Verona Residents Remember Fallen Officer with Book Signing Event

Jim Hollock always wanted to be an author. After years of working at the Western Penitentiary in Pittsburgh, he said it only made sense to write about what he knew—criminals.

Hollock, a North Side resident, visited Verona on Saturday to speak about his new book, "Born to Lose: Stanley B. Hoss and the Crime Spree that Gripped the Nation."

Hoss, a Tarentum resident, lived a life of crime—he murdered several people—including Verona police officer Joe Zanella and a mother and her two-year old daughter in 1969. He also killed a prison guard in 1973.

Part of the event's proceeds will go toward new safety equipment for the Verona Police Department.

Hoss was charged with and convicted for Zanella's murder, though the death penalty was overturned. He died in 1978—he was found hanging in his jail cell at a maximum-security prison near Philadelphia. Hoss never was tried for the murders of the young woman and her daughter.

After writing about Hoss' story, Hollock said he thinks "Born to Lose"—named after one of Hoss' tattoos—will be his last true-crime book.

"This was the all-encompassing criminal story," Hollock said. "In fact, I don't think I will ever write another true-crime story because nothing could ever come close to this entire Stanley Hoss criminal episode. It couldn't be matched, and I don't even want to try.

"I feel blessed that I lived in this area. I had all this wealth of information and people who were alive and willing to cooperate to help me write this story."

Members of the Zanella family, Hoss' family and former Verona police Chief Carmen Delelius attended the event in support Hollock's book. Edgar Snyder, who was Hoss' attorney at the time, also attended the event.

Zanella's sisters Barbara Sizemore, Pat Zanella, Shirley Mauro and Debbie Hays attended. Sizemore said reading the book was hard, but necessary for her and her siblings.

"The book answered a lot of questions that I have had over the years," she said. "Jim Hollock covered all the bases and put all the pieces together. His research had to be extensive."

Sizemore said Zanella, who was 25 when he was killed, always dreamed of becoming a police officer and firefighter. Though his dreams were cut short, she said he lived a worthwhile life.

"It gives me a sense of peace knowing that he achieved his dream," Sizemore said. "If he was a positive influence to just one person, his time was not wasted."

Snyder represented Hoss when he was a 28-year-old first assistant public defender for Allegheny County. Snyder said he never has been in a situation similar to the Hoss case.

"I've never handled anything like this case since then," he said. "It was a media event. It was pretty odd for a young guy like me to go through it."

Though he feared for his life at the time, Snyder said he fought as hard as he could to do his job well. Saturday's event was the first time he had met Zanella's family.

The event also was a surreal experience for Nicole Lojack-Raymond, Hoss' granddaughter. Her mother is Hoss' daughter.

Currently 27 years old, Hoss already had died by the time Lojack-Raymond was born. Though she said she always has known about her grandfather and what he did, she didn't start following it until recently.

"I feel bad for everyone who was affected by his actions," she said. "I felt like someone from my family should have been here to show that we're not all horrible. We're not all like that."

In fact, Lojack-Raymond donated a kidney to a neighbor recently. The mother of two said she's had a hard time getting through the book.

"I've put it down a lot, but I always pick it back up," she said. "It's hard to read about the stuff he did, especially being a mom.

"He affected the lives of a lot of people. I don't think I ever realized that as much as I do now."