On this day in 2015 the reputed underboss of the Detroit Partnership and the son of former mob boss Joe Zerilli passed away at the age of 87. Anthony Joseph Zerilli stated that Jimmy Hoffa was buried in a shallow grave in a field in Oakland County, 20 miles north of the now-closed Bloomfield Township restaurant Machus Red Fox, believed to be Hoffa’s last known whereabouts.

On this day in 2015, Anthony Joseph Zerilli, one of the most prominent figures in the Detroit underworld, passed away at the age of 87, bringing to a close a life that had been deeply intertwined with the history of organised crime in America. Known to law enforcement and associates alike simply as Tony, Zerilli had served for decades as a key figure within the Detroit Partnership, the city's powerful La Cosa Nostra family, which at its height rivalled the influence of the New York Five Families and maintained strong ties to mob operations stretching across the Midwest and into Las Vegas.

Tony was the son of Joseph Zerilli, the formidable boss who had led the Detroit Partnership from the 1930s through to the 1970s, building it into one of the most disciplined and lucrative crime organisations in the country. The elder Zerilli had cultivated relationships with the most powerful figures in the American underworld, including Lucky Luciano and the bosses of the national crime syndicate, ensuring that Detroit remained a respected and sovereign operation rather than a satellite of the New York families. Tony inherited not only his father's position but also his reputation for shrewd, measured leadership, and was widely regarded as the underboss of the organisation during some of its most prosperous years.

Despite the wealth and influence that came with his station, Zerilli's life was punctuated by significant legal troubles. He served time in federal prison on conspiracy charges related to the skimming of casino profits from Las Vegas, a scheme that implicated mob figures from several American cities and exposed the deep financial networks that connected the national crime syndicate throughout the latter half of the twentieth century.

Perhaps no aspect of Tony Zerilli's later years attracted more public attention than his claims regarding the fate of Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa, who vanished in July 1975. In 2013, Zerilli publicly stated that Hoffa had been buried in a shallow grave in a field in Oakland County, approximately twenty miles north of the Machus Red Fox restaurant in Bloomfield Township, widely accepted as the last place Hoffa was seen alive. Zerilli alleged he had been told of the burial site by fellow mobsters, though subsequent investigations of the land in question failed to produce any conclusive evidence.

Tony Zerilli's death marked the passing of one of the last living links to the golden era of the Detroit Partnership, and the mystery surrounding his Hoffa claims ensures that his name will endure in the annals of American mob history for years to come.