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Former mob boss finds God in prison, walks away from 'evil lifestyle': 'My faith is rock solid'
As a child, Michael Franzese suspected his father was in the mafia.
“My dad took me and my mom one day to my grandmother’s house on Long Island,” the Brooklyn native recalled to Fox News Digital. “I was probably four or five years old at that point. We hadn’t seen him for a couple of days. . . . He was unshaven. My dad had a very heavy beard. His right-hand guy, who I called Uncle Joey, was out on the porch. He was sitting on the steps, watching like a guard.”
“My dad came in and hugged my mom,” the 73-year-old shared. “He talked to her for a minute, then came over and hugged me… and then he left. It was strange to me. Nobody explained anything to me. But it turned out the family was at war. My dad couldn’t stay home. He was so high-profile that he couldn’t escape it. He was always getting arrested, always getting indicted. We had law enforcement around us all the time. I experienced it in school, I experienced it everywhere. It was my whole life.”
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Former New York Mafia boss Michael Franzese is sharing his experience in the docuseries “American Godfathers: The Five Families.” (Max Mason-Hubers / Newspix via Getty Images)
Franzese, who would go on to follow in his father’s treacherous footsteps as a mob boss, is now speaking out in a new docuseries premiering on The History Channel, “American Godfathers: The Five Families.” The special, executive produced and narrated by “Sopranos” star Michael Imperioli, explores the rise and fall of New York City’s five mafia families.
“American Godfathers: The Five Families” is executive produced and narrated by “Sopranos” star Michael Imperioli. (Getty Images)
Franzese is the author of several books, including “Blood Covenant.”
“It’s not a romantic life,” said Franzese. “It’s a bad life. I even say it’s an evil lifestyle, because families are destroyed. . . . My own family was destroyed.”
John “Sonny” Franzese hobnobbed with Frank Sinatra and befriended Marilyn Monroe. (Bob Koller/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)
Franzese’s father, John “Sonny” Franzese, was the former underboss of the Colombo Crime Family. The renowned tough guy was a big spender who hobnobbed with Frank Sinatra and befriended Marilyn Monroe before a bank robbery conviction later made him the nation’s oldest federal inmate.
Christina “Tina” Franzese walks out of a grand jury witness room at U.S. District Court in Brooklyn on Nov. 28, 1973, holding audio tapes. Her son, Michael Franzese (light pants), walks behind his mother carrying a tape recorder. Grand jury witness and auto salesman Jerome Zimmerman of East Meadow follows behind. The three appeared to testify in the John “Sonny” Franzese case. (Jim Nightingale/Newsday RM via Getty Images)
Franzese had big dreams of being a doctor, but the seductive life of crime came calling. He was a pre-med student at Hofstra University when he made an offer the patriarch couldn’t refuse.
“My dad got a 50-year prison sentence for allegedly masterminding a nationwide string of bank robberies,” Franzese explained. “. . . It was a turning point for me. My dad’s 50 years old. If he doesn’t get out, he’s going to die in prison. I felt an obligation to help him out.”
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Organized crime figure John “Sonny” Franzese being brought into Brooklyn Federal Court in New York after being picked up by FBI agents on April 12, 1966. (Dick Kraus/Newsday RM via Getty Images)
“I finally said, ‘Dad, I’m not going to school. I’m going to help you. You’re going to die in prison,’” Franzese reflected. “That’s when he said to me, ‘If you’re going to be on the street, I want you on the street the right way.’”
Franzese was 21 when he joined “the life.” On Halloween night 1975, Franzese became a “made man.”
Michael Franzese (right, seen here with his father) became a “made man” on Halloween night, 1975. (Courtesy of Michael Franzese)
During his initiation ceremony, the 24-year-old’s finger was cut with a knife. He cupped his hands, and a photo of a saint rested on his palms. The picture was lit on fire. As it burned, Franzese was told, “Tonight, you are born again into a new life. Betray your brothers, and you’ll die and burn in hell like the saint is burning in your hands.”
