Anthony Giacalone; Mobster Was Linked to Hoffa

DETROIT —  Anthony “Tony Jack” Giacalone, a reputed Mafia captain who many believe knew the secret behind the disappearance of Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa, has died.

Giacalone died Friday at a Detroit hospital after being admitted with heart and kidney problems, an FBI spokeswoman announced. He was 82.

“He was one of several individuals investigated when Jimmy Hoffa disappeared in 1975,” said the spokeswoman.

She said Giacalone, an allegedly ruthless Detroit Mafia capo, never was formally charged in connection with Hoffa’s disappearance.

But Hoffa had told friends and family members that he was going to meet Giacalone and New Jersey Teamsters official Anthony Provenzano on June 30, 1975, the day he disappeared.

The meeting was to have taken place at the Machus Red Fox restaurant in Detroit’s leafy Bloomfield Township suburb.

It had been set up by Hoffa, who was struggling to reassert his control over the corruption-plagued International Brotherhood of Teamsters union, and to make peace with Provenzano, a rival labor leader and member of the Genovese crime family.

Giacalone was getting a massage at a health club in suburban Detroit on the afternoon of Hoffa’s disappearance. When told that the Teamster leader was missing, Giacalone said: “Maybe he took a little trip.” Provenzano has since died.

The impeccably dressed Giacalone was a familiar figure striding through reporters and photographers in Detroit who gathered to record his court appearances.

Giacalone served time on a 10-year conviction for tax evasion in 1976. He also apparently served time for extortion.

Heart and kidney problems, however, kept Giacalone from trial on a broad 1996 indictment on charges including bombings, conspiracy to commit murder, extortion, bookmaking, loan-sharking and attempting to gain a hidden interest in Nevada casinos.

Raised in Detroit, the son of a vegetable seller, Giacalone enjoyed gardening and raised horses.