RARE Sonny Franzese Story w/ Marilyn Monroe: Michel Franzese - YouTube Franzese was born in Naples, Italy, to Carmine Franzese and Maria Corvola on February 6, 1917, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. His son John Franzese Jr. had testified against him, becoming the first son of a New York mobster to turn state's evidence and testify against his father. But his real job was as a gangster, authorities said, and living the high life. So I says, What the F are you doing up there?, She said, I dont know. He was sentenced to eight more years. Franzese told Fatato:[18]. [4] Franzese used Buddah to launder illegal mob earnings and to bribe disc jockeys with payola. She was madly in love with him. Some of their shared friends were put off by Sinatras arrogance. In college you couldnt bring a phone book with you, Maurice noted, saying Franzese could remember a thousand different phone numbers., He would rattle off these phone numbers, rattle off these names, tell you what to do, Maurice recalled. The granddaughter had arranged for a gospel group headed by a singer/piano player known on Instagram as The Black Franz Liszt to perform at the funeral. Sonny was tough as nails. the news ice Hockey He served as underboss of the Colombo family from 1963 until he was sentenced to 50 years in . She closed by reading a note her Sonny Grandpa had written to her. Franzese said he remembers crying when he saw him in prison the . Do you know who my husband is? she replied. Later a coroner ruled that the death was a probable suicide. They hit on me like I was Rudolph Valentino. In 2010, the jury convicted him of extorting money from two Manhattan strip clubs and running a loansharking operation. The bronze coffin was covered with an American flag in recognition of Franzeses service during World War II, even though it was cut short for reasons that are not entirely clear. Zephany Nurse Was Kidnapped As A Baby And Ended Up In The Same Class As Her Biological Sister, The Aral Sea Was Once A Desert Oasis Now It's Just A Desert, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch, Nick Sorrentino/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images. The night started to wind down at 4 a.m., and they left the club for a hotel. 68.4k members in the Mafia community. Sonny knew them wellHe was a good guy, Dean Martin. Once you appeared at the Copa, you could go anywhere in the world. The cassette tapes were found by his nephew, Jeff Platts, and have now been made public. Franzese, who died on Monday, had lived in New York since he was released. Jon Bernthal as Sonny Franzese? : Mafia - Reddit.com He was my hero.. In that single year, four different prosecutors filed charges against him. Colombo's legendary gangster gangster John "Sonny" Franzese, who was with Frank Sinatra and befriended Marilyn Monroe before a bank robbery conviction made him the nation's oldest federal inmate, died in a hospital of New York City. . That man can do jail time standing on his head.. Legendary mobster Sonny Franzese dead at 103 - New York Daily News economy Only now he gets to feel holy and forgiven while he cashes the checks. Living the high life - Newsday How does he know this?. How John Franzese Made The Mafia Both Glamorous And Bloody - All That's Wikimedia CommonsSonny Franzese (left) with famous boxer Rocky Graziano (center). John (Sonny)Franzese and wife, Tina,leave federal courtin Uniondale, where their son Michael Franzese was on trial, in December 1985. Credit: Newsday. In 1967, Franzese was arrested for a series of bank robberies. Theres an expression, theres two things in life youre sure of, right? Cassato said. The renowned tough guy did his prison time without ever turning on his mob associates following a 1967 conviction that was widely considered both inside and outside organized crime as a setup. Despite the entreaties of FBI agents and a 50-year prison sentence for a crime he swears he didnt commit, Franzese did his time and never talked. Shell listen to me. No Frank Sinatra, no Dean Martin. He took the witness standnot because he was charged with a crimebut because he needed to testify against the wiseguy life he was desperate to escape. That was my parish, Franzese said. He wanted to be catered to all the time. [19] In June 2008, Franzese, still incarcerated, was indicted on charges of participating in murders during the Colombo Wars of the early 1990s, stealing fur coats in New York City in the mid 1990s, and participating in home invasions by police impersonators in Los Angeles in 2006. By clicking Sign up, you agree to our privacy policy. Masters also appears to confirm the theory that Monroe was moved around before she died. By 102-year-old mobster: 'I never hurt nobody that was innocent' newspaper Notorious Colombo crime underboss John 'Sonny' Franzese Sr - known as 'The Nodfather' for falling asleep during one of his trials - has died at the age of 103. But the business side of Franzese was darker: He once acknowledged killing 10 men during a 2006 chat with a mob informant, with other estimates of his mob murders running as high as 60. You know, Ive been away at college for a couple of years, Franzese said. . By 1963, he had been promoted to underboss by boss Joseph Colombo. He also became known as someone who would act ruthlessly on his bosses orders. It was the testimony of his own son (an accomplice-turned-informant) that sealed the prosecutions case. Gardner was beautiful and tempestuous, and everyone knew Sinatra was hopelessly in love with her. That didnt mean that he wouldnt try to move in on Sinatras girlfriend. Al moved to Chicago in the 1920s then Alcatraz after in the early 30s. He is largely responsible for the glamorization of the Mafia over the past century, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Cristina Posa after his 2017 release. I never hurt nobody that was innocent, Franzese once told Newsday. Dionne Warwick? While in prison, Franzese suffered from maladies that could have brought his story to an end (including kidney disease and high blood pressure), but he beat the odds each time. He repeatedly refused. Now 102 years old, John (Sonny) Franzese, the longtime underboss of the Colombo crime family, is the epitome of the old-style crime chieftain. He was paroled in 1978, but was re-jailed at least six times on parole violations throughout the decades that followed. So did FBI agents. 