FRANZESE AND STAFF PUSHING NARRATIVE HE WASN'T AN INFORMANT, BUT THE FACT IS, HE WAS.

A lot of people have been sending me messages from someone on Michael Franzese's staff who apparently answers for the informant, Michael Franzese. He is trying to change the narrative. For all of Michael's self-promoted accolades, he tells many different versions as his past as an informant. One day, he didn't tell on anybody, never agreed, never cooperated. The next day he tries to pad the fact that he testified in many trials, and received a sentenced reduction for those actions by saying he never testified against a mob guy. Which one is it?


Apparently it's a public relations nightmare, and someone on his staff is telling people he never testified against anyone, or ever cooperated on any level. I have seen a dozen of these messages, and the funny part is the person on the other end of the message tells people "you don't understand the life, and to believe any rumor or gossip about Michael being a rat just isn't true, it's laughable." One might argue it's Michael himself arguing but I have seen a dozen of these, and it's the the same PR stance.


Michael Franzese was an informant, and a rat. Whether he wants to come to that reality or not is another thing all together. Michael, for all his self-aggrandizing, is half charlatan and half schemer. Here are the facts. Michael Franzese testified against Norby Walters, who was by most accounts a shake down guy, and was widely responsible for shaking down the Jacksons, and Dionne Warwick. He considered Norby his uncle, but that didn't stop him from coming forward and ratting him out, and testifying against him. He admitted to becoming a cooperator in a Vanity Fair article in 2012. Norby Walters would get five years in prison as he was found guilty of Racketeering. Franzese also testified against Lloyd Bloom, who got three years. The men would have their convictions thrown out as a result of improper jury instructions by the judge, but it was Michael's testimony that buried them. These are all men Franzese called friends and made money with. He then would go on to testify in court against a janitor by the name of Ornge Tutt. Tutt was a former driver for Sonny Franzese and worked with Frank Campione. Tutt was found guilty and went to prison. Franzese didn't stop there.


Michael then testified against Gerald Guterman who had been indicted for conspiring with union officials and mob contractors to defraud the IRS. Not to be undone, Michael Franzese offered to testify against DeCavalcante boss John Riggi. He had offered the FBI his testimony against Riggi. I have the witness list with his name on it, and that is someone who provided information to the FBI. The feds don't put a witness on their list who isn't going to back their bullshit. The FBI would never call Franzese to testify. Franzese has lied repeatedly saying that he was willing to be put on the list, but that he would contradict what the prosecution was saying. The problem with that, is that I have a copy of what he did tell the FBI, and it's not in contradiction of, but rather the opposite. He buried John Riggi.


Michael in this Vanity Fair article, admits, that he gave up names, ranks, and positions in all five of the crime families in turn for a reduction in sentence. Those are facts. Michael can twist and try to distort reality all he wants, but the files and his own words prove, that he despite all his scenario twisting, is a goddamned rat.


THE LIAR THAT IS FRANZESE.

Michael Franzese is a liar, and a schemer by nature. He has repeatedly lied saying that he invented the gas tax scam. He has changed his stance on that hundreds of times. The reality is, that scam was controlled by the Russians, specifically Marat Balagula who controlled the Russian mafia in Brooklyn, New York. It was Balagula who invented the scam, the shell companies. Franzese attempted to shake him down, to which, Balagula laughed in his face, but because Michael at the time was a capo within the Colombo crime family, he took the issue to Christy-Tick Funari, who at the time was the consigliere of the Lucchese crime family. Casso was invited to the meeting between the Colombos, Balagula and the Lucchese's. An agreement was made that there was no reason for anyone to try and shake down anyone, that there was more than enough money to go around for everyone to get wealthy. Casso then would oversee the project. At no time did Michael Franzese control it, run it, or make it bigger. It was already a billion dollar enterprise. In fact, it was alleged several times that Michael was stealing money from the project which led to a meeting between Sonny Franzese and the upper echelon of the Colombo's. The upper brass knew Michael was stealing money, but were having a hard time proving it. They wanted Sonny's okay to kill Michael if they could prove it. Sonny green-lit the murder. "If you find, he took money, kill him."


Michael never ever had any meetings with John Gotti. He never bested John Gotti in any deal or card game. Those are lies. At no time, did he ever sit with John Gotti at any meeting, any card game, or had any business dealings with him whatsoever. He likes to tell this story where Gotti and him were competing for a storefront. He bested Gotti in a battle of wits and smarts. It doesn't take much to see through his nonsense. There are NO photos of Franzese with Gotti. John Gotti was the most surveilled man in the history of organized crime, but yet, nothing of Franzese and Gotti together, like ever. It's a lie perpetuated for Michael to stay relevant in a world in which his only attribute was living on his fathers name. He's still doing it today.


