A Frisco Mafia Deep Dive 1928-1932

by kbronson | Jan 10, 2026 | Episodes

This is a trailer for my first official Patreon bonus episode. To hear future bonus episodes, please join FRISCO: The Secret History at Patreon.

TRANSCRIPT:
Welcome to the Frisco the. Secret History Podcast. I’m your host, Knox Bronson.
This is a bonus episode for Patreon subscribers. It’s my first bonus episode for Patreon subscribers. You can find Frisco on Patreon at www.Patreon.com/Frisco. All main episodes of Frisco, The Secret History will always be free.
The big movies at the end of 1928 were The Singing Fool, starring Al Jolson. The Circus, a silent comedy film by Charlie Chaplin, and Street Angel, a silent romantic drama. All were among the top grossing films of the year.
It was the release of Walt Disney’s “Steamboat Willie,” introducing Mickey Mouse to the world, that really caught the public’s fancy. It was the first ever animated cartoon with a film score and sound effects synchronized to the on-screen action. And everybody loved Mickey Mouse.
The top headline on December 21, 1928 read, “DESTITUTE FAMILY FORCED TO EAT CHILDREN’S PETS
LAST RABBITS FACE DEATH IN STEW POT
No Matter What Happens They Won’t Eat Cottontail That Belongs to Little Katie May
By SAM GOODHEART
No matter what happens, they won’t eat the little brush rabbit.
“Pinkie,” the big white one that was Michael’s pet, was killed last Sunday for dinner. *Fluffy’ went into the stew pot a week before that, while a certain small boy sat silent at the table, his lip trembling.
“No, mother, I ain’t hungry !”
Now the only two left in the rabbit hutch are the big black fellow that belongs to Jerry and the tiny cotton tail they caught over by Lake Merced, the one that Katie May treasures with all the love that is stored up in the heart of a tiny miss of three.
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The Secret History of Frisco

Elmer “Bones” Remmer

After running the Cal-Neva Lodge in the 30s, Bones came to San Francisco and took his mantle as the Bay Area’s the king of vice.

Jimmie Tarantino

Editor of the Hollywood Nite Life scandal sheet, extortionist, blackmailer, Jimmie was the prince of smears and innuendo.

Bill Wren

Managing Editor of the SF Examiner, Bill Wren ran the city, played the horses, and didn’t like to pay up when he lost a bet.

Bob Patterson

As Freddie Francisco, Bob was the biggest gossip columnist of all, also a convicted embezzler and thief. A great writer, too.

Shell Cooper

Bones Remmer’s lieutenant. Cooper and Varni’s bar was a feeder saloon to nearby brothels and filled with b-girls.

Sally Stanford

Sally ran the city’s high-end brothels, catering to the city’s power elite. She eventually became the mayor of Sausalito.

Frank Sinatra

Frank was an early investor in Hollywood Life magazine. After Jimmie shook him down for $8K, Jimmie had to leave LA.

Mickey Cohen

Mickey Cohen was Hollywood’s flamboyant gangster, the southern California equivalent to Bones Remmer

Thomas Lynch

San Francisco’s District Attorney. An ally of Bill Wren, he went after the purveyors sin in the city’s Tenderloin district.

Herb Caen

Gossip columnist at the SF Chronicle and creator of the modern myth of San Francisco, cool grey city of love.

Louella Parsons

Syndicated Queen of Gossip and screenwriter for William Randolph Hearst’s newspaper and radio empire.

Estes Kefhauver

The Senator’s committee revealde the extent and scope of organized crime’s influence over the United States.

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“Will Freddie Francisco, former inmate of Sing Sing, be permitted to sit arrogantly upon a throne of pen and ink and splash spiked words that cause tears and unhappiness to S.F. business men and their families?

“Freddie Francisco, alias Bob Patterson, once posed as a member of royalty. He assumed the title of a Count, under the name of Maximilian B.H.M. Carlton as the son of Marquis of Gahnst and a subaltern in the Black Watch regiment, and as such was arrested in Tucson, Arizona and on Jan. 27, 1928, was arrested for grand larceny by the Chicago Police. (Can you picture columnist Francisco as a count?)”—Jimmie Tarantino, Hollywood Life Magazine.

“It doesn’t take much to produce a good merchant of cash-and-carry love: just courage, an infinite capacity for perpetual suspicion, stamina on a 24-hour basis, the deathless conviction that the customer is always wrong, a fair knowledge of first aid, do-it-yourself gynecology, judo, and a tremendous sense of humor. Aside from these basic talents, a good madam must possess an understanding of female psychology (in the broadest sense), a knowledge of quick therapies for restoring drunks to a state of locomotion (out the door), and a grasp of techniques for the eradication of pimps. With these qualities, and a few others, you may develop into a self-respecting madam. —Madam Sally Stanford (allegedly ghost-written by Freddie Francisco himself)