Riddle: The Podcast - The Search for James R. Hoffa 50 Years Later-logo

Riddle: The Podcast - The Search for James R. Hoffa 50 Years Later

Fox News

"RIDDLE: The Podcast" accompanies the Fox Nation special, "Riddle: The Search for James R. Hoffa." In the podcast series, Fox News Anchor and Senior Correspondent Eric Shawn takes you behind the scenes of his investigation of the disappearance of the iconic labor leader, James R. Hoffa, who vanished in 1975. The podcast interviews are with people involved in the case or who have extensive knowledge of it: Former Philadelphia Mob Boss Ralph Natale, "I Heard You Paint Houses" author Charlie Brandt, Pulitzer Prize winning former Detroit Free Press reporter David Ashenfelter, "Hoffa Wars" author and investigative journalist Dan Moldea, "The Quiet Don" author Matt Birkbeck, former Fox News producer Ed Barnes, former I.R.S. special agent Melvin Gudknecht, Father Jonathan Morris, and Fox News cameraman Scott Wilder, among others. ..

Location:

United States

Networks:

Fox News

Description:

"RIDDLE: The Podcast" accompanies the Fox Nation special, "Riddle: The Search for James R. Hoffa." In the podcast series, Fox News Anchor and Senior Correspondent Eric Shawn takes you behind the scenes of his investigation of the disappearance of the iconic labor leader, James R. Hoffa, who vanished in 1975. The podcast interviews are with people involved in the case or who have extensive knowledge of it: Former Philadelphia Mob Boss Ralph Natale, "I Heard You Paint Houses" author Charlie Brandt, Pulitzer Prize winning former Detroit Free Press reporter David Ashenfelter, "Hoffa Wars" author and investigative journalist Dan Moldea, "The Quiet Don" author Matt Birkbeck, former Fox News producer Ed Barnes, former I.R.S. special agent Melvin Gudknecht, Father Jonathan Morris, and Fox News cameraman Scott Wilder, among others. ..

Language:

English


Episodes
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Why Did Hoffa Need To Disappear?

7/30/2025
On July 30th 1975, legendary teamster’s leader James R. Hoffa vanished, never to be seen again. go inside one of America's greatest mysteries with 'Riddle: The Search for James R. Hoffa, 50-years later' podcast. Join FOX's Eric Shawn who has been on a two-decade quest to uncover the truth. He speaks with investigative journalists, authors, members of law enforcement and possible witnesses to track down the truth. download 'riddle: the search for James R. Hoffa, 50-Years Later'. 'Riddle: The Search for James R Hoffa' is also streaming on FOX Nation. An 8-episode series that reveals more exclusive details about the investigation and search for answers of one of the most talked about disappearances of a public figure in history. On this episode, Eric speaks with Matt Birkbeck, longtime investigative journalist, and author of “The Life We Chose, Big Billy D’Elia', who explains the relationship between Hoffa and organized crime, and shares what he thinks happened. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Duration:00:28:24

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Which Family Was Responsible?

7/30/2025
On July 30th 1975, legendary teamster’s leader James R. Hoffa vanished, never to be seen again. go inside one of America's greatest mysteries with 'Riddle: The Search for James R. Hoffa, 50-years later' podcast. Join FOX's Eric Shawn who has been on a two-decade quest to uncover the truth. He speaks with investigative journalists, authors, members of law enforcement and possible witnesses to track down the truth. download 'riddle: the search for James R. Hoffa, 50-Years Later'. 'Riddle: The Search for James R Hoffa' is also streaming on FOX Nation. An 8-episode series that reveals more exclusive details about the investigation and search for answers of one of the most talked about disappearances of a public figure in history. On this episode, Eric speaks with Scott Burnstein, prominent Mafia reporter and host of the 'Original Gangster' podcast, who breaks down his thoughts on the longtime argument over which crime family made Hoffa disappear. Was it the criminal organizations in New York City or was it Detroit? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Duration:00:33:08

