Franzese's career in organized crime began in the 1930s and spanned over eight decades. Gardner was beautiful and tempestuous, and everyone knew Sinatra was hopelessly in love with her. 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. Kara Goldfarb is a writer living in New York City. Mike said he knows the shooter and he has a tape to this today which discusses where Hoffa was killed. The victim in that case was a one-eyed, hook-nosed hitman known as the Hawk, whose body was found in Jamaica Bay. eurobasket The home of John (Sonny) Franzese on Shrub Hollow Road in Roslyn in 1970. Credit: Newsday / Bill Senft, I started buying businesses, you know, he said. To Sonny, that was tantamount to throwing down the gauntlet. After the 93-year-old Sonny Franzese was convicted, he was sentenced to eight years in prison, where he was widely expected to die of old age. The pastor said, I will make a phone call, Maurice recounted. Legendary Colombo family capo John (Sonny) Franzese, who rubbed elbows with Frank Sinatra and Marilyn Monroe before a bank robbery rap eventually made him the nation's oldest federal. You should have asked, Did Frank Sinatra know Sonny Franzese?. Also Sonny said to him that he was dating Marilyn Monroe and met her at the Stork club. Cassato had come to the parish in 1985 and by all accounts was a major force in reviving the neighborhood before he was transferred to another part of Brooklyn in 2001. ", "A Godfather Betrayed by His Namesake, Part II", "Hundred-year-old mobster's daughter gushes over dad's freedom", "John Franzese, Mafioso Who Consorted With Celebrities, Dies at 103", "Geriatric NY gangster, 93, gets 8 years in prison", "Legendary Colombo underboss John (Sonny) Franzese sees his holiday bid for bail whacked", "Italian mob boss freed from prison at 100-years-old", "Al Sharpton's Secret Work As FBI Informant", "At 100, mob underboss Sonny Franzese gets out of federal prison", "2 Nabbed in Heist of Elmhurst Bank; Cosa Link is Seen", "Franzese Is Said to Have Killed '30 or 40 or 50' Persons", "NEW BREED SAID TO EMERGE IN ORGANIZED CRIME", "Franzese and 4 are found guilty; Albany jury convicts them in bank robberies", "Five Mafia Families Open Rosters to New Members", Feds want jury to hear Sonny talk about mob murders", "Crime Figure Seized on L.I. DiMaggioby then Monroes ex-husband, but still carrying a torch for hertried to approach Sonny to confront him about their affair. [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. He is believed to have been elevated to caporegime or captain in the Colombo family in the mid 1950s by Profaci. He beat a life sentence. Following Monroes death a host of conspiracy theories emerged, but on the tapes Masters is clear about the reason why she died. If he guaranteed a deal, people knew it was good, said his son John. Sonny knew them wellHe was a good guy, Dean Martin. Once you appeared at the Copa, you could go anywhere in the world. Franzese, who died Monday, had been living in New York since being released from prison. But then, in 1967, he was convicted for his involvement in a bank robbery and sentenced to 50 years in prison. Sonny was not at all ashamed of his many infidelitiesI was a run-around guybut it bothered him that he had hurt a man he idolized. Franzese rose quickly through the mob ranks and became a capobecause he was what is known as an earner, generating steady income for himself and his bosses in the Colombo family, his sons said. Family and friends vouch for his assertion that he didnt drink, smoke or do drugs. It was so much part of who I am as a man, good or bad. 82.4k. The first hint to someone not in the know only came when the priest, Monsignor David Cassato, offered a joke. "Listen, it broke my heart. He was 103 years old. Franzeses first recorded arrest came on Jan. 7, 1938, in Brooklyn for felonious assault. 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. Now 102 years old, John (Sonny) Franzese, the longtime underboss of the Colombo crime family, is the epitome of the old-style crime chieftain. On Writing Outside (Or Inside) The Lines. She reported his essential advice for all his grandchildren. Down in the darkened arena, a very different personal drama was playing out. His violent inclinations didnt cease there. What can I tell him? "Marilyn was gorgeous, forget about it." The mutual attraction proved irresistible, and their relationship led to an encounter that that left Sonny deeply ashamed. [10][5][4] He was arrested with nine other people on April 13, 1966,[11] and during his trial, the prosecution produced records that claimed that Franzese had killed between 30 and 50 people. He hung out with Sinatra and fellow Rat Pack member Sammy Davis Jr. at the legendary Copacabana nightclub in New York. Then, have a look at some John Gotti facts that tell the story of The Dapper Don., John Franzese, Legendary New York Mob Boss, Dies At 103. Health He didn't leave the life behind; he just found a way to repackage it. He contemplates . The made members Valachi named included Franzese, and law enforcement became so determined to build a case against him that agents installed a bug in his kitchen as his new home was being built. And then I would go and play handball. The conviction was based, in large part, on tapes made by his son John, who also testified against his father. He also said at work not to trust anyone, she recalled. From breaking news to special features and documentaries, the NewsdayTV team is covering the issues that matter to you. To be sure, John Franzese wasnt leading a quiet life between his 1984 parole and his 2008 arrest. In 2010, the jury convicted him of extorting money from two Manhattan strip clubs and running a loansharking operation. Franzese was born in Naples, Italy, to Carmine Franzese and Maria Corvola on February 6, 1917, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. 58.0k members in the Mafia community. Family business. She noted that he did not take drugs or drink. . information Franzese, dark-haired and handsome, allegedly claimed alliances with Monroe and actress Jayne Mansfield. Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, with their vaudeville-style act of songs and jokes, were regulars onstage. Franzese looks far younger than he is and remembered details of the various criminal charges against him with clarity, particularly those surrounding the bank robbery conspiracy that he insists he was not involved in. And on June 23, 2017, thanks to good behavior and credit for time served, the 100-year-old Franzese was released from prison. Not only was she ultimately proven right on both counts, but Franzese didnt even have to finish that prison term. . His self-discipline and wariness were legendary. He repeatedly refused. Asked about Omerta the mob code of silence Franzese professed ignorance, even confusion. report from 1965 described Franzese, then underboss of the Colombo family, as the fastest growing and most prominent shylock in the Greater New York area.. No doubt about it. Nutt y son of a gun. Sonny and Gardner never did anything more than the few moments of groping each other in a back room, but it was still a conquest to Sonny. Most importantly in his mob career, Franzese was an earner, making money for the family in a variety of ways. Over the years, Franzese has listed his legitimate job as a tailor, baker and seller. In the two-page letter, which was written in the early 1960s, Jean . Her boyfriend was not far away on stage, but Sonny was not at all concerned. Spritzers, really weak white wine spritzers. They wanted me to roll all the time, he said over a bowl of pasta e fagioliin the nursing home where he now lives. The once-feared mobster was the Colombo crime family's second in command and died on February 20 of natural causes at a nursing home in upstate New York. Marilyn Monroe was supposedly at Cal Neva lodge July28,1962 Weekend - Sinatra got upset with her -he told body guard to throw her out - rumor has it Sam giancana was there (may of plug her by way of the tunnels?) Colombo's legendary gangster gangster John "Sonny" Franzese, who was with Frank Sinatra and befriended Marilyn Monroe before a bank robbery conviction made him the nation's oldest federal inmate, died in a hospital of New York City. He was released on parole in 1978 (why exactly he was released so early remains unclear). They [would] come up to me, actually pick me up. He said, If you want to play rock and roll, first you have to play blues, then you have to play jazz. Marilyn Monroe spent her last night alive at Frank Sinatras lodge with a Mafia boss, according to extraordinary new claims. [4] Altogether, Franzese had eight children, 18 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. By 1963, he had been promoted to underboss by boss Joseph Colombo. Franzese also suggested wearing a hairnet during the murder so as to avoid leaving any hair strands at the crime scene that could be DNA analyzed. Jeffrey Basinger/Newsday via Getty Images. China Ukraine After the sentence was announced, Franzeses estranged wife told reporters, Id be shocked if he doesnt live to 100. And hes likely to die behind bars.. He had grown up with street guys and had had his own youthful run-in with the law. And he said to me, [On]account of you, we could have broke the Mafia up. John Franzese, known as Sonny, had been the federal prison system's oldest inmate and its only centenarian when he completed his last stint behind bars in 2017. He was silent, even though he hated prison. He became Colombo family underboss again in 2005, until he was convicted of extortion in 2011, and sentenced to eight years in prison. But his real job was like a gangster, authorities said, and living a better life. Crowd tradition claimed that the early gangster became a man made at the age of 14, and he was soon conducting a crowd-controlled craps game. John (Sonny)Franzese walks into the federal courthouse in Uniondale on June 18, 1982, as he surrenders to authorities. Al then lived in Miami after Alcatraz with his mind gone. They didnt come there just to see the show . So I look up and whos looking at meJayne Mansfield. I hope so man. But despite the odds, that wasnt the case. I liked him.. Then-Nassau District Attorney William Cahn, who went to Washington D.C. to debrief Valachi, became keenly interested in Franzese. [33], Franzese was married to a woman with whom he had three children. Russia He worked in the record business and grossed part of the mafias alleged investment in the classic porn movie Deep Throat reportedly securing a piece of his alleged $ 600 million gross. Mr Platts, 60, a sales consultant from California, said: What if this trip George talks about was a last-ditch effort to get her to agree not to talk [about the Kennedys]? He wanted to be catered to all the time. You have notifications blocked. I couldnt get a [liquor] license., Asked why he couldnt get a license, he said, smiling, I was a bad guy.. He died in a New York City hospital on February 24, 2020, at the age of 103. He was a good guy. Only now he gets to feel holy and forgiven while he cashes the checks. Michael, 67, flipped while facing his own prison sentence for racketeering and conspiracy and later left the mob to become a movie producer and evangelical pastor. She had once asked him how he managed not to imbibe and still fit in during his days as a man about town at nightclubs with the real lookers., He said the waiters only put just enough white wine in the seltzer so others would think he was drinking, she remembered. A feared enforcer and dictatorial head of the Profaci (later Colombo) family, he knew where all the bodies were buried, so to speak, and may have had inside knowledge on the JFK assassination. As a "made man" for the Colombo crime family, he . And of course to take our zinc and our vitamins, she said. When Sinatra was dating actress Ava Gardner, she would come to the Copa to watch him perform. 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. [15] In 1978, Franzese was released[5] on parole but returned to prison in 1982 for a parole violation. But he did it.. 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. The claims are the first time that any mention has been made of such a trip in the days before Monroe died in 1962. He used to come back to me and talk loud, so I could hear him. In 1984, Franzese was released on parole again. What if Sam Giancana said, Look, Frank, you didnt get it done.