Debunking Top 5 Myths About the Mafia | Chazz Palminteri & Michael Franzese

when I took that oath they said to me if your mother is sick and dying and you're at her bedside we call you to service you leave your mother you come and serve the family we're number one in your life before anything and everything so when you take that oath it's really a bad thing you you're actually dissing your family and at the end of the day when I realized what the life was really all about that's when I made the decision to walk away and you know when I had some issues with my dad later on I realized that my dad absolutely put that life first he absolutely did as a result my family was destroyed hi this is Char P Terry the wise and I'm Michael Frances the wise guy so Michael another show here yeah we're back and it's a holiday season Thanksgiving is over and uh now we're in the home stretch to the end of the year chz it's been a good one it's a good yeah it's been a great year you know uh today I want to talk about the those that question that I always get I mean I've been around these gut mob guys my whole life and even I can't get I don't know the answers to a lot of these things but I said you know what if anybody knows the answer you do I mean I know the answer to a few of them but can I say 100% not really I figured that we would talk about what of the top five myths about the mafia here's one let me give you one this one has always bothered me for years I grew up when I was young and maybe it was that way Young when I was young but to get made to get a button you had to kill somebody is that true or not true well let's put it this way there is truth to that but it's the order in which it might happen meaning this when the books were opened you know they had an expression that the books were closed from the 50s to the mid 70s now they weren't meaning meaning they weren't making any new guys the only way they can make another guy was if somebody died in a family and they were able to replace them and that was a commission ruling all five families agreed however you know when they opened up the books a lot of guys came in and they didn't just go around killing people you can't okay you know you gotta get man we got to kill people they were they were building up the rank so to speak you know there was guys that came in but you know the bottom line is that if you got an order at some point in time during that life to do that then you had to do it didn't necessarily have to do it before you were made but at some point in time if you were given that order you had to do it so the understanding is if you're giving the order you got to do it what happens if a guy just can't do it what happens then well he he'll be in trouble if he's given an order and uh and he for whatever reason doesn't do it can't do it doesn't have the heart for it he's in trouble that better happen before you get made because if it happens after you get made you're in real trouble so you might get whacked for that absolutely yeah really it's anything else you're given an order if you don't carry it out no matter what it is you're in trouble and that's a serious order not to carry out a couple of questions who was the one who closed the books in the 50s it was a decision from all five families the way I understand I don't know who initially brought it up I would think and this is just speculation you know Carlo Gambino carried a lot of weight during that time and uh I think you know he might have been the one that suggested it and then all the families went along for whatever reason uh because they had they had pretty good buildup at that time I mean the Gambino family had about 250 made guys geneves had about 250 somewhere about that at least over 200 columbos and uh lucases and bonanos was smaller we had 100 plus in each one of those families but they were satisfied in keeping it that way they didn't say well wait we got to build up the rank so and who was the one who opened the books well again it was a a decision that everybody came to at that time I think they said okay it's time to bring some new blood in wow you know when I got when I got straightened out there were guys waiting 20 years 20 years you know I could share this with you there was even some resentment that I got put up first I mean that was the first batch that got made and people saying well you jumped ahead of everybody and I said hey my father is doing 50 years for a crime he didn't commit he needed me in that life they at least gave him that courtesy so I still had to do what I had to do to prove myself but if if they wanted to extend my dad that courtesy don't get mad at me go go discuss it with whoever you got to discuss it with now now Michael again on on that first myth was it the same way you think in Sicily that you had to whack somebody or to get made or no yes yeah I believe that I believe it was more stringent in Sicily that you had to do that I I believe and again I believe you had to do that first in Italy before they even make you yes yeah I thought so because I uh I did a movie there in the 90s and uh it was about that whole crew Torina and all those guys and uh they were bad guys man I mean they like here we would never kill a cop at district attorney they were killing judges District Attorneys cops they killed the president of the army they killed anybody no they killed anybody that was that was a big difference between them and us over here we it was hands off of that you weren't allowed to do it and again that was a commission wide decision they said it would bring too much heat and we and it was hands off they just did a uh uh what was it Netflix did this new thing now it's on now how to become a mob boss and they did a whole yeah episode on on Torina I didn't watch yeah yeah they finally found him he was in his own town they couldn't believe it yeah yes right right in the right on the open you know they found them you know you know who's going to turn him in exactly that would never happen here in here they you get found right away over there no wow did uh when the government or offered like millions of dollars rewards for guys like