Review: 'History Detectives Special Investigations' - Who Killed Jimmy Hoffa?

If you had to pick the point when both labor unions and the traditional Italian Mafia were at the peak of their power, it would have to be in the early 1970s. The Teamsters Union controlled 90 percent of the ground transportation in the U.S. and it was an immensely powerful organization. It was also closely affiliated with the mob, which used the Teamster pension funds to build Las Vegas casinos and its truckers to transport illicit goods across the country.

The power of both of those organizations peaked at about the same time as former Teamster head Jimmy Hoffa disappeared from a Detroit restaurant in 1975. The FBI scrutiny surrounding his death led to a number of mobster convictions and the power of the Teamsters union slowly began to dissipate. Hoffa's murder is still considered an open case and while no one seems to know where the body is buried, the PBS series "History Detectives Special Investigations" does a pretty good this week of answering the question of who killed the popular union leader and the reasons behind the decision.

The "History Detectives" series was revamped this season and instead of being a show about the search for the truth behind interesting pieces of memorabilia, it has become four stand-alone hours that each examine a particularly juicy historical mystery. In a sense, the show is not unlike "Secrets of the Dead," except that it focuses on more recent mysteries.

New detective/co-host Kaiama Glover joined Wes Cowan and Tukufu Zuberi this season and in this week's episode they try and solve one of the highest profile unsolved murder mysteries in U.S. history. Using expert interviews, recently declassified government documents, a couple of informants and even audio tapes from the Nixon White House they put together a pretty believable scenario of the events leading up to Hoffa's death. They also give some chilling insight into just how corrupt the political scene was in the early 1970s, as they place Nixon chief counsel Chuck Colson traveling to Las Vegas to receive $500,000 worth of mob money that is to be distributed to the Watergate burglars.

"History Detectives" could learn a couple of things about presentation from the folks at Investigation Discovery, but while the episode is dry at times, it is also paints a really revelatory story about a pivotal time in U.S. history.

"History Detectives Special Investigations" premieres on most PBS stations on Wednesday, July 22nd, 2014 at 9:00 p.m. ET.