All language subtitles for Expedition.Files.S03E01.Vanished.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-RAWR_track3_[eng]

On this episode of
"Expedition Files"...

In 1975, union leader
Jimmy Hoffa

vanishes from
a parking lot without a trace.

Was it a mob hit?
If so, where's the body?

A new theory may finally solve

one of the FBI's longest-running
investigations.

Then, the Holy Grail,
the cup of Jesus Christ,

has been hunted by
kings and crusaders.

This biblical relic
was said to be lost.

Has it now been found?

And groundbreaking engineer
Rudolf Diesel disappears on

an ocean liner while
transporting secret plans that

could change the course of
World War I.

We reveal what may have been
one of the greatest

espionage operations
in history.

In the corridors of time...

are mysteries
that defy explanation.

Now, I'm traveling through
history itself...

on a search for the truth.

New evidence.

Shocking answers.

I'm Josh Gates.

And these...

are my Expedition Files.

One of my first jobs out of
college was working as a waiter

at a Hollywood institution
called The Magic Castle,

a private club for magicians.

I learned two things
working there.

One, magicians are
lousy tippers.

And two, there's nothing
an audience loves more than

watching something disappear.

So tonight,
prepare to be amazed

as we take vanishing acts to
their most shocking extreme.

I promise, no top hats,
rabbits, or $1 tips in sight.

We examine three
of history's most

extraordinary disappearances--
people and things that were

suddenly gone without a trace,

leaving the rest of
the world guessing.

That is, until now.

We begin on July 30, 1975.

It's a muggy afternoon
just after 2:30 p.m.

I'm standing outside
the Machus Red Fox restaurant,

about 20 miles northwest
of Detroit.

The guy on the payphone here?

He isn't just your average
angry diner.

In fact, he's one of the most
powerful men in America.

This is Jimmy Hoffa.

At 62, Hoffa is
the former president

of the Teamsters,

the most formidable labor union
in America.

Right now, he's on the phone
with his wife, Josephine,

upset that he's been stood up
for a crucial meeting.

He tells her to throw some
steaks on the grill

and expect him back
by 4 o'clock.

But those steaks, well,
they're gonna go cold.

And Jimmy Hoffa isn't coming
home for dinner, because just

minutes from now,
he'll disappear,

setting off one of
the most extraordinary

missing persons cases
in history.

For over 50 years,
the world will ask

the same question-- what really
happened to Jimmy Hoffa?

And why has his body
never been found?

[big band music plays]

[Josh] In the middle of the last
century, pretty much everyone

knows the name, Jimmy Hoffa.
To millions, he's a hero.

As Teamster president,
he stands up against

big business to secure
better wages and benefits for

the blue-collar workers
who depend on it.

[cheering]

You've heard of
the supply chain?

The vast network that moves
goods from factories to stores.

Well, in the 20th century,
the Teamsters control it.

The organization of truck
drivers and warehouse workers

literally keeps
the American economy moving.

Hoffa rises through the ranks

as a street-fighting
labor organizer.

- He becomes
union president in 1957.
- [indistinct chanting]

His influence is undeniable,
but his methods are often

controversial, even illegal.

You see, in the '50s,
organized crime has its hooks

in a lot of local unions.

- [phone ringing]
- In return for their loyalty
and occasional muscle,

Hoffa lets mob-connected
businessmen borrow massive

chunks of money from
the Teamsters pension fund.

That money helps build glitzy
Vegas hotels and casinos.

The mob gets low-interest
loans, and in exchange,

they give union jobs to
Teamsters, everyone from

bellhops to cabbies.

Workers adore Hoffa.
The government?

Not so much,
especially Attorney General

Robert F. Kennedy.

See, it's not just
Hoffa's mob buddies who are

breaking the law.

Hoffa plays dirty
himself-- extortion,

wiretapping, embezzlement.

In 1967, after years of
attempts, the Feds, led by

Kennedy, finally nailed Jimmy
for jury tampering

and misusing
union pension funds.

