Posted on 02/24/2020 7:33:34 PM PST by NRx
John Franzese, who emerged as one of the deadliest, most prosperous and longest-living Mafia chieftains while basking in the company of celebrities like Frank Sinatra and Rocky Graziano, died on Monday, almost three years after he was released from prison because of his advanced age. He was 103.
His son Michael said Mr. Franzese, who was known as Sonny, died in a hospital in the New York area but gave no further details. He had recently lived in the Jackson Heights section of Queens, his son said.
Well into his 90s — an age when most mobsters are retired or deceased — Mr. Franzese (pronounced FRANCE-ease) remained a significant underworld figure, identified by the federal authorities as the underboss, or second-in-command, of the Colombo crime family in the New York City area.
At 94, in a trial in which he appeared using a wheelchair and hearing aids, he was convicted on federal charges of running extortion rackets in Manhattan and on Long Island. He was released from federal detention in Massachusetts in June 2017 after turning 100. The authorities said at the time that he was the oldest inmate in the federal prison system.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Man.....he consorted with celebrities.
I wonder what instrument he played?
Prayers for a misguided soul.
And now..?
Franzese didn’t kill himself.
The food die young!
Look at the Caliph’s kewl cell phone holster!
I actually saw Michael Franzese earlier this month at an Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) fraud day training event.
Interesting guy with an interesting presentation and discussion. He still promotes himself as a tough guy.
He mentioned his dad and his age.
Obama set him free.....
According to federal investigators. Evidence in one of his criminal trials suggested he may have murdered as many as 50 people during his career as a Mafia enforcer......he would paint the tips of his fingers with nail polish to avoid leaving prints at crime scenes.
New York mobologists say that Franzese tried to keep track of his homicidal conquests but there were so many he lost count. Once he was overheard on FBI tapes discussing the chopping up of victims in a backyard kiddie pool and then drying out the pieces in his microwave.
Un infamo!
His son Michael had a real conversion to Christianity and has a ministry now. He walked away from the Mob and lived, a rare thing.
"Look what they done to my boy!"
He said he visited his father and was doing his best to lead his own father to Christ and sent others to pray for and with his dad.
He said at his fathers advanced age, he told him his time to accept Christ was really in an hour to hour basis but his dad was a proud and stubborned man.
I pray his dad finally did accept God’s free gift of salvation.
Castellano was a piece of garbage and never from the streets. he wasn’t a tough guy. He was half a fag that complained about his prostate and erectile dysfunction to his maid
He was a greedy b**** that only gotten the nod because a family relations.
It should have gone to Carmine Della Croce
Everybody was glad when Gotti whacked him.
But Gorti couldn’t keep his face off the front page.
My friend is an attorney who defended his son at the fourth mistrial
I’ve been watching a couple interviews with Michael Franzese, and yes I’d agree he’s a tough guy but not gross like some come across...he’s trained himself to be calm and cool as a cucumber, and in control but you wouldn’t want him angry at you.
The one interview he talks about Comey and the FBI...very interesting. Said Comey is basicaly as crooked as they come.....
He left the mob 25 or so years ago.
Perhaps the saxophone, jus like mob-moneyed man Bill Clinton.
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