Air carrier Captain reported a discrepancy between Flight Release (stating no Hazmat cargo onboard) and the NOTOC (listing dry ice on board). After extensive consultation with ground personnel it was determined that dry ice was in fact onboard and was loaded in agreement with the NOTOC prior to departure.

Narrative

At the gate doors are all closed jet bridge pulled 8 mins before scheduled departure; ground crew has not checked in yet. Closeout comes over Acars but does not show any restricted articles. NOTOC shows 1 package of dry ice in A1 aft. dispatch says they will check on it. Shortly after we get a closeout deleted message; at this point still no contact from ground crew and we have made several calls to operations trying to get information. After about 20 minutes dispatch advises us that the Crew Chief had clocked out and left without completing all of the required paperwork. Operations advise us that supervisors on the ramp are working on it. None of these people made any attempt to directly advise the Captain on what is happening. eventually a new Crew Chief is sent over to get the aircraft out. I advise the Crew Chief that we still have the discrepancy with the closeout and the decision was made to remove the DG package to reflect the closeout data. Crew Chief confirmed with me Captain that the package had been removed and we pushed now 1 hour 7 minutes late. no new closeout during taxi so we advise ATC and hold near runway awaiting closeout. FO calls load control and were are advised that paperwork is still missing for DG from original crew chief; we advise that new Crew Chief confirmed with flight deck crew that package had been removed. Load control says that they saw that on the video but would not release closeout until verbal confirmation from that crew chief. A few minutes later we get a closeout that now show restricted articles in aft; I talk to load control and restate that Crew Chief confirmed with me that the package had been removed. Load then stated that package had been taken from the FWD compartment and placed in the Aft and that the closeout was correct and we were good to go. Advised ATC that we were ready and subsequently cleared on to hold then while holding got a new closeout deleted message. Told tower we needed to clear the runway to handle a paperwork discrepancy and got clearance off the runway. Called load control again and was informed that the new Crew Chief had confirmed that the package was removed from the aircraft. Not sure where they got the information that it had been moved from the FWD to the AFT came from. received the new closeout and departed. I must add that there was an FAA Safety Inspector on the jump seat witnessing this as it unfolded. This one totally escapes me. Thankful for the professionalism of the new crew chief but a complete disaster up to that point.Suggestions: Better management and communication.