that did people uh bite at stuff like that did they give them up would ler a lot of money I'm sure they did I mean alib boy perso he was on a run for 18 years and he got caught and I don't know the exact circumstances I don't want to but the story was that that there was money paid for him and the guy that I think eventually gave him up became an informant so I'm sure he got taken care of all right let's go to another let's go yeah here's another one that we talked about I love this one cuz I always thought this to be true when you go to prison the family supports your family that's probably the biggest myth and and gets the best laugh out of me because that's absolutely not true look and I have personal experience with this when my dad went to prison in 1970 uh little Joey brona who was his you know maid guy his right-hand man at the time he handled my father's business on the street my father had some bookmaking thing he had some money on the street he had a dry cleaning place that he had a piece of and he had money for maybe two two and a half years after that done it was his own money that was being collected for him and nothing else and at that point time it was done nobody took care of him nobody gave us a dollar nothing so you're on your own you're on your own CH one of the reason and and nobody paid for my dad's trials or anything else either you you have to foot your own bill and one of the reasons that I got involved into life was not only to help my dad get out of jail but I had to support my family my mother wasn't working at the time I had three younger brothers and sisters I had no money you know I was a kid and so I had to get out on the street and earn some money I earn it the best I could that's the biggest myth and that's across the board so many guys get in trouble they go to jail you fend for yourself that's it Michael I got to be honest with you you get made they say you got to do this before your family God no matter what you got to answer to them first but meanwhile they don't return the same loyalty you know they don't give you the same loyal loyalty that they want from you you know what chz I can honestly say this now and again I want to be clear I'm not talking about any of the guys because I did it too you've got to be out of your mind in a way because you know I described it in one way when you get married you take an oath to your wife to protect defend support love and that extends to your family your children when I took that oath they said to me if your mother is sick and dying and you're at her bedside we call you the service you leave your mother you come and serve the family we're number one in your life before anything and everything so when you take that oath it's really a bad thing you you're actually dising your family and at the end of the day when I realized what the life was really all about that's when I made the decision to walk away and you know when I had some issues with my dad later on I realized that my dad absolutely put that life first he absolutely did as a result my family was destroyed it was totally destroyed you know again Chaz with some people people don't know after my th Dad's second and third parole violations my brother's drug addict my mother and him are are going growing way apart she's struggling my sister's dying I said dad you got to get out of New York you can't stay here you keep getting violated for Association if you want this family to exist you got to leave and he wouldn't do it and as a result he kept going back to prison kept going back to prison so I understood his heart was I made an oath and I'm not going to violate it and he he stood by that principle but on the other hand you look at happened with the family we all have to be nuts to agree to something like that was there ever a contract out on you Michael from what I understand that well look the feds told me 100% there was that perso put a contract on me the feds told me that my father went along with it listen I always say this I know Junior was very upset with me when I walked away very upset he took it very personal because look I was giving him a lot of money you know let's let's face it but he took it very personal and my father I can I I can honestly say this would he have put a gun to my head I don't believe that but would he have kept quiet said hey my son violated his oath until this moment I can't say that he wouldn't have done that he might have just let it go I don't know I hate to think that way he might have did your dad ever ever had a contract on him does any anybody ever put a contract on your father not that I know of no anybody can say what they wanted to say CH they wanted my dad to rot in prison they were hoping he never got home nobody was looking out for him nobody gave a damn for him nobody cared about it you know because he had he had standard in that life he had stature I should say in that life and nobody was in a hurry Junior wasn't in a hurry I heard later on that my father and Junior really had gotten into it that there was a lot of friction between them and uh I don't know how true it was uh my dad sometimes didn't talk the best about Junior with me you know and uh look Junior broke my dad I don't know if you know this when my father was a captain I was his acting Captain Junior elevated me to Captain and broke my father made my father a soldier and I said what the heck and he said well your father keeps getting violated I'm protecting him I don't want him around anybody so we had that excuse even though it wasn't a good one and uh so my father didn't take that well I can tell you that it's just fascinating to me that you know you see The Godfather and you watch these movies and then you hear these stories is there is there honor in the Wise Guys is there any kind of like I I mean is there any kind of you know that's why you know people got mad at me once when I was talking about the life and again I was never in the life not even close but I I I've seen like they they give up their each other they kill each other they have these laws you can't around with another man's wife can't around with another man's daughter