"He must have done something. They don't kill you for nothing." - Chicago Gangster Ted Newberry. Rubbed out January 7, 1933

Sunday, March 7, 2021

The Bad Pope


Erneste Mazzoni better known as, "West Side" Frankie Pope was a Chicago hoodlum who was sent to Leavenworth prison in mid 1931 for violation of the Prohibition Act. Released in November of 1933 Pope, who added the West Side to his name to distinguish himself from the more infamous North Side Frankie Pope, had a small racket going where he would take money from family members of Leavenworth prisoners to help get them paroled. Only problem was, he didn't do anything for them after taking the money.

This was the reason anyway that police gave after two men entered his hotel room on the morning of March 7, 1934 and blasted him into eternity. According to witnesses, Pope returned to his room that morning and a short time later to men entered the hotel. They called up to his room and after a brief discussion went up.

Once they were in his room for a few minutes, a cleaning woman heard lady scream, "My God! Don't do that!" This was followed by about ten shots. All of which hit Pope. Hearing the shooting, the desk clerk called the cops but the gunmen and the woman were gone before they arrived.

It was while searching Pope's room that detectives came across the list of prisoners and their families. On the list were two notorious bank robbers and killers; Thomas Holden and Francis Keating. Perhaps Pope double crossed them in some fashion and they had him knocked off.

Six hours later another West Side hoodlum, Daniel Losce sat in his car smoking a cigarette when another car pulled up and let loose a barrage of gunfire. Losce slumped over dead. The dead man had a record dating back to 1922 including an arrest for murder. Back at his house, police found a small arsenal. Interestingly, he was a suspect in the 1928 Evergreen Park mail robbery which resulted in the theft of $133,000. This job was pulled by a gang headed by Thomas Holden and Francis Keating. This link had police wondering, was Losce working with Pope? Or was it simply a coincidence that they both were bumped off on the same day?



                                           West Side Frankie Pope        Daniel Losce                           

2 comments:

Buzz Ballenger said...

North Side Frankie Pope was my great uncle. Ernest Mazzoni was a cousin of North Side Frankie Pope and appropriated his name when he couldn't get work using his own name. He used the name to confuse the police and newspapers, as well, which worked to his advantage in several arrests. Although North Side Frankie Pope was a gambler and ran gambling places for both Capone and later Moran on the North Side, he was never a killer or a bootlegger. This constant confusion caused by Ernest Mazzoni was a great irritation to my great uncle and the cause for the monikers North Side Frankie Pope and West Side Frankie Pope. Most books written about the time continue to confuse the two.

Patrick Downey said...

Hey Buzz, thanks for sharing!