How I Stole $8 Million A Week As A Mafia Boss

1986 Fortune magazine wrote a huge article 50 biggest and most powerful mob bosses in the country it's out of that list of 50 some 33 years later 49 a time a day I'm the only one that survived my name is Michael Francis and I was a former cop okappa regime in the Colombo crime family back in New York one of the five New York Mafia the Cosa Nostra families my dad was the underboss of the Colombo family his name was Sonny Franzese my dad was a very highly publicized figure he was a major target of law enforcement had a lot of media attention when I grew up as a result of that actually hating the police because I loved my father you know I always saw them as the enemy you know trying to hurt my dad trying to hurt my family now originally my dad didn't want this life for me he wanted me to go to school be a doctor I was on that road until my dad got in some very serious trouble in the 60s in 1966 my dad was indicted in federal court from masterminding a nationwide string of bank robberies after a lengthy trial it was convicted 1967 he was sentenced to 50 years in prison who has shipped off to Leavenworth Penitentiary in Kansas to do his time and I was a pre-med student and when my dad went away I was devastated he was 50 years old when he went in forget 50 on top of that he'd never come out of prison alive and at that time Joe Colombo was the boss of our family he kind of took me under his wing I started to meet a lot of my dad's friends they would say to me Mike what are you doing going to school you don't help you father out he's gonna die in prison so I was very impacted by that I went to see dad and he was pretty upset he didn't want that life for me originally wanted me to go on as a professional but he knew my mind was made up and I was a pretty headstrong kid he kind of threw his hands up I'll never forget and he said all right but if you're gonna be on the street I want you on the street the right way he says to me go home somebody will be in touch with you do whatever you're told he actually proposed me for membership in that life you can't just go up and sell somebody hey I'd like to join somebody has to propose you they'd have to vouch for you say you have what it takes so in my case was my dad next 18 months to two years I was in kind of like a pledge period I was known as a recruit I was on call 24 hours a day you had to do whatever you were told to prove yourself worthy to become Halloween night 1975 I was called into a room with five other gentlemen there was a very solemn ceremony the six of us walked into a room individually boss seated at the head of a horseshoe configuration walk down the aisle stood in front of the boss held out my hand he took a knife cut my finger some blood dropped on the floor took a picture of a saint to Catholic altar caught put it in my hands and lit it aflame and he said tonight Michael Franzese you are born again into a new life until the Cosa Nostra if you betray your oath you violate your oath you're gonna burn in hell like the Saint is burning in your hands do you accept and I said yes I do I took that old very seriously back then it's a very serious life and I take it seriously today even though I don't consider myself a member of that life anymore I was motivated to do two things one I wanted to get my dad out of prison and two I want them to make money I was very aggressive on the street I brought some new things into the family hadn't been done before so I devised the scheme to defraud the government out of tax on every gallon of gasoline I ran that operation for about eight years and at the height of my operation I was selling a half a billion gallons of gas a month at one point in time we will bring it in seven eight nine ten million dollars a week I have my own jet plane I had a helicopter ride house in Florida at a house in Marina del Rey California house in New York I have three hundred guys under me ready to do anything I tell them to do I did get my dad out of prison after ten years he got out on parole he kept going back he was violated five times my dad did a total of 40 years in prison on that 50 today my dad is released from prison he's a hundred and two years old he'll be 103 in February tell you where I was in 1984 when things started to make a transition for me I was probably at the height of my game my father was grooming me to take over the family boss underboss whatever way it worked out I was indicted five times I had two federal racketeering cases one brought on by Rudy Giuliani I was eventually acquitted in that case I really had it going on at the age of 29 and among many things I was doing back then I was making movies I had a production company in LA and Smokey Robinson was a good friend he comes to me with a screenplay for a breakdance movie so we made this movie in Florida and I brought in 50 professional dancers to work in the film was a young dancer by name at Camille Garcia I saw her and that was it you know it's like you had me at hello and as a result of my falling in love with her and us being so far apart I mean I'm this mob guy and she's this young girl of faith I knew if I wanted her in my life I had to make some changes I decided to try to walk away from that life I didn't want to hurt my former associates but that's not something that you do when you leave that life it's considered betraying your oath and you can pay for with your life I was willing to take that chance I took a plea on a big racketeering case involving this old gas scam that I was involved in I got a 10-year prison sentence I married Camille she's now my wife of 35 years we moved out to California I go off to do my time as a result of that I'm in a lot of trouble immediate contract on my life my father at the time pretty well disowned me he was very upset with what I did I had law enforcement all over me the feds wanted me to become a major informant major witness I didn't want any part of that I had a very rough time in prison I did five pretty tough years as a result of that I got out after five years on parole I'm on parole for 13 months worse 13 months of my life you know basically dodging bullets a lot of trouble with the feds still trying to make a living out in California my wife and I at that point in time we had two little babies third one on the way after 13 months like a fool I make a mistake I fall into a trap violate my parole they send me back to prison told me I'd never see the light of day again I'd never be a free man that did 29 months in seven days in the hole 24 hours a day seven days a week I was in lockdown was during that time that I became a person of faith studied my Bible very much and decided that I was going to really try to make a transition in my life for the last 23 years I've been a very prolific speaker both on a faith-based side and in a secular side I speak all over the world I've written four books I'm on my fifth and I've been extremely blessed to be where I am today I told you in 1975 there was six of us that took the oath that night I'm the only one alive today the other five were all murdered taking that a step further 1986 Fortune magazine wrote a huge article 50 biggest and most powerful mob bosses in the countries out of that list of 50 some 33 years late 49mm a debt I'm the only one that survived so to say that I'm a fortunate blessed guy is really an understatement and you know I attribute that to God having a different plan and a purpose for my life and be meeting this young girl because her boys and for her I need to be dead or in prison for the rest of my life without a doubt like all my former friends and associates you know I have to say during my time in that life I was a committed mob guy and I wanted to be the best possible mob guy I could be I wanted to make my father proud and plus I try to do my best when I'm doing something but there were times in that life when I did things that I just did not feel good about and I'm almost ashamed to say that I did him anyway I saw people get killed for the wrong reasons I saw people suffer for the wrong reasons you know unfortunately you can't go back and change things you can only hope that you can move forward and do better the mob life should not be glorified I always say it's an evil life I'm not calling a guys evil because I was one of them and I don't judge people like that but the life is evil because I don't know one family of any member of that life including my own that hasn't been totally devastated so any lifestyle that does that to families is an evil lifestyle you know I just really want to encourage people that you can't come back from a bad situation I mean look everybody predicted my death when I walked out of prison everybody from law enforcement to everybody on the street the important thing is you got to be held accountable you got to surround yourself with the right people because in this life you are who you hang out with and I have a wife that holds me accountable I have children and hold me accountable I have a church that holds me accountable and this is the way I stay on the right track you can come back from a bad situation you can defeat the odds and I just want to encourage people to never give up hope in that regard [Music] you [Music]

