My father was a chameleon, Michael said. I watched the interview. And he gloated over his own Oceans 11-style celebrity. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Abroad [32] He also helped to finance the $22,000 budget of the 1972 pornographic film Deep Throat, which generated $3050 million, and the 1974 slasher film The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, which earned over $30 million from a $80,000140,000 investment. was arrested along with eight other Colombo mobsters, John Gotti facts that tell the story of The Dapper Don.. By He said, Youre nothing without an education, you got to he smart about life.. As a "made man" for the Colombo crime family, he . COVID-19 Unblock. And I got in her, her drawers. You should have asked, Did Frank Sinatra know Sonny Franzese?. Asked about Omerta the mob code of silence Franzese professed ignorance, even confusion. So I look up and whos looking at meJayne Mansfield. 'Blonde': What's fact, what's fiction in Marilyn Monroe Netflix movie And then youll be ready to play rock and roll because you have to know where the music comes from., The grandson now marveled, And to hear that from an old Italian guy. Mafia Underboss Sonny Franzese, 102, Reveals No Regrets In First Tennis Indonesia He was 103 years old. He loved his children. In 1984, Franzese was released on parole again. How John Franzese Made The Mafia Both Glamorous And Bloody - All That's Football . Finally, Franzese stressed the importance of properly dealing with the corpse. [37], His younger son, John Franzese Jr., was a Colombo family associate before becoming an FBI informant. [28] Franzese was released from the Federal Medical Center in Devens, Massachusetts, on June 23, 2017, at the age of 100; he was the oldest federal inmate in the United States and the only centenarian in federal custody at the time of his release. He was well-regarded by his criminal associates, who used him to broker deals between feuding mob factions. 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. 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. 58.0k members in the Mafia community. Jimmy Hoffa claimed to have in his possession "seamy" material about John and Bobby Kennedy. Franzese also got involved in the music industry of the 1960s and 1970s, financing recordings by the likes of The Isley Brothers and Curtis Mayfield, while also using this business to launder his illicit mob earnings. [20], On June 4, 2008, Franzese was indicted along with other Colombo mobsters on charges of racketeering, conspiracy, robbery, extortion, narcotics trafficking, and loansharking. The cassette tapes were found by his nephew, Jeff Platts, and have now been made public. Cassato had come to the parish in 1985 and by all accounts was a major force in reviving the neighborhood before he was transferred to another part of Brooklyn in 2001. Jayne sat down, and they began flirting. You should have asked, Did Frank Sinatra know Sonny Franzese?. Sonny Franzese romantic affair with Marilyn Monroe? 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. Mike said he knows the shooter and he has a tape to this today which discusses where Hoffa was killed. His pals included some of the biggest entertainers of the time, and a Newsday reporter would later ask if he knew Frank Sinatra. He became Colombo family underboss again in 2005, until he was convicted of extortion in 2011, and sentenced to eight years in prison. It was a free-for-all, Sonny recalled. Masters also appears to confirm the theory that Monroe was moved around before she died. His book on business was called An Offer They Can't Refuse, for fuck's sake. That advice was accompanied by a warning. 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. He then testified against his father, 93 at the time, and later entered the federal witness protection program. It was because of the Kennedys. He is convinced hell get rid of the wheelchair. Sinatra might have been high-handed, but Sonny felt a certain affinity for the singer. Early on, Franzese had an aptitude for crime. But then, in 1967, he was convicted for his involvement in a bank robbery and sentenced to 50 years in prison. Franzeses financial empire was so vast and his power so great that bona fide tough guys feared him, and still do, according to former mob associate Sal Polisi. John Franzese as a free man in 2018. He and Sonny, though, had an uneasy relationship, as each jousted to assert dominance. And everybody wanted to get glory, said Ed McDonald, former chief of the federal Organized Crime Strike Force in Brooklyn. I wasnt a guy that was afraid, you know, he said. Cassatos words of forgiveness had added significance because he is also a highly regarded NYPD chaplain. He repeatedly refused. Ruggedly handsome with a swagger many women found irresistible, he frequented the citys top clubs, especially the Copacabana, where Frank Costello boss of the Luciano mob family, which was the precursor of todays Genovese family was a silent partner and Franzese was an honored guest among the celebrities. Patrons and performers were solicitously attended to by a fleet of uniformed employees, all overseen by the vigilant eye of manager Jules Podell. He would be the last guy I thought would do that. The disclosure was made by George Masters, Monroes hair and make-up stylist, in recordings he made a month before his death in 1998. She reported, You better believe I started drinking white wine spritzers at work