Michael Franzese Interview (second) : Icons of Faith Series

Michael uh you know when we think of the Mafia a lot of us have these ideas that we've gotten from movies you know like The Godfather and and in the terminology we've heard and so you know as I've gotten to know you a little bit you've sort of straighten me out in a few terms and what what is true and what isn't true but just to get started uh could you tell us the proper way to say forget about it I've been asked that about a thousand times forget about it that's it it's gonna get you did that well I like that I mean people are asking me to write that on the book that I said I can say it I don't know how to spell it what does that mean forget about it is it of multiple meanings or just one meaning it means anything you know like we going to eat tonight forget about it you know is this guy a good guy forget about it he's no good yeah I could mean anything now you were raised I in what was it Long Island New York originally Brooklyn and moved out to Long Island and your father Sonny was know is a right to call it the mob of the Mafia what is the real terminology that's used I mean actually there really is no mafia in this country the Mafia exists in Italy in America is called a Cosa Nostra it means this thing of ours and it's similar organizations but a little bit different and my dad in the 1960s was the underboss of the Colombo crime family in New York one of the five families okay now when you say underboss I it so there's a boss there's an underboss there's captain so what are those designations mean there's actually a boss underboss cappa regime or captain and then as a soldier and there is a position called consul yari and robert duvall played that role in the godfather brilliantly but it was fictional in a godfather because in order to be a sworn made member of that life your father must be Italian right you can't become a made man or a Goodfella perhaps until unless you're Italian correct your dad must be Italian so if you're in the mob and you're not a Tyne you only go so high then you're only an associate you don't take the oath and become a made member let's talk about that oh you took a blood oath in fact you've written a book called blood covenant and he quit the mob and lived and we're glad of that Michael you took a blood oath or blood covenant when you became a made man right yes tell us about that well you actually it's a very solemn ceremony and for me it happened on Halloween night 1975 and it was six of us that night that took the oath we walked into a room individually the boss was seated at the head of like a horseshoe configuration the underboss in the console area to his left and right and then all the captains who participate or alongside of them and I walked in front of the boss held out my hand he took a knife cut my finger some blood dropped on the floor this is a blood oath I cupped my hands he took a picture of a saint the Catholic altar card put it in my hands and lit it a flame it didn't hurt it burned quickly was just symbolic and he said tonight Michael Franzese you are being born again into a new life until it calls on Ostra and if you violate what you know about this life of betray your brothers then you're going to die and burn in hell like the saint is burning in your hands so this has religious imagery to it as you become a part of a cultural lifestyle and indeed a family with your own kind of unique worldview right we have to see things yeah pass there a lot of people think the mob is a business but it's not a business it's an entire way of life we're a whole different subculture of everything else it exists we have our own rules our own morality our own policies we do business as part of that life but it's it's a life that affects family friends everybody that's around us you are so successful you were earning six to eight million dollars a week at the height of your career you landed the number 18 spot on Fortune magazine's 50 most wealthy and powerful Mafia bosses in the mid 1980s did you ever think you'd come crashing down from this did you think you would always make it or what you know I you reach a point where I mean I had gone to trial five times I had beaten every case including Rudy Giuliani and 85 indicted me on a big case and told me he was putting me away forever if I got convicted and some of my co-defendants got convicted they got 30 years and up and I was acquitted I was a lead defendant I would have been in jail forever so you know I mean I was making a lot of money I'm a captain in the family got a bunch of guys under me they were and me to be the boss so honestly at 31 32 years old I felt like I really had it going on like I was becoming invincible and I can beat any case they bring against me and that was my mentality at the time you had a close relationship with your father who you admired and one day you were called in with your father to have a meeting with the boss yeah and but yet you were asked to go there separately tell us about that well when I was making all this money you know the bosses always you always worry about the people around you if somebody's getting too powerful you got to keep him in their place and it was story on the street that I might have been making more money than I was turning in and maybe I was thinking of becoming a boss myself so the talk wasn't good my dad calls me one day he says Mike we got to go see the boss I said okay let's go he said well we got to do things differently it want me to come in first and they want you to come in second and I was real uncomfortable with that I said dad no we're not doing that it's we've been down that road we're not gonna let anybody walk us into a room we go together and it was the first time past that I ever had an argument with my dad but I felt very strong about this and he kept saying no we can't show fear we got to go like this and after about an hour I threw my hands up I said dad I've been listening to you all my life I'll do it again but I'm not happy with it and that night was about close to midnight I had to meet the boss but he was on parole so we had a meet covertly he wasn't allowed to associate and God by name and Jimmy another captain and family picked me up on 18th Avenue in Brooklyn and he was driving I'm in a passenger side and I got somebody sitting behind me and I'll be honest we all wasn't comfortable well you know within the movies that's usually when the guy gets whacked right I mean yes yeah so you did you think that might happen to you well yeah I mean and Jimmy started talking to me about the Yankees now I'm a die-hard Yankee fan but I want to hear about