Michael Franzese discusses details of the MOB (Colombo Crime Family)

but I want you to do now is I want you to stand on your feet and let's welcome our guest speaker tonight Michael Franzese come on Michael so this is a trip to our live streaming audience here I am with Michael Franzese don't mess with me look who my friends are come on somebody there's some people backslide they go to the club some people backslide and praise the Lord well Michael have a few questions for you and before I do it you want to tell the audience a little bit to some people visiting us tonight about a little bit about well I got to tell you this let me tell you about I am honored and privileged to meet Sonny tonight we've never met and I've been hearing about him for years and I just found out that Sonny comes from Williamsburg Greenpoint in Brooklyn where I grew up and so Sonny who'd ever thought the two guys that were raising hell in Brooklyn would not be raised in heaven for the Lord all over the world but uh hey you know I'm excited to be here we had two great services this morning and I know tonight's going to be terrific and you know this guy I told him last time you know you got to get a little more energetic man you know you know you're a little bit too weak but if he does that he'll be all right as a pastor agreed right but no it's great and I I'm really excited to be back and we got a lot of good things planned I'm so excited to hear about Norwalk because amen I told some of you how many were you here this morning okay my wife the young girl who God used to change my life was born and raised in Norwalk and yes and we we have something special planned which I'll get into a little bit later to really help and bless the opening there and see if we can contribute in our way to try to make that very special and grow that church in a hurry if we don't have time to wait man we got to get it going quick Amen all right okay you guys ready these are the questions some of you guys text in and tweet it in and everything so number one I only got a few kids that we really want to hear your story so well I said you know you can ask me anything and if I don't want to answer I know how to take the fifth remember that but yeah like I took some of them out because they're kind of weird but I kept some cool ones okay explain the ceremony when you got inducted into the Costa know that La Cosa Nostra my best thing of ours very solemn ceremony and it's it's meant to be very imposing because they want you to understand the seriousness of what you're getting involved in and that particular night I got a caller you don't know when it's happening for security reasons nobody tells you in advance when it's going to happen and in my case I was a recruit for a little over a year and during that time I had to do whatever I was told to do to prove myself worthy then I got the call one day in the morning from my captain at that time and he said be it such in such a place tonight wear a suit and I had a feeling that was going to happen at night just something in the air it was Halloween night 1975 and I met at a social club on Carroll Street in Brooklyn and then we were driven to a place was a secure place was actually a catering hall that Joe Colombo's son Anthony Colombo had owned at that time and it was late at night and I got there and there were five other gentlemen there we had all met there that night we were all coming into the life at the same time and we waited inside and they called us in one at a time and when I walked in again dimly lit room very late at night the boss of our family family was seeded at like the head of a horseshoe configuration beyond the boss and a console area with to his left and right and all the kapa teams are captains were alongside Adam was like a horseshoe and I walked down to the boss stood in front of him and held out my hand he took a knife cut my finger some blood dropped on the floor this is a blood oath and I cupped my hands and he took a picture of a saint there was a Catholic Baltic card he put it in my hands and lit it aflame it didn't hurt it burnt quickly which merely symbolic it wasn't to show your toughness was symbolic and he said to me something that I'll never forget people because I grew up as a Catholic but for some reason for me Catholicism was like a subject in school I didn't understand that our life was about a relationship with Jesus and I'm not blaming Catholics it just didn't work for me back then and when he said this to me was the first time that I recall hearing it he said tonight Michael Franzese you are born again into a new life until a Cosa Nostra he said violate what you know about this life betray your brothers and you will die and burn in hell like the Saint is burning in your hands he said do you accept I said yes I do and you know the irony in that is if we think that the enemy doesn't mock a god I believe that you know he's looking up at God at that point in time and said hi I got one of yours I'll show you what born-again is all about and to show you that we are in spiritual warfare here in the world and the other five guys went in they all took the oath and when you come into the life you come in as a soldier and then we do what all Italians do we go in and we have a banquet we eat right and I'll never forget when we're sitting down one of the captains came in and he was carrying a paper bag and he said to the boss you said alright boss should I give these guys their bag of money now because the thinking is you come into that life and all of a sudden you become a wealthy guy that they start throwing money at you just the opposite minute you come into that life you're feeding up to the top that's what it's all about so that was it and you know I started my time at that point I was again it was Halloween night 1975 wow that's some good stuff I'm seeing we like we're like machismo huh we love all that I alright ok this is I'm gonna ask you a personal question can you break down the structure of the mob the structure yeah and you know there's a lot of things that you see on television and in the movies but in that life in New York there were five legitimate families and there are actually nine families throughout America and the way you're recognized as a family is if you have your boss has a seat on the mob Commission they call it and there really was a commission it's not really active now but it was back in my day and the structure is simple you have a boss an underboss a competition I'm a competition mode captain and a soldier there's no lieutenant there's no sergeant nothing that those are the ranks and there is a position called console iary and for those who have seen the Godfather Robert Duvall played that role and he played it brilliantly I might add but it was fictional in a godfather because in order to be a sworn made member of that life and take the oath your father must be Italian your mom can be of another to sample your dad must be Italian and that's the structure and you know the company teams are very powerful you know normally it's a capo that becomes the boss at some point in time the console area is a hand-picked person that the boss puts in in office and the role of the console area is supposed to be he's a liaison between the boss and the man meaning if the men have a problem because when you come into that life you're told we're all equal somebody might have a higher rank than you but in reality we're all equal nobody's better than you in that life it's not true but that's what you're told and the console area if you have a problem with the boss you go see the console here and say the boss is not treating me right the problem with that is the boss puts the console area in place and if you go complain to the console area about the boss you probably won't be around the next day so you never do that but those are the rankings all right I got another