Better check your dates. You falling for that fake news and I'm about to bust your ass on that post you just made about him cruising in
Colonel, as I said earlier "with all do respect" you happen to be dead wrong on this one!
Michael's deal with the feds dovetailed perfectly with his 'back to back' federal and state arrests (3-4 cases in a row) around the mid-80s or so. 1984-1985-1986. As far as I know he was never a rat in earlier years. But the deal he got (10 years - which by the way he NEVER served, and that whopping money fine) we in direct correlation to his turning rat at that time.
I think he was actually behind bars less than a year. And that was only for show, and while he was constantly being debriefed by the feds. So even behind bars, he was being pulled out of jail for conversations and 302s, etc. What a fucking joke!
10 Years on paper sounded decent (although he probably would have pulled 20 years or better for those frauds if it had been on the up and up). But he had ALREADY made his deal. Thats why he was sent to Terminal Island, CA., to serve his term. Far away from the prying eyes of fellow wise guys, and far away from potential danger if they found out he was cooperating.
Only months after he was supposed in prison, I think it was CBS or NBC did an undercover television documentary on him. They photographed him driving around in a white convertible Cadillac Eldorado on Los Angeles streets. It was on national TV for all to see. They also followed him to a beautiful leased home he was living in at the time (all this while he was supposed to be in prison serving his sentence). He was NOT. He was free and living his life.
It caused a major embarrassment for the feds, and exposed Franzese as a cooperator who's associates were all currently serving prison time on cases he was a defendant in, yet the "their boss" Michael Franzese was free as a bird. Their fearless leader had sold them all down the drain and used their jail terms to help skate from his own sentence.
From THAT moment on, everybody started to understand that he was a stone rat! And after the cat was out of the bag he just admitted it, went into hiding, and then started publicly giving testimony.
His father was broken in rank and 'shelved,' stripped of his rackets and activities, and the Franzese name became mud. Only in later years did Sonny redeem himself because he was as stand-up as they come. Michael had basically ruined the family name.
That is the truth. Period!!!
And any bullshit to the contrary is just that.
From 1986 forward, he was an informer who helped the feds in numerous ways. More than is even publicly known as I said earlier.
PS: and to address your statement "violated twice and sent back to prison".... that was because he was trying to fuck the feds out of the $15,000,000 fines/restitution he had promised them as part of his deal. So they threw him back in the jug several times to shake him up and squeeze him for money. Which I suspect he ended up coughing up at some point. He tried screwing them also for the money he promised. that's why they jailed him. NOT because he was 'standing up' and not ratting. Quite the contrary!
Don't you dare delete this post. I'm going into my file cabinet tomorrow and gonna show just how misinformed you are. 1986? You're way off.the convertiblewhite El dorado? Hahaha that was a 1984 video. Jesus I thought you knew better
PS: not to insult you on this Colonel. Becasue that is not my goal here. But YOU could never debate me on this. Or at least you could never WIN a debate on this with me. I actually watched the television program with my own eyes of his driving around LA in a white convertible Cadillac. I don't remember if it was CBS, NBC, etc., who broke the story. It may have been "60 Minutes"
Now I would be lying if I said I remember the exact date or year this TV was presented. But it was televised. And all I say here is true. 100%. Remember too that this is going back over 3 decades already. So you'll have to excuse me if I don't remember the exact day, time, channel, or what color shoes I was wearing when I was watching the program. But I personally watched it, as did millions of other Americans on TV.
It had become a scandal and a black eye to the feds because this notorious mobster had 'gamed' them. He was out. He hadn't paid them the whopping fines he was supposed to. And they (the news) exposed Franzese as being free at a time when he was still supposed to be serving even the minimum of his jail term. Why was he NOT behind bars even for the minimum? Because he was working with them.
Also, and this is the straw that will break the elephants back (the elephant is you by the way, in case you haven't figured that out yet). By late 1986-early 1987 I (personally) knew he was a rat. Word was all around the streets of NYC/LI/etc., by then that he had turned. I was told personally by numerous guys (guys who were in the know - so don't even try and go
there). There was even info that by 1988 that his younger brother John had also flipped for the feds and was being debriefed.
THAT is another revelation that 99.9% of the public, chat rooms, mob aficionados, etc., don't know about. John Jr., was already giving info way before it even broke on Gangland, or in the papers. It's known that he worked with the Nassau County Rackets Squad and DA, Queens DA, etc. Besides whatever relationship he later developed with the feds.
No, it was NOT in Newsday or NYDaily News. NO it was not yet on TV or general common knowledge in chat rooms. But everybody 'in the streets' of NY started to find out that Michael (and later his drug addled brother) had turned. Word was quickly being passed through the grapevine and THATS another fact! And yes, I was personally told this by the most reliable of sources. Sources and names that I will not repeat here.
