Just before Christmas, former Colombo crime family father-and-son capos Sonny and Michael Franzese were in Ohio. They didn't get to share any holiday cheer.

Born-again son Michael addressed the Ohio State football team, recounting his life (of crime) story as a warning to the Big Ten champions before their national championship game against LSU.

Jailed-again dad Sonny remained inside the federal penitentiary at Elkton, Ohio, his new home after another of his sons ratted him out.

The Franzeses, once a tightly knit clan with major gangland clout, are as dysfunctional as the 21st century Mafia itself this holiday season.

Sonny can't see his seven grandkids, son John is hiding out, and Michael wonders if his brother will resurface to put their 90-year-old dad behind bars for the rest of his life.

"I know there's talk about that, and it's not pleasant to think about," said Michael Franzese, once ranked by Fortune magazine as No. 18 on its list of the nation's 50 most powerful mobsters. "It's in all of our thoughts. We're waiting to see if the other shoe drops."

Michael - a made man at 24 - and brother John followed their dad into the Colombos, where the old man was known as a standup guy who would always do the time and never drop a dime.

The elder Franzese, a contemporary of family namesake Joe Colombo, was reportedly among the investors in the infamous porno movie "Deep Throat."

Despite his advancing age and years behind bars, the Brooklyn native stayed involved with the mob into the new millennium, the FBI says.

Sonny's legendary Mafia career was interrupted by a 1967 bank robbery conviction and jail term - a crime many believe he didn't commit. He was paroled after doing 11 years.

There's no denying Sonny returned to La Cosa Nostra. He was jailed five times in the past 25 years for parole violations after consorting with mobsters.

When he wasn't doing time, he was a regular fixture at downtown get-togethers to watch Pay-Per-View boxing matches. He was part of a crowd that included - though not necessarily all at the same time - a top police official, a retired FBI agent, a former boxing champion and some great and not-so-great writers.

His most recent parole violation was in May, when Sonny was popped for sharing breakfast pastries with reputed bad guys.

Michael and his father are aware that John was identified as turning Sonny in to the feds. "He knows that's what the word is, but it's a sore subject," said a Long Island neighbor of Sonny.

While his father never left New York, Michael quit the mob and launched a new life: born-again Christian, father of seven, Little League coach living in California. His time as a mob capo collecting up to $9 million a week was in the past.

Michael, whose age and acumen led to his nickname "The Yuppie Don" during his mob days, tells his don't-follow-in-my-footsteps story to athletes, businessmen, church groups. He's spoken to Major League Baseball players, NBA players and colleges from Nebraska to North Carolina.

Those audiences listen.

His pleas for his dad to embrace a new lifestyle fell on deaf ears.

"He says, 'What do you want me to do? I don't know anyone who's not a felon,'" Michael recounts with a rueful laugh. "He told me, 'Even you're a felon.'"

The pair rely on short but frequent phone calls from prison to stay in touch. Michael is in Los Angeles, while Sonny's cell is 45 miles northwest of Youngstown, Ohio, and in the middle of nowhere.

"My kids are kind of broken up," Michael says. "My 9-year-old asks, 'When am I going to see grandpa again?'

"That's tough."

Not that Franzese wants or expects any sympathy for Sonny: "Who's going to feel sorry for my dad? Nobody, unless it's his family."

Michael spoke of his father's woes to the Buckeye football team. The two couldn't meet before his Columbus appearance because it wasn't visitors' day at Elkton.

Michael is certain of one thing: Sonny Franzese will do his time with his mouth shut. Even if it means Christmas - maybe his last Christmas - behind bars.

"Look, he's strong," Michael says. "You will never ever see Dad cooperating. It's not even in his thought process. But this time of year, it's tough. I can hear it in his voice."