1. Michael Franzese was enrolled in a pre-med program at Hofstra University, but dropped out to make money for his family after his father was sentenced to 50 years in prison for bank robbery in 1967.
52 Facts About Michael Franzese
1. 2.
Michael Franzese eventually helped implement a scheme to defraud the federal government out of gasoline taxes in the early 1980s.
3.
Michael Franzese claimed that at the height of his career, he generated up to $8 million per week.
4.
Franzese was born May 27,1951, in Brooklyn, New York to John "Sonny" Franzese, a Colombo crime family underboss, and Cristina Capobianco-Franzese, although Michael initially questioned who his actual biological father was.
5.
Michael Franzese initially believed that he had been adopted by John after his mother divorced Frank Grillo, whom Michael Franzese thought to be his biological father.
6.
Michael Franzese says he had gone by the name "Michael Franzese Grillo" until he was 18 years old.
7.
However, in 1971, Michael Franzese decided to drop out of college to help his family earn money when his father was sentenced to 50 years in prison for bank robbery in 1967.
8.
Michael Franzese became acquainted with his father's friends such as Joseph Colombo, and according to Michael Franzese, later became inducted as a made man on Halloween night 1975 under acting boss Tommy DiBella.
9.
Michael Franzese took the oath alongside friend Jimmy Angelino, Joseph Peraino Jr.
10.
Michael Franzese was briefly mentored by Colombo soldier Joseph "Joe-Joe" Vitacco.
11.
Michael Franzese was contacted by a flea market owner who complained that his partner was using and selling drugs at the market in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.
12.
Michael Franzese agreed to frighten him and become the new partner.
13.
Michael Franzese sent Colombo soldier-turned informant Anthony Sarivola and another member who remains unidentified.
14.
Michael Franzese later expressed admiration for Gotti, citing his strict mobster lifestyle and his overwhelming ego.
15.
In 1980, Michael Franzese had become a caporegime of a crew of 300.
16.
In 1981, Michael Franzese was contacted by Lawrence Salvatore Iorizzo, who had developed a scheme to defraud the federal government out of gasoline taxes in 1985.
17.
Michael Franzese partnered with the Russian Mafia in Brooklyn in the gas scheme.
18.
Michael Franzese's crew was then able to collect and pocket the nine cents per gallon of gasoline in federal tax.
19.
An associate later testified that Michael Franzese personally made $1 million per week from the gas scheme.
20.
Michael Franzese had claimed that at the height of his career, he generated up to $8 million per week.
21.
Michael Franzese was referred to as the "Yuppie Don" in the 1980s, and as "Prince of the Mafia".
22.
Additionally, Michael Franzese would assist with any entertainers Walters had problems with by meeting their agents.
23.
In 1982, the manager for singer Dionne Warwick wanted to drop Walters as an agent; Michael Franzese met with the manager and persuaded him to keep Walters.
24.
In 1983, the FBI launched an investigation into boxing promoter Don King's organized crime connections and targeted Michael Franzese to introduce an FBI undercover agent, using the alias Victor Quintana, to King.
25.
Michael Franzese, who had never met King, says he was introduced to him by civil rights leader Al Sharpton.
26.
Michael Franzese claimed he first met Sharpton through the Genovese crime family mobster Daniel Pagano.
27.
Michael Franzese was the president of Miami Gold, a film production company that produced the 1986 film Knights of the City.
28.
In New York, Michael Franzese was one of nine people indicted on 14 counts.
29.
In Florida, Michael Franzese was one of 26 people indicted on 177 counts after a 16-month investigation in Florida called "Operation Tiger Tail".
30.
On March 21,1986, Michael Franzese pleaded guilty to one count of racketeering conspiracy and one count of tax conspiracy.
31.
Michael Franzese was sentenced to 10 years in prison and ordered to pay $14.7 million in restitution on the federal charges, agreeing to sell his assets including a mansion in Old Brookville, New York, the Miami Gold production company, and use proceeds from the Knights of the City film.
32.
Michael Franzese then reached a plea agreement and was sentenced to nine years in prison for state racketeering charges in Florida which would run concurrently with his previous conviction.
33.
Michael Franzese was ordered to pay an additional $3 million in restitution to the state of Florida.
34.
Michael Franzese was subpoenaed to testify at Walters' trial in March 1989, as Walters had invoked his name to frighten college athletes into signing management contracts, including Maurice Douglass.
35.
On December 27,1991, Michael Franzese was sentenced in New York to four years in federal prison for violating the probation requirements from his 1989 release.
36.
Michael Franzese had been arrested in Los Angeles on a tax fraud accusation and was sent back to New York for the probation hearing.
37.
In court, prosecutors complained that Michael Franzese had only started paying the balance of his court-ordered restitution payments earlier that year.
38.
In 1990, Michael Franzese was portrayed by Joseph Bono in the Martin Scorsese film Goodfellas.
39.
In 1992, Michael Franzese co-authored his first book, an autobiography, Quitting the Mob.
40.
Michael Franzese was released on November 7,1994, retiring from the mob in 1995 by moving to California with his wife and children; the relocation was a result of receiving multiple death threats and contracts on his life, including one approved by his father.
41.
Michael Franzese has since become a motivational speaker for youth, at schools, prisons, and other venues.
42.
Michael Franzese speaks at Christian conferences and churches, including Willow Creek Community Church, in 2016.
43.
On July 23,2002, while appearing on the HBO television program Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, Michael Franzese stated that during the 1970s and 1980s, he persuaded New York Yankees players who owed money to Colombo loansharks to fix baseball games for betting purposes.
44.
Michael Franzese released an autobiographical biopic, God the Father, in 2014, which was released in theaters across 20 cities in the United States.
45.
Michael Franzese spoke about his wealth, but the impact that being a member of the Colombo crime family had on his family, and that was why he turned away from organized crime.
46.
In 2019, Michael Franzese became co-founder of a national franchise of pizza restaurants called "Slices Pizza".
47.
In 2022, Michael Franzese founded Michael Franzese Wines, a line of Armenian wines.
48.
Michael Franzese's subscriber count exceeded one million in January 2023.
49.
Michael Franzese appeared in the documentary series American Godfathers: The Five Families in 2024.
50.
Michael Franzese is the author of seven books: Quitting the Mob, Blood Covenant, The Good, the Bad and the Forgiven, I'll Make You an Offer You Can't Refuse, From the Godfather to God the Father, Blood Covenant: The Story of the "Mafia Prince" Who Publicly Quit the Mob and Lived and Mafia Democracy.
51.
Michael Franzese met his current wife in 1984, while shooting the film Knights of the City in Ft.
52.
Sonny Michael Franzese was sentenced to eight years in prison, and was released from prison in 2017 at the age of 100, dying three years later.