He gets 13 years behind bars.

[reporter, archived] With
his raincoat covering handcuffs,

Hoffa arrives at federal prison
in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.

It seems
the street-fighting labor boss
has finally met his match.

But don't count Hoffa out
just yet.

He's about to get help from
a very unlikely friend,

President Richard Nixon.

On December 23, 1971,
Nixon commutes

Hoffa's sentence, and Jimmy gets
out after serving

less than five years.

Nixon thinks that freeing him
will earn him support from

Hoffa's loyal followers.

But for Hoffa,
freedom comes with a caveat.

Nixon bars him from
any union activity until 1980,

effectively minimizing
his power and influence.

In 1974, Hoffa sues
the government to lift the ban.

With an appeal underway,
Hoffa tries to shore up support

for a run at
the union presidency

at the next election...
- [indistinct chanting]

...which brings us back
to the restaurant parking lot

on that muggy day in
July of 1975.

[chanting concludes]

When Hoffa fails to arrive
home, his family

calls the police.

The next morning,
investigators find Hoffa's car

in the Machus Red Fox
parking lot.

There's no sign of a struggle
and no sign of Jimmy.

Several people report seeing
the famous labor leader at

the restaurant the day before.

One witness claims
she saw Hoffa

get into a maroon Mercury sedan
with three other men.

It is the last time anyone will
report seeing Hoffa alive.

A nationwide manhunt
is launched.

[sirens wail]

[indistinct police radio
chatter]

As it heats up,
rumors circulate that the mafia

is involved in
Hoffa's disappearance.

Hoffa's family finds his date
book, and it makes the mob

the prime suspect.

It reveals the names of two men
he intended to meet that day

at the restaurant.

Tony Giacalone, aka Tony Jack,
a senior figure in

the Detroit mob.

And Tony Provenzano, aka Tony
Pro, a "capo" or captain

for the Genovese crime family.

Investigators track down
both Tonys.

Each has a strong alibi
and deny that a meeting with

Hoffa was even scheduled.

But there is a thread for
the investigators to pull on.

Tony Giacalone's son happens to
own a Mercury sedan,

just like the one
the eyewitness described.

And there's another
interesting wrinkle.

A man called Chucky O'Brien
borrowed the car that morning

to supposedly run some errands.

Chucky was a known
Hoffa Union associate.

Jimmy treated him
like a stepson.

When authorities process
the car, they find bloodstains

on the seat,
and that's not all.

A few strands of hair
matching Hoffa's color

also go into
evidence bags.

Police dogs hit on Hoffa's
scent, suggesting Jimmy was in

the back seat and, even more
disturbingly, the trunk.

But O'Brien claims he didn't
pick Jimmy up

at the Machus Red Fox
that day.

And the blood on the seat?

Chucky says that comes from
a salmon he delivered to

a Teamster's house
that morning.

If this all sounds very fishy
to you, you're not alone.

However, tests on the blood
reveal O'Brien is telling

the truth, at least
about the salmon.

It's fish blood, not human.

As to the hair, well,
it's the mid-'70s,

and we're more than a decade
away from DNA technology that

could confirm whether it
belonged to Hoffa.

Days turn to weeks,

and there's still no sign
of Jimmy.

In November of 1975,
nearly four months

after the disappearance,
investigators catch a break.

Ralph Picardo,
a mob-connected convict serving

time for murder,
claims he knows the truth of

Hoffa's disappearance and gives
up the details to the Feds in

exchange for
a reduced sentence.

Ralph points the finger at
the two Tonys, saying they sent

four wise guys to kidnap Hoffa
from the Machus Red Fox,

and that they took him to
a second location

where he was
shot and killed.

[gunshot blasts]

Then, according to Picardo,
the body was packed into

a 55-gallon drum,
loaded on a truck,

and driven to a mob-controlled
landfill in New Jersey,

where it was buried.