Once Michael Franzese was initiated, he was in charge of 300 soldiers. (Courtesy of Michael Franzese)
Franzese immediately went to work. He became in charge of 300 soldiers, Esquire reported. According to the outlet, he primarily focused on tax scams. As the “Yuppie Don,” Franzese claimed he generated $5 million to $8 million a week at the height of his mafia career.
Sonny Franzese and his wife Tina are seen here leaving their son’s hearing in New York, circa 1985. (Newsday file/Newsday RM via Getty Images)
“I had my first million within two years of being a made man,” Franzese explained. “I made a significant amount of money throughout the latter part of my 20s and into my early 30s. I was quick. I was fortunate. I knew how to use that life to benefit me. I had a lot of success. I wanted to prove myself and be a good provider for my family.”
“I had my own jet plane,” he said. “I had a helicopter. I had a house in Florida, New York and California. I had my own racquetball court. And I had 300 guys under me, ready to do anything I’d tell them to do.”
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Michael Franzese, seen here in 1985, was called the “Yuppie Don” and “The Mafia Prince” by the press. (Jim Cummins/Newsday RM via Getty Images)
According to reports, Franzese made millions masterminding a gasoline tax swindle. As the “Mafia Prince,” he was “one of the highest earners the mob had seen since Al Capone.” He was also featured in Fortune Magazine’s list of the “Fifty Most Wealthy and Powerful Mafia Bosses.”
Michael Franzese (left) is seen here arriving at the District Federal Courthouse in Uniondale, Long Island. (Dennis Caruso/NY Daily News via Getty Images)
“I was so indoctrinated into the life,” Franzese admitted. “It’s not something you ever think of walking away from. I never even gave that a thought. But I became a major target. I was arrested 18 times. I had seven indictments. I had five trials that I went to. I was a constant target of law enforcement.”
In 1984, he fell in love with Camille Garcia, a dancer from California. He began to question his future with the mob.
Michael Franzese fell in love in 1984. From that point on, he began questioning his role within the mafia. (Courtesy of Michael Franzese)
“I knew the life was bad,” he said. “My mother spent 33 years without a husband. When she passed away in 2012, I can only say her relationship with my dad was ugly, because she blamed him for everything that went wrong in her life. My sister died of an overdose at 27. My older brother was a drug addict for 25 years. My other sister wasn’t mentally stable. She passed away at 40.”
Michael Franzese and Camille Garcia married in 1985. (Angela Weiss/WireImage/Getty Images)
“So here I am, falling in love with this girl,” he said. “I said to myself, ‘What am I going to do, marry her and put her through the same thing? I’m a target. I’m going to end up dead or in jail. My family was a warring family. Why am I going to do this to her?’”
In 1985, Franzese and Garcia married. That same year, he was charged in both Florida and New York in connection with his gasoline tax swindle. He pleaded guilty to one count of racketeering conspiracy and one count of tax conspiracy. Franzese was sentenced to 10 years in prison, but released on parole after nearly four years. He was sent back to federal prison for four more years for violating his probation.
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Michael Franzese’s mugshot from 1993. (Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Department/Getty Images)
During his time behind bars, a prison guard handed a frustrated Franzese a Bible. It made a difference.
Between 1991 and 1994, Franzese turned to a different kind of life.
Michael Franceze was portrayed by Joseph Bono in the Martin Scorsese film “Goodfellas,” which starred Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, Paul Sorvino and Joe Pesci. (Dirck Halstead/Getty Images)
“My wife is a strong Christian,” he explained. “My mother-in-law was a very strong Christian . . . I read that Bible inside and out . . . I came to the conclusion that Christianity was true and real. The church that married my wife and me, the pastor, and all the people there rallied behind her and my babies at the time. They sent me books to prison. They were just very good to my family. It gave me something new to believe in. It gave me hope.”
Franzese walked away from the mob for good in 1995. Today, he’s a born-again Christian.
Today, Michael Franzese, a published author, gives talks across the globe about his past. (Jerritt Clark/WireImage/Getty Images)
“The bottom line is I believe in Christianity – 100%,” he said. “I’m not the best Christian, but my faith is rock-solid. Nobody can change that for me.”
