Problems with 1992's "Hoffa" Final Assassination Scene
Details of the Likely Death of Labor Icon Mishandled by Danny DeVito's Film
Here’s the scene in question:
For background: James Riddle “Jimmy” Hoffa was a Teamsters leader who disappeared on July 30, 1975 in Michigan. At the time, he was one of the most well-known people in America, someone who had become an icon for labor rights fighting against various politicians and corporations. He notably fought Bobby Kennedy, but also fought other politicians who sought to restrain his power.
He was a self-made-man. Even though he seems Italian in portrayals, including by actor Al Pacino in 2019’s “The Irishman”, Hoffa was actually German-Irish and married a Polish spouse. The two notable movie portrayals of Hoffa are in 1992’s “Hoffa” and in 2019’s “The Irishman.”
Hoffa had two children: a son, James, and a daughter, Barbara. James Hoffa would later follow in his father’s footsteps as head of the Teamsters from 1998-2022, and daughter Barbara later became a judge in Missouri.
Hoffa also took care of and supported a young man, Charles “Chuckie” O’Brien. O’Brien would later figure prominently in Hoffa’s disappearance.
“The Irishman” is based on the book “I Heard you Paint Houses” by Charles Brandt, retelling stories from Frank Sheeran. The book is almost certainly a total fabrication. Two good takedowns of the book, and thus the movie, are here and here.
The second link is an article by Chuckie O’Brien’s stepson debunking the Brandt book. And while it’s a good takedown, the effort to exonerate O’Brien seems possibly misplaced. But if one source is flawed, that doesn’t indicate whether other competing claims are better or worse. O’Brien seems involved in some way, but the Brandt thesis seems fatally flawed.
Put simply, it seems the depressed ravings of a near-senile man published after his death. Frank Sheeran may have been involved with Hoffa’s death, but his stories seem like the kind of tautological ramblings of someone who appreciated all the fanboying and attention from an attorney in the last few months of his life.
They were the lies that gave him companionship and friendship as he faced the end, having alienated his spouse and family members.
Movies aren’t meant to be documentaries. So it might feel initially unfair to make them comport to the known facts. And when the facts conflict with a good story, always print the legend as they say. But in the case of Hoffa, it could have been a better story if they had more accurately stuck to the facts, especially as it regards the final known moments of Hoffa.
That’s what this scene is: Hoffa’s final moments in the 1992 film.
Reality would have involved being lured into a car by your friends never to return. That ending would be a lot more poetic than a simple parking lot shooting.
One is cinematic, one is almost crass and vulgar.
1992’s “Hoffa” was directed by Danny DeVito and written by David Mamet. Both of whom should have known better.
The murder of Hoffa scene in 2019’s “The Irishman” is plain, cheap, and boring. It’s the antithesis of good filmmaking.
Nicholson in 1992 gives more of the backstory about Hoffa’s rise and untimely end, and 2019’s Scorsese movie about his alleged assassin is about watching octogenarians relive their glory days with CGI.
The visual portrayal of Hoffa is a bit mixed. Pacino doesn’t seem to really capture his visage. Whereas Nicholson is closer but still a little off.
Born on Valentine’s Day 1913, Hoffa was tried twice in 1964 and imprisoned in 1967 under President Lyndon Johnson. By 1971 he was out on a conditional Presidential commutation pardon from Richard Nixon. He was 62 when he disappeared.
By contrast, Pacino was 80 years old when playing Hoffa, and Nicholson was 55 years old when “Hoffa” came out in 1992.
Considered the most famous missing person in modern memory, theories abound about what happened to him. What’s known is that his last known location was the Red Fox parking lot in Bloomfield, Michigan.
There’s also a subculture of amateur sleuths and detectives all trying to solve the Hoffa disappearance. One prominent website is FindingHoffa.com
What’s for certain is a scant few specific details: Hoffa drove his car, a green 1974 Pontiac Grand Ville, to the 2:00PM meeting at the Machus Red Fox.
