Biography and associated logos are trademarks of A+E Networksprotected in the US and other countries around the globe. Drug smuggling was much more booming of an industry in 1982 than automobile manufacturing. In the spring and summer of 1975, Hoffa supporter Dave Johnson, president of the Local 299 union in Detroit, started to receive hang-up calls at home. It works to just call it a DeLorean, though, because it's the only kind of car DeLorean's company ever made 9,000 of them, per the New York Times. }); In his first full day of what is expected to be weeks on the stand, Hoffman, considered to be the government's key witness, traced a series of conversations leading up to what he said was DeLorean's July 1982 request for help in getting into the drug business. While theories surrounding his disappearance are still circulating today, the case has been . He disappeared on 30 July 1975 after travelling to Michigan to meet the mobster. The Real Reason Todd Hoffman Left Gold Rush - Looper Opening statements began with the U.S. attorney laying out the governments case. And in New Jersey, an urban legend has long claimed that Hoffa's remains were buried under the old New York Giants football stadium. As the various theories about Jimmy Hoffas disappearance took on lives of their own, the other major element of the cultural meme around the case began to emerge. took the allegations seriously in 1989, Frankos who was in federal witness protection ahead of his testimony against New York crime boss John Gotti didnt have much to back up the claim. Clemens, Michigan, he and New York Mafia hitman John Sullivan cut up Hoffas body with a power saw and meat cleaver, bagged up the body parts, and stored them in a freezer for months. Though the company created a car that is a collector's item today, DeLorean's enterprise struggled financially, and after nine years, it failed. Mr. DeLorean asked if I would be willing to help him along those lines.". Hoffas son, James P. Hoffa, elected head of the Teamsters in 1999, agreed that the Mafia was involved and even ran his campaigns on the back of that conviction. He recommended that DeLorean check with a California banker, who was an undercover FBI agent, to determine whether Hoffman could be trusted to handle $2 million.