November 19, 2021 – The FBI has a search warrant to go dig up a piece of former mob-owned property in New Jersey to look for slain Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa.
Ground penetrating radar paid for by the Fox News Channel detected a series of steel drums on the former site of the PJP Landfill underneath the Pulaski Skyway in Jersey City, New Jersey at a 12-by-15 foot patch of land earlier this year. FBI equipment came to the site to confirm the finding last month — results are pending. Award-winning investigative journalist Dan Moldea (the “Godfather”of Hoffa research) and Fox News Channel’s Eric Shawn believe Hoffa’s remains reside at “Brother Moscato’s dump.”
A tipster tied to the one-time owners of the property pointed Moldea to the piece of land, telling him Hoffa was buried at that specific spot under a layer of steel-drum markers. The FBI has spent hundreds of millions of dollars hunting for Hoffa’s body over the past four and a half decades.
Hoffa, 62, famously disappeared on the afternoon of July 30, 1975 in a suburb of Detroit, Michigan on his way to meet Detroit mob street boss Anthony (Tony Jack) Giacalone and New Jersey mob capo Anthony (Tony Pro) Provenzano. Hoffa’s body has never been found and nobody has ever been arrested for causing his death.
The case of the missing labor union titan has since been steeped in pop-culture mythology and is still considered an open investigation by the FBI. Hoffa and his former benefactors in the mafia were at odds over the firebrand labor boss’ desire to reclaim the Teamster presidency following a prison sentence for bribery.
FNC’s Fox Nation streaming service is releasing Part 3 of its ongoing investigative series, Riddle: The Search For James R. Hoffa this week. Shawn is the show’s host. Moldea’s crack reporting brought Shawn and the GPR imaging equipment to the potential dig site based on tips provided by Tony Pro’s former partner in the trash business Paul Cappola’s son, Frank.
When Hoffa vanished in the summer of 1975, Paul Cappola and a Tony Pro lieutenant named Philip (Brother) Moscato co-owned PJP Landfill. Moscato was one of the biggest loan sharks on the east coast and along with Tony Pro was a member of New York’s Genovese crime family. Moldea is the world’s foremost expert on the iconic Hoffa disappearance and murder, having written the seminal book on the subject, The Hoffa Wars.
Paul Cappola was not a “made man” in the Genovese crime family. His son, Frank Cappola, also never reached “made” status in the mob, but was a one-time right hand man to another Provenzano lieutenant named, Vinnie Ravo. Frank Cappola claims he was present at the PJP Landfill as a teenager when Hoffa’s body arrived for disposal at Tony Pro and “Brother” Moscato’s behest.
Moldea developed “Brother Moscato” as a source in the final years of Moscato’s life. Moscato admitted to having Hoffa buried on the property, but wouldn’t divulge the exact location. The FBI searched the dump shortly after Hoffa went missing and didn’t find anything.
Moscato, who died of cancer in 2014, told Moldea that Hoffa was kidnapped in a Bloomfield Twp., Michigan restaurant parking lot by Detroit and New Jersey mob hitmen, killed at a nearby residence and then his body driven to the Moscato landfill in Jersey City in a Gateway Transportation truck. Gateway Transportation was owned by notorious Teamster goon Rolland (Big Mac) McMaster, a Hoffa confidant-turned-rival from Detroit.
The feds searched McMaster’s Hidden Dreams Ranch in Commerce Township, Michigan looking for Hoffa’s remains back in the summer of 2006, but came up empty. McMaster died of natural caus
The men Hoffa was going to meet the afternoon he disappeared, Tony Pro and Tony Jack, were related via marriage and both died of natural causes in 1988 and 2001, respectively. Tony Pro was in prison for an unrelated gangland murder and had been in a bitter personal feud prior to Hoffa going missing. Tony Jack died awaiting trial on federal racketeering charges.
Paul Cappola died of cancer in 2008.Right before he died, Cappola gave his son, Frank, the particulars on Hoffa’s burial.
In October 2019, Frank Cappola took Moldea on a tour of what used to be the PJP Landfill. The land is now a state park and wildlife preserve. While they were there, Cappola pointed out to Moldea where his father told him Hoffa was laid to rest.
Cappola, who died of a lung ailment two years ago, executed an affidavit on October 7, 2019 and stated the following:
A Lincoln Town Car with tinted windows showed up the day after Hoffa went missing at the PJP Landfill carrying an unidentified number of men and was met by Moscato and Paul Cappola. Frank Cappola was working a summer job at PJP at the time and saw limo pull in and witnessed the ensuing interaction.
Moscato approached the vehicle and had a conversation with the men inside.
During the conversation, Moscato pointed to a part of the property he wanted Hoffa buried at, resulting in Cappola becoming worried due to the constant FBI surveillance of the landfill and exclaiming, “Great, now the whole fucking world is going to know.”
Brother Moscato had business to attend to off the property and assigned Paul Cappola to take care of the burial at a pre-excavated spot in the northeast part of the landfill.
Later that night, Paul Cappola dug a second hole without telling Moscato in an effort to disguise the burial in case anyone was watching the previous conversation where Moscato pointed to a pre-dug hole in the ground.
Hoffa’s body was placed head first into a 55-gallon industrial steel drum and dropped into the second hole by Paul Cappola using a front-loader machine.
Before filling in the hole, Cappola used the front loader to place 15 to 20 chemical drums on top of the steel drum containing Hoffa and left a marker on surface of grave site.
Early on in the investigation into Hoffa’s disappearance, the FBI searched the PJP Landfill based on a fall 1975 tip from Tony Pro’s driver, Ralph (Little Ralphie) Picardo. The first search of the property came up empty. Picardo claimed members of the Hoffa hit team visited him in prison in the days that followed and confessed to their involvement in the crime and where Hoffa was laid to rest.