However, several days of
searching at the dump turns up

little more than toxic waste
and animal bones, likely

discarded from nearby
meat processing plants.

In late 1975, a grand jury
grills Tony Pro, Tony Jack,

and several of the other
alleged mob co-conspirators.

But nobody talks.
They all plead the fifth.

With scant evidence
and no body,

the case of the missing
union leader goes colder

than the Detroit River
in February.

In 1982, authorities declare
Jimmy Hoffa legally dead,

despite never in any way
answering what happened to him.

The world is left mystified as
to his final fate.

But then, 19 years later,
a game-changing revelation will

crack the case wide open.

In 2001, 19 years after
Jimmy Hoffa went missing,

a shocking discovery jolts
the case back into

the national spotlight.

DNA testing confirms the hair
found in the car is Hoffa's.

There's no longer any doubt.

The infamous union boss was
inside that vehicle.

But where was he taken?
And what was done to him?

For over two decades,
mafia historian,

Christian Cipollini, has dug
into the blood-soaked theories

surrounding what happened to
Hoffa and his body.

[Christian]
The Hoffa case fascinates me
because this is something that

doesn't have closure.

It's like the JFK
assassination.

It's like the disappearance of
Amelia Earhart.

We want some answers.

One of the first major theories
that really stuck in

the American psyche came to
light when a former mobster

named Tony the Greek,
he said, Hoffa was killed

and then transported
to New Jersey,

and buried under
the Giants stadium,

which they were
building at the time.

The problem with
that theory is that the mafia

likes to do things in
a practical way.

Keep it simple.

What the mob probably didn't do
was pack the body of the most

famous missing man in America
on a truck, taking it across

state lines to bury it
in such an extravagant way.

[Josh]
Rumors swelled into an urban
legend that Jimmy Hoffa was

buried in
the stadium's foundations.

But when it was demolished
in 2010,

no trace of him
was found.

[indistinct loudspeaker
announcement]

Which leads us to popular theory
number two, the Irishman.

In 2003, Frank Sheeran,
a former Teamster official

and alleged mob hitman,
is dying of cancer.

On his deathbed,
he gives a jaw-dropping

confession to his lawyer.

He claims Hoffa was abducted
and murdered by the mob.

Sheeran says he was not only
there that day, but he was

the one who actually
pulled the trigger.

[gunshot blasts]

Sheeran's confession becomes
a best-selling book,

later adapted into Martin
Scorsese's movie,

"The Irishman," in which
he's played by Robert De Niro.

Sheeran gives the exact address
of a house in Detroit where

he claims Hoffa was murdered.

In 2004, investigators tear up
the floorboards

and they do discover blood.

Unfortunately,
it's not a match for Hoffa.

The only evidence of
Frank Sheeran being involved in

the Hoffa hit and disappearance
were his own claims.

And his own story changed
many times over the years.

The Irishman theory is great
pop culture Americana,

but it doesn't rest on
solid evidence.

[Josh] So what really happened
to Hoffa's body?

Why hasn't it been found?

Over the years, dozens of
theories have been put forward,

mostly by former wise guys
looking for 15 minutes of fame

and a quick buck.

One claims Hoffa was dumped in
the Florida Everglades.

Another swears he was dropped
out of an airplane into

the Great Lakes.

Yet another says he buried
Hoffa beneath a swimming pool.

It's estimated the FBI has
spent tens of millions of

dollars chasing bogus leads.

In 2022,
they even reinvestigated

the dump in New Jersey.

But once again, they came
up empty-handed.

[Christian]
50 years of searching for
the body of Jimmy Hoffa.

What they did right in
this hit, we assume,

is they destroyed the body.

[Josh] So if it is the mob,
how did they make Hoffa

disappear permanently?

In 2025, it's revealed that
the FBI caught

a major break when Detroit
mobster Anthony Palazzolo,

a.k.a. Tony Pal, confesses to
the hit, saying he turned Hoffa

into literal mincemeat at
his place of business,

the Detroit Sausage Company.