question how did you pick your men and did you want respect or fear well you select your men you know when you're a Kappa regime your men are assigned to you when I became a capo in 1980 the boss assigned men to me and you can't really say I'd like this guy I want this guy to be me you're not supposed to do that a father that's a capo is not supposed to pick his son as a soldier in my case when my dad came home from prison and I was still a soldier he was able to to have me under him because of the fact he was on parole I was the only person he was able to be in contact with so the boss made an exception and I was assigned to my dad and I was actually his acting captain because he couldn't be active before I became a captain on my own but you know you select you men you see guys on the street guys were always coming up to you they were attracted to the life they want to be around you and you know I was very selective with the guys that I brought around me because I had saw you know things that happen with my father and and how some guys that were around him really didn't work out well so I was pretty selective but that's how you choose guys and you know you say you're with me from now on if he's a good earner or your guy you think that you know is going to do good work for you you keep them around you and you know this is something you've heard in the movies is it better to be loved or to be feared and obviously the answer is love because people fear was a major emotion in that life and you got respect a lot of times out of fear the problem that happened in my former life is that when the government started to become more feared than the mob guys guys that were in trouble started to turn against the mob guys because they feared the prison time and they feared the government even more so any respect that's built upon fear only lasts a certain amount of time it's not really not real but respect that's that's built on love is real because you don't want to hurt somebody that you love it's one thing to fear them it's another thing to love them and and that's what I've learned in my what was what one of the worst things you ever experienced in the mob these are the questions they ask take the fit no you know I want to talk about this later I don't want to answer this question now because it's part of what I want to talk about a little bit later on within the body of my testimony but you know one of the horrible things in that life and unfortunately people have experienced this a number of times is that you're in trouble your best friend walks you into a room you don't walk out again and unfortunately it is a reality of that life and I had that experience one night and I want to save it for when I talk cause it really had meaning for me and I think it's something that God used at some point in time to bring me to where I am today so I'm going to get into that a little bit later but you know I look you know when I came into the life I was invigorated I was enthused I was so proud to be part of something that my dad was part of I thought it was an honorable life I was really turned on by it and what really turned me on was not the idea of money or power because I didn't grow up poor my dad wasn't wealthy but we didn't want for anything as kids as far as material things so wasn't the money idea but this camaraderie among the men this Brotherhood I got your back you got mine when I came into the life they said to me hey Mike don't ever worry about your wife your sister your mother we got your back nobody'll ever bother then wherever you go in the world we have friends that will back you up that's powerful to me there's nothing stronger than this camaraderie among men this Brotherhood and so I was really you know I thought it was great and you know people have said to me Michael you were in an evil thing and I said yeah but at the time I didn't realize it because when we took it home we were told hello yeah when we took the oath we were told straight out these are the rules this is the policy if you violate that policy you can pay for it with your life now I'm not saying that's right but for me when the when the field was level for all of us and we all accepted those terms well then in my mind I justified it I said hey our eyes are open we know what's going on if we make a mistake we're going to pay for it but that's it we all accept it the problem was is that I saw too many guys die and get hurt for the wrong reasons because there's a lot of treachery in that life there's a lot of jealousy there's a lot of envy there's a lot of things that occur over money and power and so it's not what it was cracked up to be but you don't realize that until you get into it and then once you're into it you say hey this is my life I accept it and you move on so you know but sometimes things are not revealed to you until you know you get involved in it and that was the kind of the story and I'm not justifying anything because look I always say this when something came up that I knew was wrong I did it anyway and I didn't have to could there have been consequences sure but you know what sometimes you got to face consequences in your life I chose to go along at times and you know that's why I claim responsibility for anything that I did I can't cop out I can't say hey my dad caused me to do it I can't make excuses because we could always say no and suffer the consequences like our apostles did they refused to give up the Lord and what happened to that but they were men of integrity and honor at that point and that's where my failing was during out during that time and a life and I admit to that but I'll get into it a little bit later because I think it's an important part of what I have to say tonight that's good stuff Mike okay this is a good one here explain how the gas price fixing Oh God this is good pretty day huh come on you know many times I've been asked that question but I tell you this I'll explain it on one okay on one condition that everybody's got to agree I want to show of hands nobody's going to try to get into the gas business and still the tax money agreed I want to see a show of hands okay and how do you see it working today okay yeah I'll tell you a quick story here's what happens I had a guy out in Long Island who had a small gas company he was an Italian guy and three mob guys were trying to move in on his company and he kept coming to me for help and I looked at him and I wasn't really interested in helping him I had heard some things about him that weren't too nice so I chased him I said don't bother me and I wouldn't help him he kept coming back kept coming back kept coming back finally he sat down he said Mike you know I come from the neighborhood my father I'm a good guy these guys are trying to really hurt my business and you know you're out here in Long Island and you can help me and please do so I said okay so I'm gonna give you a shot at this and I said tell me about this business he says well I got away where I think we can you know maybe scheme some money and take some tax money from the government now you understand I hated the government you know I mean taking tax money from them was like hey I'm ready right so I said all right I said but here's a deal I don't know what involvement you got with your company we're going to start a new company we're going to start it fresh show me what you got so I got this guy around me he was a butcher his name was Vinny big guy right he had a big scar of course the top of his head and I said Vinny I'm gonna put you next to Larry we got this office I says make sure this guy is doing the right thing I said let's see what he's got okay so Vinny used to bring me me you know he was a butcher used to bring me meat on a weekend so one day he comes over the house it's a Saturday and open the door and he's got a box you know like this and I says what we can do it all out