Channel: BuzzFeedVideo

Views: 9,017,652

Keywords: How I Stole $8 Million A Week As A Mafia Boss, NBSSC, american mafia, behind the mafia, buzzfeed, buzzfeed video, buzzfeedvideo, colombo, colombo crime family, colombo family, crime, crime family, gangster, italy, life as a mafia boss, life in the mafia, mafia, mafia boss, mafia documentary, michael franzese, michael franzese buzzfeed, mob, mobster, mobsters, new york, new york mafia, new york mob, organized crime, story time, storytime, the mafia

Id: 380Zqbi9luo

Length: 8min 24sec (504 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 17 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/Massive-Gas]

I can smell his cologne

[u/3choBlast3r]

Haha why is Franzese getting all this hate? Obviously he means capo and for the general public that's sorta like a boss. He isn't claiming that he was the actual boss.

[u/3choBlast3r]

I never knew about the wife and stuff. As far as I remember I've also never heard him talk about her and how he tried to walk away from the life because of her.

He calls her, "this beautiful, young girl of faith".. wait so this chick turned Franzese religious and that in turn made him want to quit (I mean, he already made a fortune so I get why he'd want out, but he seems to claim it was his gf/wife and her religion)

[u/[deleted]]

"Now I don't want to glamorize the life"

*Five minutes later*

"...and we stayed away from drugs, helped old ladies across the street."

[u/natiboken]

Yo Mike you weren’t a boss.

[u/[deleted]]

Everytime Michael does an interview Sonny gets an extra year

[u/watupmynameisx]

Wasnt a boss

[u/LizardsThicket]

Franzese was never a boss. Why does he continue to parade around like he was?