Supposedly, the remains are
then cremated at a mob-owned

dump called Central Sanitation.

And Christian believes
the evidence

was then further erased.

[Christian]
From Machus Red Fox to
the Central Sanitation is just

a short drive.

This entire crime could have
been carried out in less

than an hour.

A year or so later,
Central Sanitation burned to

the ground, and you wouldn't be
able to find any evidence

even if it was there.

The key to pulling off this
perfect crime...

was leave no body.

[Josh] Run through a sausage
grinder and cremated

not once, but twice.

Tony Pal's confession
suggests a logical and grisly

conclusion to
the Hoffa mystery.

Jimmy Hoffa was a titan of
his age, but in death,

his remains will never be found

because there's nothing
to find.

Hoffa's final resting place has
gone up in smoke, literally.

From a missing man who helped
shape a century to a missing

object that shaped
the last two millennia.

It's the year 33 AD,

just outside the city walls
of Jerusalem.

This group of men here,
they're guests at history's

most famous dinner party.
That one there is Peter.

And over in the shadows,
brooding and restless, Judas.

And then there's our host,
Jesus of Nazareth.

According to Christian
scripture, by this time

tomorrow, Jesus will be
executed on a Roman cross.

And the simple cup
he now lifts is about to

become Christendom's most
sacred and most controversial

relic, the Holy Grail.

Many will come to believe
the Grail grants divine power

or even eternal life,
but soon it will vanish.

Will it be lost forever
or will it end up hiding

in plain sight?

The story of the Grail
is one of mystery.

The Bible doesn't even provide
a physical description of it.

The Gospels of Matthew,
Mark, and Luke, written more

than a half a century after
Jesus' death,

refer simply to a cup.

The cup is used ceremonially to
represent Christ's sacrifice.

The Scripture also has nothing
to say about where this cup

went after the fateful supper,
nor any of the subsequent

claims of its qualities.

For centuries, it seems to have
simply vanished.

Then, in the Middle Ages,
tales emerge of the Grail as

an artifact imbued with
incredible power.

Mostly set in the mystical
realm of King Arthur, these are

stories of heroic knights
and sacred mysteries.

Think of them as
the "Star Wars" saga,

only set a long time ago
in a castle far, far away.

But here's where things get
really interesting,

because at the same time that
we get these medieval myths

about the chivalrous knights of
the Round Table, there's also

a real-life group of God's
warriors, the Knights Templar,

an order of military monks,
equal parts holy and badass.

They roam the Christian world
with one foot in the church

and the other
on the battlefield.

[bell tolls]

After the First Crusade,
they're charged with protecting

wealthy Christian pilgrims on
their travels to the Holy Land.

The Templars' home base is in
the heart of Jerusalem,

and it's said to contain vast
wealth and holy relics.

Rumors begin to spread.

Did they discover Jesus'
chalice and keep it

for themselves?
If so, where did they put it?

The Holy Grail
could be anywhere

across the vast Templar network,

stretching from England
to Syria.

But in 1312, the Templars are
forcibly disbanded,

without ever revealing if
they did indeed get the Grail.

In the centuries that follow,
the legend and lore of

Christ's cup only grows,

with many vessels emerging
that people claim

are the real deal.

There's the silver Antioch
chalice, found in the ruins of

a church in Turkey.

The onyx chalice of
Dona Urraca,

housed in a basilica
in Spain.

And who could forget
the Nanteos cup,

a humble wooden bowl from
a monastery in Wales.

At least that one looks like
the cup of a carpenter.

In fact, over 200 vessels
across Europe have, at one time

or another, been presented as
the possible Holy Grail.

Most of them, well, let's just
say they don't hold water.

[bell tolls]

[ethereal music plays]

But a couple seem real enough

to cause even skeptical
Grail Seekers

to take a second look.

Behold
the Sacro Catino,

a.k.a. the Genoa Chalice.