He was going there to meet with Anthony Giacalone and Anthony “Tony Pro” Provenzano. Several people observe him waiting in the parking lot. One person sees him leave in a maroon “Lincoln or Mercury” type car with other people.
Mob boss Anthony Giacalone’s son had loaned his car to Chuck O’Brien the day Hoffa disappeared. O’Brien claimed he borrowed the car from the mobster’s son to deliver fresh salmon.
The car was very distinct: it was a maroon 1975 Mercury Marquis Brougham.
The FBI searched the Giacalone car that O’Brien had borrowed that day and found Hoffa’s hair in the car, and claimed that dogs positively hit on the scent of Hoffa in the car.
In 1976 the FBI wrote a 57-page history of the case, it’s known as the “HOFFEX Memo” and you can read a mostly-unredacted version here. It’s kind of the starting point for all the Hoffa-related theories as to what happened.
There are definitely some very suspicious characters and actions. Roland McMaster is a common name identified as linked to Union violence and with a flimsy alibi for the day Hoffa disappeared. McMaster pointed investigators to Charles O’Brien as a likely culprit. Hoffa referred to O’Brien as his ‘stepson’, who died in 2020. Mob hitman Salvatore Briguglio was also reportedly seen waiting in a car around the Machus Red Fox around the same time as Hoffa was seen there.
So what’s the most likely thing to have happened?
Hoffa was known for being impatient at people being late to meetings. He was supposed to meet the Provenzano’s at the Machus Red Fox.
They had reasons to want to get rid of him. Hoffa was not only threatening business and power relationships, he was also likely threatening to reveal connections to organized crime and the intelligence community and the Kennedy assassinations.
His hair was found in the trunk and backseat of the Provenzano-owned, O’Brien-driven, Mercury Sable. O’Brien admitted driving that car around that day, which he said he was driving to delivering fish.
Giacalone and Provenzano both denied they had a scheduled meeting with Hoffa at 2pm.
From there, a million flowers of theories have bloomed. If you want to know more and pursue those theories, a lifetime’s worth of possibilities await.
So what did 1992’s “Hoffa” get wrong about this scene? Let’s begin:
HOFFA’S LAST KNOWN LOCATION IS MISCAST
Hoffa’s last known location was at the Machus Red Fox in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. It’s now a fancy Italian restaurant called Andiamo’s. The building is the same, though it’s been changed. It looks nothing like the scene in the movie.
In case you go to the restaurant, they are a little touchy about the Hoffa connection. However in recent years they did add a drink called the “Hoffa Old Fashioned” to the menu, which is very tasty and well made.
UNLIKELY HOFFA WAS KILLED IN THE PARKING LOT
It’s also very unlikely that Hoffa was executed in the parking lot. More likely, he was taken somewhere else, and executed in a more secure and secluded location.
In the movie, a carhop waiter played by actor Frank Whaley executes Hoffa in the parking lot in front of a totally fictional character played by actor Danny DeVito.
Hoffa was scheduled to meet Tony Provenzano and Tony Giacalone at the Machus Red Fox restaurant at 2pm. Hoffa was a very punctual person who hated people who were late. He called his wife at 2:15pm complaining that Provenzano and Giacalone were late to their scheduled meeting. Witnesses saw him in the parking lot and saw him get into a car with other people. People stopped to chat with him while he was waiting there. The FBI said they estimated he left the Red Fox at 2:45pm.
The reason for this is that there were people who noticed Hoffa in the parking lot, it was a relatively busy area of town in a public place, and he was a national figure. It would have been very easy for someone to come along and notice a parking lot killing. Icing him in the parking lot seems highly unrealistic.
HOFFA WENT TO THE MEETING ALONE, NOT WITH ANY COLLEAGUE
Danny DeVito’s character is supposedly an amalgamation of several Hoffa colleagues. Yet none of them went to the 2pm meeting at the Machus Red Fox with him.
The movie kind of implies that Hoffa was paranoid during this period of time. Hoffa signals to DeVito as actor Frank Whaley starts walking over to the car with his ordered drinks. It’s assumed that he’s an important man and therefore he has security, and full-time friends-you-can-trust-with-your-life kind of security as well.