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The Crime And Mayhem Beat

7/30/2025
On July 30th 1975, legendary teamster’s leader James R. Hoffa vanished, never to be seen again. go inside one of America's greatest mysteries with 'Riddle: The Search for James R. Hoffa, 50-years later' podcast. Join FOX's Eric Shawn who has been on a two-decade quest to uncover the truth. He speaks with investigative journalists, authors, members of law enforcement and possible witnesses to track down the truth. download 'riddle: the search for James R. Hoffa, 50-Years Later'. 'Riddle: The Search for James R Hoffa' is also streaming on FOX Nation. An 8-episode series that reveals more exclusive details about the investigation and search for answers of one of the most talked about disappearances of a public figure in history. On this episode, Eric speaks with Vince Wade, a veteran television news investigative reporter and documentary producer from Detroit, who was the first reporter to share the news with America that Hoffa had vanished, and he tells us what it is like to cover the hottest crime family story of the century. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Duration:00:42:36

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My Parents Were Possible Witnesses

7/30/2025
On July 30th 1975, legendary teamster’s leader James R. Hoffa vanished, never to be seen again. go inside one of America's greatest mysteries with 'Riddle: The Search for James R. Hoffa, 50-years later' podcast. Join FOX's Eric Shawn who has been on a two-decade quest to uncover the truth. He speaks with investigative journalists, authors, members of law enforcement and possible witnesses to track down the truth. download 'riddle: the search for James R. Hoffa, 50-Years Later'. 'Riddle: The Search for James R Hoffa' is also streaming on FOX Nation. An 8-episode series that reveals more exclusive details about the investigation and search for answers of one of the most talked about disappearances of a public figure in history. On this episode, Eric speaks with David Tubman, the author of 'Jimmy Hoffa is Missing: The Gap', who says his family has been keeping a secret regarding the day Hoffa disappeared: the parents may have seen Hoffa driven away from the Machus Red Fox restaurant. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Duration:00:28:04

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What I Saw Has Terrified Me My Whole Life

7/30/2025
On July 30th 1975, legendary teamster’s leader James R. Hoffa vanished, never to be seen again. go inside one of America's greatest mysteries with 'Riddle: The Search for James R. Hoffa, 50-years later' podcast. Join FOX's Eric Shawn who has been on a two-decade quest to uncover the truth. He speaks with investigative journalists, authors, members of law enforcement and possible witnesses to track down the truth. download 'riddle: the search for James R. Hoffa, 50-Years Later'. 'Riddle: The Search for James R Hoffa' is also streaming on FOX Nation. An 8-episode series that reveals more exclusive details about the investigation and search for answers of one of the most talked about disappearances of a public figure in history. On this episode, Eric speaks with Michael Yarborough, a Detroit native, who says on the day James R. Hoffa disappeared he came across a scene that has had him looking over his shoulder for decades to come. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Duration:00:28:19

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Stories From Killers

7/30/2025
On July 30th 1975, legendary teamster’s leader James R. Hoffa vanished, never to be seen again. go inside one of America's greatest mysteries with 'Riddle: The Search for James R. Hoffa, 50-years later' podcast. Join FOX's Eric Shawn who has been on a two-decade quest to uncover the truth. He speaks with investigative journalists, authors, members of law enforcement and possible witnesses to track down the truth. download 'riddle: the search for James R. Hoffa, 50-Years Later'. 'Riddle: The Search for James R Hoffa' is also streaming on FOX Nation. An 8-episode series that reveals more exclusive details about the investigation and search for answers of one of the most talked about disappearances of a public figure in history. On this episode, Eric speaks with Michael Vecchione, former-top lieutenant of the Brooklyn DA and author of 'Friends of the Family: The Inside Story of the Mafia Cops', who shares his thoughts on who may have been given the orders to kill Hoffa, and other stories of infamous assassinations done by the American Mafia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Duration:00:40:30

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My Stepdad, The Suspect

12/17/2019
Eric Shawn speaks to Jack Goldsmith, current Harvard law Professor and former Deputy Attorney General of the United States under President George W. Bush. Jack's stepfather Chuckie Obrien is one of only two suspects in the death of Jimmy Hoffa still alive. Chuckie Obrien has been suspected of driving the car that took Hoffa to his death. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Duration:00:21:21

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Mafia History In America

12/11/2019
Eric Shawn speaks with Geoff Schumacher, Author, Historian and Senior Director of content at the 'Mob Museum' in Las Vegas. He shares with us the knowledge of the largest repository of the nation's history of organized crime. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Duration:00:18:15