Sure, it looks like a satellite
dish from the Emerald City,

but according to the medieval
chronicle of the Italian city

of Genoa, Crusaders seized this
mysterious green vessel during

the capture of the biblical
city of Caesarea in

the year 1101.

Now, according to
the chronicle, the chalice is

said to be crafted out of pure
emerald and is with

the Last Supper, fueling
the belief that it could possess

extraordinary powers.

The cup even appears to glow
from within, radiating what

some have said is
a divine light.

But can the Genoa Chalice be
proven to be

the true Holy Grail?

[Josh] In the Middle Ages,
the emerald Genoa Chalice is

considered by many to be
the Holy Grail.

In the 1800s, when Napoleon
annexes Genoa,

the French emperor personally
demands that the prized chalice

is shipped to the Paris
Academy of Sciences to

verify its authenticity.

But while in transit from
Genoa to France,

the cup fractures.

Upon examination,
Parisian scientists determined

the dish is not an emerald at
all, but Byzantine glass.

That's a big problem because
this particular style of glass

was not in use until hundreds
of years after Jesus' death.

And so it becomes another
failed contender in

the enduring quest for
the Holy Grail.

And as it turns out,
Napoleon isn't the only

power-hungry authoritarian to
seek the Grail.

[crowd roaring]

A century later, Adolf Hitler
becomes fascinated with

the Grail and its
supposed powers.

His most lethal enforcer,
Heinrich Himmler,

reportedly dispatches
the Nazi SS

on expeditions across Europe
in search of the relic.

For more on this, please see

"Indiana Jones
and the Last Crusade."

And Indy's adventure is just
one of many modern spins on

the Grail legend.

If you look around,
Grail mythology is everywhere

in pop culture,

from Dan Brown's
"Da Vinci Code"...

to "Monty Python" to gaming's

"Assassin's Creed" franchise.

To the faithful,
the Holy Grail remains

not a thing of fiction,
but a divine relic

that could still be found.

Despite centuries
of pursuit, though,

it has remained elusive.

But now, professor of history
and folklore

Dr. Lynn McNeill claims
there may be

compelling new evidence
for the Grail's existence.

[Lynn] Within the context of
Christianity, the Grail is one

of the most sacred objects on
this planet today.

And we're left wondering
what happened.

If we still have it,
if it is findable, if it exists,

if it is extant in the world,
this would be magnificent.

Recent research is starting
to show that

the Chalice of Valencia
is the historic Cup of Christ.

This may be more than just
a local belief.

This could actually
be possible.

[Josh]
The Holy Chalice of Valencia,

also known as the Santo Caliz,
has been protected

in the Cathedral of Valencia,
Spain, for the last 600 years.

Although details are spotty,
it is believed the chalice came

from the Holy Land to Rome

with Saint Peter in
the 1st century AD.

Later, in the 3rd century,
Saint Lawrence brought the cup

to his native Spain,

where it has been safeguarded
for centuries.

Since arriving in Valencia,
religious pilgrims have

traveled from all around
the world to glimpse what

they believe to be
the one true cup.

But others are unconvinced.

After all, it's kind of hard to
imagine Jesus would use

something this ornate.

But in 1960,
a Spanish archaeologist

discovers this chalice is
actually three separate pieces.

He claims the stand of the cup
comes from the medieval period,

while the base dates to
the 9th century.

But here's the kicker.

The cup itself was crafted
between the 2nd century BC

and the 1st century AD,
and the agate stone it's made

from is only found in
the Holy Land.

This cup really could date from
the time and place of Jesus.

The entire cup itself

is not what Jesus would have
drank out of.

Just that top part,
that simple stone cup.

That would be the Grail.

The rest of it would be casing
placed around it, and this is

a common practice of putting
sacred objects in

an intentionally ornate
container to show

their importance through
the way we display them.

Another interesting element is
the idea that this cup

would have needed to meet
certain ritual requirements.

A lot of people forget that
the Last Supper wasn't just

any meal--
it was a seder.

It was a Passover meal.