John “Sonny” Franzese’s mugshot, circa 1990. (Bureau of Prisons/Getty Images)
“It was difficult,” he shared. “I took an oath. I didn’t want to disappoint my dad. But I chose her, my wife. I put this whole plan together to walk away without hurting anybody. I didn’t want to join the government. I didn’t want to enter a witness-protection program. So I had a very difficult path to walk on without hurting my former friends. I also had to convince the government I was out of the life. People got mad at me and put a contract on my life. My father practically disowned me. Feds were all over me. They wanted to make a major witness out of me. . . .But we got through it.”
Franzese stressed that he “didn’t put anybody in prison.” He also made few enemies during his reign. But for 10 years, he and his father were estranged.
Sonny Franzese died in 2020. He was 103. (Jeffrey Basinger/Newsday via Getty Images)
“I kept sending him messages, saying, ‘Dad, I’m not going to hurt anybody. Don’t even listen to what the feds are saying,’” said Franzese. “But everybody says that . . . and they end up on trial testifying. It took about 10 years until he realized, ‘He’s not hurting anybody.’”
Franzese and his family moved to California to evade death threats, Esquire reported. He never went to the same restaurant twice, didn’t put his home or utilities under his name and avoided nightclubs. In time, he “outlasted everyone.”
“Everybody I know is dead or in prison,” said Franzese. “Mostly dead now.”
Michael Franzese is seen here with his family in Los Angeles. (Kyle Espeleta/FilmMagic/Getty Images)
Today, Franzese has many regrets. But carving a new path for himself isn’t one of them.
“There are things I did or witnessed, saw – I wish they never happened,” he said. “I lost friends, close friends. I regret that my dad and I had a little bit of a falling out . . . it was never the same.
“There are a lot of regrets, but it was part of what we believed in. It doesn’t mean that every guy in this life was horrible. There were a lot of good guys. . . . We felt we were doing good things at that point. We took an oath and felt it was honorable. We thought it was respectable, but our minds were not.”
The History Channel’s “American Godfathers: The Five Families” premieres Aug. 11 at 8 p.m.
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Virginia prosecutor’s record on violent offenders scrutinized after illegal immigrant charged in mom’s murder
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A prosecutor in Virginia is facing criticism after a Fairfax County Police Department officer warned the county’s commonwealth attorney about a criminal illegal immigrant who has racked up over 30 arrests before allegedly killing a mother.
Abdul Jalloh, 32, was charged with second-degree murder after he allegedly stabbed a mother to death while at a bus stop in Fairfax County, Virginia, on Feb. 23. Fairfax County Commonwealth Attorney Steve Descano’s office, however, was warned several times about how dangerous Jalloh is, and dismissed many of his previous criminal charges.
Jalloh’s case is far from the only controversial actions by Descano’s office, which even includes a plea deal with a murder suspect that allows him the chance at freedom.
POLICE WARNED PROSECUTORS 3 TIMES ABOUT VIOLENT ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT BEFORE HE ALLEGEDLY KILLED VIRGINIA MOTHER
Here’s a list of controversial cases handled by Descano’s office:
Abdul Jalloh
Abdul Jalloh, 32, is accused of killing Stephanie Minter, 41, at a Virginia bus stop. (Fox 5 DC)
Jalloh, 32, was charged with second-degree murder after he allegedly stabbed a mother to death while at a bus stop in Fairfax County, Virginia, on Feb. 23. The victim, 41-year-old Stephanie Minter, was found dead with multiple stab wounds to her upper body, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Jalloh has a violent rapsheet dating back to 2014 and includes over 30 arrests with several charges dismissed by Descano’s office.
Jalloh was arrested the next day while he was allegedly trying to steal from a liquor store when an employee called 911. Officials said Jalloh came to the U.S. illegally in 2012 from Sierra Leone under the Obama administration.
United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement lodged a detainer on Jalloh in 2020, and he was later issued a final order of removal allowing him to be deported to any country other than Sierra Leone. Despite that order, he was not deported.
A police major for the Fairfax County Police Department even warned Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano about Jalloh on at least three separate occasions, according to emails obtained by WJLA.
In one email to Fairfax County Chief Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Jenna Sands, the police major said Jalloh “is one of the repeat (and violent) offenders” that they had discussed before.
