But The Irishman is merely based on Sheeran’s account of what happened leading up to Hoffa’s disappearance and with the vanishing itself—a “laughable” story that found zero merit with a The true story behind ‘The Irishman’: What really happened to Jimmy Hoffa By Michael Kaplan , Lauren Steussy and Nadine DeNinno Published Jan. 4, 2020 Updated Jan. 4, 2020, 4:38 p.m. ET As Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman arrives on Netflix, it’s a good time to explain who the real-life gangsters were. Expand. Outside Umberto’s Clam House after Vincent ‘Crazy Joe’ Gallo The film is based on a book by ‎Charles Brandt, "I Heard You Paint Houses," which details interviews and confessions that Sheeran once reportedly made to Brandt before he died. Scorsese and De wHBzFuN.