firms in the garment center. The four young men formed a clique of boys who were fascinated by power, the media, and politics. *
Roy and Gene would visit Roy’s father, the influential liberal Bronx Judge Al Cohn, at his courthouse. They liked to drop by City Hall, where they met politicians and became friendly with fixers like Tammany Hall boss Carmine DeSapio and Sammy DeFalco, who got appointed a judge through Costello. Gene’s father arranged for the boys to visit the White House, where they met President Harry S. Truman. By the mid-1940s, they were hanging out at the Stork Club with people like J. Edgar Hoover and Damon Runyon and other members of Cafe Society. It was an exclusive world, an informal club in which the members shared their power and traded secrets.
Gossip columnists in that era were among the most powerful journalists in the country; they were valued by their papers and followed religiously by their readers. “It was a different time, a golden age for gossip columnists,” recalled Igor Cassini, who wrote Hearst’s widely read Cholly Knickerbocker column. “We were treated like royalty. We were always coining words and fighting over scoops.” In addition to Cassini, there was Dorothy Kilgallen, Earl Wilson, Doris Lilly, Leonard Lyons, George Sokolsky, Nancy Randolph, Louis Sobol, Ed Sullivan, Danton Walker, and, of course, Walter Winchell, who took credit for having introduced Roy Cohn to his friend J. Edgar Hoover.
Gene Pope Jr. and Roy Cohn were big men in this world. Cohn edged out the promising young Robert Kennedy for the highly coveted job of McCarthy’s chief counsel and would leak stories praising McCarthy and digging at Kennedy to his buddies like Winchell and Hearst columnist George Sokolsky. Gene Jr. was being groomed to take over his father’s media empire. The sand and gravel business, young Pope said, “didn’t intrigue me,” but he loved working at WHOM and at
Il Progresso,
which hestarted running in 1947 when he was twenty years old. He basked in the power that the media gave him. Then, on April 28, 1950, at the age of fifty-nine, Generoso Pope Sr. died of a heart attack.
When Pope Sr. died, Frank Costello got Mayor Bill O’Dwyer to give Pope Jr. several high-profile appointments. The elder Pope had been the treasurer of O’Dwyer’s election campaign; after Pope Sr. died, O’Dwyer made Pope Jr. an honorary deputy police commissioner and gave him a seat on the prestigious Board of Higher Education. Pope Jr. started running the city’s Columbus Day Parade like his father had. That summer, however, O’Dwyer was forced to resign amid charges that he was connected to the mob. Then, in October, Pope Jr. ruffled feathers during a radio broadcast of the Columbus Day celebration by praising his political friends and being dismissive of his political enemies. “Whatever his merits or failings, Gene Pope Jr., ex-Mayor O’Dwyer’s 23-year-old appointee to the Board of Higher Education, isn’t going to win any popularity contests,” noted the New York
Herald Tribune.
“His political elders, who have been smarting under Gene’s arrogance since he took over the enterprises of his late father, are doing a brand new slow burn over his antics at the Columbus Day Parade.”
Another controversy erupted later that month when Pope was accused of being a front for Frank Costello. Pope was stripped of his position as honorary deputy police commissioner. “I highly value my commissionership,” Pope said, “but I gladly give it up rather than compromise my freedom of expression.”
Then Gene’s world collapsed even further. His brothers, resentful, he said, that he was running the family empire that had been left in a trust for all three of them, voted Gene out of the business. “I was supposed to run the company,” Pope later said. “My brothers decided I was going to work for them. I told them to take a walk.”
By the end of 1950, Gene Pope had lost his father, his career, and
Roy and Gene would visit Roy’s father, the influential liberal Bronx Judge Al Cohn, at his courthouse. They liked to drop by City Hall, where they met politicians and became friendly with fixers like Tammany Hall boss Carmine DeSapio and Sammy DeFalco, who got appointed a judge through Costello. Gene’s father arranged for the boys to visit the White House, where they met President Harry S. Truman. By the mid-1940s, they were hanging out at the Stork Club with people like J. Edgar Hoover and Damon Runyon and other members of Cafe Society. It was an exclusive world, an informal club in which the members shared their power and traded secrets.
Gossip columnists in that era were among the most powerful journalists in the country; they were valued by their papers and followed religiously by their readers. “It was a different time, a golden age for gossip columnists,” recalled Igor Cassini, who wrote Hearst’s widely read Cholly Knickerbocker column. “We were treated like royalty. We were always coining words and fighting over scoops.” In addition to Cassini, there was Dorothy Kilgallen, Earl Wilson, Doris Lilly, Leonard Lyons, George Sokolsky, Nancy Randolph, Louis Sobol, Ed Sullivan, Danton Walker, and, of course, Walter Winchell, who took credit for having introduced Roy Cohn to his friend J. Edgar Hoover.
Gene Pope Jr. and Roy Cohn were big men in this world. Cohn edged out the promising young Robert Kennedy for the highly coveted job of McCarthy’s chief counsel and would leak stories praising McCarthy and digging at Kennedy to his buddies like Winchell and Hearst columnist George Sokolsky. Gene Jr. was being groomed to take over his father’s media empire. The sand and gravel business, young Pope said, “didn’t intrigue me,” but he loved working at WHOM and at
Il Progresso,
which hestarted running in 1947 when he was twenty years old. He basked in the power that the media gave him. Then, on April 28, 1950, at the age of fifty-nine, Generoso Pope Sr. died of a heart attack.
When Pope Sr. died, Frank Costello got Mayor Bill O’Dwyer to give Pope Jr. several high-profile appointments. The elder Pope had been the treasurer of O’Dwyer’s election campaign; after Pope Sr. died, O’Dwyer made Pope Jr. an honorary deputy police commissioner and gave him a seat on the prestigious Board of Higher Education. Pope Jr. started running the city’s Columbus Day Parade like his father had. That summer, however, O’Dwyer was forced to resign amid charges that he was connected to the mob. Then, in October, Pope Jr. ruffled feathers during a radio broadcast of the Columbus Day celebration by praising his political friends and being dismissive of his political enemies. “Whatever his merits or failings, Gene Pope Jr., ex-Mayor O’Dwyer’s 23-year-old appointee to the Board of Higher Education, isn’t going to win any popularity contests,” noted the New York
Herald Tribune.
“His political elders, who have been smarting under Gene’s arrogance since he took over the enterprises of his late father, are doing a brand new slow burn over his antics at the Columbus Day Parade.”
Another controversy erupted later that month when Pope was accused of being a front for Frank Costello. Pope was stripped of his position as honorary deputy police commissioner. “I highly value my commissionership,” Pope said, “but I gladly give it up rather than compromise my freedom of expression.”
Then Gene’s world collapsed even further. His brothers, resentful, he said, that he was running the family empire that had been left in a trust for all three of them, voted Gene out of the business. “I was supposed to run the company,” Pope later said. “My brothers decided I was going to work for them. I told them to take a walk.”
By the end of 1950, Gene Pope had lost his father, his career, and
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