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Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano speaking at an event. (Sarah Voisin/Getty Images)
“I wanted to get your background on why he is out so soon and ask if his prior suspended sentence (of I believe 5 years) was pursued by your office? Unfortunately, based on MTV Station’s numerous dealings with him, it is not a question of if, but rather when he will maliciously wound (or worse) again. My role of keeping the public safe, prompts me to follow up on his status,” the major wrote.
A Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the office “was aware of Jalloh’s criminal history and shared police concerns about potential future dangerousness. That is why our Chief Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney personally handled these cases.”
The spokesperson added that prosecutors “will often explore many different pathways to successful prosecution, but, at the end of the day, our decisions are constrained by what testimony is available and what is legally permissible and practicable in Fairfax courts.”
Joshua Danehower
In 2022, Joshua Danehower was arrested for the murder of Gret Glyer. (Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office)
In 2022, Danehower was charged with Gret Glyer’s murder. According to WUSA 9, Glyer, who owned the donation platform DonorSee, was shot 10 times as he slept next to his wife on June 24, 2022.
Prosecutors alleged Danehower killed Glyer because of an obsession with his wife. The suspect allegedly became fixated with her after a church function, and according to her family, the two had gone on a date about a decade ago.
Danehower was given a plea deal by Descano’s office, which found him not guilty by reason of insanity in February.
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Virginia law requires Danehower to be sent to a psychiatric hospital, where his status will be evaluated on an annual basis for the next five years, then every two years afterward. If he’s deemed no longer a threat to himself or others, he’d have an opportunity to be released from the psychiatric hospital.
Heather Glyer, the victim’s wife, said while on the witness stand, “I was robbed of my life partner.”
“My kids were robbed of their father,” she added.
Wilmer Osmany Ramos-Giron
Wilmer Osmany Ramos-Giron pleaded guilty to lesser charges. (DHS)
In January 2025, according to a report by former Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares, Ramos-Giron, an illegal immigrant from Guatemala, choked his ex-wife during an argument and pulled out a knife.
He was charged with felony abduction by force, felony strangulation, and misdemeanor assault and battery against a family member after the incident, but Descano’s office allowed him to plead to lesser charges of misdemeanor battery and brandishing a bladed weapon.
In a statement released by Fairfax Commonwealth’s Attorney Deputy Chief of Staff and Public Information Officer Laura Birnbaum, according to the report, the plea agreement “achieved the outcomes that the victim wanted.”
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However, when the victim spoke with 7News, she refuted Birnbaum’s statement, saying she didn’t agree to the plea deal.
“He’s dangerous,” she said, fearing another violent incident would happen.
“If I die, who is going to take care of them?” the victim asked, referring to her children.
Ronnie Reel
Ronnie Reel accepted a plea deal by Fairfax county prosecutors. (Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office)
In July 2021, Reel was arrested on charges of sexual penetration, forcible sodomy and aggravated sexual battery against a minor, according to the Fairfax County Times.
During Reel’s trial on Sept. 13, 2022, Chief Judge of the Fairfax County Circuit Court Penney Azcarate ruled that the Fairfax County Commonwealth Attorney’s office had missed an evidentiary deadline, meaning confessions, including a call from Reel to a defendant’s mother where he allegedly confessed, as well as other evidence and witnesses couldn’t be used in court.
According to the outlet, that meant the case would rely on the victim’s testimony entirely.
As a result, Reel was offered a plea deal and pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault and battery and was sentenced to one year in prison, but was released on time served. He also wasn’t required to register as a sex offender, according to FOX 5.
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The mother, who asked to be identified as Amber, told FOX 5 the case has had a big impact on her son.
“I was really upset. This is my child, this is my baby,” she said while crying. “And he got no justice. So he continues to see me cry and everything. He held his own, he stayed strong. He’s always trying to be strong for mom.”
“He was confessing every little detail that he did, and it was making me sick to my stomach,” she added. “It was horrible. He literally confessed to me why he did it.”
Fox News Digital’s Alexandra Koch contributed to this report.
