I don't know why people can't be more objective about this.

The debate shouldn't be between whether or not Franzese fits either polemic as a "stand-up guy" or a "rat" - he is what he is. So what is he?

Well, at a time he legitimately was a relatively big deal. Capo in the Colombo Family before it became a total shit show and son of the Underboss. That's not nothing. Has his status overtime been inflated and exaggerated as "the yuppie don" and so forth? Absolutely. Everybody who is formerly of that life inflates their status once they come out on the other side, with the possible exceptions of Leonetti and DiLeonardo. Franzese however hasn't had to inflate his status as much as a Henry Hill - he really was a big deal at one point, even if he wasn't a feared street guy.

Did he rat to get out of the life? Well, almost certainly to some degree. As above posters have commented, he's testified for the government and more likely than not he named names while being debriefed. In the mid-90's, Michael Franzese naming names was the least of the Colombo family's problems. Does he deny he's a rat? Of course he does, just like they all do.

The other side of him - he's also an entertaining and consummate performer. I see the old racketeer shining through his travelling evangelist act - this guy is definitely still a hustler. I suspect he actually does believe in God to a certain degree and that his conversion isn't totally BS - but the racketeer in him also saw the financial opportunity this presented and he was not going to pass that up.

When he tells old mob stories I think for the most part he's stayed pretty credible and pretty consistent. I put him in the same category as a Leonetti type guy, except that Franzese clearly loves the spotlight more than Crazy Phil.

He's a mob guy - they're all slippery. So of course he's hustling. Of course he's drawn outside the lines and has named names in private while swearing up and down he's a stand up guy in public. They all do this. Scarpa, Bulger, you name it. He's been one of the survivors coming out of a life filled with duplicity, betrayal, and everything that comes with it.

The "stand up guys" are dead or in jail. The ones we can draw the stories out of are all rats, every one of them.

I'm neither a fanboy nor someone that would really put him down for being a rat. I know he's a rat. He denies that the same way mob guys plead not. guilty in court. He's a known liar. He can also be a very entertaining source on some old LCN stories from back in the day which have for the most part been quite credible. He is what he is.

He's a hell of a lot better and more reliable a source and was a way bigger deal back in the day than the likes of a John Alite or a total nobody clown like Borello or Polisi or Calandra.

They're all rats, but Franzese actually was something in the LCN once upon a time. He's a rat too, although not one of the worst rats.

You don't need to praise him or hate him; he is what he is. Take it for what it's worth.