John Franzese
Encyclopedia
John "Sonny" Franzese, Sr. (born February 6, 1917 Naples
), is a longtime member and the current Underboss
of the Colombo crime family
. Arguably, Franzese has been famous as the current oldest active member of the American Mafia
. Franzese is listed as an associate producer of the 2002 film This Thing of Ours, which stars James Caan.
says that his father was actually born in 1919. According to some sources, Franzese was born at sea on the ship that brought his parents to New York.
Raised in New York City, in the late 1930s Franzese joined the Profaci crime family (later named the Colombo crime family
) under boss Joseph Profaci. Franzese bore a close physical resemblance to boxer Rocky Marciano
, one of his friends. His first arrest came in 1938, for assault. In 1942, in the midst of World War II
, he was discharged from the United States Army
because he displayed '"homicidal tendencies" Although never being arrested for it, court papers accused him of committing rape in 1947.
Franzese operated out of New York City
and New Jersey
and was involved in racketeering, fraud
, and loansharking. He is believed to have been elevated to caporegime or captain in the Colombo family in the mid 1950s and by 1964 he had been promoted to underboss. In 1966, Franzese was able to avoid a conviction for murdering a rival and dumping the body into a bay.
In 1967, Franzese gained a financial interest in a new recording company, Buddha Records. The company became quite successful, recordings hits for acts such as Melanie Safka
, the Isley Brothers, and Curtis Mayfield
. Franzese used Buddha to launder illegal mob earnings and to bribe disc jockies with payola
.
In March 1967, Franzese was convicted of masterminding several bank robberies. During the trial, the prosecution produced records claiming that Franzese had killed between 30 to 50 people. In 1970, Franzese was sentenced to 50 years in prison. In 1978, Franzese was released on parole but returned to prison in 1982 for a parole violation. In 1984, Franzese was released on parole again. Until 2008, he was never charged with another crime, although he would frequently return to jail on parole violations.
on his fingertips before a murder to avoid leaving fingerprint
s at the crime scene. Franzese also suggested wearing a hairnet
during the murder so as to avoid leaving any hair strands at the crime scene that could be DNA
analyzed.
Finally, Franzese stressed the importance of properly dealing with the corpse. His procedure was to dismember the corpse in a kiddie pool, dry the severed body parts in a microwave oven
, and then run the parts through a commercial-grade garbage disposal
. Franzese observed:
was sentenced to 139 years in prison, he created a three-man Ruling Panel to oversee the Colombo family. Persico had planned to place Franzese on this panel, but in August 1986, Franzese was sent back to prison again for another parole violation. In January 1991, after returning to the weakened Colombo crime family, Franzese again violated parole and went to prison for meeting with other organized crime figures. In November 2000, after resuming a top authority in the family, Franzese violated parole again and was sent back to prison in January 2001. Law enforcement had learned about the meeting from Franzese's son, John Franzese, Jr., who had become a government informant.
, Franzese became the new underboss. However, in May 2007, Franzese was again returned to prison for a parole violation. In June 2008, Franzese, still incarcerated, was indicted on charges of participating in murders during the Colombo Wars of the early 1990s, stealing fur coats in New York
in the mid 1990s, and participating in home invasions by police impersonators in Los Angeles
in 2006.
On June 4, 2008, Franzese was indicted along with other Colombo mobsters on charges of racketeering conspiracy, robbery, extortion, narcotics trafficking, and loansharking. On December 24, 2008, Franzese was released from the Metropolitan Detention Center
in Brooklyn. According to law enforcement, Franzese remains the official underboss of the Colombo family.
On January 14, 2011, the 93-year-old Franzese was sentenced to eight years in prison for extorting Manhattan strip clubs and a pizzeria on New York's Long Island. Franzese is currently incarcerated at Federal Medical Center in Devens, Massachusetts. His scheduled release date is June 25, 2017.
, John, Jr. and Lorraine. Michael Franzese became a Colombo capo (now out of the family) who ran his father's rackets during the 1980's when his father was in prison.