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Immigration enforcement is a core federal power. Under Article I of the Constitution, Congress has the duty to write our federal immigration laws. Under Article II, the President has the duty to enforce them. States cannot meddle and certainly not obstruct. Unfortunately, many Democrat states, especially Virginia, are on a deadly collision course with the federal government.
American voters gave President Trump and the Republican-led Congress a broad electoral mandate to reverse the disaster the Biden-Harris border policy caused in every state in America by mass importing as many as 20 million illegal aliens, including the worst of the worst around the world.
Activist judges and other Democrat politicians and election deniers have done everything they can fathom to thwart Trump’s constitutional duty to expel these dangerous illegal aliens.
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The latest example is Virginia, which is passing a series of unconstitutional laws that would dangerously and illegally obstruct ICE. These proposals include criminal penalties, meaning that state law enforcement would attempt to arrest and jail ICE agents for simply doing their jobs.
This effort is seditious, insurrectionist, extremely dangerous and blatantly unconstitutional. For the sake of the Republic, the Justice Department must immediately and aggressively quell this Virginia seditious conspiracy.
Virginia Gov. Abigail Davis Spanberger laughs aloud during a ceremony in a Virginia court in Richmond. (Mike Kropf-Pool/Getty Images)
Fairfax County District Attorney Steve Descano is the Soros puppet Democrat prosecutor in the DC suburb, an uber-wealthy Democrat enclave that is an albatross around Virginia’s neck. Abdul Jalloh is an illegal alien who invaded our country in 2012. Jalloh settled in Virginia and began wreaking havoc on the good citizens there, racking up a whopping 30 arrests. These included one for rape and four charges for stabbing Americans.
Yet, thanks to the willful ineptitude of Fairfax County’s Democrat regime, Jalloh only had one felony conviction. He violated his probation, spent three months in jail and went free because of a deal between his lawyer and Descano’s office. Sanctuary jurisdictions like Fairfax County do not notify ICE when detaining or releasing illegals like Jalloh, who had a final order of removal from 2020.
Police in Fairfax repeatedly warned Descano’s office via email that Jalloh’s release would endanger the public, but the pleas fell on deaf ears. Earlier this week, Jalloh allegedly stabbed to death 41-year-old innocent mother Stephanie Minter at a bus stop.
Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger ran as a moderate Democrat. But after her inauguration this year, she immediately showed her true leftist colors. She issued an order prohibiting cooperation between state officials and ICE.
Several anti-ICE bills await Spanberger’s signature: (1) a prohibition against ICE arrests at courthouses (where these alleged dangerous criminal illegals visit daily); (2) a prohibition against ICE arrests within 40 feet of polling places (where illegals violate federal criminal laws by voting); and (3) criminal penalties for ICE agents who wear masks (because they don’t want to get doxxed and killed).
Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano (Sarah Voisin/Getty Images)
If Spanberger signs these unconstitutional state laws, the Trump Justice Department should immediately sue and seek to enjoin them in court. A Virginia federal judge should issue an injunction, following the lead of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, which fully stayed California’s unconstitutional prohibition against ICE agents’ use of masks.
But civil enforcement is not enough. Virginia Democrat officials plotting to arrest ICE agents for doing their jobs (seditious conspiracy under 18 U.S.C. § 2384) — and especially those who cause the arrests (insurrection under 18 U.S.C. § 2383, assault, kidnapping, harboring, conspiracy, and more) — must go to federal prison for their serious federal felonies. If anyone gets killed in a deadly standoff between these new Virginia confederates and ICE, these Virginia Democrat officials must face felony murder charges.
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Former President Biden and his missing-in-action border czar Kamala Harris allowed millions of illegal immigrants, including the most violent and dangerous criminals in the world, to pour across our borders. Trump is doing everything in his power to fulfill his broad electoral mandate and undo the damage by arresting and deporting these illegals.
Virginia’s proposed laws do not merely prohibit communication between state officials and ICE; rather, they criminalize federal law enforcement actions that are plainly within the scope of federal immigration enforcement power.
Abdul Jalloh has racked up over 30 arrests since entering the U.S., according to officials. (DHS)
States do not have to help ICE by, for instance, providing law enforcement resources to assist in ICE apprehensions of illegals. But states certainly cannot subvert or obstruct these federal efforts. This is especially true of Virginia’s attempt to arrest ICE agents in the line of duty, which could justify their use of deadly force.
