Tony "Tony Pro" Provenzano was a powerful mobster in New Jersey's faction of the Genovese crime family — but did he really murder Jimmy Hoffa?
Everett Collection Inc/Alamy Stock PhotoAnthony “Tony Pro” Provenzano outside of his home in Florida on August 5, 1975.
When people asked Tony Provenzano if he was part of the mob, he told them no, of course not — he was “just a truck driver.” But anyone who saw his lavish mansion or knew which circles he ran in also knew he wasn’t telling the truth. Provenzano wasn’t just involved in the Mafia; he was a caporegime for New Jersey’s faction of the Genovese family.
Provenzano was convicted of multiple charges throughout his life, including murder, extortion, conspiracy, and racketeering, but there is one crime that the authorities could never pin on him: the murder of Jimmy Hoffa. To be fair, it’s not certain if Provenzano had any involvement in the labor leader’s disappearance. The two men certainly knew each other, though. They were, by many accounts, friendly with each other for quite some time.
But eventually, Hoffa and Provenzano had a falling out. During a tumultuous stint together in the same prison, Hoffa refused to help Provenzano dodge the law to preserve his union pension. Their relationship quickly soured, and Provenzano issued a number of threats. Even after both men were freed, they were unable to repair their friendship. Then, on July 30, 1975, Jimmy Hoffa vanished without a trace. The mystery of how that happened is still unsolved today, with numerous theories floating around as to who may have orchestrated Hoffa’s disappearance and why.
Tony Provenzano’s name always appears on the list of suspects.
Who Was Anthony “Tony Pro” Provenzano?
NetflixTony Provenzano was famously portrayed by actor Stephen Graham in the 2019 movie The Irishman.
Anthony “Tony Pro” Provenzano was born on the Lower East Side of Manhattan on May 7, 1917. According to his obituary in the Los Angeles Times, police agencies listed him as a soldier in the Genovese crime family, one of the most notorious Mafia organizations that operated under men like Vito Genovese, Charles “Lucky” Luciano, and Vincent Gigante.
Two of Provenzano’s brothers, Salvatore and Nunzio, also had mob ties and were arrested many times throughout the years. Tony Pro, however, made a bigger name for himself. Not only was he a feared mobster, but he was also a high-ranking member of the powerful and corrupt Teamsters Union. Specifically, he controlled the Local 560, headquartered in Union City, New Jersey. Through this, he exerted mob influence over the trucking industry.
Provenzano’s union involvement also introduced him to Jimmy Hoffa, a rising labor leader in the Teamsters Union. Throughout the 1950s, Hoffa and Provenzano established a working relationship that proved to be mutually beneficial. Provenzano’s leadership of Local 560 earned him a $100,000 salary, and Hoffa eventually became the president of the Teamsters Union.
Everett Collection Inc/Alamy Stock PhotoJimmy Hoffa and Tony Provenzano standing together in a crowd of Teamsters.
Hoffa’s notorious rise was subjected to substantial scrutiny, though. In the late 1950s, both Provenzano and Hoffa were questioned in the McClellan Hearings after investigators like Robert F. Kennedy noticed improprieties in their business dealings. According to The New York Times, during Provenzano’s testimony before a Senate rackets committee in 1959, Provenzano cited the Fifth Amendment a startling 44 times.
Meanwhile, Provenzano was also committing far more serious crimes. In 1961, a union rival of Provenzano’s, Anthony Castellito, was garroted with piano wire. Testimony later revealed that Provenzano had paid mob enforcer Harold Konigsberg $15,000 to carry out the brutal hit on Castellito, whose body was ultimately never found. Two years after that murder, Walter Glockner, another rival of Provenzano’s, was shot and killed in Hoboken.
Around the same time, Provenzano was on trial again, this time for extorting payoffs for labor peace. He was convicted and sent to a federal prison in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, where Jimmy Hoffa also happened to be held.
When Provenzano found out that Hoffa was still receiving a hefty Teamsters pension despite his incarceration, their relationship quickly soured. Hoffa refused to help Provenzano get his own pension, which Provenzano felt he was entitled to. Their fight purportedly reached an explosive level after Hoffa used the phrase “you people” when arguing with Provenzano, which Provenzano interpreted as a slur against Italian Americans.
After that, there was bad blood between the men. Hoffa had his sentence commuted by President Richard Nixon after the Teamsters allegedly made a sizable donation to Nixon’s re-election campaign, but even with some distance between him and Provenzano, their relationship worsened.
Some think it may have even led to Hoffa’s death.
Did Tony Provenzano Orchestrate Jimmy Hoffa’s Disappearance And Death?
Robert W. Kelley/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesJimmy Hoffa during one of his many hearings.
