My untold relationship with the FBI in the Jimmy Hoffa murder case (Part 4)
My team and our negotiations
Pictured is the partial cover of my fifteen-page memorandum—dated November 12, 2020—that I later placed online for the FBI. It detailed my investigation of the murder of Jimmy Hoffa and his possible burial near the PJP Landfill in Jersey City. It contained links to videos, photographs, key documents, and timelines, among other materials. I updated this webpage on December 7, 2020, as well as on February 3 and March 6, 2021.
Introduction to Part 4
This is the fourth in a series of columns about my relationship with the FBI during the murder investigation of Jimmy Hoffa who disappeared from a Detroit suburb on July 30, 1975.
It features new materials, as well as updated excerpts from my memoir, Confessions of a Guerrilla Writer, along with my articles, essays, and reports. Having specialized in investigations of the Teamsters and the Mafia since December 1974, I hit the ground running and began my research about this case the day after Hoffa vanished eight months later. My first book, The Hoffa Wars, was published in 1978.
Here are the previous installments of this series:
* November 26, 2023: “Working on the FBI’s ‘one-way street’” (Part 1)
* December 10, 2023: “Frank Cappola enters the fray” (Part 2)
* January 14, 2024: “The FBI calls six months after Frank Cappola dies” (Part 3)
A quick summary of Parts 1-3
* In November 1975, federal witness Ralph Picardo revealed to FBI agents that Jimmy Hoffa was 1) murdered in Detroit, 2) stuffed into a 55-gallon oil drum, 3) loaded onto a Gateway Transportation truck, and 4) shipped to New Jersey. . . . Based on his experiences with the mobsters who engineered the killing and at the request of the FBI, Picardo speculated that Hoffa was buried at “Brother Moscato’s Dump,” aka the PJP Landfill in Jersey City.
* During our exclusive interviews between 2007 and his death in 2014, Phillip “Brother” Moscato, a soldier in the Vito Genovese Mafia family, told me that Picardo “basically had it right” and that, indeed, Hoffa was buried in an oil drum at his landfill, which was co-owned by his business partner, Paul Cappola.
* In September 2019, Frank Cappola, the oldest son of Paul Cappola, told me that his father, at the direction of Moscato, had buried Hoffa. However, in retaliation against Moscato for assigning him the task of committing this criminal act, Frank said that his father secretly buried Hoffa in an oil drum at a site adjacent to the dumpsite—in an alcove under the Pulaski Skyway, adding that he had placed fifteen-to-thirty steel barrels in the grave on top of the Hoffa oil drum.
Frank gave me a personal tour of the area on September 29, 2019, which I filmed. Also, at my request, he executed a sworn affidavit on October 7, 2019, attesting to the details of what his father had told him shortly before his death in 2008.
* Frank Cappola died of a respiratory ailment in March 2020. Six months later, the FBI contacted me to discuss Frank’s information. And, as Frank instructed, I have cooperated fully with the law-enforcement community.
Putting a team together
Immediately after Frank Cappola gave me the tour of PJP in September 2019—and with Frank’s approval—I put together a production team for a documentary about his story. Our team captain was Beaux Carson of Carson Signature Films, a friend of mine since the early 1990s. Beaux specialized in life-rights negotiations. Almost immediately, again with Cappola’s approval, agent Richard Lawrence, the owner of Rebel Entertainment, opened negotiations with Ari Mark, the co-founder of the award-winning production company and showrunner, Ample Entertainment.
All five of us agreed that no one would make any deals or accept any money until Hoffa’s body was recovered and positively identified by the FBI. If and when that happened, Ample would negotiate a contract with a major media company to finance our documentary.
If Frank and I were wrong about the location of Hoffa’s remains, there would be no deal.
Inasmuch as we were in high confidence, we needed to arrange for a ground-penetrating-radar examination (GPR) of the site. However, because of the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic, we had to delay our plans.
There was a bright spot. In the aftermath of Frank’s death in March 2020, Joy DiBiaso, Frank’s girlfriend, introduced me to Bob Burke, a successful New Jersey real-estate executive who had been a close friend of Frank’s since they were in grade school.
Bob knew Jersey City like the back of his hand. He was familiar with its players in and out of the local business and political communities. And, out of respect for Frank, Bob agreed to join our team.
Determined to discover whether Frank was right or wrong, Beaux Carson and Bob Burke mapped out our team’s strategy.
Burke made an immediate contribution, obtaining local property records showing that Hoffa’s alleged unmarked grave was on state property, regulated by the New Jersey Department of Transportation, which controlled everything on and under the Pulaski Skyway.