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Virginia’s attempt to subvert and obstruct federal law must fail. We fought the Civil War because the Confederacy, headquartered in Virginia, sought to nullify federal law with respect to slavery. Today’s Virginia Democrats are reverting to their confederate roots.
Just as the federal government did during the Civil War and for a century after when segregationist states continued their efforts to nullify federal law, the federal government now must stand strong against Virginia’s sedition and insurrection. The Supremacy Clause of the Constitution makes plain that federal law is supreme in areas where the federal government has authority.
If Virginia gets away with effectively nullifying federal immigration enforcement, other states can nullify any other federal law that it finds distasteful. Let’s hope Abigail Spanberger comes to her senses and vetoes this insanity. If she does not, the federal government must use all tools at its disposal, including the Insurrection Act of 1807 and other federal criminal statutes, to preserve federal law.
Virginia state officials must go to federal prison for engaging in seditious conspiracy, insurrections and other very serious federal felonies. Anything less would threaten the existence of the Republic.
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South Carolina pastor describes evacuating members from Middle East after war broke out during Israel trip
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SUMMERVILLE, S.C. – Dozens of members of a South Carolina church are finally back in the United States after Operation Epic Fury left them stranded in Israel for nearly a week after their flight was supposed to depart.
Forty members of Calvary Chapel Summerville landed in Israel on Feb. 20 for eight days of exploration in the Holy Land.
The group was set to fly home on Feb. 28 and had arrived at the airport three hours before their scheduled departure when the U.S. and Israel launched airstrikes on Iran. The attack prompted the closure of Israel’s airspace and the group had to evacuate the airport.
“It felt like the weight of the world on my shoulders and I just prayed and prayed and prayed and asked God to give me wisdom,” said Vic Carroll, pastor at Calvary Chapel Summerville in South Carolina.
TRAVELERS STRANDED IN DUBAI PAYING HUGE SUMS TO FLEE ON PRIVATE CHARTER FLIGHTS AMID OPERATION EPIC FURY
Members of Calvary Chapel Summerville visit Al-Khazneh in Petra. (Melanie Carroll)
Carroll said the group had to shelter-in-place in Israel, going in and out of bomb shelters for several days. He then had to face the decision of the group staying or taking a bus to Jordan to have a shot at getting a flight back to the United States.
“We ultimately, you know, made the decision between what was bad and what was worse. I thought the worst would be to stay,” the pastor said.
“We were instructed that if a siren goes off while we were on the road, the bus would pull over, we would all need to get on the ground, lay on the ground face-down for at least 10 minutes until the threat was gone, and then be on our way,” he continued.
STATE DEPARTMENT USES PATRIOTS TEAM PLANE TO EVACUATE AMERICANS FROM MIDDLE EAST
The members of Calvary Chapel Summerville sightseeing in the Holy Land. (Melanie Carroll)
Fortunately, that did not happen and the group made it to the airport in Jordan to hop on a flight out of the Middle East Thursday morning.
Before the flight, Carroll said it was frightening, but their faith was greater than their fear.
“We’re just having to trust that we’re making the right decision, and this is our only option to get home, so we [were] just trusting in God,” he said.
AMERICAN STUCK IN MIDDLE EAST ESCAPES IN RACE TO REACH CRITICALLY ILL HUSBAND IN CALIFORNIA
The group returned to the U.S. on Thursday night, landing at JFK in New York.
Melanie Carroll, the pastor’s wife, texted, “We are so thankful!!!!! It’s surreal!!”
Melanie and Vic Carroll while visiting The Holy Land. (Kailey Schuyler)
The unexpected extension of the trip caused the price tag to increase significantly. Melanie created a GoFundMe, writing, “The path to get us home between lodging, flights and transfers will be upwards of $2500 per person.”
The group was able to raise their goal of $100,000 in less than three days.
Melanie said the group is continuing to pray for everyone trying to get out of the Middle East.
Nearly 24,000 Americans have returned to the U.S. after fleeing the Middle East since Operation Epic Fury began last week, according to the State Department.
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