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Without a doubt, the biggest mystery in Reno history is the whereabouts of local banker Roy Frisch, who walked to the movies on the evening of March 22, 1934 and was never seen again.
At the time, Frisch was well known in Reno. He had served as a Reno city councilman from 1913 to 1923 and was head cashier at the Riverside Bank (his title would be bank manager today).
On the night of March 22, Frisch, who lived with his mother and sister in the family home at 247 Court Street, decided to take in a movie. It was a Friday and his mother was hosting a Bridge party at the house.
At about 7:45 p.m., Frisch began to walk to the Majestic Theater, located a few blocks from his house, to see the film “Gallant Lady.”
According to Reno historian Phillip I. Earl, who has studied Frisch’s disappearance extensively, the banker probably walked two blocks east on Court Street to Virginia Street, then turned north at the Washoe County Courthouse. Most likely, he crossed the Virginia Street Bridge, spanning the Truckee River, then turned east on First Street and walked the remaining two blocks to the theater.
Frisch watched the movie and departed the theater at between 9:45 p.m. and 10:15 p.m. A friend recalled encountering Frisch at the corner of Sierra and Court streets and having a brief conversation. From there, Frisch walked up Court Street toward his house.
And was never seen again.
The next morning, Frisch’s mother discovered he had not slept in his bed. Worried, she called his office and his friends before contacting the Reno Police, who followed up with an exhaustive investigation that eventually grew into a nationwide manhunt.
Despite extensive publicity about Frisch’s disappearance, and a $1,000 reward, he never turned up. Finally, in 1941, he was declared legally dead.
Part of what makes the mystery so intriguing is the fact that as the head banker at the Riverside Bank, Frisch worked for George Wingfield, a Nevada financier and political boss, who was considered the most powerful man in the state.
At the time, Wingfield, who owned the Riverside Bank, the Riverside Hotel and a half dozen other banks and hotels, was also being investigated for his association with two Reno gamblers, William J. Graham and James C. McKay.
Federal law enforcement authorities believed Graham and McKay were involved in a national sports wire-fraud as well as an insider stock trading scam. They believed that money from the schemes was being laundered through Wingfield’s Riverside Bank.
In 1933, Frisch had testified before a grand jury, which, based on his information, had indicted Graham and McKay. An arraignment was scheduled for April 2, 1934, with Frisch to be the government’s main witness.
Additionally, Frisch had been asked to appear before a federal committee that was investigating the failure of several Wingfield banks. It all meant that Frisch was a threat to some of Reno’s most powerful and corrupt figures.
Over the years, many theories have been advanced as to what might have happened to Fritsch. One of the most credible is that McKay and Graham asked an old friend, gangster “Babyface” Nelson to snatch Frisch and dispose of his body.
According to the FBI’s files, Nelson and his associate, John Paul Chase, were in Reno in March 1934. In a later interview, Chase told the FBI, “Nelson killed a man during an altercation while they were in Reno. The victim was a material witness in a United States Mail Fraud case.”
Chase reportedly said that Nelson tossed the body down an abandoned mineshaft somewhere in Nevada. In the 1940s, Chase, who by that time was serving time in a federal prison, agreed to take FBI agents to the site where the body was dumped.
However, Chase was unable to remember exactly where they had disposed of the remains and the agents concluded he was lying and had only claimed to know in order to get a break from prison.
During a later trial, during which McKay and Graham were convicted of fraud, the two men tried to place blame for the schemes they were accused of perpetuating onto Frisch. They insisted that Frisch was still alive and hiding out, perhaps in Mexico, with any money that might have been scammed from fraud victims.
To date, the mystery of whatever happened to Roy Frisch remains unsolved.
Rich Moreno covers the places and people that make Nevada special.