Is Michael Franzese genuinely reformed?

Is Michael Franzese genuinely reformed, or is his public speaking and his books (and his reformation) another money-making scam from somebody still connected with the life?

It's another method to part fools from their money. The hustle never ends with these guys, even after they rat and are forced to leave the life.

He doesn't strike me as sincere at all, but since he is a sociopath, it is quite simple for him to manipulate others and come across that way.

A lot of these evangelical types have serious skeletons in their closet. Look at Ted Haggard, who is a deeply closeted homosexual.

Right on Moe he is just using hart strings and god and the mob to make cash and he is doing well .

Scammers are gonna scam...

yeah, bitch..

Is it true Mikey has HIV? Or was that just some rumor. I know Scarpa Sr did.

Edit:

Did the a search it was the rat Franzese son who has HIV...since 1990 apparently. And knowingly submitted woman to have sex with an HIV+ man....and yet they had no issue using him as a star witness against Sonny.


I hope Sonny lives until 110 and is active to the end.

No correlation between the way he was brought up and the way he acted later in life?

He spreads GOP propaganda on twitter all day, so clearly he's not reformed. He just left one mob for another. Or, maybe he's just in another racket with the same mob.

Is Sonny other son john jr that flipped against the father that have hiv.

Yeh he was a junkie- and most likely contracted it via dirty syringe

Franzese used his father's name to get into the mob, then ratted when things got tough. He claims he found God, but only he knows if that is true. He seems to be totally free of any crime involvement, both by choice and by no one from the mob having anything to do with him.

i think he hid millions back before he turned himself in to do the 10yrs what 1986. he was lucky and smart to bumped into the gas racket in nyc and state before the rest of the wolves. i wonder how he hid all his wealth from the persicos in 1980 but i forget when the gas money really started rolling in. maybe carmine was locked up for parole his brother allie was hiding in ct. i mean if whitey bulger had 800k hidden in a wall in 2011 from 1994ish. he was seeing the colombo familys gas tax cheat racket for what did michael have it 5 7 yrs ? he said a million a week profit thats insane even if it was 100k a week back then wow he must have buried alot of it. he was young and smart and knew he didnt want to go to jail again

its funny you cant watch that movie michael produced the won with his wife youtube

no hes just retired and knows noone in his old life would still do work withhim even his family.

oak you think the kids in the cages are actors like coulture says. fucking news is wild today

No way.In a meeting with a old colombo wiseguys that wanted to kill him for take his bussiness he barely survived and his father didn't help his own son. So Michael understood that was better to escape from the sinking boat. Maybe he wrote some books because mob and cristianity help to sell books but I dont think that Michael would risk his life and reputation for a scam.

I'm getting confused here. Who is HIV Positive? Michael Franzese or a relative of his?

The brother of Michael have the AIDS, his name is john jr and was a colombo associate but flipped and testimonied against his father.

...He made Tons of money for the mob..The gas scam was a money tree..He's smart. Probably has a lot left over. Just like John jr..Play the game and if your smart know when to get out..

Stealing in the name of the lord!

When Michael has to figure out how much of the offering collection to give to the lord vs keep he has a unique system. After church he gathers all the money and throws it in the air. Whatever god catches, he can keep.

good one Kash

Is Michael a sociopath or just a con artist that he makes people believe?

and does anyone know if he killed anybody or murders he heavily participated in

He came to a church near where I live in uk last year. Was busy and missed it though. It’s all BS I reckon but he’s been doing it so long he probably believes it lol.

Got his autobiography the main one and it feels like he leaves a lot of mob stuff out. I like the way that when he was inside loads of random Mexicans kept coming up to him asking how to get made haha. He clearly kept a huge amount of dough look at his mansion in LA or wherever it is. You don’t get that from church touring.

He did flip though just not on LCN. All this about he begged for his life is BS. He flipped, served the usual 5 years or something and moved far away from NY. This was 90s and weren’t worth JR even trying to whack him. And he didn’t flip on LCN why would they care at the end of the day.

In terms of hits from what I’ve read he was involved in that champagne guys hit. They blamed him for Franzese sister overdosing as he was seeing her at the time on the side. Bad move to do that clearly what was he thinking. Mike wasn’t on the heavy side though and was a yuppie movie producer gas scam earner type. His dad done enough work for him to ride the wave

In the autobiography he advises that he was going to be a doctor and changed his mind in honour of his dad who was railroaded by the feds on that fake robbery charge that he’s been battling all his life via parole probation violations. (Similar to what meek mill will be going through for many years to come with the longstanding parole violation crap. Least his original charge was real!)

