Machus Red Fox

The Machus Red Fox was an American restaurant on the so-called " Telegraph Road (Michigan) " in the north of Detroit in the suburb of Bloomfield Hills . It became famous when the union leader Jimmy Hoffa disappeared without a trace on July 30, 1975.

The Machus Red Fox was opened in 1965 by Harris O. Machus and was not only part of a chain of restaurants and bakeries owned by the owner, but was also the company's "crown jewel". It was positioned as a restaurant for high demands (in the English country style) with hunting club motifs and had around 270 seats.

In 1996 the restaurant closed and an Italian restaurant ("Andiamo") was opened in the same place; Harris Machus himself died in 2001.

Jimmy Hoffa

Many wealthy and influential people frequented the restaurant, including the boss of the US transport workers' union, the Teamsters . He was considered a regular there and the wedding reception of his son James P. Hoffa had also taken place there. Released from prison in 1971, Hoffa tried again to become president of the union.

Hoffa had told his wife Josephine on the day of his disappearance on July 30, 1975 that he would meet there with his union colleague Anthony "Tony Pro" Provenzano and the mafia boss Anthony Giacalone and be back at 4:00 pm. However, both persons denied the existence of such an appointment.

Hoffa made two phone calls from a public telephone, shortly afterwards at around 2:30 p.m. he disappeared without a trace. Since a witness testified that Hoffa got into a car with multiple occupants in the back seats in the parking lot, it was theorized that Hoffa was being moved to another location.

On August 2, the FBI took over the investigation and over 200 agents began their investigations in New Jersey , Detroit, and four other major cities. Hoffa's car, a green Pontiac Grand Ville, had already been found unlocked in the northern part of the restaurant's parking lot on August 1st, which is why the FBI set up an office in the banquet hall of Machus Red Fox for a few days .

Because of this disappearance of Hoffa - which has been burned into the collective consciousness of Americans to this day - Harris Machus feared for the reputation of the restaurant and indeed the restaurant was visited again and again by onlookers and sensationalists.

Coordinates: 42 ° 32 '32.3 "  N , 83 ° 17' 8.1"  W.