The brothers have also been seeking reduced sentences after spending more than 30 years in prison, and their family has been backing them up. Lyle was 21 at the time of his parents’ murders, and Erik was 18. 

“They’ve done 30 some odd years in prison. You know, they’re in their 50s now. You know, I think they deserve a break,” Franzese, a former member of the Columbo crime family, said. “They’ve been model prisoners from everything that I’ve understood. They’re married. Erik has a child, a daughter. I think they’ve done enough time. And I think there’s more. This is more of a manslaughter conviction than anything else.” 

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“I think they deserve a break,” he added later on. 

Franzese’s cell at the Los Angeles County jail was located next to Lyle’s in solitary confinement, he said. Their cells were barred off, but they could speak to each other and “even see each other quite a bit” due to mirrors in the walkway between cells, he said.

MENENDEZ BROTHERS, CONVICTED OF KILLING PARENTS, DEFENDED BY RELATIVES AS THEY FIGHT FOR FREEDOM

The Menendez brothers detailed some of the alleged abuse endured from his father to Franzese, who empathized with the young convicts. 

“I think the boys were trapped in their own minds.”

— Michael Franzese

“I said, why didn’t you go and tell your family? And they said, ‘Well, my dad ruled the family, and he would find out that we told him that, and then I’d really be in trouble. God knows what he would do. It’d be worse,” Franzese recalled. “And I said, what about law enforcement? . . . I was giving them all the alternatives to doing what they did. And they said, ‘No, you don’t know. My dad is a very powerful guy. He’s got very powerful friends, and we were just afraid to go to anybody. We had to endure it.’”

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The former mob boss emphasized that the abuse does not justify murder, but he does believe manslaughter charges should have been on the table for the brothers rather than first-degree murder, and their abuse allegations should have played a larger role in court proceedings.

“The boys expressed to me that they loved their dad. Their Dad was their hero. They didn’t even know what they were going to do without their dad even after all of this happened,” Franzese said to emphasize how conflicted the brothers felt about their actions and convictions.

MENENDEZ BROTHERS, CONVICTED OF KILLING PARENTS, DEFENDED BY RELATIVES AS THEY FIGHT FOR FREEDOM

The brothers’ attorneys have argued that they should have been convicted of manslaughter rather than murder, in which case, they already would have been released from prison.

“The Menendez Brothers” premiered on Oct. 7. The film’s creators promised to “offer another perspective — that of the brothers themselves, provided in all-new audio interviews,” according to a press release. It also details the brothers’ allegations that their father had sexually assaulted them.