My great uncle, and the black sheep of my family, was Elmer “Bones” Remmer, a notorious San Francisco mobster. After running the Cal-Neva casino for the mob in the 20s and 30s, he and his cohorts basically took over the small town of Menlo Park, California, opening (legal) gambling establishments there.
He was eventually brought down, like Capone, on tax evasion charges. During his trial, someone tried to bribe a member of the jury to return a verdict of acquittal. The judge and prosecution investigated, interrogating jurors before they had returned a verdict, but kept defense counsel in the dark. As a result, after multiple appeals, the Supreme Court reversed his conviction.
https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/350/377/
But, by the time that happened, he had lost the confidence of the mob. He worked for a time as a car salesman for his brother, my Grandfather, William Remmer, who had a dealership in Oakland, before he died more or less penniless.
I first learned of his relationship to me when my mother died, and I discovered clippings about him in her effects. She had never spoken of him.
That’s amazing. Wonder what the “Bones” nickname was about?