There is something about honor and duty to the man that raises you, puts food in your mouth, and clothes on your back. Franzese whose birth name was Michael Grillo, was adopted by Sonny at a young age. Sonny is not the biological father of Franzese, and he changes that story multiple times as well. When Sonny was trying to get out of prison at 97 years old, Michael was approached about trying to help his father get out of jail and he refused. It's not the first time uber wealthy Michael has denied helping any member of his family. When Sonny was released, to the large help of Greg Vita, Michael refused to come see him, or help financially at all. In fact, Sonny for the most part was dumped into an old folks home, based off his pension from serving in the military. At no time did Michael help his father one bit. Sonny, for his part had his issues with Michael, referring to him as a rat and informant. His other son John, had also become a rat, and even testified against his own father, but at the end of his life Sonny lamented that he loved John, despite what he did. As for Michael, he held onto the distain till the day he died. Michael left his father to rot in an old folks home, and could care less. He didn't even attend Sonny's funeral claiming that he would be a distraction. The truth is, he was told he was not wanted at any funeral. That's the story he doesn't tell.


I just ask, how can anyone just drop their Dad at an old folks home, where others from the neighborhood took care of their old friend, and in the end Michael had it fixed so even those guys couldn't see him anymore. Michael left his own father abandoned. Too bad Sonny didn't abandon him as a baby. Everything Michael accomplished in life, is by scheme or scam, and if it wasn't for his father, believe me Michael never gets to the levels he did. A guy who knew Sonny incredibly well, and knew Michael told me, "If it wasn't for Sonny that kid would have been killed. He lived off his fathers reputation, the only reputation that kid had was one with a silver spoon in his mouth. Anything he ever made he stole. If anyone got mad, he didn't negotiate with them, he mentioned his father and people would back off. The second he found out his father green-lit his murder for stealing, suddenly Michael disappears and begins telling on everyone. This idea he sat down at big level meetings is hilarious. This was the adult forced to sit at the kids table that's how important he was."


Opinions aside, the truth is, Michael Franzese lies, almost non stop, and was an informant. It doesn't matter whether or not you testify against a mob guy. Testifying against people you call friends is a rat move, and the fact that Franzese is trying to rewrite and distort history for his own pockets, is pretty pathetic. You can enjoy all that is Franzese for entertainment value, but the truth is, he's exactly the same as other informants. He's no different, even if he is desperate for his own public relations people to distort the reality of who he actually is.

It appears that a couple of Franzese groupies here think that I actually wrote the article lol...If they believe that, its no wonder they believe everything Franzese says !!

Lol, that's an ARTICLE? It reads like an emotional opinion. An article from where? If you post an article, post the author, like who wrote and published it, lol...more nonsense...

Btw I’m not a fan of Franzese and you don’t have to be a fan to think how ridiculous it is to be so outraged about if he’s a rat or not. Why is it so important?

Have you ever read the comment sections of his videos ?? He has grown men telling him how great he is and he has like 700,000 subscribers who believe every word he says...I assume some probably come here as well...They should know the truth about him...They seriously believe that he never ratted on anybody and he's making good money off this scam..But what bothers me most is his born again bs...That's his biggest scam, and Gravano exposed it big time...As soon as he sat with someone who didn't kiss his ass and spoke to someone who was in the know, he started cursing left and right...What kind of born again is that ??

He's a phony !!

Because we don't like snitches, and the glorification of snitches. Are you a snitch? Were you the teacher's pet at school or the boss's ass kisser at work? You sure sound like the type.

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.

He did give up some people openly. He bothers me more when he lies on his videos. He's become a showman. Good for him if it makes him money, bad for anyone looking to learn about the Mafia. Often it's impossible to tell when he is telling us truth or fiction. I don't like him, but he is not as bad as Gravano, who totally ratted. I know some will say "If you ratted once on one person you are a total rat." I see it just a bit different,. If anyone feels different, fine. Gravano does know some real stories, as does Franzese, the John Alite total phonies bother me the most. Pennisi is very annoying, and might be the biggest rat out there now. He is still giving fiends up in his videos.

"Often it's impossible to tell when he is telling the truth".......I SIDE BY THAT BY 100%.....well said ..in this day & age of tech & sum such shit..who's 2 know who is fessing truth?..

"Often it's impossible to tell when he is telling the truth".......I SIDE BY THAT BY 100%.....well said ..in this day & age of tech & sum such shit..who's 2 know who is fessing truth?..

Btw I’m not a fan of Franzese and you don’t have to be a fan to think how ridiculous it is to be so outraged about if he’s a rat or not. Why is it so important?

Btw I’m not a fan of Franzese and you don’t have to be a fan to think how ridiculous it is to be so outraged about if he’s a rat or not. Why is it so important?