meat what are we having a party I don't know about it he says hey chief and Amy he says come on inside I go inside he puts the box down he opens it up three hundred and twenty thousand dollars in cash smells like gas right and I said what's this he says that's the first week steak in the gas business it got my attention right so long story short now I really get into it and we grew that 320,000 to eight to ten million dollars a week and long story short we devised the scheme to take the tax money which at the time was 16 cents federal and 25 to 30 cents state and local depending I'm sorry nine cents federal at sixteen since now say I'm on top of these things and 25 to 30 cents depending depending upon where you were located she had almost 40 cents a gallon at the height of my operation we were defrauding the government out of a half a billion gallons of gas a monk so do the math times 30 to 40 cents was a lot of money and I organized all the Russians that were in that business in Brighton Beach and basically I had 18 Panamanian companies they were all licensed as wholesalers to collect the tax on gallon of gasoline and what we did that would kind of burn out companies we had we were so far ahead of the government at that point in time we had about nine or ten months of really jerking the government around until they really came down on us but every day that you didn't that they didn't collect the tax we were collecting a tax so after nine to 10 months they finally come down to the office and look for us we shut that off was down will across the street working on a new license and I was it and they couldn't catch up to us seven years I ran that operation we just kept expanding now how did we get customers I'd go into a mobile or shell or whatever I had 300 gas stations on my own we had independent stations but we would go to mobile to shell and I'd send my guys out and we go to the mobile gasoline station that was doing maybe four or five hundred thousand gallons a month say how many loads a week you buy from mobile well I buy six or seven how much you paying I would paint a dollar a gallon really how would you like to pay ninety cents 10 cents a gallon is a lot when you're doing that kind of bomb oh yeah we'd love that we're here's the deal we're going to sell you two gasoline at 90 cents the receipt is going to show all taxes included will take care of that and and you're buying six removal by four from mobile by two from us we'll sylheti in the middle of the night don't ever see it the trucks will come in don't worry about fine by the end of the month they want to buy all six loads a we a month from I said way to me you can't do that you got to still buy some for mobile they wanted to buy everything that we had we couldn't get enough gas to service everybody and we were driving the prices you guys would love us now we were driving the prices down at the pump because whenever somebody dropped their price we would drop it two or three cents lower than that until finally they gave up because they were paying it as we weren't we had a lot of money to work with so it was just they called us the Robin Hood's of the gasoline business at the time but but I got to tell you this there are consequences to your actions because now every time I go to a gas station I put gas in my car I look up at the Lord and I say Lord you're killing me why am I doing this but uh but I'll tell you that never be another scheme like that again but you have no idea how many people come to me Mike you know I can do this nobody 11 know about it you know just give me that please go away from me don't tempt me leave me alone right little IRA okay last last question so you can assure your story Mike our games fixed and did you fix games and how did you do it if you did well you know when you're in that life you're into gambling in some way now is never I never had a gambling problem but I had 12 or 13 bookmakers working for me at that time and the answer is yes games are compromised you got to understand something about the mob since the days of prohibition okay guys have been involved in gambling guys love to gamble they love the business of gambling it's it's big money for the mob and they'll always be into it and nobody does it better than am not the state not the casinos nothing guys on the street know how to do that deal and I had told the 13 bookmakers working for me and we had athletes from you know two Jet's and he hang keys and everything they were gambling with us and one thing about athletes did good on it field did a worst gamblers in the world they did they lose and so they would start gambling with a bookmaker that I was involved in and I remember the bookmaker would call me up and if I mention the names from back then you'd know who they were and say Mike so-and-so he's quoted back with the Jets he's you know he's into us for 25 grand should we cut him off I said why would you cut him off you're writing the entry down on a piece of paper come to me cut him off when he's 250 thousand dollars in then bring him to me we could talk right so these guys will get indeed they come to they bring it to me hey how you doing man I love the way you play and I really support the team but we got a little problem you owe me $250,000 how you going to pay they look at me while I said hey you know what I'm a big fan of you I love the way you play his arm Adama do your favor you don't have to pay me to hold 250 at once I'm going to charge you two points a week on it 250 I said just pay me when you got the money pay me back two percent a week on two hundred fifty thousand dollars a lot of money so now the guy just wants to get out of the room oh yeah thank you so much oh and he'll pay for three four five weeks okay but remember back then they weren't making the kind of money that they're making now now you just want to take their action that's it you know because I got plenty but then what happen a play for a couple of weeks couldn't do it anymore bring him back because let me tell you something you owe money to a bookmaker on the street you've got to pay there's no you got to pay as a matter of fact when you owe money I don't know if you know this you go to Vegas you got a marker okay and you don't pay that marker is like writing a bad check that's what it is in Vegas you got to pay you can't go there and think you're going to take a marker and then not pay and if you don't pay they give it to the DEA okay in a deal take it he'll come after you civilly if you don't pay after the civil thing they lock you up it's a crime okay so when you owe money to a bookmaker to a gambling thing you got to pay so after that he come back in and say hey what happened you know you stopped paying the juice as well you know Mike it's tough I say hey let me ask you a question you got a rich uncle okay you plan on hitting a lottery one day I don't care where you get the money go rob a bank do what you got to do but I want my money tomorrow oh man I can't do it I said I tell you I'm gonna give you another break okay I like you a lot I'm gonna give you another break okay this Sunday okay you guys are wait favorite to win by ten you're not going to win you're the quarterback here's what you're going to do first three times you get the ball you put it in the hands of the other receiver your running back first three times you get the ball put it on the ground okay you're a basketball player you know this okay one basketball but you got Kobe Bryant on a court if he's not having a good day he can change that game dramatically okay you got a basketball player hey let me tell you this you foul out I don't care what you got to do you fell out because you're not covering the spread for me tonight and this is what you do and do they do it absolutely and I'll tell you what it's happening more now you know I work with the n-c-double-a I work with Major League Baseball the