And, inasmuch as this was government property, no barrels or anything else from the PJP Landfill should have been buried there.
On June 19, 2020, led by Beaux Carson, our team resumed planning for the GPR analysis of the site.
Carson contacted the state’s DOT to make the necessary arrangements. An agency official told him that we needed a permit. Carson, working closely with the state, immediately collected the required documents to obtain the necessary written authorization.
However, we were concerned that the fifteen-to-thirty steel barrels that covered the oil drum containing Hoffa’s body were filled with toxic waste. Our fear was that the barrels, buried in 1975, were likely damaged and leaking. Consequently, the release of their contents during a major dig could cause a plume of toxic gas or perhaps even an explosion under the bridge.
To address this problem, Beaux arranged for excavation and removal estimates from two professional hazardous-waste disposal companies.
Early written communications with the FBI
On November 12, 2020, among other voluntary tasks, I created a draft of a protected webpage for the FBI. (See picture and caption above)
The following day, I sent the following message to our team:
I am nearly done with my online memorandum to the FBI—which, other than a handful of still pictures—contains mostly public information. I need to start communicating with them. After months of complaining about them not contacting me, I have now gone two months without getting back to them with my information. I want to keep their goodwill. . . .
I will be happy to send you the memo for your review before I give it to the FBI.
I will save the good stuff . . . until I meet with them in person. In short, regardless of whether we visit PJP or not in [November], I don’t want to go into December without paying my respects to the FBI guys, who are excited about my information.
Stay safe and well during the upcoming spike in the virus.
On November 16, with the advice and consent of my production team, I sent a text to my designated FBI special agent in Newark—the agent who had first contacted me in September 2020 and was trying to organize a face-to-face meeting—saying: “Please send me a good email address for you. I want to send you something.”
He immediately wrote back, giving me his personal contact information and adding: “Just as an update, I am still awaiting FBI HQ approval. I don’t anticipate a problem.”
After receiving confirmation of receipt of the address for the online site I uploaded for the FBI on or about November 16, I wrote:
I am so relieved that you now have much of this material.
Notably, I am still collecting, trying to vindicate [the FBI’s] 1975 investigation [of Ralph Picardo], which, in my opinion, was right on target.
Let’s make history.
Then, in a follow-up email that same day, I wrote:
Once again, if you have photographs of the post-July 1975 location of the trailer—which Phillip Moscato Sr. and Paul Cappola, Sr. used as their PJP office, parked under the Pulaski Skyway—that will be very helpful for your investigation.
Also, again for your investigation, I suggest that you obtain the affidavit that the FBI used to get its [sealed] warrant for the 2006 search of the Rolland McMaster farm in Wixom, Michigan. I have never seen it, but I have been told that it contains very important information. Although the FBI took a lot of grief, that search—like the December 1975 search of PJP—was righteous even though The Trophy was not on the farm.
The FBI man replied the following day, writing:
Does the attached photo represent the subject property? I understand it is a rough photo and do not hold you to any firm commitment therein.
I responded:
Good picture.
Actually, the PJP landfill was to the west of the creek—which was targeted by the EPA during the 1980s. However, according to Frank Cappola, The Trophy was buried by his father off-site, east of the creek, and under the bridge—which is state property and was not part of the EPA excavation. Thus, we believe that The Trophy is still there. (Emphasis added)
The grassy area to the east of the creek was, from what I understand, part of two separate [disposal businesses]: Cadillac Joe’s and Classic Sanitation—which is now owned by Interstate Waste Services, which also owns the parking lot to the east of the grassy area in your picture. If you were to expand the picture further east you would see Interstate’s offices. . . .
Below is a closeup of the picture you sent me. That is the area of interest. Based on everything Frank told me, I believe that I can pinpoint the exact location of The Trophy. As I wrote in my memorandum to you:
* Latitude and longitude (under the Pulaski Skyway): 40.736755 and -74.083010.
* GPS coordinates: 40° 44' 12.318'' N and 74° 4' 58.836'' W.
Regarding the proposed meeting between the FBI and me, I stated:
Let’s continue our exchanges in writing . . . with you in Newark and me in D.C. We can meet when things calm down.
In the end, I am going to give you everything you want with enthusiasm. And my team wants to give it to you on a silver platter.
I want us to succeed—without asking you guys to stick your necks out.
The FBI guy responded:
Mr. Moldea – I agree, thank you. I am awaiting approval from FBI/DOJ. These situations require a few levels of approval.
Next. . . . Part 5: The first GPR test