Theyre gonna kill you., You know, Sonny said, it wasnt nice what you did., I know, Dad, John replied. This blip of validation was the first in a series of miraculous stuff that graced him. Franzese Sr. is standing trial on charges of shaking down a pair of strip clubs and a pizzeria on Long Island. Gender: The tapes were filled with boasts (Im gonna kill this rat) and bluster (John: He paid me in all 20s, I said, Whattaya fuckin sellin, gas?). Asked to identify his father, John pointed at Sonny: Hes sitting there in the yellow shirt. After summarizing his rise and fall among the Colombos, John said: Im not talking about my father as a man. Im an alcoholic., He found part-time work at a small sober-living home, where he did a little of everything: collecting rent checks, helping new guys settle in. Failed to delete memorial. Henry Hill had flipped on the Luccheses and Sammy the Bull Gravano had turned on John Gotti. That someone would get killed, is that right? Lind asked. But his nerves calmed the instant Michael spotted him and dissolved into tears. The family occupied one of the biggest houses on Shrub Hollow Road; it had a 40-foot-long pool, a putting green, and a museum room filled with art. This fucking guy, John thought. John was a little freaked when he headed to L.A. It was a relationship conducted with degrees of mutual professionalism. My own son turned on me.. Something about one of themhis Yankees cap, the way he sat in his wheelchairdrew John closer to the man, who looked frail and wan. There was a day when that would happen, John replied. He was doing so well that he recorded a Colombo family member named Michael Catapano speaking with Sonny about John officially being sponsoredthe penultimate step toward getting made. John "Sonny" Franzese Sr. is a powerful Italian-American mobster, who is a longtime member of the Colombo crime family. His criminal activities included racketeering, robbery, loansharking, narcotics trafficking, fraud, conspiracy, extortion, alleged rape, and mass murder. John blew her off. QUAGLIARIELLO statesWe want a fucking paycheck every week outta the fucking jointHe owes me over 150 large with vig The CW asked QUAGLIARIELLO how far he should go in an effort to get the club under their control. John Franzese was born in Naples, Italy on 6 February 1917, and his family moved to New York City in the United . It was Galante who was considered the street boss at the time, although the incarcerated Rastelli was the official boss. Quickly see who the memorial is for and when they lived and died and where they are buried. All photos uploaded successfully, click on the Done button to see the photos in the gallery. By signing up you agree to our User Agreement and Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement. She was a good woman. Mug shot of John Franzese taken after his arrest. They didnt put it all together until 2008, when federal prosecutors charged Sonny and 11 confederates with racketeering, conspiracy, robbery, loan-sharking, drug trafficking, and extortion. Sonny didnt realize that Fatato was himself a cooperating witness, wired by the FBI. According to John, the program, run by the U.S. Always did. He was 100, the oldest inmate in the federal prison system, when he made parole. The top spot had been a revolving door since the 1990s, when an intrafamily power struggle known as the Third Colombo War wrought havoc. John "Sonny" Franzese Sr. in the 1960s and at the peak of his powers. I thought Tutti the Lion was Sonny Franzese's father. They sent him to New York with real pills, for the sake of appearance, and stacks of cash that would become the Colombos cut.. John (Sonny) Franzese. He became the new underboss after the incarceration of John "Jackie" DeRoss in 2005. It would have been within reason. Thats when Richard Lind, the lawyer for the Colombo underboss, suggested that the gangsters son, 50-year-old John Franzese Jr., decided to rat on his dad only because authorities were paying for his HIV treatments. The younger Franzese recalled becoming a Colombo bagman by 18, with all the trappings . He was 18 when Sonny magically returned home, having been paroled after just under nine yearsthanks to lax parole codes and God knows what. When the FBI searched Gioeli's house in 2008, among the items they discovered were a photo of Tommy and JoJo in 1972, with broad smiles on their faces in front of a Farmingdale candy store. His death galvanized the siblings; it gave them permission to openly acknowledge the insanity of their shared childhoods. To challenge Sonnys namesake would be to challenge Sonny, and nobody dared do that. The label that recorded hits for artists such as Curtis Mayfield and Melanie Safka, was used by Franzese for bribing disc jockeys with payola and laundering illegal mob earnings. Remove advertising from a memorial by sponsoring it for just $5. By then, he had become the only centenarian in federal custody and the oldest federal prisoner in the US. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate, or jump to a slide with the slide dots. Please ensure you have given Find a Grave permission to access your location in your browser settings. Sonny adopted Michael, Tinas son who was said to be from a previous marriage, but who Michael attests was his biological father. The first snort set him right, and the next ones fueled him for six months. Never in my life have I been so embarrassed, Sonny raged. Finally an SUV whisked John to the Brooklyn Federal Court building. John was the fourth of Sonnys six kids, born in 1960. Sorry guys for the misinformation. Regardless, now he was a motivational speaker and author (Quitting the Mob). But this is how you stop things like this from ever happening., No. Category: Richest Business Criminals. He is about 15 yrs younger and was a Colombo soldier and associate of joey massino. I would have grabbed [Quagliariello] and told him, Look, you motherfucking rat bastard, Sonny replied. Franzese and the former acting boss of the Genovese crime family, Matthew Ianniello, were said to be long-standing partners in the adult entertainment business until the latter was sentenced to 13 years in prison in 1988. After eight years in prison, Sonny Franzese was released on parole in 1978. He said he moved to California in 2004 to straighten out his life after years as living as a junkie. WILLIAM FRANZESE OBITUARY. Tutti the Lion passed away sometime in the late 1950's or early 1960's. Months later, John was back to his old ways. I don't think he was ever above the rank of soldier, but someone might know more about him. He wasnt even allowed to say goodbye to his wife or his mother. The building was constructed in 1910. I think of all the people I called rats and all the ways I hated rats, John says. Join Facebook to connect with Carmine Franzese and others you may know. Drag images here or select from your computer for John Sonny Franzese Sr. memorial. Franzese was accused of murdering low-level New York mobster and hitman Ernest Rupolo, who worked for the Genovese crime family and later turned an informant testifying against the then-capo and future boss Vito Genovese. He was a star even among A-list entertainers (Marilyn Monroe, Sammy Davis Jr.), boxing champs (Jake LaMotta, Rocky Graziano), and mob titans (Albert Anastasia, John Gotti). Shortly thereafter, a cop caught John about to inject cocaine while sitting in a limousine, the first in a series of drug-related arrests. According to Michael, the racket earned him up to $8 million a week. John 'Sonny' Franzese, Sr ., an Italian-American mobster who served as a Colombo crime family underboss and even had his finger in the movie biz . I found on Findagrave.com. A perfect location, he says. Its true, okay? His eyes narrow. The official story continued even after Sonny was convicted in the bank-robberies case. The FBI, in a 1965 report, described him as the most noticeable and burgeoning loan shark in the Greater New York area, who through his shylocking enterprise, was gradually acquiring the night clubs of New York. Franzese worked in the gang run by Joseph Profaci in the late 1930s. Section: 039 | Row: E | Plot: --- Grave(s): 033 to 042, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/207687839/john-franzese. Tutti Franzese did the killing, said Massino. When he landed at a second airport, a marshal handed him $1,000 and led him to another gate, where John boarded a flight to Cleveland, where another marshal handed him $1,000. Nothing matters to me. The Franzese siblings were receptive, up to a point. Sonny was 89 and battling kidney disease and gout. The caller was Rob Lewicki, an FBI agent assigned to New Yorks organized crime unit. . He also launched a foundation for helping the youth. And suites at the Waldorf. "Tutti" Franzese Jr. is actually Carmine Franzese III, he is a grandson of Carmine "Tutti the Lion" Franzese Snr and son of Carmine Franzese Jnr. During the trial, records produced by the prosecution claimed that Franzese had killed around 30 to 50 people. Franzese is survived by two daughters, Maryanne Shinn of Wethersfield, Conn., and Lorraine Scorsone, of Brooklyn, and three sons: Carmine Franzese of the Bronx, Michael of Los Angeles and John Jr. Search Bethpage obituaries and condolences, hosted by Echovita.com. Today. And apart from that, the old man had lucrative stakes in the music industry (Buddah Records) and porn production (Deep Throat). You are only allowed to leave one flower per day for any given memorial. He had a prized mentor in Michael, whose meteoric career trajectory was only partly due to his surname. He meant Anthony Flemmo, an old associate. 