Any cup used in the Passover
meal needs to hold

a minimum
amount of liquid.

And this particular cup is just
the right size to hold

the required two revits--
is the Talmudic measurement

that's needed to be held
with wine.

And this holds 2.5.

So to know that this holy
chalice, that it's dated to

the right time period,
that it is ritually correct for

a Passover dinner--

for believers, these elements
really just become the final

proof that this is, not just in
our hearts, but in history,

the Holy Grail.

[ethereal music plays]

To many, this case is far
from closed.

After all, the chalice has many
gaps in its history before

arriving in Spain.

Like many religious mysteries,
this ultimately comes down to

a question of faith.

The Grail's significance lies
in what it represents to those

who seek it, whether that means
it's a physical cup or not.

I'll raise a glass to that.

Nearly 2,000 years after
the Grail vanishes,

another disappearance sends
shockwaves through history.

It's September 29, 1913.

I'm about to board aboard
the SS Dresden,

a British passenger liner
sailing from Belgium

bound for England.

Checking in behind me,
a brilliant engineer

named Rudolf Diesel.

The very name powers the world,
engine and fuel alike.

And in his suitcase are
revolutionary designs,

ideas that could challenge
empires, rattle industries,

and maybe even get
a man killed.

And sure enough, by dawn,
Diesel will disappear.

For over 100 years,
historians will spin

their wheels asking what really
happened to him.

That is, until a new theory
fuels the search for answers.

[steam engine chugging]

[Josh]
In the late 19th century,
the world is racing

toward the future,
but its steam-powered engines

are stuck in the past,
burning through coal,

guzzling water,
and constantly breaking down.

Enter Rudolf Diesel,
a German engineer with a mind

like a finely-tuned machine--
precise, relentless,

and absolutely
obsessed with efficiency.

[gears clicking]

In 1897,
he unveils his masterwork,

the engine that bears his name.

The Diesel engine's innovation?
Compression ignition.

That means air inside
the engine cylinder

gets squeezed really hard
until the pressure

makes it white-hot.

Then, fuel is injected
and spontaneously combusts,

creating a massive amount
of power.

It's cheaper than steam,
and best of all,

no more coal shoveling.

Diesel's prototype is fueled
with peanut oil.

[vintage car horn honks]

Almost overnight,
Diesel's engine becomes

an economic and industrial
game-changer around the world.

Soon, Diesel achieves
incredible wealth and fame.

But success comes with
serious headaches.

Rivals want his secrets.

Powerful industries
feel threatened.

The German government wants
greater control of

their favorite son.

And over the next decade,
Diesel's fortune slips away,

lost to bad investments,
legal battles,

and his own lavish lifestyle.

By 1913, Europe is
at a crossroads.

The storm clouds
of World War I are gathering.

Desperate for cash to pay down
his debts, Diesel makes a bold

and risky move, taking on
a business partner to open

a Diesel engine plant
in England.

That's where he's headed on
the SS Dresden

to cut the ribbon on
his brand-new English factory.

But with pre-war tensions
rising between Britain

and Diesel's native Germany,
transferring cutting-edge

technology is a dangerous game.

[boat horn blows]

The morning of September 30th,
Diesel's business partner

expects to meet him
for breakfast.

When the famously punctual
Diesel doesn't show,

his partner pays a visit
to his cabin.

Inside, Diesel's nightshirt
lays neatly atop the bed,

which hasn't been slept in.

His gold watch,
luggage, and his wallet are

in the room.

But neither Diesel
nor the important documents

he's said to be traveling with
are anywhere to be found.

His diary is empty, save for
the sign of a cross penciled

next to yesterday's date,
September 29th,

the last time anyone saw
Rudolf Diesel.

[boat horn blows]

[Josh]
Famous inventor Rudolf Diesel
is on his way to England on

the SS Dresden when
he mysteriously vanishes.

The crew scours the decks
for any sign of

the missing engineer.

