Despite spending 50 years behind bars, Frank Franzese, now living in a nursing home at the age of 102 and bound to a wheelchair, always abided by the Goodfellas’ adage of never ratting out his friends and keeping his mouth shut when it came to talking about his life of crime, as he revealed to Newsday.
Franzese maintained, ‘They urged me to engage in criminal activities continuously.’ ‘However, I couldn’t comply with their request due to my moral values.’ ‘I could never betray a person because I was familiar with the consequences of imprisonment.’ ‘I wouldn’t subject even an animal to confinement in a correctional facility.’
Comparing it to divinity, Franzese proudly boasted to the publication that “nobody in the past” had accomplished as much, speaking publicly for the first time since his release in June 2017.
“Jesus suffered,” he said. “He didn’t squeal on nobody.”.Output: “Jesus endured,” he stated. “He didn’t betray anyone.”
In his refusal to cooperate, Franzese, a tough guy who was also known as John Gotti’s late rat, gained attention from other mob bosses, showcasing his commitment at a young age.
Once admitted, the deceased Bernard Welsh, an FBI agent who apprehended Franzese for violating his parole, “He commanded a great deal of reverence due to his extensive incarceration period and his steadfast loyalty to never betraying anyone.”
None of them were murdered, even though two of his sons who became informants, Franzese’s dedication was so strong that he allegedly supported orders to eliminate them.
At the age of 93, John Jr., Who was 58 years old, even went undercover and provided testimony against the Colombos and his own father, resulting in his father being sent back to prison.
“I have no knowledge of what happened to him,” the elderly mobster told Newsday regarding his son who entered the federal witness protection program.
“Perhaps the multitude of drugs he consumed. Messed up his mental state.
“Listen, it shattered my heart. He would be the final person I imagined would do that. But he performed it.”
In the 1960s, there were rumors of a potential new leader emerging in the Colombo crime family – Franzese, who currently relies on a pacemaker, hearing aids, and is recovering from a broken hip.
He was linked to multimillion-dollar extortion and loan sharking rackets, caught on tape seemingly alluding to multiple murders. He claimed to have committed them, and law enforcement was committed to catching him.
Allegedly, in December 2006, a mob associate secretly recorded a conversation in which he said, “I killed a lot of guys, not talking about four, five, six, ten…”.
Franzese did not appear timid in his interview regarding his involvement in the mafia.
“What we accomplished in New York is incredible,” he informed Newsday.
“I wasn’t a person who was scared, you know. Don’t forget, I battled everyone.
“I confessed that I was a skilled soldier.”
He was also proud of the well-known personalities who became companions.
“I was familiar with each of them,” he stated when questioned about The Rat Pack, Dionne Warwick, and Frank Sinatra.
“You posed the question incorrectly. You should have inquired, ‘Was Frank Sinatra acquainted with Sonny Franzese?'”
A batch of charges, including conspiracy and homicide, were insisted upon by one of the hitman-eyed individuals from Long Island in the 1960s.
“There is no doubt about it,” he informed Newsday.
He beat all the cases but for conspiracy to rob banks across the country and was sentenced to 50 years in prison.
“It never occurred,” Franzese insisted to Newsday. “It isn’t fair for something I had never done.
“I would have to be a crazy person to steal from banks.”
He was incarcerated in Easter 1970 promising “to serve the entire sentence” because “I didn’t want to betray anyone.”
By consorting with fellow gangsters, he consistently breached his parole by going back to prison on five separate occasions following his release in 1978.
He was sentenced to an additional eight years in 2010, following his conviction for blackmailing establishments such as the Hustler and Penthouse strip clubs in Manhattan, with some evidence provided by his son John Jr.’S recordings. He was 93 years old at the time.
Despite having spent over a third of his life in prison, he maintains, “I despise every aspect of it.”
He declared, “I have never harmed anyone who was innocent,” referring to the prosecutors and judges who sentenced him to prison, and added, “I will confront them in hell.”