Michael Franzese on Mob Boss Joe Colombo Getting Shot Next to Him, Joining the Mafia (Part 3)

well I guess joe columbo got shot right next to you er yeah he well though that at an American Civil Rights really grew into several hundred thousand members I mean Joey had a lot of influence there and it became a big deal you know the feds hated it Joey started to have some problems because according to guys on the street he was bringing too much attention to that life and so on and so forth so we had a big rally 1970-71 in columbus circle of manhattan huge there's probably 50 thousand people there and we had a big stage setup because entertainment I mean I think Sammy Davis was this an Archer was going to appear at top-notch entertainment and he was going to talk about what the league was all about and I'll never forget was a beautiful day and I had just walked up on the stage and Joey had handed me some brochures to hand out you know up by a couple blocks up on 60th Street and I took them and because I was a captain in the league not in the family at that point Lily got a button and I walked away I was about 10 steps away and all of a sudden boom boom boom I heard shots run out and somebody screamed Joey was hit you always been hit he went down and it was mass hysteria at that point so the boss of the family just got shot yes right next to you was he killed at that point or no no he lingered for about six or seven years and then he eventually died but he was she was in a coma the whole time okay so pretty much that pretty much that was the end of his correct his reign at that point was that the first time you saw ba via violence yes that was my first experience like that of that seriousness that gravity yes okay but you wanted up joining the mafia after that yes there wasn't a level of okay this is this is real this is not the movies this is what's really happening here is the head guy in my father's organization he essentially was almost you know essentially killed there and put in a coma after the situation maybe I'll stick to school instead well you know I had such a a goal a driving force for me to help my dad get out of prison I believe my dad was framed because I asked him I said dad what's with these bank robbery charges and he looked at me he said son I'm innocent and what I really believed him is because the four bank robbers that testified against him were all drug addicts they're all junkies and from the time I was a kid my dad preached to me against drugs he hated anything to do with drugs so I said why would he get involved with drug addicts so I believed that he was innocent he was framed and I figured if I didn't help him out he was going to die in prison so I told him I lost interest in school we were in the visiting room love Lord penitentiary said that I'm not going to school but I hope you're gonna die in here and he we kind of went at it a little bit I a mother's gonna be upset you're leaving school I said dad's too late my mind's made up and he said okay but if you're gonna be on the street I want you on the street the right way and his mind the right ways to become a member of his life so he proposed me for membership at that point in time because you know you become a member that life you can't just go up to somebody say I'd like to join somebody's got to propose you vouch for you so you have what it takes so in my case it was my dad he sent word downtown I said my son I'm proposing him for membership and that's how it started okay so you became a recruit at that point correct this was what year this was in 70 around 72 okay in a year and a half later you became a bait man correct during that time were they just sending you out on missions and so forth you know I mean the way they ran it down to me the boss at that time he's now passed on Tom DiBella he said Mike I got a message from your father he said you want to become a member of our life is that true I said yes here's the deal from now on 24 hours a day seven days a week you're on call to serve this family the Colombo family that means if your mother is sick and dying and you're at her bedside we call you to service you leave your mother and you come and serve us from now on we're number one in your life before anything at everything and when if we feel you deserve this privilege or in the honor to become a member will let you know so basically I'm on call 24/7 to do whatever I was told to do what were the worst things you had to do during that time look you know I always say this is a tough question to answer but I like to be as honest as I can be you know a lot of menial things you know drive the boss to a meeting sit in a car for five hours you know that until he comes out you had a meeting at eight o'clock you weren't there at 7:30 you were late could never be late in that life never stuff like that and then you know look and be honest you know that life at times is very violent and if you're part of the life you're part of the violence and there's no escape if you're told to do something you do it or you pay the price so to say I wasn't part of that would not be truthful I mean how did you take to the violence yourself at that point because you were what a teenager at that point or no I was when I got straightened out I was 24 so I you know but I was recruited 22 okay so you're in your early 20s yeah and now you're you know essentially being forced to do these violent acts or else right well look I had a choice I could have said no and walked away at that time and just gave it all up but I didn't so I don't like to see anybody push me into it I mean I made a conscious choice to do this and you know be honest where you look I can't say I was comfortable with everything that I had to do during that time but I did it you know I didn't want to I didn't want to displease my dad and I didn't want anybody to think I didn't have what it takes to do what I had to do so you know when you have to do things that are unpleasant at least in my experience you kind of step outside of yourself have you capable of doing that do what you have to do and then you know you move on okay so then a year and a half later you were actually made correct okay there was a ceremony where they burned something in your hand I believe yeah it was a picture of a saint Catholic goal to God they prick your finger some blood drops on the floor and they burn a saint in your hands and you're taking off and you actually came in with another group of guys yeah it was in the early 70s or the mid-70s they had the expression that they opened the books meaning that they were starting to bring in a lot of guys prior to that for about 20 years they weren't making any new guys the only way they would make a guy in a family is if they had to replace a guy that died but then in the mid 70s they opened the books up and they were taking guys the families were building up okay do you were part of that buildup yes now out of the the guys that joined in with the only one of them is still alive um that's correct yeah okay there was five or six guys well the guys the night that I took the oath there was six of us I'm the only one alive out of em okay I'm the only one alive it at that group but there are some guys that took the oath during that period of time that is still alive

Channel: djvlad

Views: 842,699

Keywords: VladTV, DJ Vlad, Interview, Hip-Hop, Rap, News, Gossip, Rumors, Drama, Michael Franzese

Id: 8RTHt-c1eC8

Length: 7min 2sec (422 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 09 2019