Ep. 6—Jimmie Tarantino Pt. 2: D.A. Thomas Lynch Spells Out Jimmie's Scams in Post-WWII Frisco

California State Attorney General Thomas C. Lynch was the Assistant D.A. in San Francisco in the late 1940s, the years Jimmie Tarantino, blackmailer and extortionist magazine publisher, was plying his trade in San Francisco at the behest of Frisco gambling czar Bones Remmer. This episode comes from the Oral History Department of the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley, an interview conducted with Lynch in 1978. It's a fascinating overview of the era and the behind-the-scenes battles I inadvertently stumbled up so many years ago that led to the creation of "The Secret History of Frisco" podcast. Frank Sinatra is in there, once again, as is Barney Ross, the drug-addicted war hero and prize-fighter. Lynch mentions many prominent San Franciscans of the era, those he suspected of being blackmailed by Tarantino: Joe Vanessi, Melvin Belli, S.F. Judge Michelson, Lawrence Welk, and others. Lynch tells the story of Sally Stanford standing up to Tarantino. He also mentions that they had Tarantino's office and phone bugged for years.