functions. /r/Mafia features stories, interviews, documentary and news articles about organized crime around the world. He was paroled in 1978, but was re-jailed at least six times on parole violations throughout the decades that followed. Interesting interview. photo Cassato turned solemn without being somber at the end of the funeral, saying that Franzese now rested in Gods love and grace. Franzese said he remembers crying when he saw him in prison the . [34] After the mob allowed John to divorce his first wife, Grillo disappeared, and he married Capobianco. John Franzese, known as Sonny, had been the federal prison system's oldest inmate and its only centenarian when he completed his last stint behind bars in 2017. Jun 23, 2017 at 11:31 pm. [21] On December 24, 2008, Franzese was released from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. The Mafia Secretly Taped Marilyn Monroe to Blackmail the Kennedy Brothers. So I got her in the back room behind the bar . On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. 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. Salary in 2022. He is from Italy. Though its unclear exactly how John Franzese died, it is clear that his death closes yet another chapter in the ongoing history of gangs in New York. A cause of death has not been announced. And hes likely to die behind bars.. 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. Later, he would become convinced that his affair with Monroewho was rumored to have been involved with Kennedys brother, U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, toowas what brought the wrath of the U.S. government down on him. [22] Franzese Jr. was allegedly also responsible for his father's fourth parole violation, but was accepted back into his confidence after denying the allegations in tears, saying, "I would never do that, no matter what kind of trouble I had. 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. [34] While married, John had gotten Cristina Capobianco, a 16-year-old cigarette girl at the Stork Club in Manhattan, pregnant with his son Michael Franzese. I couldnt get a [liquor] license., Asked why he couldnt get a license, he said, smiling, I was a bad guy.. Later a coroner ruled that the death was a probable suicide. And I get her close and Im kissing her and I got my hands on her backside and I put them under her dress. During a break in the proceedings, the elder Franzese rolled into the mens room in a wheelchair. The conversations became the foundation of a deep. His wife made clear her displeasure with him over the crooked path their son had taken before becoming an informant. Once he was asked if he knew Sinatra, the gangster hurriedly asked the question: You asked the question the wrong way. For all his murky past, he was a stickler for outward appearances. John Franzese Jr. testified against his dad, Sonny - Newsday He was beginning to address the mourners when a glass collar at the top of a burning Paschal candle suddenly shattered. Not that I wanna brag, but I was in demand. They had met years earlier when he was performing at the Rustic Cabin, a roadhouse in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, and a fight broke out. What's new But Franzeses commercial side was darker: he had once admitted killing 10 men during a 2006 chat with a mafia informant, with other estimates of his mob murders reaching 60. He chuckled as he perused old photos of himself in the tabloids, looking both fierce and dapper in his cashmere overcoat. The Mafia Secretly Taped Marilyn Monroe to Blackmail the Kennedy John Franzese was born on Feb. 6, 1917, in Naples, Italy, where his parents, Carmine and Maria (Corvola) Franzese, were visiting. In 2010, the jury convicted him of extorting money from two Manhattan strip clubs and running a loansharking operation. 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. He is believed to have been elevated to caporegime or captain in the Colombo family in the mid 1950s by Profaci. IN THE GALAXY of New York City nightclubs, the Copacabana burned brightest. Sonny was not at all ashamed of his many infidelitiesI was a run-around guybut it bothered him that he had hurt a man he idolized. Celebrities, socialites, and sports stars all jockeyed for a coveted table amid the faux palm trees. A grandson also spoke. That was my parish, Franzese said. On Writing Outside (Or Inside) The Lines. John Sonny Franzese, center, is escorted to the Elizabeth Street police station in New York after his arrest on a 43-count gambling indictment. Meanwhile, this movie star of a mobster even got involved in the film business himself as a financier for both The Texas Chain Saw Massacre in 1974 and Deep Throat, the infamous 1972 pornographic film that shared its name with the informant who helped The Washington Post break the Watergate scandal. Im going to have it with her. Then, have a look at some John Gotti facts that tell the story of The Dapper Don., John Franzese, Legendary New York Mob Boss, Dies At 103. All About Marilyn Monroe's Alleged Affairs with JFK and - Peoplemag When he was arrested, he gave his occupation variously as salesman, baker or self-employed tailor, according to police records. Down in the darkened arena, a very different personal drama was playing out. He dated Sinatra and Rat Pack member Sammy Davis Jr. at the legendary Copacabana nightclub in New York. [10][5][4] He was arrested with nine other people on April 13, 1966,[11] and during his trial, the