NBA I was recruited out of prison to come and speak to the plays because these guys have such gambling habits you wouldn't believe it and especially in college today these kids are crazy you know why access you can gamble now on your phone back in my day you had to go to Vegas oh you had to do it with a bookmaker today you can gamble anywhere and these kids who get themselves in a lot of trouble and so I speak all the time spoke at over 400 universities throughout the country and I still have a full schedule because they get in trouble so I got to tell you this remember the word garbage points for all you guys and they're not paying attention to me going to gamble anyway remember garbage points at the end of the game they kill you if you want to get into that a little bit more we'll talk about it later but anyway yes games are compromised and it happens quite a bit today be careful of your gambling Wow come on let's give it up for Michael Franzese uh shoes go ahead and get the stage ready come on one more time let's get it for Michael as they prepare the stage thank you how many have enjoyed Michael so far huh you ready Bishop ready to go Berlin Hannah this is a preaching machine right there you get the preaching for the sunny - oh man come on one more time let's thank God for Michael Franzese thank you and I really do appreciate Sonny being here really Sonny it's an honor I mean that because he's done such amazing things out here and I've heard so many great wonderful stories and lives that have been transformed through this man's work so let's give him a hand really thank you and I do want to mention this about Norwalk really quickly tonight I just came back from four weeks in Bulgaria Israel and wrong and I was there filming a documentary I'll tell you a quick story about this fellow by name a Moshe Diamant who is a very prolific producer in Hollywood as a matter of fact one of his films just opened up Friday called the getaway with Selena Gomez and Ethan Hawke not a great film I heard but you know Moses he does all these things for the studio but anyway Moshe is a longtime friend I've known him now for 23 years he and I were in business together back in nineteen imeem in yeah nineteen ninety we formed a company together and we were going to start producing smaller budget films and I was running the company and we both invested a considerable amount of money about three months after we got the company started I got violated I was on parole and I got sent back and I was in very bad shape the government cleaned me out took every penny that I had and I was in bad shape and most went and visited my wife and he said listen he said I really care about your husband I know he made this investment he said I'm going to give it all back to you because we don't know how long he's going to be in prison but don't worry about anything I'm going to take care of you while your husband's away and he was extremely honorable and he took care of my family and took a load out of my off my mind like you cannot believe and so we became very friends I very close friends I don't forget that but now when I get out of prison he says ok you owe me brother he says I want to make your movie and I said most we got a problem with that man I love you and I love what you did but we got two problems with you making my movie number one you're an Israeli and I'm not holding that against you ok but number two you're an atheist I said you don't even believe in a Jewish god I said so we got a problem because my film you know I got a faith story and it's got to be part of it and he calls us lunatic Christians you know until today and he says that out of love because he loves me but I said you can't make the movie I'll do anything in the world you want me to do but I won't make the movie with the emotion he's been hammering me from the 20 years now finally about six months ago he comes to me this is Mike he says I heard you're starting to do this documentary about of faith I said yeah I'm thinking about it and I'm really you know God is calling me to do it he said all God is calling me he says can I ask you a question I said yeah he said what is it about this Christian faith you know that really gets you and I shall I'll tell you more I said you know it's Jesus I said I'm attracted by the manhood of Jesus I said I grew up all my life have it been told that I had to be a man's man that was the standard in life that I had to live up to and so all my life I looked up to my dad I idolized him I thought he had all the qualities of a man you know he was yet integrity at power people respected him he took care of my mother the kids man you know I looked up to Fat Tony Salerno I liked him very much he was the head of the Genovese family at the time he and I were close and I really liked him I looked up to him a man's man Paulie Castellano some of these guys guys I really looked up to my boss Carmine Persico and so when I came to Jesus and I'm explaining this to Moshe I said you know I had to do something different I had to separate his manhood from his deity and I had a look and see what kind of man he was because if he didn't live up to what I thought was my standard of manhood I couldn't have followed him just my mentality just the way I was brought up so I separated his manhood from his deity and I focused on Jesus the man as it's recorded in the Bible and I was blown away I mean there was no great a man that ever walked the face of the earth he had every quality of manhood that ever ran and you know I can get into that I can speak all night about you know the courage that he displayed you know the way he stood in front of the Pharisees and called them hypocrites when he knew they were misleading the people that was so impressive to me and I'm an Army was just standing there and he looked them in the eyes it don't mislead these people you're hypocrites that took a lot of courage that's bold to do that you know the way he stood in front of Pilate knowing that he was innocent but he had a job to do kept his mouth shut when he was being wrongly accused knew he was going to suffer and die a horrible death but he had a job to do shut his mouth going to the gallows during a mob guy in a world do that we're guilty as sin we're crying our innocence right the way he treated women when women was sixth class citizens people and they were back then and Leslie you know nothing is by coincidence in the it's not a coincidence that that Jesus appeared to women first I don't believe that there was a message in that he elevated the status of women right back then the way he treated little children What did he say about children come on the wisdom that he displayed and what he taught what did he teach what love love God and love your neighbor okay the humility I never realized there was such strength and humility when I was a mob guy when I came in it used to tell me don't wear your button on your sleeve but a lot of us did we want that unit know who we were Jesus now gave all the credit to his father took none for himself and I looked at him and I said wow he's the only man's man that ever walked the face of the earth and I'm explaining all this to motion but my amazement he was listening and he said you know what I believe in that that's a movie that's a documentary and the way you're telling me I think you really believe that as well I do he said I'm gonna make this movie okay so he says but on one condition I said here we go he said you're going to let me make the movie on your life after that I said most of you do a good job on this and I'm satisfied you got the movie I should because this is important to me I said I'm all about outreach and any way that I can get the word out I want to do it cut - writes a script 90 90 pages almost a movie and bring me over to Bulgaria and people I'm blown away 120 people on this set this is a major production and yet it's