FBI opens Jimmy Hoffa investigation after Fox Nation reporting on alleged burial site

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Eric Shawn: New hope for finding Jimmy Hoffa

Watch what we found in our series 'Riddle, The Search For James R. Hoffa,' streaming on Fox Nation right now

Fox News has learned that the FBI obtained a sealed search warrant to examine a site underneath the Pulaski Skyway in Jersey City, New Jersey, where Fox Nation reported that Jimmy Hoffa could be buried. This could lead to a new dig for the remains of the legendary labor leader who disappeared in Detroit on July 30, 1975.

The location is a small plot of land that is just feet off the property line of a former mob-connected dump where it is claimed that Hoffa was buried just days after he vanished. The dump, the PJP Landfill, commonly known as "Moscato's Dump," was owned by then Genovese crime family member Phil "Brother" Moscato and businessman Paul Cappola Sr. 

Cappola's son, Frank, told Fox Nation that his father buried Hoffa in a metal drum, digging a hole with an excavator 12 feet down, and piled more drums on top of the one containing Hoffa's body before covering up the hole with dirt and debris.

The revelations were first reported as part of the Fox Nation series, "Riddle: The Search for James R. Hoffa," and are the focus of the fourth episode that is on the streaming service now. A former member of the powerful Genovese family Capo Anthony "Tony Pro" Porvenzano's New Jersey crew, Ralph Picardo, claimed that after Hoffa was killed in Detroit, his body was shipped in a 55-gallon drum on a Gateway Transportation truck and probably buried at Moscato's dump.

In this file photo taken on July 24, 1975, Jimmy Hoffa poses for a photo. (Tony Spina/Detroit Free Press/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

In March 2020, Fox Nation hired a ground-penetrating-radar company, Ground Penetrating Radar Systems, to conduct an underground survey of the location using ultra-high-frequency electromagnetic waves that can detect buried metal. Fox Nation discovered what the radar technician said are multiple large pieces of round metal, half-moon shaped like the sides of barrels, buried on top of each other, starting at about four feet down at the exact location Cappola pointed out and just as he had described them.

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"I would bet my life on it that he is still there," Frank Cappola told Fox Nation. "This is going to lead up to finding him."

Cappola said his father decided to change the location where he was first ordered to put the body "after hours" because he did not want Hoffa's remains to be found on his dump's property.

"He couldn't fit in the drum," he said of Hoffa. "They couldn't fit him in the drum feet first. He couldn't get the legs to bend right, so he had to take him out and put him in head first."

"He was very upset about it his whole life. He was told to do it. My father was not a wise guy or a tough guy. He was a businessman," he said. "But he had to be put in that position because if you don't do it, they are going to do it to you."

The dump was a notorious toxic waste site in the 1970s and was eventually declared a federal Superfund site. It was cleaned up and remediated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and state agencies in the 1980s. Ten thousand drums filled with toxic waste were removed. But EPA records show that the spot in question was never examined. The location was not part of the zone that was included in the cleanup plans. The man in charge of the cleanup at the time, Mario Verdibello, told Fox Nation that he does not believe that the location that Frank pointed out was ever examined and cleaned out.

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As part of the Fox Nation series, Cappola first told noted Hoffa expert and author Dan Moldea about his claim and took him to the site. Moldea, who partnered with the Fox Nation investigation, has delved into Hoffa's disappearance for the past 46 years. In 1978, he wrote the landmark book, "The Hoffa Wars," and believes that Frank's claim is credible.

President of the Teamsters' Union James Hoffa attends the start of trucking contract talks at the Washington Hilton Hotel, in Washington, D.C., Jan. 18, 1967.  (AP Photo)

"Frank's story — and I have heard some great stories — but Frank's story is the best darn story I have heard about this case since I first started investigating this story in 1975," said Moldea.

The FBI would not comment on the investigation but did issue a statement confirming that agents examined the location.

"Last month, the FBI obtained a search warrant to conduct a site survey underneath the Pulaski Skyway. On October 25th and 26th, FBI personnel from the Newark and Detroit field offices completed the survey, and that data is currently being analyzed. Because the affidavit in support of the search warrant was sealed by the court, we are unable to provide any additional information."

Cappola wanted law enforcement to excavate the site he pinpointed to determine if Hoffa's remains are indeed there. If that happens, Cappola will not have lived to see it. He died of lung issues four months after our interview, at the age of 63.

"I want this man to go home to his family," Cappola told us. "He needs to go home to his family."

Watch "Riddle: The Search for James R. Hoffa" on Fox Nation.