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A4 U.S. NEWS
Friday 22 July 2022

FBI: No sign of Jimmy Hoffa

under New Jersey bridge

This 2014 illustration made available by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention depicts
a polio virus particle.
Associated Press
New York reports 1st US polio case in Teamsters Union president Jimmy Hoffa is seen in Washington

nearly a decade on July 26, 1959. Associated Press

By MIKE STOBBE AP Medical day, and encouraged any- ened live virus that is given By ED WHITE exact spot that he had rec-
Writer one who has not been vac- to children as drops in the Associated Press ommended.
NEW YORK (AP) — An un- cinated to get the shots. mouth. In rare instances, DETROIT (AP) — The FBI “I’m not thrilled with the
vaccinated young adult “We want shots in the arms the weakened virus can found no evidence of miss- result. ... My impression to-
from New York recently of those who need it,” mutate into a form capa- ing Teamsters boss Jimmy day was them breaking the
contracted polio, the first Rockland County Health ble of sparking new out- Hoffa during a search of bad news to me: Thanks for
U.S. case in nearly a de- Commissioner Dr. Patricia breaks. land under a New Jersey the tip but this is over. That’s
cade, health officials said Schnabel Ruppert said at a U.S. children are still routine- bridge, a spokeswoman my interpretation,” Moldea
Thursday. Thursday news conference. ly vaccinated against polio said Thursday. told The Associated Press.
Officials said the patient, Polio was once one of the with the inactivated vac- The Pulaski Skyway now “They dug holes very, very
who lives in Rockland nation’s most feared dis- cine. Federal officials rec- becomes another dead deep,” he said.
County, had developed eases, with annual out- ommend four doses: to be end in the decades long The FBI reached out to
paralysis. The person devel- breaks causing thousands given at 2 months of age; 4 mystery that has stretched Moldea last year after he
oped symptoms a month of cases of paralysis. The months; at 6 to 18 months; from a Michigan horse farm published a detailed ac-
ago and did not recently disease mostly affects chil- and at age 4 through 6 to the East Coast: Where count from Frank Cappola,
travel outside the country, dren. years. Some states require are the remains of one of who was a teenager in the
county health officials said. Vaccines became avail- only three doses. America’s most powerful 1970s when he worked at
It appears the patient had able starting in 1955, and According to the CDC’s labor leaders? the old PJP Landfill near the
a vaccine-derived strain a national vaccination most recent childhood The 47-year riddle turned bridge. Cappola said his
of the virus, perhaps from campaign cut the annual vaccination data, about last year to land next to a father, Paul Cappola, who
someone who got live vac- number of U.S. cases to less 93% of 2-year-olds had re- former landfill under the also worked at the land-
cine — available in other than 100 in the 1960s and ceived at least three doses bridge in Jersey City. The fill, explained how Hoffa’s
countries, but not the U.S. fewer than 10 in the 1970s, of polio vaccine. FBI conducted a search body was delivered there
— and spread it, officials according to the Centers Polio spreads mostly from there in early June. in 1975, placed in a steel
said. for Disease Control and person to person or through “Nothing of evidentiary drum and buried with other
The person is no longer Prevention. contaminated water. It value was discovered dur- barrels, bricks and dirt.
deemed contagious, but In 1979, polio was declared can infect a person’s spinal ing that search,” said Mara Paul Cappola, worried that
investigators are trying to eliminated in the U.S., cord, causing paralysis and Schneider, an FBI spokes- police might be watching,
figure out how the infection meaning there was no lon- possibly permanent disabil- woman in Detroit. dug a hole on New Jersey
occurred and whether oth- ger routine spread. ity and death. “While we do not currently state property, about 100
er people were exposed to Rarely, travelers have Polio is endemic in Af- anticipate any additional yards from the landfill, and
the virus. brought polio infections ghanistan and Pakistan, al- activity at the site, the FBI subsequently moved the
Most Americans are vac- into the U.S. The last such though numerous countries will continue to pursue any unmarked barrel there, ac-
cinated against polio, but case was in 2013, when a in Africa, the Middle East viable lead in our efforts to cording to Moldea.
this should serve as a wake- 7-month-old who had re- and Asia have also report- locate Mr. Hoffa,” she said. Hoffa was president of the
up call to the unvaccinat- cently moved to the U.S. ed cases in recent years. Schneider declined to 2.1 million-member Team-
ed, said Jennifer Nuzzo, a from India was diagnosed Rockland County, in New comment further when sters union from 1957-71,
Brown University pandemic in San Antonio, Texas, ac- York City’s northern sub- asked for details about the even keeping the title
researcher. cording the federal health urbs, has been a center excavation. while in prison for trying to
“This isn’t normal. We don’t officials. That child also had of vaccine resistance in Authorities believe Hoffa bribe jurors during a previ-
want to see this,” Nuzzo the type of polio found in recent years. A 2018-2019 disappeared in suburban ous trial. He was released
said. “If you’re vaccinat- the live form of vaccine measles outbreak there in- Detroit in 1975 while meet- from prison in 1971 when
ed, it’s not something you used in other countries. fected 312 people. ing with reputed mobsters. President Richard Nixon
need to worry about. But There are two types of po- Last month, health officials Dan Moldea, a journalist shortened his sentence.It
if you haven’t gotten your lio vaccines. The U.S. and in Britain warned parents who has written extensively has been long speculated
kids vaccinated, it’s really many other countries use to make sure children have about the Hoffa saga, said that Hoffa, who was 62,
important that you make shots made with an inacti- been vaccinated because he was personally briefed was killed by enemies be-
sure they’re up to date.” vated version of the virus. the polio virus had been by the FBI in a video con- cause he was planning a
Health officials scheduled But some countries where found in London sewage ference call Thursday. Teamsters comeback. He
vaccination clinics in New polio has been more of a samples. No cases of pa- He said the FBI and its con- was declared legally dead
York for Friday and Mon- recent threat use a weak- ralysis were reported.q tractors did not dig in the in 1982.q