a documentary and the reason I'm saying this now is because they already got several million dollars to market this film it's going to be in at least a thousand theaters he's setting it all up now and he wanted to rush it out for Christmas I said no this is about Jesus this is an Easter release we need time to get the word out there so cut - I am I want you to pray about this because until it's done you know you're always praying that it comes out the right way but I promise you this Jesus is going to be looked at in a different light and God is going to be honored in a way that we have not seen before and what I'm going to do I told pastor Jason for the city of Norwalk since my wife okay comes out of Norwalk you know they wrote a story about me once I think in Vanity Fair and they had a picture of my wife and underneath the picture they put the woman that changed the face of organized crime in America because I was going to be the boss and she got me out of the life and they put that tag on her but what they forgot to mention is she's the woman from Norwalk that changed the face of organized crime in America so when I have promised Jason is that we're going to do a special screening okay in that church in Norwalk everybody's going to be invited it's going to be on the house no tickets unless you want to do a fundraiser and we're going to raise heaven in Norwalk and try to raise money for the church at that time so that's my promise and the best part of the story is this how our Lord and Savior works ok this work was done by an Israeli atheist who's presenting Jesus in a way like you never seen him before so amen that's our amazing God but I'm not going to give my whole testimony because many of you have heard it before and I'm not going to be redundant with respect to that but I do want to I wanted to say a couple of things that I didn't say this morning that I think are important I think all of you know you know I'm my father's son I was destined for this life I grew up hating the police and I said this this morning I hated them and it wasn't because I was taught that way my dad didn't teach me that way taught me to respect the law he was smart but it was because of what I witnessed as a kid growing up there tactics and techniques against organized crime were very different in my day than they are today today everything is very covert a lot of undercover informants high-tech surveillance equipment you've got to be crazy to get involved in criminal activity today because the guy next to you can be an undercover cop you don't even know it until it's too late you could be caught on a bug they can now shoot a bug at you ok from a hundred yards away and record your entire conversation there so up on us and technology you have no idea you know but back then it was different back then when somebody was under investigation they wanted you to know about it and for a period of about 10 years when I was growing up my dad was under investigation from seven or eight different agencies FBI IRS Queen's detectives Brooklyn DA's office my dad was like the John Gotti of his day was very hot they were always on him and I grew up with cops around us all the time they used to have us cornered on all sides okay we'd be in a house and they'd have one cop here when we couldn't leave the house I was one of seven kids whenever we left to go anywhere we had a parade of law enforcement vehicles following us everybody knew when we were coming into town and I witnessed some things that were really unpleasant with the police you know remember one day I'm playing ball in the street with a kid ball goes over my head it rolls down to where one of the cops were was with the Nassau County detective was in the car he gets out of the car and he stops the ball with his foot you know when I get close to him he's a big burly guy he pulls aside his coat he's got a gun there and he said this is for your old man one day now I'm ten years old now it's tough stuff right you know and in another time we go to a restaurant as a family sit down have a bite to eat you know and they used to come in and sit down at a table behind us watch a seat one night a Nestle County detective again he got a little out of hand passed my table made a nasty remark to my dad he didn't like that you don't disrespect my father especially in front of his family dad jumps up goes right after the cop cop got scared my dad was a tough guy he pulls out his gun Sonny right in the little restaurant right everybody starts screaming I remember my dad he says go ahead I'll drop you before you get a shot off good stuff when you're eating right me and my brother jumped in between them we jump in between him separate and pull them apart you know normal stuff you do when you were a kid and and so I didn't like them very much back then but again I got to see this and I want to end it like this and make it very clear I do not feel that way anymore you know people it's amazing how God can not only transform a heart I believe we all know that he can transform a heart but how he can transform a mind how this whole distorted sense of you I had growing up where good was bad bad was good God's been able to fix that and today some of my dearest friends are in law enforcement all over the country and not because I share information I don't do that I do speak at their conferences and all of that in generalities yeah I contribute in that way because I think it's the right thing to do okay but because we're friends and you know I realize a lot of them are brothers and sisters in Christ and you know what doesn't matter what walk of life you're in we all are one in the body of Christ amen a my message to young people I spent eight years on a ten year sentence I was eight years in prison and during that time a lot of young kids coming into the system okay 21 22 years old mandatory minimum drug sentences 20 years you got 20 today you do 17 and a half it's not like my day we had parole you got to do it all you come in the system at 21 22 you got 20 okay your life is just about over you're not getting rehab than that don't believe what anybody tells you it's a worse situation in there you come out very hard to get your life in order and I sat down with these kids and they all had the same story broken home okay their mom was involved what other things didn't have a father at home local drug dealer gang members there guy they go there of course they want to make some money bring something home they feel good about themselves they get attracted before you know what they're in that life what did you expect hey my kids I had seven kids brought up the right way my son at 16 years old was a renegade got in trouble in every different way and his ass I couldn't communicate with this kid for nothing and he had the best of everything was only by the grace of God that he's come back these kids never had an education at anybody to tell them the right way what do you expect their kids so I really took a heart because I got seven kids Amaro and I care a lot about kids and I'll tell you how I minister them I tell them straight out and listen to this you do not get away with criminal conduct in America anymore forget about it law enforcement is too sophisticated they got too many weapons too many informants on the street you go that route you're going down and the drug business is the worst business to being in the world you're going to get caught there's no question about it that's what I tell them and you know the best message that you can give these young people today and it applies to all of us of course but to these young people today listen to this parents grandparents educators you are who you hang with in this world you hang with the wrong crowd amen I don't care if you come to church on Sunday got great parents go to a good school wear good clothes drive a good car you hang with the wrong crowd you're going