prosecution produced records that claimed that Franzese had killed between 30 and 50 people. See, I used to play it right. He served as underboss of the Colombo family from 1963 until he was sentenced to 50 years in prison for orchestrating a string of bank robberies across the country in 1967. He recounted a time when he was starting out in music and grew weary of playing classical works. He also became known as someone who would act ruthlessly on his bosses orders. He was also a regular at the Copacabana and met such stars as Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. on a frequent basis. Though he evaded capture for years, Sonny Franzeses criminal ways did eventually catch up with him but not before he skated by the law one more time. Sonny was tough as nails. basketball He subsequently invested in films like Deep Throat and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. He knew Frank Sinatra in his heyday, a CBS News article described the New York mobsters conviction. [12] Franzese was later acquitted of the murder. At the time of his release on June 23, 2017, at the age of 100, he was the oldest federal inmate in the United States and the only centenarian in federal custody. (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). 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. After the 2004 incarceration of John "Jackie" DeRoss, Franzese was again promoted to Colombo family underboss in 2005, for the first time since his 1967 imprisonment, by Thomas Gioeli. I never hurt nobody that was innocent, Franzese once told Newsday. Watch full Franzese podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5ZFK-KBINY\u0026list=PLPT_cCpNMvT50d_7cJ55ciKoZEY8q_YPt\u0026index=4Michael Franzese UK tour: https://michaelfranzesetour.com/Michael Franzese YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6hqYXMeeZU\u0026t=64sMichael Franzese Insta: https://www.instagram.com/michaelfranzese_/Michael Franzese Twitter: https://twitter.com/MichaelFranzeseMichael Franzese inner circle: https://join.michaelfranzese.com/Michael Franzese grew up as the son of Sonny Franzese, the underboss of New York's violent Colombo crime family. Their collective charges included racketeering, gangland hits, the theft of fur coats in New York, and a home invasion in Los Angeles with Franzese held responsible as the underboss of the crime family. Gardner was beautiful and tempestuous, and everyone knew Sinatra was hopelessly in love with her. The once-feared mobster was the Colombo crime family's second in command and died on February 20 of natural causes at a nursing home in upstate New York. 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. Franzese, dark-haired and handsome, would claim dalliances with Monroe and actress Jayne Mansfield. He infers that this affair happened later on in time though. His violent inclinations didnt cease there. the news The mourners laughed as they had at the line about taxes, making it two laughs more than at your basic old school mob boss funeral. Also Sonny said to him that he was dating Marilyn Monroe and met her at the Stork club. He was sentenced to eight more years. He thought it was a joke. I was just like a big hit with them, he said. Once asked if he knew Sinatra, the gangster was quick to turn around the question: You asked the question the wrong way. United States of America All the top entertainers in the country, in the world, they all wanted to work there, Sonny said. What the hell are you doing? The mutual attraction proved irresistible, and their relationship led to an encounter that that left Sonny deeply ashamed. 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. She closed by reading a note her Sonny Grandpa had written to her. Copyright 2023 Newsday. She was madly in love with him. It has been documented that Monroe was at Sinatras lodge two weekends before her death, but now it appears that she was called back for a one-to-one chat with Giancana, a friend of Sinatra. It was May 19, 1962, when Monroe sashayed onto the stage of Madison Square Garden in a skintight, rhinestone-studded dress and sang a breathy Happy Birthday to President John F. Kennedy during a Democratic fundraiser. But after violating parole by associating with known mobsters, he was placed back in prison in 1982 only to be inexplicably paroled again in 1984. You should have asked, Did Frank Sinatra know Sonny Franzese?. Sonny Franzese back in 1966 was one of the pre-eminent organized crime figures in New York, if not the United States. Both had . He said he got good grades in school, but the allure of the street proved irresistible. Sonny Franzese romantic affair with Marilyn Monroe? # - YouTube You are spunkier than all the women I met in life. [25], With the help of Franzese Jr.'s testimony, the 93-year-old Franzese Sr., on January 14, 2011, was sentenced to eight years in prison for extorting two Manhattan strip clubs, running a loanshark operation and extorting a pizzeria on Long Island. International Most importantly in his mob career, Franzese was an earner, making money for the family in a variety of ways. No doubt about that.. The charges, ranging from vagrancy to rape, all followed a strikingly similar pattern they were either dismissed or he was acquitted. By clicking Sign up, you agree to our privacy policy. I started a used car business. So I says, What the F are you doing up there?, She said, I dont know. His father, eyes cast downward, said: Listen, it broke my heart.