I don't know how Franzese pulled that deal off.All the prosecutors that were after him were pissed that he really beat the G and beat them bad.He must have been one slick dude.As posted above he never put a single mafia member in jail.Nobody cared about Norby Walters.And the feds were certain he was lying about several things including had he killed before.He probally had his best friend Larry Carozza killed among others.He pulled off his greatest hustle with that deal
THAT is not true that he never put a member in jail. Colombo Soldier Frank Campione, and future Lucchese soldier John Vanasco (he was a Colombo affiliate at the time) were forced to cop out to federal charges of "Obstruction of justice" and "witness tampering" charges because Franzese had given testimony that both of them had 'reached' a juror through Orange Tutt, a janitor at the time for a AMC Car Dealership that Vanasco operated on LI.
Based on Franzese's deposition that they had subverted a juror (Tutt's wife who happened to be serving on the grand jury investigating Franzese). They paid her $1000 to reveal secret grand jury minutes so he could stay one step ahead of the feds.
Rather than face him in a courtroom during a trial, both copped out to the charges and received 2.5 years in prison.
Franzese also gave "TONS" of testimony, TONS, to the feds during his debriefings about hundreds of members. He identified 'proposed' members for the various crews (which in truth is essentially naming made guys). He gave up the ID's of guys who were goodfellas that the FBI had not been aware were. He identified specific crimes likes labor embezzlement, fraud, extortion, gas tax racketeering, shylocking, etc., that made guys were involved in so the FBI knew where to go to nab them (his info was like a roadmap for them). He named the legit guys who they worked with so the FBI could grab those guys and turn them into rats against goodfellas.
Chin Gigante had gotten those "secret" FBI minutes and called in all the bosses, releasing snippets to each particular family as it concerned them and their members so they could get ready as best they could to defend themselves for the bleak future they faced off Franzese flipping and releasing vital info.
Individual soldiers AND associates were brought in by their capos and told about Franzese's rat testimony against them that Chin had warned them about.
IN TRUTH HE IS ONE OF THE BIGGEST RATS THAT NY EVER HAD. HE JUST HAD MADE A DEAL TO NOT GET ON THE STAND OUT OF FEAR. BUT HE DREW THEM A ROADMAP BEHIND THE SCENES.
