By In 1966, he was charged with murdering a rival gangster and dumping the body into a bay after chaining cement blocks to the victims feet. Interesting interview. [17], In 2006, Franzese discussed techniques for mob murders with Gaetano "Guy" Fatato, a Colombo associate, not realizing that Fatato was a government informant and taping the conversation. Barricelli joked that he had not yet signed the death certificate. In 2010, at the age of 93, he was indicted for attempting to shake down two night spots and a pizzeria. 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. [20], Franzese's son, John Franzese Jr. became a government informant. [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. After the 93-year-old Sonny Franzese was convicted, he was sentenced to eight years in prison, where he was widely expected to die of old age. informant caught Franzese on tape describing his favorite was to dispose of corpses: dismember them in a kiddie pool, then cook them down in a microwave before stuffing them into a garbage disposal. He is believed to have been elevated to caporegime or captain in the Colombo family in the mid 1950s by Profaci. He said he likes to keep his wits about him and remember things.. On a side note sonny is so old, looking at the era he came up in he mustve seen it all, stories would be insane to listen to. By turns avuncular and crude, he answered questions about his extraordinary life. The women went crazy.. In April, the U.S. Attorneys Office charged him with conspiring to rob banks and obstruction of justice. John Jr., 58 Franzeses favorite child wore a wire to gather evidence against the Colombos. But it wasnt announced until two years later. The extraordinary life and times of a legendary crime boss who refused to squealbut who finally agreed to talk to an award-winning New York Newsday reporter shortly before his death at age 103 . Then-Nassau District Attorney William Cahn, who went to Washington D.C. to debrief Valachi, became keenly interested in Franzese. All this from a man who was 91 at the time. That was the Madison Square Garden of show business., Part of the Copacabanas appeal was its exclusivity. Over the years, Franzese listed his legitimate work as a tailor, a baker and a salesman. Franzese also told Fatato that he put nail polish on his fingertips before a murder to avoid leaving fingerprints at the crime scene. I dont know what happened to him. Jun 23, 2017 at 11:31 pm. [26] Prosecutors had asked for a sentence of 12 years, while Franzese's lawyer asked for leniency based on a variety of ailments, including partial blindness and deafness, gout, and heart and kidney problems. stars By 1966, Franzeses swagger and success had become too much for law enforcement. Tops By 1935, when he was 18, he said, he was running the largest craps game in New York. The disclosure was made by George Masters, Monroes hair and make-up stylist, in recordings he made a month before his death in 1998. "Listen, it broke my heart. Franzese went on to say that he had been told of the great good Cassato had done. 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. [28], Michael Franzese had entered a pre-med program at Hofstra University in 1969, as John Franzese originally did not want him to be involved in organized crime. Franzese, dark-haired and handsome, would claim dalliances with Monroe and actress Jayne Mansfield. Nutt y son of a gun. Sonny and Gardner never did anything more than the few moments of groping each other in a back room, but it was still a conquest to Sonny. Following that arrest, plenty of macabre and lurid stories came to light. He was 103 years old. Gorgeous and glamorous women were inevitably drawn to Sonny, something he said he never fully understood. McShane writes for the New York Daily News. Its human nature.At the same time, he advised, As a leader, I needed to subdue my ego and do whats best for the organization.. Interesting interview. In 1931, Franzese was straightened out, or inducted into the mob, when he was just 14, his son John said. They went to the church for help, lacking even the subway fare to get home. And you saved my parish and I want to thank you for that.. Here I am in a place, theres three hundred fifty people here, and youre the best-looking guy here, too., She says, Sonny, youre the best-looking guy I ever went out with., For Sonny, a woman like Mansfield was simply fun. When he was arrested, he gave his occupation variously as salesman, baker or self-employed tailor, according to police records. The made members Valachi named included Franzese, and law enforcement became so determined to build a case against him that agents installed a bug in his kitchen as his new home was being built. 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. newspaper All are sealed, according to the court. Sinatra might have been high-handed, but Sonny felt a certain affinity for the singer. 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. I figured hes a skinny guy, theyd kill him. The charges wereand continue to bewidely viewed as false. She was hard as a rock.. Sonny today Alert, animated and with slightly graying hair, he claimed to have struck up relationships with Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield and the 1950s television star Dagmar. Though frail, he was all smiles. Jayne sat down, and they began flirting. Maybe all the drugs he took. Unblock. He was back at Mount Carmel on Friday for the funeral. Common knowledge she was stepping out on Joe Dimaggio while in NY. In 2017, at the age of 100, the underboss of the Colombo crime family was released early from a prison sentence that would have capped off his turbulent life of crime. [37], His younger son, John Franzese Jr., was a Colombo family associate before becoming an FBI informant. Sonny was born circa 1919. You should have asked, Did Frank Sinatra know Sonny Franzese?. Celebrities, socialites, and sports stars all jockeyed for a coveted table amid the faux palm trees. The cassette tapes were found by his nephew, Jeff Platts, and have now been made public. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Tom Sizemore, Saving Private Ryan actor, dies after brain aneurysm, David Lindley, guitarist best known for work with Jackson Browne, dies at 78, Wayne Shorter, influential jazz saxophonist and composer, dies at 89, Linda Kasabian, Charles Manson follower who helped send him to prison, dies at 73, Search Obituaries & Guest Books on Legacy.com, Honor a loved one, place an obituary notice, Burny Mattinson, animator who was Disneys longest-serving employee, dies at 87, Albie Pearson, an original Angels player known as the Littlest Angel, dies at 88, Walter Mirisch, former motion picture academy president and legendary producer, dies at 101, Paul Berg, scientific firebrand who pioneered genetic engineering, dies, Barbara Bosson, Emmy-nominated actor known for Hill Street Blues role, dies at 83, Leiji Matsumoto, creator of classic space opera manga and anime, dies at 85. One time, I met an FBI agent on the street, Franzese said. You are spunkier than all the women I met in life. ", "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. Over the years, Franzese has listed his legitimate job as a tailor, baker and seller. It aint right for something Id never done., But Franzese did the time, he said, becauseI didnt want to rat on anybody., After exhausting his appeals, he entered prison around Easter in 1970, resolute. Franzese also suggested wearing a hairnet during the murder so as to avoid leaving any hair strands at the crime scene that could be DNA analyzed. . See, I used to play it right. Franzese returned to his family in Brooklyn after his release in 2017 from the Federal Medical Center in Danvers, Mass., leading a quiet life far from the spotlight of his youth. Theres, there is no question about it.. Video He talked about love at first sight when he met his second wife, Tina, a 16-year-old cigarette girl at The Stork Club, a famed celebrity hangout of the '40s and '50s, as well as the pride and pain he felt about his sons, who joined him as partners in crime before breaking away. He was linked by law enforcement to multimillion-dollar. He loved his children. The conversations became the foundation of a deep. Tennis Her boyfriend was not far away on stage, but Sonny was not at all concerned. One of Monroe's last flings was Giancana, who was arguably the most powerful gangster in the country at that time, and was in Sinatra's circle. I really think the FBI did it, he says. Play a lot of base ball with peoples kneecaps, eat well (the grilled cheese on the radiata) and have a reason to live (to outlive all the people that wronged you) and you'll look this good at that age. In 1963, Joe Valachi became the first big Mafia informant, testifying before Congress and giving America its first look inside the mob. He held his staff to high standards and involved himself in all the minutiae of running a club, from supervising the kitchen staff to picking the talent. In the 1950s and 1960s, Franzese listed his official occupation as an owner of a dry-cleaning store in Brooklyn. A gunman suddenly appeared and took it. Ate a lot of crappy jail food. I went out with a lot of handsome leading men . No doubt about that.. Nick Sorrentino/NY Daily News Archive via Getty ImagesJohn Sonny Franzese. According to his son Michael, he passed away in a hospital in the New York area, but no further details were given. But then, in 1967, he was convicted for his involvement in a bank robbery and sentenced to 50 years in prison. They wanted me to roll all the time, he said over a bowl of pasta e fagioliin the nursing home where he now lives. By 1967, Franzese had gone into the music business, running Buddah Records and such groups as the Shirelles. He and Sonny, though, had an uneasy relationship, as each jousted to assert dominance. Rupolo was shot and stabbed several times before his feet were attached to two concrete blocks and his hands tied before being dumped into Jamaica Bay. A reminder of the life the elder Franzese had lived came with a eulogy by a man who introduced himself as Maurice, an unofficial adopted son and proprietor of Cinema World Studios in Brooklyn. The victim in that case was a one-eyed, hook-nosed hitman known as the Hawk, whose body was found in Jamaica Bay. But he deflected questions about his mob family, how he ran the rackets, or prominent mob bosses such as Frank Costello and Joseph Bonanno. . And he apologized for what happened, especially near his church.. On August 20, 1962, about two weeks . Be the best.. What do you expect a guy to turn out to be? Sonny told them. He would be the last guy I thought would do that. To them, it was clear who the top man was, but Sonny, ever magnanimous, quieted them. Franzese is said to have run a craps game and to have gone into loan sharking. sex To avoid having a scandal surrounding having a child out of wedlock, Capobianco married Frank Grillo. Now you may not believe this, but, so help me God, she told it to meshe says to me, I made a lot of pictures. He was so much a part of who I am as a man, good or bad. Franzese, widely admired and respected in the mafia for respecting his oath of omerta and keeping silent, he was finally released in 2017 at the age of 100. I dont know., I said, After the show, come down here. She says, All right, Ill be down.. She has won more than 50 journalism awards and was a finalist for the Public Service Pulitzer Prize in 2014.
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