to be known to be the wrong type of person you must surround yourself with good people in life and that's why it's important to come to church you know I've had guys come up to me say I'm Mike you know I don't agree I don't have to go to church I got Church in my house Church is not in your house bro Church is in church okay Church is where you come to hit is great worship music it's come to where you come to like-minded people who influenced you in the same way that they love the Lord they want you to love the Lord you hear a great message we constantly need to be nourished I want to share this with you people when I came to Christ I didn't get a lobotomy I didn't forget everything I did on a street nor did I forget how to do it now and am i tempted at times yeah I am I'll be honest with you and if I were to hang with the wrong crowd you know I get off the trail of planing in New York sometimes somebody Rose me the wrong way I'm ready to go you know that whole New York thing comes right back on my right sunny okay like this like it never went away and if I wasn't blessed to surround myself with the right people who cared about me and pointed me in the right direction and hold me accountable accountable I wouldn't be here today and people I will tell you this I am the most fortunate most blessed person that's ever going to walk up on this stage because I'll tell you had I been left up to my own to follow the path that I was on and do what I want to do in my life I need to be dead or in prison for the rest of my life and you want to know something it's what I deserved it's what I earned having spent 20 years on the street every day in violation of God's laws and the laws of man and I realized straight out God has made it crystal clear for me over the past 15 years that he had a different plan and a purpose for my life and if that wasn't the case I wouldn't be here and my purpose is to be an encouragement to all of you out there every one of you amen because I'll tell you this as I travel this country in this past two years I have seen more despair and heartache and the hearts and minds of people that have witnessed in my whole life we're going through some tough times in America don't listen to all this recovery stuff a lot of people are struggling homes being foreclosed people out of work it's amazing and some people are so down about it and some people say Michael come on I'm a sinner I've been a drug addict all my life a gamble I've done all these things I don't treat my wife right I don't take care of my kids I've been dishonest to work I've heard everything that you can hear because people are hurting and sometimes they want to talk about it and get it out maybe they feel they can talk to me and I tell them this listen st. me I want to tell all of you here tonight at one point in time I was the worst guy in the room you spent 20 years on the street people you're in some stuff and if God can forgive me and I'm talking to all of you that is struggling here tonight if God can forgive me and I believe he has there's no arrogance in that you know why I believe it because the entire message of the Bible is forgiveness and if I don't believe that God can forgive me listen to this then what I'm saying is you had Jesus you suffered you died you got scourge you got hung on a cross you did it for the forgiveness of all sins but hey Lord wasn't good enough to forgive mine I'm not going to demean my Savior and tell him that so look at it this way if your heart is sincere because you can't pull a scam on God if you seriously repent and you believe you can't be forgiven and you're demeaning the message of the Cross and you're saying god what you did wasn't good enough I don't think anybody wants to do that so if he can forgive me and not only forgive me but give me my life give me my freedom a wife that I enjoy that I adore children that I love a ministry that I never asked for I ran from this if he can do all of this for me then he can and he will do it for any one of you so starting tonight for those of you that are doubting let tonight be the first day of the rest of your life because once you commit to the Lord and you come to the Lord it is the first day of the rest of your life and that's when God will start to use you now I want to tell you this again not going through it all but I want to I want to kind of tell you something because I think this applies to all of you you know when you finally enter this relationship and you're with the Lord you start to realize that he's been working throughout your life every experience that you had good or bad everything that you've done in your life God is going to use that in some way to fulfill his purpose in your life we just don't see it when we're not paying attention when God is not in our heart we don't see it because we're not focused on that but I'll tell you what God had to do to me okay because look when you're a product of the street you think one way it's very very hard for God to break this this whole that the street has on you and that's why I tell people you can't you can't ask me to go into a detention center and speak to young kids because I know the impact I'm going to have on them I know that I walk out of there I'm going to give them hope but I also know when I walk out of there there's nothing more I can do for them and I'm not going to let those kids down so what I tell them listen I'll come in and speak to them and I'll give them everything I got but there must be a ministry behind me that will allow these kids to follow up because you can't tell a young gangbanger that lives in the neighborhood to just walk away it's dangerous for him you can't do that I won't do that to him but if I can send them somewhere if I can give them help if I can give them support if I can give them a way out well then I'll do it so I realized that the certain things that happen how God had a had a the pattern in my life that he had a break and I want to tell you how my dad and I were very very close I love my dad idolized him anything that he wanted me to do I came into the life because of him because when he got framed on a case and people he did my dad is 96 years old he's done 34 years in prison for a crime that he didn't commit now he's done a lot of bad things in his life don't get me wrong so did I I went to jail for a crime that I was guilty of but the particular crime that my dad's doing all this time for he was innocent of and I'll take that to my grave I investigated that case thoroughly I spoke to every witness after the trial they recanted their testimony proved they lied at the trial we gave him a lie detector test we could not get it overturned in federal court my dad was no bank robber he was he was convicted of masterminding a nationwide string of bank robbers total frame-up couldn't prove it but you know what what does that show you is the system always fair no you put your hand in a fire long enough you're going to get burnt and that's why I tell these young kids you want to get away from it get away from it because if you stay in it long enough you may get a bad rap but you know what what goes around comes around in life it may not be fair I'm not saying that Justice Department is right in doing that but that's the way it is that's reality and I love my dad and I came into the life because I wanted to help him because I knew if I didn't help him he would die in prison and that's how I got in and I loved him so much and then an incident happened God had to break that hold because I would have never betrayed my father and walked away from this life but here's kind of the progression 1984 I'm making a lot of money in the business you know gas business and that's kind of a double-edged sword in that life I'm a captain in that family news day was a big paper on Long Island wrote a story about me that I was getting powerful enough to break away from