FBI fails to find Hoffa's remains

The FBI used heavy construction equipment at the farm

An exhaustive two-week search of a Michigan horse farm for the body of influential union boss Jimmy Hoffa has ended without result, the FBI says.

Agents tore down a barn and dug up several sites on Hidden Dreams Farm 32km (20 miles) from the restaurant where he was last seen in 1975.

They had acted on a tip-off from a convict who lived there at the time.

The former leader of the powerful Teamsters union apparently disappeared after meeting a mafia boss.

Rumours have persisted that Hoffa was murdered by the mafia to prevent him regaining control of the union.

Investigators believe Hoffa, who led the Teamsters from 1957 to 1967, may have been the victim of an underground feud.

The FBI used cadaver dogs, archaeologists and heavy construction equipment at the farm after a search warrant was served.

It said the tip-off was the strongest lead it had ever received in the case.

Comeback bid

It was given by Donovan Wells, 75, who is serving a 10-year drug-trafficking sentence.

There are many rumours surrounding Hoffa's disappearance

Seeking to shorten his prison term, Wells told his lawyers he had seen men burying what appeared to be a body with a backhoe on the farm the day after Hoffa vanished.

Hoffa is reported to have fallen out with several organised crime figures after he was convicted of jury tampering and fraud in the 1960s.

After his release from prison in 1971, and shortly before his disappearance, Hoffa had been trying to regain control of the Teamsters.

On the day he disappeared, he was supposed to be meeting Anthony "Tony Jack" Giacalone, described by the FBI as a Mafia "capo", and another man, Anthony "Tony Pro" Provenzano. Both have since died.

Hoffa was last seen in the car park of the restaurant.

One notable rumour is that Hoffa's remains were buried in the foundations of the Giants football stadium near New York.