James Riddle Hoffa. That was the full name of one of America's most notorious labor leaders—and yes, "Riddle" was really his middle name. Born February 14, 1913, in Brazil, Indiana, he got it from his mother, Viola Riddle Hoffa. A perfectly ordinary naming convention, except for what came later.

The irony became inescapable on July 30, 1975, when Hoffa vanished from a restaurant parking lot in suburban Detroit. He was supposed to meet with mobsters. He never came home. Nearly 50 years later, his disappearance remains one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in American history—a riddle that has spawned countless theories, FBI excavations, and enough speculation to fill entire documentaries.

The Man Behind the Name

Before the mystery, there was the man. Hoffa built the International Brotherhood of Teamsters into one of the most powerful labor unions in the country during his presidency from 1957 to 1971. He fought aggressively for workers' rights, securing better wages and conditions for truck drivers across America.

But his methods were controversial. Hoffa had deep ties to organized crime, using mob connections to consolidate power and suppress rivals. In 1964, he was convicted of jury tampering and fraud, eventually serving prison time before President Nixon commuted his sentence in 1971.

The Disappearance

On that summer day in 1975, the 62-year-old Hoffa was trying to reclaim his union leadership. He told his family he was meeting Anthony "Tony Pro" Provenzano and Anthony "Tony Jack" Giacalone at the Machus Red Fox restaurant. Witnesses saw him in the parking lot around 2:45 PM. Then nothing.

No body. No ransom demand. No credible confession. Just theories:

Buried under Giants Stadium (demolished in 2010—no Hoffa)
Cremated in a mob-connected funeral home
Entombed in concrete foundations of buildings across Detroit
Fed through a meat grinder
Buried in a New Jersey landfill (excavated by FBI in 2013—nothing found)

The FBI has investigated hundreds of leads. Family members still hope for closure. And the riddle endures.

A Name That Writes Its Own Headlines

You couldn't script a better coincidence. James Riddle Hoffa—a man whose life ended in the ultimate unsolved puzzle. The name has become shorthand for any baffling disappearance, a cultural touchstone referenced in movies, books, and conspiracy theories.

His mother had no way of knowing that the simple family name she passed to her son would become part of American folklore. But here we are, decades later, still trying to solve the riddle of what happened to James Riddle Hoffa.

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