the Colombo's and start my old family total nonsense had no thought of do I've been doing that we were a loyal guy we were loyal to the boss loyal to the family I never thought of it but it was a good story but it makes people on the street start to think a little bit I'm making all this money I got the Russians they were a powerful crew I had 300 rich guys from Brighton Beach they were all part of my my crew right so now the boss is getting kind of nervous and they start going out and sending people out to find out if I'm really turning in the kind of money I was turning in I was too I mean turning in what I was supposed to be turning in if I wasn't holding more for myself and understand this was my deal I put it all together but you got to pay up to the family and I was giving him their end so now things are happening right I get a call from my father one day and he and I were both captains at that point he was on parole he calls me he's his son I got to see I said okay I go see him we're in the driveway of his house and he says junior Carmine Persico Junior she wants to see us tonight boss wants to see it's okay dad what time you want me to pick you up he's well they want to do this a little differently I said what do you mean he's what they want me to come in first and they want you to come in next I says why he said well that's how they wanted I said we ain't doing that as you know to talk on a street we're not going to let him separate us if we go we go together dad know we were given an order we got to do it this way no I see what are you kidding me you hear what's going on I said you know this guy what he's thinking is you're gonna let them separate us let him walk us into a room individually I don't like it we're not going we argued first time my life had an argument with my dad and we went at it back and forth back and forth no we were given an order we can't show fear I said fear I said I got a wife and kids you got a you're going to walk into a room let somebody put a bullet in her head you're going to worry about fear no let's do it together and we're arguing Jason back and forth finally I throw my hands up like you know what that I've been listening to you all my life I don't like it but if this is what you want I'll do it your way I leave I get a call from another captain in a family Jimmy Angelina he says Mike meet me on 18th Avenue at 11 o'clock he says and I'll take you away you got to go okay I go and meet him I know Jimmy my whole life he was another captain right he says park your car here the boss was on parole so this had to be a covert meeting we had to be careful because if he would have met with us and they would have got caught it would have been a violation right so I get in a car with Jimmy I'm in a passenger seat as a guy sitting behind me Jimmy don't introduce me I never met him before don't feel good right now right I said what's going on here now I'm waiting for Jimmy who I know all my life to start to tell me are my kids what the meetings about Papa Bob he doesn't say anything he starts talking to me about the Yankees now I'm a die-hard Yankee fan I didn't want to hear about the Yankees that night right so I'm sitting in I'll be honest I'm getting a little bit nervous this guy's sitting in the back Jimmy's not saying anything it's don't look good we drive about 15 20 minutes to get to the house in Brooklyn and people I'll never forget this we parked a car it was about a 30-yard walk okay from the car to the basement apartment where I had to go to meet these guys that was he the longest or the shortest walk of my life I was scared I'm saying man Jimmy's behind me the other guys behind him the setup is that door opens up I walk inside it's the last thing I'm going to see in my life I want to tell you this okay my heart is beating through my chest my knees are getting weak I remember the sound of the crickets I remember the smell of when you think you're going to meet your maker your senses become sharp I was not a religious guy at all I was praying God helped me okay when we think we're going to meet our maker you think that the people that you're praying for that don't want to reject that are rejecting God you're planning that seed when it comes time to meet their maker believe me okay they're going to answer the call door opens up obviously I'm here right we go inside bond they grill me about the business on so forth I'm answering the questions at one point I start to get angry I'm getting mad now I'm saying wait a sec you don't get angry with the boss now I've calmed myself down Bom Bom everything's okay hugs have a glass of wine everything's wonderful buh buh buh buh I just want to get out of it right I'm so mad my father wasn't there I said Jimmy drive me to my car I got to go right we get in a car now understand Jimmy and I had good friends I'm ready to unload on him because he didn't say anything to me I get in the car and I go look at him and I just as I'm about to talk he says wait stop stop stop I said what he's I got to be honest with you Mike you handle yourself pretty good in there tonight it could have been a real problem now I get even more mad damn I said it could have been a problem I said you're my best friend I know you're my whole life and you don't tell me anything so he turns around to me and he said well if it was the other way around Mike would you have told me he just hit me right between the eyes and I stood there a second and I said no he said this is the life we lead he said you know what as well as anybody you grew up in it and I'm just thinking about I'm same and it just start to think start to think we drive back to my car now here's the thing as we get out of the car he grabs my arm I'll never forget it and he says to me Mike I'm going to tell you something and you're not gonna want to hear this he said but it's the truth I said what he said your father was in there before you tonight he said he didn't help you one bit he hurt you I was stunned Sonny I said what I couldn't even answer to him I get out of the car and I start to think as I'm walking back to my car and I'm saying I know my day he could have stood there and said hey my son wouldn't rob a dime he's honest bubble pop above and really stood up for me instead what he did is hey I don't know I don't do anything my son's on parole he grow I mean I'm on parole my son does everything I don't know what he's doing I can't he didn't support me one bit that night that devastated me devastated me because I love my dad I would have done anything for him I never said a word to him never I just filed it away because in that life you got to keep a lot of things to yourself you don't say too much I filed it away cut to I meet my wife on the set of a movie young latin mexican girl who I fell madly in love with Christian girl who literally the Lord used to lead me out of that life but I will tell you this people if that incident doesn't happen that night and that doesn't God doesn't break that hole that my dad had on me I never walk away from the life never I would have never betrayed him in that way my point is God prepared me two years earlier knowing that I was going to meet this young girl okay knowing that I was going to meet this young girl that he was going to put in my life and if that didn't happen to me that hold that this life had on me I would have never walked away no matter how much I loved this girl so the point is God is preparing us and the reason I say this what's going on in your life what is God done to maybe give you a message that you're not picking up yet and you won't pick it up until you get into this relationship with Jesus which is so important people remember this this life is not about rules and regulations it's about a relationship with the Lord and you can have a relationship with Jesus am i right Jase in the same way you can know the person sitting next to you