them that night but I was real uncomfortable but I didn't want to show any fear and so I'm sitting there you know waiting to get out of the car hopefully to get out of the car and we do we stop in Brooklyn it was late and I can remember vividly walking out of that car and walking down the basement steps into that house not knowing if that was going to be the last thing I saw when I opened the door and I mean I can remember that smells that sounds everything but obviously I walked in you know they grilled me a little bit and everything was fine I held up my end but my dad wasn't there and then when we left we got back in the car and said now I knew Jimmy all my life we were both captains I said Jimmy man I said that was pretty you know heavy in air so if I was in trouble would you have told me he says you know you held yourself up real good in air he said I said you didn't answer my question he said Mike if it was the other way around would you have told me I thought for a second I said no he's well you know it's the life we chose and then he said something to me as I was getting out of the car that hit me like the proverbial ton of bricks he said you know Mike you're not gonna want to hear this but your father did not help you in there tonight and I was like stunned I didn't know what to say and you know I started to think about and I said you know I know what my dad probably did he didn't go out of his way to hurt me but he didn't stick up for me he kind of took the high road said hey I don't know anything my son did he's handling it all I don't know what he's doing so it just made me think that you know I love my dad so much and we were so close that if this life can separate father and son the person I trusted the most in his life that I realized that I can't trust any human being that much and later on the Lord used that to let me understand that I could only put all my trust in him and I mean so okay so here you are you're you're a maid man you're making a lot of money you've got well did you say 500 people working under you yeah three to five on your you have a jet you have a helicopter you're successful in that world and yet now here you are telling us about your faith in Jesus Christ how did you get from that lifestyle from being the Prince of the Mafia as you were described to a follower of Jesus Christ well it certainly wasn't my plan I had no idea you know at that point time I'm at the top of my game I believed in God but I certainly didn't need God in my life I wasn't looking for him wasn't relying on him and among many things I was doing I was making movies and we were making a breakdance movie shooting it in southern Florida and we brought 50 professional dancers to dance in the film I had everybody staying in a hotel in South Florida casting the crew I'm sitting by the pool one day minding my own business what a couple of guys were having a drink and all of a sudden this beautiful 20 year old girl gets out of the water I'm looking at her she blows me it was like a Pepsi commercial everything went slow-motion to me when I saw I said Iceman who is this girl I got ahold of the choreographer said Jeff is that one of your girls he said yes what's her name he said Camille Garcia I said bring her over I want to meet her I figured our bigshot producer should want to meet me she'd want to have anything to do with me right and I'm I'm pursuing her and she's being polite and sweet and all this kind of stuff and she wouldn't date me finally I get to her one day and I'll cut to the chase make a long story short she's now my wife of 24 years thank you and she eventually she led me to the Lord and you know maintained she was a Mexican girl we didn't have Mexicans back in New York that day first Mexican I met I married I love Mexicans now but I know him back then but uh yeah it's funny we know the amazing thing pastor is that I meet this young girl and she's a Christian and she didn't only walk the walk she talked to talk and and she never she didn't know anything about my life she's from Anaheim Calif she's the dance in Disneyland she had no idea about the mob and yet I'm falling in love with her I meet her her mother was such a strong woman of God and I'm saying man these people are for real I used to walk in the house they were on their knees praying from edge what are you doing is it go away you need prayer I said I thought they would pray it was kind of creepy to me at first but I'm falling in love with this girl and all of a sudden she becomes more important to me than the oath that I took and then you know this bond of my father and it was never on my radar screen ever to walk away from that life but she had such an impact it was more for her than for God but eventually God used this woman to bring me to to him amen it's fantastic so no one is beyond the reach of prayer not even Michael Franzese and you did end up being indicted in serving time in prison right I did as part of my plan to get away from the life I took a plea on another case a big racketeering case ten year prison sentence fifteen million dollar restitution and Camille and I got married I figured I'd move out to the west coast maybe after 10 or 12 years of parole and jail time you know the guys in New York would forget about me but it became very public when I walked away from the life and contract on my life my dad disowned me the government was pressuring me to become a witness so I had about seven or eight years of real rough time and a lot of struggles and but you know you know God just uh pastor I got to tell you it's so hard to tell the story now because there's so much to it but he just navigated a course for me that eventually I mean everybody that predicted my death everybody said I wasn't gonna make it I didn't know if I was gonna make him myself but I realized she had another plan of purpose for me and this is it I believe men yeah you're traveling around sharing your stories aren't you I am I gotta mention this because I I had done five years in prison came out I was on parole 13 months the worst time of my life FBI kept telling me my life was in danger they were you know I had to move from house to house it was people out in LA looking to hurt me they were pressuring me to become a witness I violate my parole violated my parole they put me back in prison tell me you're going away forever and I spent three years in a hole in Lompoc they've kept me locked down here afraid I was gonna get killed the hole the hole is segregation 24/7 lockdown supposed to let you out five hours a week but they usually come at 3 o'clock in the morning say Franzese you want yard it's at 3 o'clock that's a little