Franzese was made in 1978. DiBella was still boss, the underboss position was vacant. Salvatore Miciotta, who was also part of this ceremony, said it took place the Halloween after the March 1978 murder of Americus Scotese.
I also don't think Franzese is 'lying' about it, I think he just misremembered. Plenty of guys end up with inaccurate dates for when they got down. It's not like they keep records of it. Not unheard of for people to forget important dates in their lives, like anniversaries, birthdays of relatives, etc. Anthony Casso and Vincent Cafaro also got the dates of their inductions wrong, saying they got down in the early 1970s when the books weren't opened until '76.
I thought 78 also. That LCNBios site is right on the money. I just wonder why Franzese said 40th. Not 42nd, not 45th but 40th. He's said the wrong date for 25 years so I wouldn't be surprised he's wrong here. I just thought it was interesting that this is the first time in his own words he doesn't say 75.