it's not a coincidence that this man had more of an impact on the entire universe than any one man that ever walked the face of the earth we don't look at it every faith knows that they may not want to admit who he is but it's the truth and he said everyone will have an opportunity to know me and once you know him he comes alive in your heart he said you draw closer to God and he'll draw closer to you and that's the secret of life because people you all have a purpose you know what your number one purpose is your number one purpose is to get to heaven that's what it's all about how many people you take with you through God is another thing we're just passing through this life and when you get a little older I just turned 62 you start to realize you know what then be gone one day an eternity lasts forever i sat in a jail cell in a hole I did eight years I spent 29 months and seven days in solitary 24/7 29 months and seven days you want to know something people I thank God for putting me now I hated every minute of it don't get me wrong okay but you know what I realized I said man there is a heaven and there is a hell and if this is anything like hell 24/7 solitary away from everybody nothing you can do no control over your life you're sitting there somebody telling you when you can eat when you can take a shower when you can make a phone call okay Big Shot mob guy you're reduced to nothing in there if this is what hell is like Lord I don't want any part of it show me what to do to get out of it but it's real people I'm not here to scare you I can't scare you but you know what there is a heaven and there is a hell Jesus spoke about Hell and your job is to get to heaven and the only way to get to heaven is through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ get it through your head so you need to make that commitment for yourself now and once you do that then he'll reveal to you what your purpose is and at that point in time it's your obligation the Great Commission tells you to bring as many people along with you as you can that's what it's all about people to purposes get to heaven yourself and bring as many people as you can with you that's it when you break it down now I can tell you I have a lot more to say but I'm going to end it because I want to ask Jason to come up in a minute but people I want to tell you this I take this very seriously you know sometimes you don't even know what you're going to say when you get up here but the Holy Spirit really does work through you at that point in time and you pray that the right words are coming out to impact the people in here because that's what it's all about it's not about a mob story or anything else it's about how the Holy Spirit can speak through us to impact you so this is all about you it's not about me or Jason or anybody else here it's all about you what are you going to do with what you heard God can do what's in somebody's life because people I want to just emphasize this you know I'm standing up here and I'm just a guy standing up here but I want to tell you how serious it is to walk away from that life it's unheard of people don't do it unless you enter a witness protection program you know what they say when you leave that life you either leave in a coffin you join the government and enter the program obviously I've done neither at this point in time to publicly walk away from that life is something else and I want to tell you this there's no blueprint that tells you how to do it I had no clue what was going to happen I didn't realize at first that God was in this I get out of jail in 1995 when I renounced the life and it became public everybody predicted my death everybody I walk out of there in 95 ok ed MacDonald head of the organized crime strike force now I got a I'm going ahead of myself my book blood covenant and I'm not to tell you to do that but I want to make a point they're making a movie on this book by the way guys you want to read a mob story it's a mob story I don't sugarcoat anything ladies it's a love story story about me and my wife and how we got together but really it's the story how God can transform a heart but read the inside cover everybody predicted my death Life magazine quote if he holds to what he has promised it will mark the first time a high-ranking member of the Mafia will publicly walk away from his past and live ed MacDonald head of the organized crime strike force my prosecutor he put Henry Hill away and a bunch of guys she was my prosecutor he got on national TV two days after I walked out of prison and he said quote I wouldn't want to be in michael franzese's shoes I don't think his life expectancy is very substantial ed was very diplomatic Bernie Welch the FBI agent big burly guy Street guy all the way he followed it to the podium that day in our national TV he wasn't as diplomatic he said straight-out frenzies will get whacked quote I think you know what that means in street terms my mother the same day they interviewed that poor woman she said I don't know what my son's do when I pray for him every night she was scared for me tonight I walked into that room people Halloween night 1975 six of us took the oath I'm the only one alive today not one of those men died of natural causes and I'll leave you with this and I say this to show you the power that God can have in somebody's life 1987 Fortune magazine wrote a huge article look it up 50 biggest and most powerful mob bosses in America they had a chart with the 50 of us on there was front page Fat Tony was on the front page okay that a chart they ranked us in order of wealth and power and influence and all that stuff I was number 18 on the list five behind John Gotti I was the youngest guy on a list silly list I always sat on how to come up with something like that they didn't ask for my tax returns but made a good story not important but here's what's important about that list out of the list of 50 today some 25 years later 44 of them are dead three of them that I know of at doing life in prison without parole and I'm here to give praise and honor and glory to my Lord and Savior my hero in life Jesus Christ now what that tells you people is very simple I don't claim credit for that it tells you this when God has a plan and a purpose for you and he does for each and every one of you sitting in your seat in this room tonight he has a plan and a purpose for you and when he has a plan and a purpose for you nothing is going to get in the way of him fulfilling that purpose no mob no gang no sickness no death nothing will stand in the way of God fulfilling the purpose in your life hold on except for you because our gracious loving wonderful God is never an intruder he's always an invited guest now are you ready and willing to invite him into your heart okay this is your decision freewill people went out robots they didn't make us to get on our knees and praise Him day in day out he gave us a free will it's a decision we need to make and I told you earlier today how I made mine based upon the evidence Bible is real more evidence to support the veracity of the Bible and there is anything else that that on the face of the earth and I'll tell you what I'm very into apologetics into defending my faith I know all about evidence 5 trials four of my dad's evidence a major part of my life the evidence is rock-solid that the Bible is God's Word don't let anybody tell you different so tonight's your choice so I'm going to bring Jason up here now people and I want to tell you if you haven't made a commitment tonight you're not

Channel: GO2FCC

Views: 68,637

Rating: 4.7236362 out of 5

Keywords: Michael Franzese (Author), Pastor Jason Lozano, Freedom Christian Center, Go2fcc, Q & A, Christianity (Religion), colombo crime family, la costra nostra, caporegime

Id: vdNa8uZ_GnE

Length: 61min 22sec (3682 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 12 2014