At the stern of the ship,
a curious discovery--

Diesel's hat and jacket neatly
folded near the railing.

The crew declares him
a man overboard.

Almost immediately, news of
Diesel's disappearance

makes international headlines.

And 11 days later,
the story takes

a truly tragic turn.

Sailors aboard a Dutch steamer
find a body floating in

the North Sea.

Given the state
of decomposition,

they retrieve a few personal
effects before returning

the dead man to a watery grave.

Diesel's son
later identifies a pillbox

and an eyeglasses case as
belonging to his father.

Diesel's family claims it must
have been an accident.

But the sea was calm
that night,

and the Dresden's railings
were too high

for a simple misstep.

If Diesel went overboard,
it wasn't by chance.

But could it have been
by choice?

Perhaps Diesel's dire
financial situation

prompted him to commit suicide.

For a man who revolutionized
engines, his bank account was

running on fumes.

Before he set sail,
he gave his wife a sealed bag,

instructing her not to open it
for a week.

After his presumed death,
she looks inside,

finding documents revealing
his deep debt and 20,000 marks,

worth about $120,000 today.

This final gesture would seem
to frame this as a suicide.

But is it?

Because here's the thing.

No one who knows Diesel
believes he's capable of

self-harm-- not his friends,
not his family,

not his colleagues.

Yes, he was in debt, but he was
also on the verge

of winning
another fortune.

And for a man as meticulous
as Diesel,

there was no note, no will,
just that enigmatic cross

in his diary.

It all seems
very out of character.

And then there's the missing
important documents Diesel was

said to be traveling with,
which leads many to believe

that this isn't a suicide on
the high seas,

but a maritime murder.

The approach of World War I

makes the Diesel mystery
even murkier.

At the time, submarines are
the hottest thing in warfare,

and Diesel's engine could
superpower them, making them

cheaper, faster,
with more range,

giving whoever
has Diesel's technology

a deadly advantage.

The Kaiser wants that tech
locked down in Germany.

The government warns Diesel,

"Share it with foreign powers,
and it's treason."

But the engineer believes
his invention is for everyone,

not just one military.

And there's more.

Diesel's journey has
a double agenda.

Publicly, he was set to attend
the ribbon-cutting

of his new factory,
set to build engines

for agricultural machines
and cargo ships.

But behind the scenes,
he was meeting

with British military officials,
discussing how his engines,

German-designed engines,
could power specialized

British warships,
including submarines.

Some believe German agents
silenced Diesel to keep

his plans out of enemy hands.

- [thwack]
- [grunt]

[thwacking continues]

[ominous tones play]

Possible, but as it turns out,
the Kaiser isn't the only one

with the motive and means to do
Diesel in.

His engine doesn't just
threaten military power,

it threatens big oil.

Unlike gasoline,
Diesel's engine runs on

peanut oil or coal-tar, cheap
fuels that don't require

massive oil empires.

Empires like that of
the world's richest man,

J.D. Rockefeller,
who has a reputation

for protecting his riches
by any means necessary.

As intriguing as
the murder theory may be,

there is
a glaring problem.

Not a shred of evidence has
surfaced in over a century to

prove Diesel was assassinated
by the German government

or Big Oil-- operations that
would surely have left witnesses

and some sort of paper trail.

So if he wasn't murdered
and he didn't commit suicide,

then what happened to
Rudolf Diesel?

Could it be that
he didn't die at all?

While Jimmy Hoffa vanished
without a trace, leaving only

rumors of his fate, other mob
hits unfolded in broad daylight,

designed to stun the public.

In 1957, Albert Anastasia,
once head of Murder, Inc.,

was gunned down
in a New York barbershop...
- [gunshots popping]

- [sirens wailing]
- ...a towel over his face as
bullets tore him apart.

In 1979, Carmine Galante was
murdered mid-meal in Brooklyn,

a cigar clenched
between his teeth.

Then, in 1985, Gambino boss,
Paul Castellano,

was brazenly executed outside

Sparks Steakhouse in Manhattan,
- [gunshots blast]

ambushed in the street as
crowds looked on.

