By Fred Seely
Editorial Director
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Urban Legends don’t die. Jimmy Hoffa is dead but, no matter how many people claim his body was dumped in a Michigan trash pile, there are others who place his burial in Giants Stadium.
“It’s popular to say he’s under the S in JETS,” said Paul Emerson of Passaic, N.J., who sits about halfway up from the field, “but I think he’s right under me. When they poured the stadium, they dumped him in one of the piers.”
The popular spot for the burial in that theory is Section 107, a pie-shaped block of seats that overlooks the JETS logo painted in the West end zone where that S may mark the spot. The section is part of the lower level of the three-tier stadium and, indeed, there must be a lot of concrete there — in the “pier” — to support the decks above.
“Not likely, but you never know what union people will do,” said an usher, Scott Townsend of New York City, before the Jacksonville Jaguars’ 26-20 win over the New York Jets Sunday.
The accepted story of the former Teamsters Union boss’s demise is that he was killed outside a Michigan restaurant on July 10, 1975 by union enemies. What happened to Jack Nicholson in the movie “Hoffa” is probably an accurate depiction.
But what happened next?
It’s generally accepted in lawman circles that the body was disposed of in one of two ways: either in a car crushed in a recycling compactor or, less elegantly, in a bag simply buried in a city dump.
But those stories are rather humdrum for the mob world, where killings and disposal can be an art form. It’s a better tale to say that Hoffa’s body was stuffed in an oil drum, hidden in the back of a warehouse and, five months later, brought to New Jersey where the stadium was being built. Once at the site, compliant (or frightened) workers looked the other way while Hoffa’s rivals in the Teamsters dumped the drum while concrete was being poured.
That’s OK with the fans here.
“It’s fun to talk about,” said Bill Massey of the Bronx. “Bring a friend to the game and say ‘Can you guess who you’re sitting on top of?’”
Others think it’s fun, too. The stadium once posted a message on the scoreboard saying “No, he’s not under our stadium.” A college band once spelled out H-O-F-F-A during a halftime show and T-shirts are sold outside the stadium with the message “Hoffa sleeps here.”
Bob Light of Bayonne, N.J. has front-row seats and an opinion.
“He could be under the S or he could be under my seat, but I know what happened to get him there,” he said. “He ate one of those chicken cheese steak sandwiches, just like I did a few minutes ago. The way I feel, I may not make it out of here, either.”