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Motor City Connection

12/4/2019
Scott Bernstein, Mob Historian and Editor of 'Gangsterreport.com', was born and raised in a mob connected Detroit family. He is considered a top Mafia expert. Bernstein does not believe that Frank 'the Irishman' Sheeran killed Jimmy Hoffa, and he tells us why in this episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Duration:00:25:11

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Deathbed Confession

11/27/2019
Phillip Moscato, Jr., his father, Phillip Moscato Sr., known as Brother Moscato, owned the dump in Jersey City, New Jersey where it was believed Hoffa's body was taken and buried after he was shot in Detroit. The FBI searched the dump but came up empty. The reason, says a new theory, the body was moved after one of the mafia hoodlums went to the FBI. Phil told me that in 2014, two weeks before his father died of liver cancer at the age of 79, he sat with his son on his hospital bed and told him mobster Sal 'Sally Bugs' Briguglio shot Hoffa and that Hoffa's body is buried in New Jersey. He says hew ill tall law enforcement in a sworn affidavit so they can commence a dig. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Duration:00:23:30

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Moscato's Dump

11/27/2019
Dan Moldea has been on the Hoffa beat since 1974. He wrote the landmark book "The Hoffa Wars" in 1978, and is the most prominent Hoffa expert in the nation. We teamed up for the most recent Fox Nation investigation. Phillip Moscato, son of mobster Pillip Moscato Sr., who says his dad told him that mob hitman Sal Sally Bugs Birguglio shot Hoffa, the body brought back to New Jersey and buried. And, Frank Copola, son of Moscato Sr.'s business parnter who says his father buried Hoffa in the dump in Jersey City, New Jersey known as "Moscato's Dump" back in 1975. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Duration:00:23:39

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Riddle: The Podcast Trailer

9/4/2019
"RIDDLE: The Podcast" accompanies the Fox Nation special, "Riddle: The Search for James R. Hoffa." In the podcast series, Fox News Anchor and Senior Correspondent Eric Shawn takes you behind the scenes of his investigation of the disappearance of the iconic labor leader, James R. Hoffa, who vanished in 1975. The podcast interviews are with people involved in the case or who have extensive knowledge of it: Former Philadelphia Mob Boss Ralph Natale, "I Heard You Paint Houses" author Charlie Brandt, Pulitzer Prize winning former Detroit Free Press reporter David Ashenfelter, "Hoffa Wars" author and investigative journalist Dan Moldea, "The Quiet Don" author Matt Birkbeck, former Fox News producer Ed Barnes, former I.R.S. special agent Melvin Gudknecht, Father Jonathan Morris, and Fox News cameraman Scott Wilder, among others. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Duration:00:01:53

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“New Motive”

11/30/2018
Watch the two-hour special, "Riddle: The Search for James R. Hoffa," on Fox Nation. Fox Nation is a streaming subscription service you can access from your phone, computer and select TV devices. We've created a members-only destination for Fox News' most passionate and loyal fans featuring exclusive content, exclusive experiences and exclusive access. In this episode you'll hear from Ed Barnes, the former Fox News producer who worked with me on our Hoffa investigation. Ed was a noted Time magazine correspondent for decades who also was an organized crime investigator for New York State, probing unions, the mob, and as it turned out... Frank Sheeran. He has a new motive for Hoffa's killing and where his body was dumped. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Duration:00:32:54

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“Role of the Mafia”

11/30/2018
Watch the two-hour special, "Riddle: The Search for James R. Hoffa," on Fox Nation. Fox Nation is a streaming subscription service you can access from your phone, computer and select TV devices. We've created a members-only destination for Fox News' most passionate and loyal fans featuring exclusive content, exclusive experiences and exclusive access. In this episode you'll hear from Ralph Natale, the former mob boss of Philadelphia. Ralph is 83 years old, worked under the legendary Philadelphia crime boss Angelo Bruno, the so-called "Docile Don." He recounts how he knew Jimmy Hoffa very well and bluntly admits he knew Hoffa was going to get killed. His biography is "Last Don Standing: The Secret Life of Mob Boss Ralph Natale." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Duration:00:23:24

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“Ultimate Betrayal”

