O’Brien climbed into a 1975 Mercury Marquis Brougham, a car owned by Giacalone’s son that O’Brien was borrowing for the day.

Provenzano and Giacalone were waiting in the backseat.

The source says Provenzano reached from behind and strangled Hoffa to death. Then they drove to the nearby town of Inkster and ran Hoffa’s body through a wood chipper.

DNA tests performed in 2000 on a strand of hair found in the Mercury Marquis revealed the hair belonged to Hoffa, DNAinfo New York reports.

FBI agents have searched high and low for Jimmy Hoffa’s remains, including beneath a swimming pool, under a horse farm and, most recently, in an overgrown field north of Detroit.

The latest search for Hoffa's remains was prompted by a tip from reputed ex-Mafia captain Tony Zerilli. About 40 FBI agents searched a small field surrounded by trees and a gravel road in Oakland Township. With the aid of a backhoe, they spent about 10 hours in the field Monday and another 10 Tuesday before calling it quits about 10:30 a.m. Wednesday.

"Right now the case remains open," Detroit FBI chief Robert Foley said. "At this point, if we do get logical leads and enough probable cause that warrant the resources to do an investigation, then we'll continue to do so."

But the law enforcement source insists the digs for Hoffa’s remains are a waste of time.

“What a waste,” the source told DNAinfo New York. “They’ll never find him.”

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