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
), is a longtime member and the current Underboss
Underboss
Underboss is a position within the leadership structure of Sicilian and American Mafia crime families. The underboss is second in command to the boss...
of the Colombo crime family
Colombo crime family
The Colombo crime family is the youngest of the "Five Families" that dominates organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia ....
. Arguably, Franzese has been famous as the current oldest active member of the American Mafia
American Mafia
The American Mafia , is an Italian-American criminal society. Much like the Sicilian Mafia, the American Mafia has no formal name and is a secret criminal society. Its members usually refer to it as Cosa Nostra or by its English translation "our thing"...
. Franzese is listed as an associate producer of the 2002 film This Thing of Ours, which stars James Caan.
Rise in the Colombo crime family
He was born to Carmine "The Lion" Franzese and Maria Corvola, although his birth year is a source of confusion. Federal prison records say that he was born February 6, 1917. However, his son Michael FranzeseMichael Franzese
Michael Franzese , is a former New York mobster with the Colombo crime family who was heavily involved in the gasoline tax rackets in the 1980s...
says that his father was actually born in 1919. According to some sources, Franzese was born at sea on the ship that brought his parents to New York.
Raised in New York City, in the late 1930s Franzese joined the Profaci crime family (later named the Colombo crime family
Colombo crime family
The Colombo crime family is the youngest of the "Five Families" that dominates organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia ....
) under boss Joseph Profaci. Franzese bore a close physical resemblance to boxer Rocky Marciano
Rocky Marciano
Rocky Marciano , born Rocco Francis Marchegiano, was an American boxer and the heavyweight champion of the world from September 23, 1952, to April 27, 1956. Marciano is the only champion to hold the heavyweight title and go undefeated throughout his career. Marciano defended his title six times...
, one of his friends. His first arrest came in 1938, for assault. In 1942, in the midst of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, he was discharged from the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
because he displayed '"homicidal tendencies" Although never being arrested for it, court papers accused him of committing rape in 1947.
Franzese operated out of New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
and was involved in racketeering, fraud
Fraud
In criminal law, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual; the related adjective is fraudulent. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and also a civil law violation...
, and loansharking. He is believed to have been elevated to caporegime or captain in the Colombo family in the mid 1950s and by 1964 he had been promoted to underboss. In 1966, Franzese was able to avoid a conviction for murdering a rival and dumping the body into a bay.
In 1967, Franzese gained a financial interest in a new recording company, Buddha Records. The company became quite successful, recordings hits for acts such as Melanie Safka
Melanie Safka
Melanie Anne Safka-Schekeryk is an American singer-songwriter. Known professionally as simply Melanie, she is best known for her hits "Brand New Key", "Ruby Tuesday" and "Lay Down ".-Early career:...
, the Isley Brothers, and Curtis Mayfield
Curtis Mayfield
Curtis Lee Mayfield was an American soul, R&B, and funk singer, songwriter, and record producer.He is best known for his anthemic music with The Impressions during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's and for composing the soundtrack to the blaxploitation film Super Fly, Mayfield is highly...
. Franzese used Buddha to launder illegal mob earnings and to bribe disc jockies with payola
Payola
Payola, in the American music industry, is the illegal practice of payment or other inducement by record companies for the broadcast of recordings on music radio, in which the song is presented as being part of the normal day's broadcast. Under U.S...
.
Workshop on murder
In later years, Franzese discussed techniques for mob murders with Gaetano "Guy" Fatato, a new Colombo associate. What Franzese did not realize was that Fatato was a government informant and was taping the conversation. Franzese told Fatato:"I killed a lot of guys - you’re not talking about four, five, six, ten."Franzese also told Fatato that he put nail polish
Nail polish
Nail polish, or nail varnish, is a lacquer applied to human fingernails or toenails to decorate and/or protect the nail plate.-History:...
on his fingertips before a murder to avoid leaving fingerprint
Fingerprint
A fingerprint in its narrow sense is an impression left by the friction ridges of a human finger. In a wider use of the term, fingerprints are the traces of an impression from the friction ridges of any part of a human hand. A print from the foot can also leave an impression of friction ridges...
s at the crime scene. Franzese also suggested wearing a hairnet
Hairnet
A hairnet, or sometimes simply a net or caul, is a small, often elasticised, fine net worn over long hair to hold it in place. It is often worn by food service workers to prevent hair from contaminating the food...
during the murder so as to avoid leaving any hair strands at the crime scene that could be DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
analyzed.
