FOX Nation’s Riddle documentary collection explores Jimmy Hoffa thriller

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In March of 2018, veteran producer Dan Cohen and I had been handed a seemingly not possible task: Discover out what occurred to Jimmy Hoffa. Our host can be Eric Shawn, the veteran Fox Information senior correspondent recognized for his dogged and principled reporting. The challenge finally turned Riddle: The Seek for James R. Hoffa , a FOX Nation documentary collection that I naively assumed can be a one-off, some neat 50-minute story wrapped within the thriller and mythology of Detroit’s labor historical past and the enduring enigma of Hoffa’s 1975 disappearance. However I used to be mistaken. And Eric made certain of that.

What adopted over the following seven years would change into among the most vital work of my three-decade profession in journalism. That first spring and summer time, we traveled to Detroit thrice, monitoring down former attorneys, reporters, specialists and historians. We interviewed Charles Brandt, creator of I Heard You Paint Homes , pored over Temple College’s photograph archives and the closely redacted HOFFEX memo, and even revisited the now-infamous home on Beaverland Road—allegedly the positioning the place mob hitman Frank Sheeran killed Hoffa. The outcome was a totally researched, compelling first season. When FOX Nation launched in November 2018, we felt we had completed one thing significant. But, we knew there was extra to do.

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Too many leads had been unproven. Too many theories clashed. Too many households—most notably the Hoffas—nonetheless had no solutions. And so, we stored digging.

Eric’s journalistic pedigree is not any accident. This is identical reporter who landed exclusives with Bernhard Goetz and Joey Buttafuoco, who lined O.J. Simpson and John Gotti with the identical tenacity he delivered to this Hoffa investigation. He doesn’t simply observe a narrative—he chases it down, interrogates it, and doesn’t let go till the reality emerges.

Dan Cohen, Rob Monaco, Eric Shawn and Tommy Chiu's first go to to Detroit when filming the primary "Riddle" in 2018. (Rob Monaco)

With producer Bud Knapp, we expanded our investigation past Detroit, entertaining the decades-old concept that Hoffa was transported to New Jersey and buried at Moscato’s Dump in Jersey Metropolis. We interviewed the sons of the unique dump homeowners—Phil Moscato Jr. and Frank Cappola—and adopted their compelling claims that Hoffa was killed in Detroit, moved throughout state traces, and buried close to the Pulaski Skyway. In any case, it’s what their fathers informed them.

"Riddle: The Seek for James R. Hoffa" is now airing completely on Fox Nation.

We scoured Essex, Bergen, and Morris Counties in New Jersey, driving in every single place and interviewing anybody related. We examined every thing—even a concept that he could also be buried beneath a yard pool in East Rutherford owned by Gabriel Briguglio, a 1975 New Jersey resident and the final residing suspect with alleged mob connections. By the top of Season 3 and 4 of Riddle , Eric had dismantled a number of outstanding theories, however stored the household—Jimmy’s kids, James P. and Barbara—up to date, respectfully, as if our work would possibly in the future assist carry them closure.

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Then, one thing exceptional occurred. In 2021, based mostly on our reporting, the FBI performed a dig beneath the Pulaski Skyway. I bear in mind visiting the positioning myself earlier than it made headlines, recognizing disturbed floor and safety cameras perched ominously above. The bureau confirmed to the press in June 2022 {that a} dig did in reality occur in October of 2021, however Hoffa was not discovered. Whereas they discovered nothing, it was proof that our work was resonating.

Eric Shawn interviewing Gabe Briguglio, the final residing suspect within the disappearance of James R. Hoffa, in 2023.

Nonetheless, we pressed on. Our analysis finally uncovered the weak basis of the New Jersey concept, a concept that, in 1975, the Briguglio brothers, Sal and Gabe, in addition to the Andrettas, Thomas and Steven, got here to Detroit to homicide Hoffa and make him disappear. Combing by our analysis, we realized that the idea was largely constructed on the phrase of convicted felon Ralph Picardo, a pathological liar serving time for manslaughter. His claims in regards to the Briguglio and Andretta brothers had been a part of a determined try to scale back his sentence, not credible proof.

And so, we turned again to Detroit.

With assist from Scott Burnstein of Gangster Report , Eric led us again to the place all of it started. By Season 6, our investigation had cleared Gabriel Briguglio’s title, casting doubt on creator Dan Moldea’s long-held assertions. Moldea, as soon as the authoritative voice on the Hoffa case, had appeared to depend on the identical defective supply—Picardo. In our collection Riddle , he typically said that " Picardo was state of the Artwork . " We had the boldness to know that whereas it was sensible for the FBI to observe that lead again in 1975, in 2025 it simply didn’t make sense anymore.

James P. Hoffa (l.) with Fox Information Channel's Eric Shawn.

Eric continued working, meticulously sifting by FBI information, chilly leads, and firsthand interviews. Finally, we sat down with the final residing suspect, Gabriel Briguglio, who spoke candidly—lastly freed from many years of suspicion. In early 2025, we achieved a milestone: lastly chatting with the Hoffa household on a cellphone name that may finally result in our interview with James P. Hoffa for Season 7.

Fifty years after Jimmy Hoffa disappeared, we had been face-to-face together with his son James P. Hoffa, listening to the heartbreak and frustration solely a household can really feel. Eric’s interview was respectful, pointed, and highly effective. It wasn’t about chasing headlines—it was about chasing the reality. He requested the questions that mattered, as a result of the story nonetheless issues. We felt a connection to James P. " Fox has adopted this all the best way ", he stated, aas if to provide us the "OK", to attempt to assist them get some kind of closure on this 50-year thriller. It was vital to all of us within the room that day.

This wasn’t only a documentary. It was a mission—one constructed on empathy, tenacity, and journalistic duty. Eric by no means overpassed the human price of this story. He by no means misplaced curiosity within the fact, and he by no means bought discouraged, even when the path went chilly. He simply stored going, as a result of that’s what good journalists do.

From 2004, when he entered the Beaverland home to check floorboards for blood, to Season 7 of Riddle , which is out on FOX Nation proper now, Eric Shawn has been the soul of this investigation. The dignity, professionalism, and rigor he delivered to this challenge is unmatched.

So should you watch Riddle: The Seek for James R. Hoffa , don’t simply watch it for the thriller. Watch it to know what true investigative journalism seems to be like.