Franse was a nightclub owner, specifically of queer and lesbian joints in and around Greenwich Village. He ran the Club 181, at 181 Second Avenue, which was notorious for its cross-dressing staff and floorshows featuring drag kings and drag queens. In the 1940's before he ran the 181, Franse ran a well-known lesbian bar called Howdy's. The 181 closed in 1953 but promptly reopened at 82 East 4th Street as the Club 82. In 1937, Genovese deputized Franse to keep an eye on Anna while he (Vito) was in Italy. This certainly implies that at that time Franse stood very well with Genovese and the organization generally. Given that Greenwich Village vice was his stock in trade, I would guess that Franse was probably one of Tony Bender's men. The story is that Franse allowed Anna to more or less run the 181 as she chose, which allowed her plenty of opportunity to hook up with the club's lesbian staff and performers. I am not sure of Franse's ethnicity. He may have been Italian. (His stone on findagrave.com is clearly Catholic.)