and I've seen things where they do that well they do it so not often but what the is real what is real what is not real was the old school mob more like dedicated to the rules than the new school mob was I think it's it's an individual thing remember you're taking guys so many of them were criminals since like you know a guy like Sammy and I'm not saying anything out of school he'll tell you all I have wanted to be was in that life I want her to be a gangster so from the time they're kids they're in gangs and they're doing things like that so are they do they grow up with an honorable feeling in their life do they grow up as honest people you're giving people of credit okay now I take the oath now I become the most honorable guy around I have integrity in this life I'm going to do all the right things you're not even brought up to think that way so now you take the oath and okay out of fear out of fear you don't want to make a mistake because you know you could pay for it with your life but there's a lot of backstabbing a lot of treachery in that life it's power and money chz that's really what it is and and look I seen guys look I had a good friend of mine I I I don't know if I ever told you this he got himself he was he was was around my dad Tony big Tony GA Tony orello soldier in atli standup guy he tells me at a funeral that he's goingon to get jammed up in a drug case and I said to him Tony you know we not supposed to be messing with drugs what the hell is the matter with you I made a mistake I was an undercover agent and the boss's son was involved with me so he said Michael you know that they're going to throw all the blame on me they're going to let this kid go they're going to throw the blame on me true I said Tony don't worry about it I'll straighten it I was your captain at the time Chaz the truth I get on a plane I go to Florida I get a get off the plane I get a call Michael Tony went into a foone booth and blew his brains out he was so afraid that he was going to get walked into a room and not walk out again and he told he said I'll never go out that way here's a guy that was loyal his entire life he was a good guy standup Guy this is the fear that he had so fear in that life kept you in line most of the time you think you could have saved them I think I could have again it's all depends the politics involved now if they were going to say it was it was Tony that led the kid into this who knows because we weren't allowed to deal with drugs at that time if you dealt with drugs it was an excuse to kill you or to put you on the shelf or whatever and he knew that so he said in his mind what shot do I have they're going to blame me for everything they're not going to hurt the boss's son so I'm not going to go out that way it was very sad it was one of the most horrible things that uh that I experienced in that life cuz I really loved the guy I know him since I was a kid so you just got back on a plane and came home yeah well I took care of some business then came back yeah it was it was sad let's go to another one here here's a good one mob guys have a plan when they target businesses or to defraud or infiltrate or to take over thing do they you know that that's the biggest fallacy they think that we sit in our social clubs and we say okay we're going to go after this company we're going to go after that company most of the time as in my in my situation almost every time somebody from the inside would come to us with a scheme to defraud their company I had people come from GE Credit at the time General Electric Credit they came with a big scam to defraud their company they figure I I could Finance them I could protect them I'm not going to tell on them we'll make money together I had the same with the General Motors Corporation I the same in the gas business that's how I got involved guy came to me with a scheme a germ of an idea and we were able to expand it into something big but he was up until that point allegedly a legitimate guy that's how it happens most of the time and then you can either capitalize it if you have a little you know sense and and know how to do things or you you don't you know but no we didn't sit in our social club and say all right we're going to go after this that that that that the unions were a different story unions were torade for the mob taor made there's no question about it because of of you know who the membership was and everything else it was taor made for us but everything else everything else you know so many guys are shady and they came to us you know I got a question for you Michael excuse me this is another myth that I hear I heard two different answers on this a guy owned the strip club a few of them and you know strip clubs make a lot of money and the Wise Guys they went there to lean on the guy and the guy happened to be his brother-in-law was a big da the guy's brother-in-law and the guy was not afraid at all he said you I'm not giving you anything and if you come to me I'm going to my brother-in-law and he saided the guy's name and they he was a known guy and they backed off and they left him alone so it's basically you're better off doing that than being the guy that knows nobody cuz you probably you're going to get whacked but how do they deal with that when a guy who's brother-in-law is the big da what do you guys say to yourself it's not worth it it well if that were me I would say what do we need the headache for there's other places around you know I would I would have backed off of that because that's trouble there's no doubt you know in the bottom line is the Smart Guys in that life want to want to try to do things that bring the less the least heat on you if you're dealing with a you know a brother a relative of a district attorney that has some juice if were me I'd back off now the next guy could say hey I'm going to burn your place down and and you know is something good G to come out of it you're not going to shake a guy down like that and he's not going to go and tell on you and then you got a headache so why would you bother you know you got to use better off just backing off back off I mean everything in that