Frank J. Loesch
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Frank Joseph Loesch (April 9, 1852 – July 31, 1944) was a prominent
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
attorney, reformer and a founder of the
Chicago Crime Commission The Chicago Crime Commission is an independent, non-partisan civic watchdog organization of business leaders dedicated to educating the public about the dangers of organized criminal activity, especially organized crime, street gangs and the tool ...
, which attempted to combat widespread corruption and organized crime related violence.


Biography

Loesch was born in
Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...
, on April 9, 1852, the son of Frank and Marie Eva (Fisher) Loesch. His father came from Forchheim am Kaiserstuhl in
Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...
,
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...
. Both emigrated in 1845. Loesch moved to Chicago in 1870, where he entered Union College of Law while continuing his bookkeeping position with
Western Union The Western Union Company is an American multinational financial services company, headquartered in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1851 as the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company in Rochester, New York, the company cha ...
. He witnessed the 1871
Great Chicago Fire The Great Chicago Fire was a conflagration that burned in the American city of Chicago during October 8–10, 1871. The fire killed approximately 300 people, destroyed roughly of the city including over 17,000 structures, and left more than 1 ...
and wrote an extensive first-hand account, "Personal Experiences during the Chicago Fire." He received his LL.B. degree from
Northwestern Law School Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law is the law school of Northwestern University, a private research university. It is located on the university's Chicago campus. Northwestern Law has been ranked among the top 14, or "T14" law scho ...
, in 1874. In his 70-year legal career, Loesch represented numerous corporate and individual clients, including several major railroads and the
American Medical Association The American Medical Association (AMA) is a professional association and lobbying group of physicians and medical students. Founded in 1847, it is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Membership was approximately 240,000 in 2016. The AMA's sta ...
. In 1908, Loesch was appointed Special State's Attorney for
Cook County Cook County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of Illinois and the second-most-populous county in the United States, after Los Angeles County, California. More than 40% of all residents of Illinois live within Cook County. As of 20 ...
. He prosecuted frauds committed during the first direct primary election in Cook County. The experience made him an ardent crusader against what he termed the alliance between crime and politics. In 1919, Loesch was one of the organizers of the
Chicago Crime Commission The Chicago Crime Commission is an independent, non-partisan civic watchdog organization of business leaders dedicated to educating the public about the dangers of organized criminal activity, especially organized crime, street gangs and the tool ...
. He was made an executive member of the commission in 1922, became its president in 1928 and served five terms as commission president. He was named president emeritus of the commission in 1938. Loesch spent much of his career fighting organized crime in the city, particularly against the romantic image of the gangster commonly portrayed by the media of the time. Loesch believed that changing the public's attitude towards organized crime figures such as
Dean O'Banion Charles Dean O'Banion (July 8, 1892 – November 10, 1924) was an American mobster who was the main rival of Johnny Torrio and Al Capone during the brutal Chicago bootlegging wars of the 1920s. The newspapers of his day made him better known ...
and
Al Capone Alphonse Gabriel Capone (; January 17, 1899 – January 25, 1947), sometimes known by the nickname "Scarface", was an American gangster and businessman who attained notoriety during the Prohibition era as the co-founder and boss of the ...
was a crucial part in effective law enforcement; and, Loesch was credited with coining the term, "
public enemy "Public enemy" is a term which was first widely used in the United States in the 1930s to describe individuals whose activities were seen as criminal and extremely damaging to society, though the phrase had been used for centuries to describe ...
," later used by FBI Director
J. Edgar Hoover John Edgar Hoover (January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972) was an American law enforcement administrator who served as the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He was appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation  ...
. However, Loesch reportedly held considerable influence among Chicago's underworld and was apparently able to warn Capone and other Italian mobsters against further gang warfare, especially following the violence surrounding the 1928 Republican " pineapple primary." Loesch was appointed Chief Special Assistant Attorney General of Illinois to act in place of the regular State's Attorney in the investigations of frauds, bombings, kidnappings and murders committed in connection with the primary elections of April 1928. Later in the same year, he was chief prosecutor in the murder case of Octavius C. Granady, an African American lawyer and candidate for Committeeman of the "Bloody" Twentieth Ward. Loesch was also responsible for the arrests of many of the city's Irish-American gangsters and bootleggers. In 1929, President
Herbert Hoover Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was an American politician who served as the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933 and a member of the Republican Party, holding office during the onset of the Gre ...
appointed Loesch as one of the eleven primary members of the
Wickersham Commission The National Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement (also known unofficially as the Wickersham Commission) was a committee established by the U.S. President, Herbert Hoover, on May 20, 1929. Former attorney general George W. Wickersham (185 ...
on issues relating to law enforcement, criminal activity, police brutality, and Prohibition.Encyclopedia of Crime and Punishment, Volume 1, edited by David Levinson, page 1708 Loesch died in
Cooperstown, New York Cooperstown is a village in and county seat of Otsego County, New York, United States. Most of the village lies within the town of Otsego, but some of the eastern part is in the town of Middlefield. Located at the foot of Otsego Lake in the ...
, on July 31, 1944, aged 92. His grandson was lawyer and politician Harrison Loesch.


Further reading

*Asbury, Herbert. ''The Gangs of Chicago: An Informal History of the Chicago Underworld''. New York: Alfred A. Knoff, 1940. *Kobler, John. ''Capone: The Life and Times of Al Capone''. New York: Da Capo Press, 2003.


References

*Sifakis, Carl. ''The Mafia Encyclopedia''. New York: Da Capo Press, 2005. *'National Cyclopedia of American Biography', "Frank Joseph Loesch". James T. White & Company, 1946.


External links


Schaffer Library of Drug Policy: Statement by Frank J. Loesch
{{DEFAULTSORT:Loesch, Frank J. 1852 births 1944 deaths Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law alumni Lawyers from Chicago Anti-crime activists American anti-corruption activists American people of German descent