These assassinations were more
than power plays.

They were spectacles.

Unlike Hoffa's vanishing act,
they left indelible,

gruesome evidence,
reminders that the mafia often

preferred its messages
written in blood.

[Josh] Rudolf Diesel was one of
the greatest engineering minds

our world has ever known.

Now, a bold new theory
shakes up everything we thought

we knew about
what happened to him.

Author and historian
Douglas Brunt claims

that there's a shocking truth
behind Diesel's disappearance,

something you'd never expect.

[Douglas]
Rudolf Diesel is the most
underappreciated inventor

of his time.

He had a very sort of
liberal approach

to the sharing of information
around the technology.

And Diesel abhorred
the nationalism and the more

aggressive foreign policy
of the Germans.

There was also evidence that
he had very high contact with

the British Royal Navy,
which was at that time

run by Winston Churchill.

And so the most likely
conclusion

of the Diesel mystery,
looking at all the evidence,

is that he did not slip
and fall overboard,

he did not commit suicide,

[thwack]

he was not murdered,
but with the assistance of

British naval intelligence,
he staged

his own disappearance.

Brunt believes the British
government orchestrated one of

history's greatest cover-ups,
faking Rudolf Diesel's death to

secretly harness his genius
while protecting him from

deadly German retribution.

[Douglas]
My belief is that Rudolf Diesel
got on the Dresden...

[indistinct crowd chatter]

and then got right back off.

And then the Dresden left
without him.

This is supported by
the steward's cabin list saying

he was not aboard
when the Dresden set sail.

In the very first days after
Diesel's disappearance,

the mysterious details of
his financial position start to

show up in the media to try to

get the suicide theory
some traction.

They wanted to get it to look
like Diesel was sad

and depressed
and suicidal and bankrupt.

It'd be very easy to plant
those kinds of stories

and get it printed.

Spinning a tale of Diesel's
despair may have fueled

the suicide theory.

But what about
the body found at sea?

The one
bearing his belongings,

yet, strangely,
never recovered for autopsy?

[Douglas] It's possible
there may have been a corpse

as part of this deception.

Perhaps British intelligence
felt they needed to float

a corpse out there...

some happenstance steamer
would come upon.

But then, strangely, there are
no interviews with

the fishermen on record.

There's no record
of their names.

And they returned the corpse to
the water, which is not

the custom of the day.

Okay, so we've got
young Winston Churchill

and the British Royal Navy
executing a plan

to drop a dead body into
the ocean,

one that isn't Diesel, to
mislead the German government.

Sounds a little out there,
but what if I told you that

Churchill pulled exactly
the same stunt 30 years later

during World War II in
something known as

Operation Mincemeat?

[Douglas] Operation Mincemeat
was a World War II

deception operation
using a corpse.

They handcuffed a briefcase
with fake battle plans to

a corpse and floated it
into the coast of Spain

where they knew
Nazi agents would find it.

And Hitler took the bait.

He thought we were going one
way, we went the other.

Operation Rudolf Diesel could
be a precursor to

Operation Mincemeat.

And then there's the bizarrely
exceptional performance of

the submarines of
the British Navy in the war.

And they're all diesel-powered.

So it seems like Diesel might
actually have been alive in

the service of Churchill's
Royal Navy building

submarine diesels in Canada
for the war effort.

There's an interesting
final twist to this theory.

In 1914, a newspaper ran
a story claiming Rudolf Diesel

was alive and living in Canada.

Maybe the story was a hoax,
or maybe British Intelligence

had it buried.

Coincidentally, around that
time, Vickers Shipyard in

Montreal suddenly became much
more successful at churning out

diesel engines for submarines.

Today, a century
after his disappearance,

Rudolf Diesel's engines are
still running all over

the world, proving,
if nothing else, his legacy is

alive and well.

I'm Josh Gates, and I'll see
you on the next expedition.