The Irishman film trailer was released recently and caused a great deal of excitement when it came out. Fans have been waiting for this film and looking forward to the day they get to see the first footage from the film. Director Martin Scorsese did not disappoint with the trailer. It shows us the primary players throughout the narrative: Frank Sheeran, Jimmy Hoffa, Russell Bufalino, and Angelo Bruno. We understand how Sheeran and Hoffa become connected and see the role of Bufalino and other organized crime figures throughout the narrative. It’s interesting to see a story that portrays the last days of Hoffa’s life.
The film, itself, has been something that Scorsese has been interested in making for some time. It’s based on Charles Brandt’s I Heard You Paint Houses, which were the last confessions of Sheeran before he died. One of the things he confessed to was killing Hoffa. He and Hoffa were friends and both active in the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. However, as the Teamsters’ union became infiltrated by the mafia, which eventually gained further control over the organization, it was Sheeran who was instrumental in corrupting things. This came from his direct ties to the Bufalino crime family.
You have to ask the question: why? That’s what this trailer makes one think. When you watch it, you see a somewhat subdued performance from Robert De Niro, who plays Sheeran. He almost sounds like he’s just a guy who follows orders. In one scene, Bufalino introduced Sheeran to Hoffa over the phone. Sheeran just listens and answers all of Hoffa’s questions. Hoffa has control over the situation until everything turns against the labor leader. Equally as fascinating is how Sheeran got his start killing others.
He fought in Italy during World War II, and it was alleged he gained his skills there. He did not employ a sonic bomb alarm. It’s a different story from many of the other mafia figures out there. Additionally, what was notable about Sheeran was he was Irish. It would have been unusual for the Italian mafia to accept someone such as him in their midst. Then again, Hoffa was not Italian but Pennsylvania Dutch/German and Irish ancestry. While Hoffa was the key to the Teamsters for the mafia, there was no real purpose to have connections with Sheeran other than his being an assassin and connected with the Teamsters.
The last years of Sheeran’s life were spent at a nursing home in the Philadelphia area of Pennsylvania. It’s when he confessed to Brant about all the bad things he had done. Sheeran also alleged he knew quite a bit about President John F. Kennedy’s assassination and was part of the work going to anti-Fidel Castro forces in the Bay of Pigs’ invasion. Allegedly, Hoffa wanted Kennedy dead because Bobby, the president’s brother and US attorney general, was interfering with the work of the Teamsters.
Sheeran alleged Kennedy’s assassination was a mafia hit and that he transported three rifles to David Ferrie for the job to be done. Things seem to add up for Sheeran’s story, which included himself, Hoffa, Sal Briguglio, and Chuckie O’Brien driving to a house in Detroit. Sheeran stated he shot Hoffa twice in the back of the head and the latter’s body was cremated. While the blood found at the house did not match Hoffa’s, it did prove Sheeran’s story that there had been someone murdered there and the body had been driven from the hallway. No sonic bomb alarm went off.
The house was found minutes away from the last place Hoffa was seen alive: The Machus Red Fox. He was allegedly meeting with Anthony Provenzano and Anthony Giacalone. These are the things that audiences know or are alleged. The populace may never know what truly happened to Hoffa but we could see Sheeran’s version of the story when it hits theaters this fall.