15. . The target is the Colombos. They eventually married. In 1986, after Carmine Persico was sentenced to 139 years in prison, he created a 3-man Ruling Panel to oversee the Colombo family. The papers seemed to suggest the real villain here was John, the wayward princeling who had betrayed the last stand-up mafioso. Rats My Boy, read a headline in the New York Post. The dispute became moot in 1986, when Michael became the next Franzese to land in federal prison. But youve always been fuckin crazy. Did Dad kill anyone? John asked. Please enter your email and password to sign in. Include gps location with grave photos where possible. While cruising through Brooklyn, hed point out places where hed done work. He always spoke in code; sometimes he punctuated the message by pantomiming pulling a gun from his waistband. Stay away from us.. He helped run one of Sonnys loan-sharking operations and started shaking down club owners who were selling coke. The trials most excruciating moment came when Lind homed in on the taped conversation in which Sonny acknowledged the Colombos new penalty for those who vouched for rats. based on information from your browser. I walk alone in this loneliness, toward this bright spark, knowing beginnings happen thereTRUST. He was the son of the late Dominick and Carmella Romeo Franzese. To use this feature, use a newer browser. Please try again later. Tina Capobianco was Italian, elegant, and dazzled by Sonny. During their conversation, Franzese said that he had killed several persons and would apply nail polish on his fingertips before the murders, so that his fingerprints were not found at the crime scene. John scanned the liner notes until he found the special-thanks section, which included his name. The feeling, he says. Carmine had 5 siblings: Salvatore Franzese, Margaret Franzese and 3 other siblings. Date of Birth: Oct 27, 1940 - Jun 10, 2002 (61 years old) Place of Birth: The Bronx. Previously sponsored memorials or famous memorials will not have this option. John just picked it up, put it back in his pocket, and kept talking. Get them wrinkles fixed.. Please dont run, Sonny said. Photos larger than 8Mb will be reduced. You only see one way., He explained why he flipped. In 1995, John was arrested for carrying an unlicensed gun. Asked to finger his once-feared father in court, Franzese Jr. a former wiseguy-turned-FBI informant said only, Hes sitting there in the yellow shirt.. It wasnt like in the movies, when they implant a microchip in your ear or hide a bug under your cazzone. Johns permanent relocation site, Columbia, South Carolina, was a bit too My Cousin Vinny. Thanks for using Find a Grave, if you have any feedback we would love to hear from you. And Jesus. In the late 1930s Franzese joined the Profaci crime family (later . John was a desperate mope with no allies and nothing to lose. Johns life was a mess. Hey, Johnny Boy, Lewicki said. Sonny died in February 2020, at age 103. Hed spent nearly a decade on the straight and narrow. But to be a rough-hewn New York paesan in Indianapolis was to draw notice. He eschewed nickel-and-dime scams, landing lucrative (and sometimes legitimate) stakes in construction, car dealerships, unions, and the music industry. Facebook gives people the. Resend Activation Email. By the late 60s, the Franzeses were the most famous family in town. Please complete the captcha to let us know you are a real person. The feds say the nonagenarian wiseguy John (Sonny) Franzese is so well-versed in the art of the modern day mob hit that they want jurors at his upcoming racketeering trial to hear him expound on his style. His transformation thrilled Sonny, who wanted John in the fold. Carmine lived in 1920, at address, New York. John "Sonny" Franzese, Sr. (February 6, 1917 [1] - February 24, 2020) was an Italian - American longtime member and underboss of the Colombo crime family. Failed to report flower. The marriage produced John Jr. and two girls, Gia and Tina. The family is taking it very hard.. John spent about three years stealing his familys jewelry, drinking cologne, and bouncing in and out of rehabs and detox cells. While the federal prison records mention his date of birth as February 6, 1917, according to his son, Michael Franzese, the crime lord was born in 1919. When Michael made a public appearance in Indianapolis in 2016, John was too skittish to attend. Illustration by Quinton McMillan. John chose faith over flight. Wanted them dead. In moments like this, when hes visited by the past, his impish warmth briefly betrays a clenched ferocity that evokes his father. Former Colombo family capo Michael Franzese said this in a VladTV interview when asked about Scarpa's . However, his son Michael Franzese says that his father was actually born in 1919. He said that proper handling of the corpse was important and talked about the procedure he followed. but I don't think he sonny kids cause Michael f gave a million interviews and mentions everyone but him, including his mom dad sister brother with the hiv ect. Excerpt from Born To The Mob by former Mob Associate Frank Saggio: "There was a meeting down in Marilou's. Sonny Franzese went down there to see them [music executives] over some business. He should plead guilty and give his son a break, she shouted at him. View Carmine Franzese results including current phone number, address, relatives, background check report, and property record with Whitepages. The Lupertazzi Family was founded by Carmine's father, Giovanni Lupertazzi. Youre given a gift here, Darryl said. Minutes earlier, hed been working the room in his particular way, greeting waiters by name and ordering off-menuthe anchovies with garlic and tomatoes for himself, the carbonara for his guestwhile a Buddy Greco song played in the background.