Finally, Franzese stressed the importance of properly dealing with the corpse. His procedure was to dismember the corpse in a kiddie pool, dry the severed body parts in a microwave oven
Microwave oven
A microwave oven is a kitchen appliance that heats food by dielectric heating, using microwave radiation to heat polarized molecules within the food...
, and then run the parts through a commercial-grade garbage disposal
Garbage disposal
A garbage disposal unit or waste disposal unit is a device, usually electrically powered, installed under a kitchen sink between the sink's drain and the trap which shreds food waste into pieces small enough—generally less than —to pass through plumbing.Garbage disposal units are widely used in...
. Franzese observed:
"Today, you can’t have a body no more...It’s better to take that half-an-hour, an hour, to get rid of the body than it is to leave the body on the street."
Parole violations
In 1986, after Carmine PersicoCarmine Persico
Carmine John Persico, Jr. also known as "Junior", "The Snake" and "Immortal", has been the de-facto boss of the Colombo crime family since the early 1970s. Persico has overseen gang wars, murders, and major rackets, most of the time from prison. He has been serving life imprisonment without...
was sentenced to 139 years in prison, he created a three-man Ruling Panel to oversee the Colombo family. Persico had planned to place Franzese on this panel, but in August 1986, Franzese was sent back to prison again for another parole violation. In January 1991, after returning to the weakened Colombo crime family, Franzese again violated parole and went to prison for meeting with other organized crime figures. In November 2000, after resuming a top authority in the family, Franzese violated parole again and was sent back to prison in January 2001. Law enforcement had learned about the meeting from Franzese's son, John Franzese, Jr., who had become a government informant.
Indictments
After the 2005 incarceration of John "Jackie" DeRossJohn DeRoss
John J. DeRoss , also known as "Jackie" or "Jackie Zambooka", is the former Underboss in the Colombo crime family.-Capo and control over local 100:John DeRoss is the father of Colombo family mobsters Jack J. DeRoss and Jamie T. DeRoss...
, Franzese became the new underboss. However, in May 2007, Franzese was again returned to prison for a parole violation. In June 2008, Franzese, still incarcerated, was indicted on charges of participating in murders during the Colombo Wars of the early 1990s, stealing fur coats in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
in the mid 1990s, and participating in home invasions by police impersonators in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
in 2006.
On June 4, 2008, Franzese was indicted along with other Colombo mobsters on charges of racketeering conspiracy, robbery, extortion, narcotics trafficking, and loansharking. On December 24, 2008, Franzese was released from the Metropolitan Detention Center
Metropolitan Detention Center
"Metropolitan Detention Centers" are federal detention facilities operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons and located throughout the United States...
in Brooklyn. According to law enforcement, Franzese remains the official underboss of the Colombo family.
On January 14, 2011, the 93-year-old Franzese was sentenced to eight years in prison for extorting Manhattan strip clubs and a pizzeria on New York's Long Island. Franzese is currently incarcerated at Federal Medical Center in Devens, Massachusetts. His scheduled release date is June 25, 2017.
Family
Franzese is married to Cristina Capobianco-Franzese, although the two have separated. He has at least three children: MichaelMichael Franzese
Michael Franzese , is a former New York mobster with the Colombo crime family who was heavily involved in the gasoline tax rackets in the 1980s...
, John, Jr. and Lorraine. Michael Franzese became a Colombo capo (now out of the family) who ran his father's rackets during the 1980's when his father was in prison.
See also
External links
- La Cosa Nostra – State of New Jersey Commission of Investigation 1989 Report- The Colombo/Persico/Orena Family
- Mafia: The Government's Secret File On Organized Crime