bit early for me come back at 4 you know but they don't really get you out but it was during that time that I really challenged God and I understood what's surrendering to him meant because I had nowhere else to go and during that time I read my Bible inside out and and the evidence was there to show me it was truly the Word of God and that Jesus is truly our risen Savior but one thing I have to mention aside from reading the Bible in probably 400 books that my wife sent me in all on Christianity beginning with born-again Chuck Colson's born-again Sony Walkman and everyday okay for 29 months in a hole I listen to pastor Greg yes and I want to tell you this if I admit if I had never met him his voice was so implies end in my head but you had so much to do with leading me to the Lord because you're the first pastor I ever heard on the radio and you know you inspired me so much motivated me so much and really brought me closer to God and I want to tell you this because he pastor is very humble but it was such an honor and privilege for me to meet him two months ago and to be here on the stage with you is like an absolute blessing for me and I feel real humbled by it and really very blessed so you got a great man here let me tell you wait did you um ever think when you were listening to me I'm gonna whack that guy no no but I should I'm gonna whack anybody tries to get him that's true I like that kidding Lordan yeah he's good okay you've written a brand new book I liked it title I'll make you an offer you can't refuse original so what does this book about it's a business book and basically when we were in the in the life we lived under a Machiavelli and philosophy Machiavelli was a 16th century Italian statesman the end justifies the means do anything you have to do to succeed and be successful and that's the way I operated my life and business back then and I was so inspired by King Solomon in the book of Proverbs when I was in prison that I realized that you got to act with integrity in his life he got operated business with integrity and the book is kind of a contrast between the two philosophies I tell a lot of mob stories about my my business experiences but hopefully people realize the right way to do business after reading the book Michael in closing uh you know it's such an amazing story that you have and I'm reminded of Paul you know Paul the Apostle used to be Saul of Tarsus he was a murderer he was a he hunted Christians down he tortured them had them executed of course he presided over the death of the first martyr of the church Stephen you know and when he became a believer in Jesus it was so unexpected that a lot of the Christians didn't think it was true oh there's no way Saul of Tarsus is a Christian but he was but you know I think when Saul said forgetting the things that are behind and reaching forward to the things that are before he knew what he was talking about he had a lot of stuff he needed God's forgiveness for he had guilt and we've talked about this you've told me that you had a lot of guilt over things that you've done things that you needed God's forgiveness for and I guess what I'm asking is maybe there's someone listening right now that feels that they've done so many bad things God would never forgive them or maybe they're stuck in a rut and a lifestyle in an addiction that they could never break free from and yet you are living evidence that anyone can change so what would you say to a person like that well yeah personally I believe that God has a plan and a purpose for every one of us and I believe that my purpose over the years has been to encourage anybody that is struggling with their life you know especially you know drug addicts people in prison those have had some serious issues I mean I know all about drugs I had a sister that died of an overdose my brother was a drug addict for 23 years and I know when that takes control of your life you do things that you wouldn't do ordinarily and I'm not making excuses but it's true but what I did for 17 years in my life I didn't have any kind of issues like that I did knowingly and and even though I knew things were wrong I did him anyway and I can tell you this I guarantee that there's nobody in this room that has done some of the horrible things that I've done in my life when you're in that life 17 years you do a lot and yet God is seen in His grace and mercy to forgive me and I really do believe that I think that's the message of the Bible so my story and my encouragement is I don't care what you've done no matter how far short you believe you have fallen no matter what kind of an addiction you have no matter how bad you think you are that if God can save somebody like me and turn my life around and believe me I did not see this coming I can't claim any credit for it had I been left up to my own ID to be dead or in prison for the rest of my life it's what I deserved and what I earned in my life and if God can change somebody from within like he did with me then there's hope for anybody out there and I want to be an encouragement to everybody out there you know somebody on the way out in the last service he said Michael you know my problem is guilt and I said brother I understand that because I carried that a lot for many many years and a pastor said to me when I confessed to him he said Michael he said don't allow Satan to remind you of what God has already forgotten he knows your heart you can't pull a scam on him and that kind of opened me up and I want to speak to you out there cuz I talked a lot of soldiers returning from Iraq and they tell me the same thing but if you allow the guilt to stand in the way god can't perform his service through you and so you know we serve an awesome God you know His grace and mercy extends to everybody and I think we all really need to understand that and please use me as an example and no matter what you've done don't feel bad just hold it up to me and believe me you're a good person compared to that so and I believe that's what it's all about thank you thank you Michael got very much better michael franti god bless thank you

Channel: Pastor Greg Laurie

Views: 268,439

Rating: 4.7820511 out of 5

Keywords: video blog, gambino crime family rise and fall, carmine the snake persico, christian, gambino crime family, greg laurie, greg laurie (author), harvest, harvest christian fellowship, interview, john gotti, mafia life, michael franzese, mob, mob family, mob life, most popular crime bosses, most popular mafia bosses, organized crime, sunny franzese

Id: -ic_zELVQNE

Length: 18min 24sec (1104 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 07 2009