1966. Lidia Yuknavitch on Her Philosophy of Teaching, What Should You Read Next? [22] John Franzese Jr. testified twice against his father, the last time his father attempted to have him killed; he later lived under witness protection. Full head of hair - stand up guy. Her boyfriend was not far away on stage, but Sonny was not at all concerned. [38] In 2019, Franzese Jr. met with his father at the nursing home where he resided and reconciled with him; John Jr. had previously voluntarily left the Witness Protection Program. Franzese, dark-haired and handsome, would claim dalliances with Monroe and actress Jayne Mansfield. The mourners who came down the steps included 90-year-old Dr. Louis Barricelli, who grew up with Fanzese and was his physician. In 2017, he was freed from prison, the . After being sentenced for a period of 50 years, Franzese offered only this premonitory remark: I bet I do everyone.. It changed the dynamics of these parties, but I think were all better for it.. Other recordings were made with the help of informants. As a younger man, according to Mafia lore, Franzese was a . Frank Sinatra, even more than other entertainers, was comfortable around mobsters. I went out with a lot of handsome leading men . Legendary Colombo crime family mobster John Sonny Franzese, who hung out with Frank Sinatra and befriended Marilyn Monroe before a bank robbery conviction eventually made him the nations oldest federal inmate, has died at a New York City hospital. Especially in his mafia career, Franzese was making money by making money for the family in various ways. Born in 1917 and raised in New York City, John Franzese grew up during a boom era for organized crime and it didnt take long for him to get involved himself. You are spunkier than all the women I met in life. Franzese, who died on Feb. 23 at age 103, recalled those nights recently as part of a series of interviews with Newsday over the past two years. . He contemplates . He worked in the record business and grossed part of the mafias alleged investment in the classic porn movie Deep Throat reportedly securing a piece of his alleged $ 600 million gross. Franzese, widely admired and respected in the Mafia for sticking to his oath of omerta and keeping silent, was finally freed in 2017 at the age of 100. So I got very close to him. Once again, John Franzese had beaten the system. From then on, Franzese wasnt charged with another crime again until 2008, when he was arrested along with eight other Colombo mobsters. And I got in her, her drawers. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. Podell also kept close to Sonny. He laughed along with his companions; they were always kidding around. He was in his new parish when his administrative assistant had announced that a very handsome man had come to see him. Al then lived in Miami after Alcatraz with his mind gone. If Franzese had a weakness, it was for his immediate family. If youre smart, Sonny told me, you can avoid some of those taxes, Cassato said, drawing laughter even from those who appeared to be feeling the loss most keenly. International Franzese was a well-dressed regular at the Copacabana nightclub, where he spent lavishly and hung around with the likes of Sammy Davis Jr. and Frank Sinatra. [16] Until 2008, he was never charged with another crime,[5] although he would return to prison on parole violations on at least six occasions. While Franzeses son Michael renounced his ties to the Mafia in 1995, he later told The New York Times that he was aware his father had approved an order from family leaders to kill him for leaving. Franzese returned to his family in Brooklyn after his release in 2017 from the Federal Medical Center in Danvers, Massachusetts, leading a peaceful life away from the spotlight of his youth. Death and. ", "A Godfather Betrayed by His Namesake, Part II", "Hundred-year-old mobster's daughter gushes over dad's freedom", "John Franzese, Mafioso Who Consorted With Celebrities, Dies at 103", "Geriatric NY gangster, 93, gets 8 years in prison", "Legendary Colombo underboss John (Sonny) Franzese sees his holiday bid for bail whacked", "Italian mob boss freed from prison at 100-years-old", "Al Sharpton's Secret Work As FBI Informant", "At 100, mob underboss Sonny Franzese gets out of federal prison", "2 Nabbed in Heist of Elmhurst Bank; Cosa Link is Seen", "Franzese Is Said to Have Killed '30 or 40 or 50' Persons", "NEW BREED SAID TO EMERGE IN ORGANIZED CRIME", "Franzese and 4 are found guilty; Albany jury convicts them in bank robberies", "Five Mafia Families Open Rosters to New Members", Feds want jury to hear Sonny talk about mob murders", "Crime Figure Seized on L.I. And in December, the Nassau district attorney accused him of engineering the home invasion of an Oceanside jukebox executive in which two teenagers were handcuffed to a pole in the basement and gagged with duct tape. The home of John (Sonny) Franzese on Shrub Hollow Road in Roslyn in 1970. Credit: Newsday / Bill Senft, I started buying businesses, you know, he said. (on-sale March 29, 2022), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window). We had Joe Valachi, and if you would have opened up, it would have destroyed the Mafia. There were no flower cars outside the funeral of 103-year-old John Sonny Franzesebut gospel music, funny stories, and eulogies from his loving grandkids made it much grander. Julie Podell thought I was the best thing that ever happened to him., It undoubtedly had a lot to do with business. Franzese was born in Naples and came to New York as a young boy, part of a massive migration of Italians arriving in New York by 1920. In a December 2006 conversation secretly taped by a mob associate, Gaetano Fatato, Franzese said as much himself: I killed a lot of guys youre not talking about four, five, six, 10.. What we done in New York is unbelievable, he said. According to his son Michael, he passed away in a hospital in the New York area, but no further details were given. Customers came to see the glittering roster of performers onstage, but were just as thrilled when they spotted celebrities, and mobsters, in the audience.
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