The Truth About Jimmy Hoffa Jr.

On July 30th, 1975, the most well-known and infamous labor leader in American history disappeared. Nobody knew what happened to him: not his old friend turned rival, teamster leader and crime family capo Anthony Provenzano, not Anthony and Vito Giacalone of the Detroit mafia, and not the witnesses who saw Jimmy waiting to take a meeting with Provenzano and the Giacalones at the Machus Red Fox Restaurant on the day of Hoffa's disappearance.

One man, by his own recollection, felt some trepidation about that meeting: James P. Hoffa, Jimmy's only son. According to James, his father had been angling hard to get back into office after being ousted due to his conviction on fraud and bribery charges, and Jimmy Jr. was concerned that this push would end with his dad staring down a bullet.

That kind of vocal tut-tutting of organized crime doesn't historically bode well for folks with tender flesh and exposed throat regions, so it's pretty fair to wonder: where is James P. Hoffa now?

He's fine. Better than fine, by most accounts.

Born in Detroit, Michigan in 1941, James Phillip Hoffa has spent most of his life as labor union royalty. He joined the Teamsters on his 18th birthday, and studied law at the University of Michigan. From 1968 to 1993, he worked as a Teamster attorney.

In 1998, he was elected president of the Teamsters in a special election. He held the position in every subsequent election: in 2001, 2006, 2011, and 2016. He served on the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations under George W. Bush, endorsed Barack Obama in 2008, and stirred the pot at a national level in 2011 when a fiery oration backing Obama was edited by Fox News, making it sound less like a call to go out and vote and more like a military coup.

Now 78, Hoffa the Younger has announced that he won't run for reelection in 2021. And while his habit of not disappearing mysteriously leaves him with less celebrity allure than his old man, he'll have held office for longer than his dad by a good half decade by the time he retires. And he won't have even spent any time behind bars. Probably.