11/30/2018
Watch the two-hour special, "Riddle: The Search for James R. Hoffa," on Fox Nation. Fox Nation is a streaming subscription service you can access from your phone, computer and select TV devices. We've created a members-only destination for Fox News' most passionate and loyal fans featuring exclusive content, exclusive experiences and exclusive access. In this episode you'll hear from Charles Brandt, Frank Sheeran's former lawyer who wrote the book "I Heard You Paint Houses." I first met Charlie with Sheeran, at Sheeran's lawyer's office in Philadelphia in 2001, where Sheeran told me how he shot Hoffa twice in the back of the head and I asked him for the directions to the house, which he rattled off as Charlie and I wrote them down. That meeting started it all. Charlie's book is the basis for the Martin Scorsese Netflix film, "The Irishman," starring Robert de Niro as Frank, Al Pacino as Jimmy Hoffa. It promises to be a giant mob movie. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Duration:00:27:54

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“The Epitome of an Investigative Reporter”

11/30/2018
Watch the two-hour special, "Riddle: The Search for James R. Hoffa," on Fox Nation. Fox Nation is a streaming subscription service you can access from your phone, computer and select TV devices. We've created a members-only destination for Fox News' most passionate and loyal fans featuring exclusive content, exclusive experiences and exclusive access. In this episode you'll hear from David Ashenfelter. David was a venerable reporter for The Detroit Free Press who covered Jimmy Hoffa and his disappearance for decades. He earned two Pulitzer prizes. The epitome of an investigative reporter if there ever was one. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Duration:00:24:42

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“Dark Forces”

11/30/2018
Watch the two-hour special, "Riddle: The Search for James R. Hoffa," on Fox Nation. Fox Nation is a streaming subscription service you can access from your phone, computer and select TV devices. We've created a members-only destination for Fox News' most passionate and loyal fans featuring exclusive content, exclusive experiences and exclusive access. In this episode you'll hear from Dan Moldea, perhaps the nation's most prominent Hoffa expert. He started reporting on the teamsters, and Hoffa, in his early twenties. He was beaten up in the process... and in 1978 wrote the landmark book, "The Hoffa Wars: Teamsters, Rebels, Politicans and the Mob." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Duration:00:39:10

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“Ring-Side Seat”

11/30/2018
Watch the two-hour special, "Riddle: The Search for James R. Hoffa," on Fox Nation. Fox Nation is a streaming subscription service you can access from your phone, computer and select TV devices. We've created a members-only destination for Fox News' most passionate and loyal fans featuring exclusive content, exclusive experiences and exclusive access. In this episode you'll hear from Matt Birkbeck, an award-winning investigative journalist and author, who was a reporter for The Morning Call in northeastern Pennsylvania, which gave him a ring-side seat to the Bufalino crime family. He wrote the book about its boss, called "The Quiet Don: The Untold Story of Mafia Kingpin Russell Bufalino." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Duration:00:29:26

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“Most Honorable Hitman”

11/30/2018
Watch the two-hour special, "Riddle: The Search for James R. Hoffa," on Fox Nation. Fox Nation is a streaming subscription service you can access from your phone, computer and select TV devices. We've created a members-only destination for Fox News' most passionate and loyal fans featuring exclusive content, exclusive experiences and exclusive access. In this episode you'll hear from Melvin Gudknecht, a former special agent in the intelligence division of the IRS. Gudknecht was part of the prosecution team that put Frank Sheeran in federal prison, and believe it or not says Sheeran, despite being an admitted mafia hitman, was one of the most honorable people he ever met. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Duration:00:27:22

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“Final Confessions”

11/30/2018
Watch the two-hour special, "Riddle: The Search for James R. Hoffa," on Fox Nation. Fox Nation is a streaming subscription service you can access from your phone, computer and select TV devices. We've created a members-only destination for Fox News' most passionate and loyal fans featuring exclusive content, exclusive experiences and exclusive access. In this episode you'll hear from Father Jonathan Morris, long time Fox News contributor and good friend. He is the pastor of Our Lady of Carmel Church in the Bronx, New York and is also a best-selling author. Father Jonathan knows Frank Sheeran's story very well. He play's Frank's priest in the Netflix film, "The Irishman," Martin Scorsese's opus starring Robert de Niro as Frank, which tells the story of Frank's claims and what brought him to confess that he killed Jimmy Hoffa. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Duration:00:27:27