He also describes growing up and how some of the cops would come up to him as a kid swearing at him and calling his dad an animal etc. Also describes how both his mum and dad got jealous of his success at one point which I found interesting. Decent book actually might have to read it again

Maybe Sonny wasn't a very good dad?

Ya Think?

I remember it quite well. He was playing ball with a friend and he went to recover the missing ball, a cop stood on the ball and flashed his gun saying to Mike "this is for your old man one day" and another incident he tells alot when a Nassau County cop said something to his father while the whole family were at a restaurant so Sonny got up and pointed a gun at him lol, then before the incident the same cop was bumping his car into the back end of Sonny's car

from what I read he seemed like a good father and Mike has alot of admiration and respect for Sonny so it's not all bad

From what I remember in the book and from interviews, Sonny Franzese comes across as a good father according to Michael. EXCEPT for when he allegedly didn't stick up for Michael when the Colombo admin were grilling him about holding back money.

If he hasnt commited a crime since he got out of jail 30 years ago then yes i would say he is reformed

If he didn't stash away the illicit proceeds of his various crimes and had to start again, do you think he would work slavishly to rebuild his life or get back into hustling?

He doesn't need crime.

I still maintain he isn't reformed. Reformation involves a change of mindset. He is still the same old lizardfaced criminal at heart that he always was.

Did Sonny meet Vito Genovese, Tommy Lucchese etc that crowd? I have a feeling he met most of the originals.. I may be wrong?? of course he met Profaci but I've never thought of him as in the league of Genovese , Gambino etc

Even though Sonny is a generation under some of the originals; He was still middle aged and nearly at his peak when Tommy Lucchese and Vito Genovese had tight control over their families. He def know's Profaci because he was a captain under him. He prolly had dealings with Corallo; Salerno; and Castellano who are all of his generation even though he was in and out of prison. Anyone know how respected/feared Sonny Franzese was in his heyday among his contemporaries?

I know he met Joseph Magliocco.. Colombo and Persico (obviously)

I remember Mike saying that Sonny met Carmine Lombardozzi, I think it was at the Copacabana. With Sonny being 101 it's interesting to know that he knew the generation that didn't make it past the late 1930s-1950 , I assume by 1938 / 39 he was already associated with the Colombos

I guess when you bury enough money It's easy to walk away..ask John Jr.

Just 1 murder? appointed a capo and thats the only murder he oversaw? the way he tells the story he shifts the blame other than himself. If he was out on the street fully when the Colombo wars were happening I think we would know much more about some murders. He says he operated in that capacity till around 1993-1995.. I'm assuming he lost his button (capo) a bit before that

he is still making things up that he" knew"

He was very respected, but the main reason why was because of his incredibly violent reputation. I've never heard of him being particularly bright or a good leader. The guy had a lot of idiots around and raised two sons that wound up causing him and the entire family a lot of grief. The guy was around everybody. At 42, he was already a capo.

John Franzese was a feared killer but also a prolific businessman. A lot of the Colombo family’s historic sway in Long Island can be attributed to him. As well as his tight grip on the porn industry. As well as this, he’s a bonafide tough guy.
Let’s be honest now, Michael Franzese turning rat was not good for the Colombo family but it didn’t really cause much grief at all. He never testified against any wiseguys, although he did testify against his own criminal accomplices. John Franzese Jr. was a bit of a blow to the family but in the end it really only hurt Sonny.

Pretty sad when an ex con mobster seems to have more respect for rule of law then the former FBI director...Franzese is 100% correct !!

He's one of the very few likable ex mob guys...Never try's to play the tough guy, bragging about how many people he hurt etc..Never makes any bogus claims like Raquel Welch hitting on him etc..

Grief does not mean damage. You could argue that he didn't cause as much damage as other rats, but his decision to cooperate was a matter of very serious concern at the time. Before he testified against Norby, he had already given them incriminating information about members of that life, including Junior. He obviously had a change of heart, but this wasn't some second rate wiseguy. This was the family's biggest earner and someone who was trusted by almost everybody. When someone of this magnitude turns, the guys on the street feel it. You can just imagine what his father was going through.

As far as Sonny being a great businessman, that's simply not true. Most of his businesses failed and he had no idea how to spend money. He had Deep Throat and a few other big scores, but all that money came and went. You wanna know how much he's worth today? Nothing.

Eh, on Jim Rome's podcast he claimed Livia Soprano was based on his mother, and that the Soprano's used taped conversations between her and Sonny as source material. Never know.