What followed in the next seven years would be one of the most important activities of my three decades in journalism. That first spring and summer we traveled to Detroit three times and we followed former lawyers, reporters, experts and historians. We interviewed Charles Brandt, author of I heard your houses paintProssed about the photo archives of Temple University and the heavily edited Hoffex Memo, and even visited the now notorious house in Beaverland Street-Al, said the site where Mob Hitman Frank Sheeran Hoffa killed. The result was a thoroughly investigated, compelling first season. When Vosnation Launched in November 2018, we thought we had achieved something meaningful. Yet we knew there was more to do.
Jimmy Hoffa’s son: who killed my father, why and what it did to my family
Too many leads were unproven. Too many theories clashed. Too many families – especially the Hoffas – still had no answers. And so we kept digging.
Eric’s journalistic family tree is no coincidence. This is the same reporter who landed exclusives with Bernhard Goetz and Joey Buttafuoco, who covered OJ Simpson and John Gotti with the same tenacity that he brought to this Hoffa research. He not only follows a story – he pursues it, interrogates it and does not let go until the truth appears.
Dan Cohen, Rob Monaco, Eric Shawn and the first visit of Tommy Chiu to Detroit when filming the first “Riddle” in 2018. (Rob Monaco)
With producer Bud Knapp we have released our research further than Detroit, in which we entertained the decades of old theory that Hoffa was transported to New Jersey and buried at Moscato’s Dump in Jersey City. We interviewed the sons of the original dump owners – Phil Moscato Jr. and Frank Cappola – and followed their compelling claims that Hoffa was killed in Detroit, moved over state lines and buried near the Pulaski Skyway. After all, it is what their fathers told them.
“Riddle: The search for James R. Hoffa” is now only broadcast on Fox Nation.
We searched Essex, mountains and morris provinces in New Jersey, driving everywhere and interviewed everyone who is connected. We have investigated everything – even a theory that he can be buried under a swimming pool in the back garden in East Rutherford ownership of Gabriel Briguglio, a resident of New Jersey from 1975 and the last living suspect with alleged MOB connections. By the end of season 3 and 4 of PuzzleEric had dismantled several prominent theories, but kept the family – Jimmy’s children, James P. and Barbara – respectful, as if our work could help one day to close them.
Jimmy Hoffa’s family calls on Trump to release FBI files
Then something remarkable happened. In 2021, the FBI carried out an excavation under the Pulaski Skyway based on our report. I remember that I visited the site before it reached the headlines, causing disturbed ground and security cameras to be ominously above. The agency confirmed to the press in June 2022 that an excavation actually took place in October 2021, but Hoffa was not found. Although they found nothing, it was proof that our work resonated.
Eric Shawn interviews Gabe Briguglio, the last living suspect in the disappearance of James R. Hoffa, in 2023.
Yet we went on. Our research eventually exposed the weak base of the New Jersey Theory, a theory that the Briguglio Brothers, Sal and Gabe came to Detroit in 1975, as well as the Andrettas, Thomas and Steven, to kill Hoffa and make him disappear. By combing our research, we realized that the theory was largely built on the word of convicted criminal Ralph Picardo, a pathological liar who serves time for manslaughter. His claims about the Briguglio and Andretta Brothers were part of a desperate attempt to reduce his sentence, not credible evidence.
And so we could go back to Detroit.
With the help of Scott Burnstein van GangsterEric led us back to where it all started. By season 6 our research had cleared the name of Gabriel Briguglio and doubted doubts about the long -term claims of author than Moldea. Molda, once the authoritative voice of the Hoffa case, seemed to rely on the same defective source – Picardo. In our series PuzzleHe often explained that “Picardo was ultramodern art.“We had the confidence to know that although it was smart for the FBI to follow that lead in 1975, in 2025 it just wasn’t right.
Eric continued to work, carefully by FBI files, cold leads and interviews from first -hand. Eventually we sat down with the last living suspect, Gabriel Briguglio, who spoke frankly – finally free from decades of suspicion. At the beginning of 2025 we reached a milestone: finally chatting with the Hoffa family during a phone call that would eventually lead to our interview with James P. Hoffa for season 7.
Fifty years after Jimmy Hoffa had disappeared, we were face-to-face with his son James P. Hoffa and listened to the heartache and the frustration that only a family can feel. Eric’s interview was respectful, pointed and powerful. It was not about chasing newspaper heads – it was about chasing the truth. He asked the questions that mattered, because the story still matters. We felt a connection with James P. “Fox has followed this completely“,” He said, ace if we have to give ourselves the “OK” to try to help them get some sort of closure in this 50-year mystery. It was important for all of us in the room that day.
This was not just a documentary. It was a mission – a built on empathy, tenacity and journalistic responsibility. Eric never lost sight of the human costs of this story. He never lost the interest in the truth and he was never discouraged, even when the path became cold. He just kept going, because that is what good journalists do.
From 2004, when he entered the Beaverland house to test floor plates for blood, up to season 7 of PuzzleEric Shawn, who is now on Fox Nation, has been the soul of this research. The dignity, professionalism and strictness that he has brought to this project is unparalleled.
So if you look Riddle: The search for James R. HoffaDon’t just pay attention to the mystery. View it to understand what real investigative journalism looks like.
