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American Morning
New Information Emerges in Hoffa Case
Aired September 10, 2001 - 11:43 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN ANCHOR: It's been more than 25 years since the disappearance of Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa, and in recent days new information has emerged about the investigation, including reports about possible DNA evidence.
And joining us now to talk about those developments is Joe Swickard. He is assistant editor of the "Detroit Free Press" and has been its pointman on the Hoffa story for more than a decade now.
Joe, thanks a lot for being here.
JOSEPH SWICKARD, "DETROIT FREE PRESS": Good morning. Thank you.
MCEDWARDS: Tell us more about this DNA evidence. We're talking about a hair found on the seat of a car of one of his closest friends. Why is that important at this point?
SWICKARD: The three-inch, dark brown hair was found during the initial search of the car back in 1975, and it was only recently that the FBI felt that the DNA analysis had progressed enough where they could test this hair.
It was tested in late last year, I believe in November, and it came back positive to match with Jimmy Hoffa's hair that they had taken some samples from a hair brush.
So in the FBI's opinion, a number of the agents to whom I have spoken, they feel it proves absolutely beyond any doubt that Hoffa was in that car.
MCEDWARDS: OK, was in that car, and this is the car, as I understand it, of Charles "Chuckie" O'Brien, right?
SWICKARD: It was a car he had borrowed that day. It actually belonged to a man named Joey Giacalone, who was is the son of a Detroit mob figure. And "Chuckie" O'Brien had borrowed the car that day to run a number of errands.
MCEDWARDS: So I guess my question is, though, I mean, if it's Hoffa's hair and if he was in that car and they were friends, is there any link between that and the day he disappeared at this point?
SWICKARD: Well, that's the jump a number of people are making. However, a number of attorneys and investigators are saying that putting the hair in the car on Hoffa's head on that particular date with that particular group of people is a pretty big jump to make.
MCEDWARDS: Yes.
SWICKARD: That Hoffa knew these people, had been associated with them, and there's always a possibility of transference of somebody's hair; you visit someone, you pick up a hair on your coat...
MCEDWARDS: Sure.
SWICKARD: ... you're in the car, you leave the hair when you leave the car.
MCEDWARDS: Well, was there anything else ever found in the car? Any blood, anything like that?
SWICKARD: There was some blood and it raised a lot of suspicion. And because it happened about the time the movie "The Godfather" came out and when O'Brien said that that was fish blood, a lot of people started laughing because of the sleeps with the fishes line from the "The Godfather." But it turned out to actually be fish blood. And Mr. O'Brien had delivered a salmon to another Teamster official earlier that day.
The FBI did bring in some bloodhounds, or scent dogs, I believe they're more correctly referred to, and they did reportedly find the scent of Hoffa in the backseat and trunk area.
MCEDWARDS: Now, what about Mr. O'Brien? What's he -- you know, what's his position? what's he saying about this?
SWICKARD: What he is saying through his attorneys, today, is pretty much what he has said all along. And I did a fairly long interview with him a couple of years ago when he got copies of some very early investigative files. He indicated that he had no contact with Mr. Hoffa that day, and I think it was his colorful phrase that he would have to be an "insane maniac" to have tried to harm Mr. Hoffa, a guy he considered as his step father.
MCEDWARDS: Joe, just real quick, I mean, with so many of the players in this case, you know, dead and gone, I mean, at this point, do you really see a day when it's solved?
SWICKARD: Well, it depends what's solved. According to the FBI reports that I read, and these dated from the very earliest days of the investigation, they developed a pretty good scenario, they developed a number of pieces of evidence, and the evidence really has not moved beyond that from the first few weeks.
They've been able to do more sophisticated analysis, but it tends to confirm what they already found. And whether they will be able to solve the case is one thing, being able to present a criminal case in court is a far higher standard.
MCEDWARDS: Indeed.
Joe Swickard, thanks a lot for your time this morning, we appreciate it.
SWICKARD: Thank you.
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