Though its unclear exactly how John Franzese died, it is clear that his death closes yet another chapter in the ongoing history of gangs in New York. How the Bounty Mutineers Found Their New Home on a Secret Pacific Island, Jeffery Deaver's Guide to Writing Page-Turning Fiction, Seven Crime Novels Centered Around Musicians Out in 2023, An Author's Guide to Stealing from the Books You Love, The Many Levels of Mystery: Whodunnit? to Whydunnit? and Beyond, The Literary Film and TV You Need to Stream in March, Tracey Rose Peyton: Exploring Six Stories of Motherhood for Enslaved Women, The Day Explorers Finally Found One of the Worlds Great Lost Shipwrecks, What If? Life in the early '60s was good for Franzese. What do you expect a guy to turn out to be? Sonny told them. /r/Mafia features stories, interviews, documentary and news articles about organized crime around the world. [10] Franzese's nephew, Salvatore Franzese, reportedly headed Franzese's gambling operations while Franzese was in prison. If youre smart, Sonny told me, you can avoid some of those taxes, Cassato said, drawing laughter even from those who appeared to be feeling the loss most keenly. Death and. A wise guy hosted the game, he explained, butI was the one running it.. [32] He also helped to finance the $22,000 budget of the 1972 pornographic film Deep Throat, which generated $3050 million, and the 1974 slasher film The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, which earned over $30 million from a $80,000140,000 investment. Once he was asked if he knew Sinatra, the gangster hurriedly asked the question: You asked the question the wrong way. ! But it is also clear that as he pushes through the infirmities of old age he has a pacemaker, hearing aids and is nursing a broken hip the prospect of death and a possible afterlife are not far from his mind. He was 103 years old. [34] While married, John had gotten Cristina Capobianco, a 16-year-old cigarette girl at the Stork Club in Manhattan, pregnant with his son Michael Franzese. Screwed his mind up," Franzese said of his estranged son. [34] After the mob allowed John to divorce his first wife, Grillo disappeared, and he married Capobianco. Years later, he would talk about it with genuine disbelief. coronavirus He dated Sinatra and Rat Pack member Sammy Davis Jr. at the legendary Copacabana nightclub in New York. He loved his children. 'I done the time': Longtime mob underboss Sonny Franzese, 102 - Newsday She was there with Sam Giancana, who was the head of the Mafia.. Later, he would become convinced that his affair with Monroewho was rumored to have been involved with Kennedys brother, U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, toowas what brought the wrath of the U.S. government down on him. In 2017, at the age of 100, the underboss of the Colombo crime family was released early from a prison sentence that would have capped off his turbulent life of crime. I would win, too., But his bottom line on prison where he spent more than a third of his long life is I hate everything about it.. He was back at Mount Carmel on Friday for the funeral. There were no flower cars outside the funeral of 103-year-old John Sonny Franzesebut gospel music, funny stories, and eulogies from his loving grandkids made it much grander. She reported his essential advice for all his grandchildren. She was madly in love with him. $1 Million - $5 Million. Franzese was a well-dressed regular at the Copacabana nightclub, where he spent lavishly and hung around with the likes of Sammy Davis Jr. and Frank Sinatra. national A reminder of the life the elder Franzese had lived came with a eulogy by a man who introduced himself as Maurice, an unofficial adopted son and proprietor of Cinema World Studios in Brooklyn. Franzeses commitment to the mobis so complete that he went along with contracts on the lives of two of his sons, who, unlike their father, cooperated with law enforcement, according to court records and one of the sons, Michael. Only now he gets to feel holy and forgiven while he cashes the checks. There was laughter among about 75 people in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, at the funeral Mass for Franzese, the charming, menacing mobster who died Sunday at 103. However, this certainly doesnt mean the end of the Colombo crime family. I dont know., I said, After the show, come down here. She says, All right, Ill be down.. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. I just want to go to the bathroom! Franzese could be heard pleading. And then I would go and play handball. [22] Franzese Jr. was allegedly also responsible for his father's fourth parole violation, but was accepted back into his confidence after denying the allegations in tears, saying, "I would never do that, no matter what kind of trouble I had. He was linked by law enforcement to multimillion-dollar. And although Franzese is angry about what he sees as his unjust imprisonment, he expressed no bitterness I done the time.. And he said to me, [On]account of you, we could have broke the Mafia up. Nick Sorrentino/NY Daily News Archive via Getty ImagesJohn Sonny Franzese. But it wasnt announced until two years later. What does that mean? he said with dramatic flourish. Credit: Newsday / Marvin Sussman. Down in the darkened arena, a very different personal drama was playing out. The mortal remains of John Sonny Franzese were then carried back out to the hearse. [19] In June 2008, Franzese, still incarcerated, was indicted on charges of participating in murders during the Colombo Wars of the early 1990s, stealing fur coats in New York City in the mid 1990s, and participating in home invasions by police impersonators in Los Angeles in 2006. Sonny franzese and marilyn monroe - sbha.cartier-ring.us Jon Bernthal as Sonny Franzese? : Mafia - Reddit.com People would come there to see me, too, Sonny said. women Both had immigrated to