When Tony Provenzano left the Lewisburg prison, it seemed as if he was willing to bury the hatchet with Jimmy Hoffa. At least, that’s how Provenzano presented it. According to gangster Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran, who took credit for murdering Hoffa, Provenzano and Hoffa tried to reconcile at a Teamsters event, which ended in disaster: “Tony Pro threatened to rip Jimmy’s guts out with his bare hands and kill his grandchildren.”
Meanwhile, there are also reports that on two separate occasions before July 1975, Provenzano secretly tried to put out a hit on Hoffa.
Hoffa still wanted to return to his position as the Teamsters boss, though, and he figured that he would need Provenzano’s help to do so. Meanwhile, Provenzano reportedly grew worried that Hoffa would challenge mob-controlled pension plans. It wasn’t unfounded. Hoffa had made several public comments about exposing the mob and its connection to the Teamsters — particularly new president Frank Fitzsimmons — to the media.
Provenzano issued a warning to Hoffa: Get out of union politics, or else.
But Hoffa forged ahead, and in July 1975, Provenzano seemingly extended an olive branch. He arranged a meeting between Hoffa, himself, and another mobster, Anthony Giacalone, at a restaurant in suburban Detroit, supposedly to put the past behind them and discuss their future plans.
Hoffa went to the restaurant on July 30, 1975 — and disappeared forever.
Bettmann/Getty ImagesThe Machus Red Fox Restaurant in Bloomfield Township, Michigan, where Hoffa was supposed to meet with Provenzano.
Provenzano, meanwhile, said he was playing cards in Union City, New Jersey that day. Other accounts said that he had been seen with local union members in Hoboken. He denied ever seeing Hoffa that day, and Giacalone said the same. (Notably, Hoffa had also used a payphone to call his wife and complain that Provenzano and Giacalone had stood him up shortly before he disappeared.) Just months later, Provenzano and Fitzsimmons were spotted golfing with former President Nixon. It was one of Nixon’s first public appearances since resigning from office.
Hoffa’s disappearance was major national news, though, and investigators were desperate to find out what happened. Then, in December 1975, a federal investigator announced that a witness had identified three New Jersey men who were directly involved in the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa — and they happened to be close associates of Provenzano’s.
Tony Provenzano’s Final Years And Incarceration
The three men named were Salvatore Briguglio, his brother Gabriel Briguglio, and Thomas Andretta. Salvatore was cited as a “right-hand man” for Provenzano by The New York Times, and Gabriel was known to authorities as a “strongarm man” for Teamster Local 560. Andretta, meanwhile, had previously been sentenced to two years in prison for threatening to kill a used car salesman who refused to pay $35,000 for a loan of $5,000.
But on Dec. 9, 1975, Provenzano was indicted for a different reason. He and two other Teamster aides, Anthony Bentrovato and Lawrence Paladino, were indicted for conspiracy to arrange a kickback for an over $2 million loan from union pension funds. Provenzano was convicted in 1978 and sentenced to four years in prison, but his legal troubles didn’t stop there.
Two years earlier, in June 1976, Provenzano and Salvatore Briguglio (and two other men, George J. Vangelakos and Harold Konigsberg) were indicted on charges of kidnapping and murder in relation to Anthony Castellito’s death back in 1961. In the end, Provenzano was convicted of the murder of Castellito by 1978, leading to a sentence of life in prison.
Bettmann/Getty ImagesTony Provenzano being interviewed outside of his home.
Then, in 1979, Tony Provenzano got yet another 20 years of imprisonment in a labor racketeering case. Needless to say, he would never again be a free man. On Dec. 12, 1988, the 71-year-old Provenzano died of a heart attack in a hospital near his prison in Lompoc, California.
Many people assume Provenzano played a role in Jimmy Hoffa’s death, but with no concrete evidence or confession, it’s impossible to prove. The waters have also been muddied by other theories, and even a deathbed confession from Frank Sheeran, who claimed responsibility for Hoffa’s murder.
There was never any concrete evidence linking Sheeran to Hoffa’s death either, and since Hoffa’s body was never found, it is likely no one will ever know what exactly happened to him. Some people place the blame on other mobsters that Hoffa angered, while a few conspiracy theorists even claim that federal agents had Hoffa killed and merely used the mob for cover. Amidst all the mysteries and unanswered questions, one thing is for certain: Hoffa made plenty of enemies before his demise.
After learning about Tony Provenzano and his possible role in Jimmy Hoffa’s death, read about Russell Bufalino, another mobster who may have played a role in Jimmy Hoffa’s disappearance. Then, read about Russell’s cousin Bill Bufalino, the attorney who abandoned Hoffa shortly before his death.