But in reality Hoffa went alone. He traveled around earlier that day stopping by his attorney’s offices as well and was by himself. He was going to an afternoon meeting with mob bosses and he went alone. While waiting in the parking lot he conversed with people who came up to him and was noticed by several people. This was not a man who was afraid of the public or of people walking up to him even though he had been recently released from federal prison on Dec. 23, 1971.
HOFFA DIDN’T ORDER ANYTHING OR HAVE IT DELIVERED TO HIS CAR
Here’s how the movie portays this moment, putting together Hoffa with his assassin:
In reality, the Machus Red Fox was a bit of a fancy restaurant and ordering some drinks to-go was probably not something on the menu.
HOFFA’S CAR WASN’T THE SAME AS IN THE MOVIE
Hoffa was driving a 1974 Pontiac Grand Ville.
Here’s a picture of the actual car:
Here’s how it was portrayed in the movie:
Though there are similarities, there are clear differences as well. The license plate is in the wrong location. The movie depicts a sedan whereas the real car was a two-door, among several other differences.
HOFFA WAS LIKELY LURED INTO ANOTHER CAR AND MURDERED ELSEWHERE
No serious theory thinks that Hoffa was killed in the parking lot.
Eyewitness statements claim they saw Hoffa in the backseat of a car with other big guys in a ‘Mercury or Lincoln’ type car. Chuckie O’Brien borrowed a car from the Giacalone family which later turned out to have Hoffa’s hair in it.
As recently as 2006, the FBI was searching an 80 acre farm in Milford Township, Michigan looking for Hoffa’s body. If he had been executed in his car in the parking lot, it would have left a potential blood pool that would have been found and noticed.
The Giacalone car is seen as having transported either Hoffa or his dead body, since Hoffa’s hair was found in the vehicle and confirmed in 2001 to be his.
THE TIME OF DAY WAS THE AFTERNOON, NOT THE EVENING
The FBI estimated Hoffa left the parking lot of the Machus Red Fox around 2:45pm.
In the movje, from the shadows, you can tell that it’s nearly sunset.
ASSASSIN LOOKS NOTHING LIKE WHAT HIS REAL-LIFE KILLER PROBABLY LOOKS LIKE
In the movie, the actor Frank Whaley (Brett from Pulp Fiction) plays Hoffa’s assassin.
In real life, the most likely possible suspects for the crime, who look nothing like Whaley, are:
Roland McMaster:
Vito Giacalone:
Salvatore "Sally Bugs" Briguglio:
HOFFA’S POLITICAL ENEMIES ARE LET OFF THE HOOK
The movie also leaves out the degree to which Hoffa was a threat to the political order. By making deals with the political right and left, Hoffa was threatening a major labor political infrastructure reliant on being indentured servants to the political left. If someone like Hoffa inspired other labor leaders to follow his lead, they would not only build more serious political clout, but they would also threaten to empower the political right with the muscle of organized labor.
The neoliberal regime was not above using assassination in order to silence its problems. Understanding the politics behind political assassinations between 1965-1985, provides a more reliable understanding than all of the fantasy interpretations of lone gunmen, schizoid shooters, and other murderous malcontents.
With all the informants and others involved throughout the Mafia, there’s zero chance federal authorities didn’t know exactly what happened to Hoffa. In fact, the family of Chuckie O’Brien claims the feds have long known who killed Hoffa, but are staying silent either because they want to protect that person and their family, or because they don’t have ‘enough’ evidence to make a public accusation.
Either way, the feds have more than they’re saying but have their own secret agendas, which seems entirely accurate.
Hoffa’s son James, who became a long-time Teamsters leader in his own right, has said that his family is very confident they know who killed his father and that they aren’t going to name the person.
I subscribe specifically for content like this. Thank you! Please tell-- what could Hoffa have known about the Kennedy Assassination? He seems to be an unlikely repository of info, given his conflicts with RFK.