life isn't isn't woron by Force sometimes you apply that method and it's going to hit you back in the face and the problem is now too many guys don't realize that they just had a big bust a couple of months ago with you know 10 guys same thing extortion I'm threatening you over the phone it's just the most stupid thing you can do Chaz I'm telling you so many of these guys got jammed up with the same silly method of operation now another myth I got I wrote another one down here for we all saw Good Fellows was there ever a time when they really did the Wise Guys went to jail where they got Lobster and beer and they made themselves steaks and they had their own sweet like was that true or not in the federal system absolutely not never happened never true never never not even close you know do we eat a little better because you know even going back going back in time yeah if you had Italian Guys in the kitchen or people that you know you might have gotten a little better food and and so on and so forth but never is set up like in Good Fellas in the state you had a little more leniency but never to that extent that you were getting stuff like that now I okay finally never don't don't believe it and there's nobody around now that could say it happened and I never heard of anything like that I know a thousand guys that went to jail and the estate and everything else never and I even go as farest to say this even bosses that you never even work for who did you say out of all the the bosses was the most ruthless and feared person you think the most ruthless and feared chin gante was feared he had an iron hold over New York he sent for me one time Chez through fritzy janelli he was a good friend he was a bookmaker in Queens good friend he was and I'm walking up and down I had never met him I'm walking down hon street with him right and he's got the whole the beard the you know the hair all messed up B Rob and we're talking and it was at that time when he had heard that I was having a little trouble with Junior over the gas business they would put me on the spot right and he looked at me and he said I'm making you an offer if you have any trouble with that guy he said you come here and be a captain with me I'll take care of it 100% And he meant it and I knew he could have made it happen I said no Chin I'm fine you know no problem because I figur you know you can't jump ship like that everybody would look at me like I don't know but uh I didn't want that headache but but he had no qualms whatsoever that it could he could have like he knew he could have made it happen 100% And then I seen him one more time after that we walked twice he had a lot of respect for my dad and uh he told me the same thing he remember what I told you you don't have any trouble you come right here you're a captain of my family now Michael I know you're not a doctor but in your assessment was he crazy or was he not crazy well you know my classic answer to that he was crazy as a fox but to play Crazy for all of those years you got to be a little bit crazy and a crazy yeah and get away with it but no he was he was very shocked J I heard that he was so feared by everybody he had an iron fist that when when the chin sends for you it's uh uh-oh I better go absolutely he controlled New York in a big way now who was the man under the chin who was in second his on the boys Tony Salerno Fat Tony you know people say well he was a makeb believe boss he wasn't a makeb believe boss because because most of the stuff went to him because chin didn't want to get involved he's trying to stay out but if there was any important uh decisions that had to be made it was all chin now I I know from cuz I know guys that new chin real well that he would never talk on the phone ever never and most of the time he would whisper to somebody and that's why they never caught him and bothered the out of them he didn't care who you were if he didn't want to talk to you you could have been uh the president of the United States he didn't care you're not you're not getting close to him no wow and that's why he lasted 30 years like that 30 years yeah and if this stupid Rico stuff never came down he he would have died at home wow well Michael this has been a great you know the myths and the truth F either Fact or Fiction with the mob and I I think we settled a lot of things here right now yeah you know people they like to know the real story because there's so much stuff that going around between movies and everything else and people don't know what's true or not but Hey listen uh we like to be uh encouraging on this channel and we like to entertain people but every once in a while you give them a little dose of the mob stuff they like that yeah but little if we're going to talk about the mob stuff let's talk about in reality wow now I now we you know people got the answer out there that's from the horse's mouth that's yours you know so well we hope you had a great time folks this is the wise and the wise guy oh we got to we got to remind people if they want to get our merchandise Michael we got the links on your site and my site CH p.net and Michael Frances and uh we got some great merchandise the wise and the wise guy check the link folks out some really fantastic stuff uh and all I got to say is this is Chaz pal Terry the wise and I'm Michael Frances a wise guy and uh we will see you again very soon and yeah check out that merchandise we got some really cool stuff there I know you're going to like it it's Christmas time no better time to order it but I'm sure you'll enjoy it all right Michael God bless take care buddy

Channel: Palminteri & Franzese “The Wise and the Wiseguy”

Views: 253,634

Keywords: Michael Franzese, Chazz Palminteri, The Wise, The Wiseguy, The Wise and The Wiseguy, Leadership Podcast, Knowledge Podcast, Life Lesson Podcast, Life Hack Podcast, Book Review Podcats, Moblife, Mob story, Faith, Success, How to Be Successful, How to be a leader, top 5 myth, debunking mafia myths, top 5 myth of the mob life, myths about the mafia

Id: pl20dX1xwLc

Length: 22min 53sec (1373 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 20 2023