the United States from Italy. Do you know who my husband is? she replied. Nonetheless, Franzese said he has no regrets about his life. But despite the odds, that wasnt the case. informant caught Franzese on tape describing his favorite was to dispose of corpses: dismember them in a kiddie pool, then cook them down in a microwave before stuffing them into a garbage disposal. But just like everyone else, he couldnt beat death. The more Im talking to her, I realize shes getting friendlier and friendlier. [20], On June 4, 2008, Franzese was indicted along with other Colombo mobsters on charges of racketeering, conspiracy, robbery, extortion, narcotics trafficking, and loansharking. McShane writes for the New York Daily News. Franzese was 21 when he was arrested for the first time on charges of assault in 1938. In 1931, Franzese was straightened out, or inducted into the mob, when he was just 14, his son John said. And then youll be ready to play rock and roll because you have to know where the music comes from., The grandson now marveled, And to hear that from an old Italian guy. While Franzeses son Michael renounced his ties to the Mafia in 1995, he later told The New York Times that he was aware his father had approved an order from family leaders to kill him for leaving. Today, Franzeseregularly uses a wheelchair to get around. McShane writes for the New York Daily News. So I says, What the F are you doing up there?, She said, I dont know. Wikimedia CommonsSonny Franzese (left) with famous boxer Rocky Graziano (center). Sinatra? He is believed to have been elevated to caporegime or captain in the Colombo family in the mid 1950s by Profaci. I started making money and then I opened up a club, another club, another club, and I started making big money. "Listen, it broke my heart. Sonny knew them wellHe was a good guy, Dean Martin. Once you appeared at the Copa, you could go anywhere in the world. He was deeplyin love with his second wife, Tina, whose volatile temper influenced the family dynamic as much as her husbands outlaw life. What if Sam Giancana said, Look, Frank, you didnt get it done. Yet he was tried for murder only once, and was acquitted. 68.4k members in the Mafia community. Other recordings were made with the help of informants. In his first extended interviews following his release in June 2017 as the oldest inmate in the federal prison system, Franzese spoke to reporters as he never has, reflecting on a criminal life rooted in New York City and on Long Island that spanned the birth, glory days and current lower profile of traditional organized crime. Marilyn Monroe with Frank Sinatra (right) at a casino. He said, Youre nothing without an education, you got to he smart about life.. Alert, animated and with slightly graying hair, he claimed to have struck up relationships with Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield and the 1950s television star Dagmar. "Marilyn was gorgeous, forget about it." The mutual attraction proved irresistible, and their relationship led to an encounter that that left Sonny deeply ashamed. Sonny : The Last of the Old Time Mafia Bosses, John "Sonny" Franzese The victim in that case was a one-eyed, hook-nosed hitman known as the Hawk, whose body was found in Jamaica Bay. I wouldnt put a dog in a jail pod., John (Sonny)Franzeseis helped into his daughter's Brooklyn home by family members in June 2017. Credit: Craig Ruttle. He wanted to be catered to all the time. He was a good guy. He told the mourners during his homily of a moment after his transfer. While in prison, Franzese suffered from maladies that could have brought his story to an end (including kidney disease and high blood pressure), but he beat the odds each time. I did it on spite. Send it to The Daily Beasthere. One of Monroe's last flings was Giancana, who was arguably the most powerful gangster in the country at that time, and was in Sinatra's circle. Maybe all the drugs he took. [25], With the help of Franzese Jr.'s testimony, the 93-year-old Franzese Sr., on January 14, 2011, was sentenced to eight years in prison for extorting two Manhattan strip clubs, running a loanshark operation and extorting a pizzeria on Long Island. The Case Sonny Franzese Couldn't Beat Newsday 24.3K subscribers 256K views 1 year ago #sonnyfranzese #newyork #mafia John (Sonny) Franzese had beaten a dozen cases before. Mob lore held that the precocious gangster became a made man at age 14, and was soon running a mob-controlled craps game. Sports From breaking news to special features and documentaries, the NewsdayTV team is covering the issues that matter to you. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. His wife made clear her displeasure with him over the crooked path their son had taken before becoming an informant. Did you know she was pronounced dead, and then they brought her back to the house, and she was still alive, and they took her back to the hospital, and brought her back home, and then the coroners came over, and they found her dead in another bed somebody moved her, he says. He served as underboss of the Colombo family from 1963 until he was sentenced to 50 years in prison for orchestrating a string of bank robberies across the country in 1967. They hit on me like I was Rudolph Valentino. Family business. See? Maurice said. More posturing followed, and Jayne tried to gentle Sonny, telling him not to get too excited. He talked about love at first sight when he met his second wife, Tina, a 16-year-old cigarette girl at The Stork Club, a famed celebrity hangout of the '40s and '50s, as well as the pride and pain he felt about his sons, who joined him as partners in crime before breaking away. He then testified against his father, 93 at the time, and later entered the federal witness protection program. He thought every girl was, was in love with him. His father, eyes cast downward, said: Listen, it broke my heart.