If Franzese was in the Colombo crime family today where would he be in status and rank?

1. Pretty high up in the hierarchy
2. In jail
3. Dead

Also who's side would he have taken in the Orena war?

He would've sided with the Persicos during the war. Contrary to popular belief, his father did not support the Orena faction.

As much as I hate to admit it, he probably would've become acting boss at some point. Both Junior and Allie Boy liked him and trusted him. He also had the backing of his dad. I don't think he would've been a popular boss, but the problem with the Colombos is that they really don't have many people to choose from. It's a sad and almost laughable group.

Greenwood cemetary

So true!

Good question! I think about this everytime I see him in an interview. He def wouldn't have found God! IF he made it through the Orena wars, and thats a big IF, he would've flipped by now in order to save some of the millions he made off of the gas...

Michael Franzese was a yuppie not a killer. If he would survive to the persico orena war for sure Carmine sessa would flip on him and for sure if the fear of being whacked or to get life we would flips like his brother
The only tought guy is his dad.

Furio, Franzese ratted. You're Right his father was the only tough guy in that family.

I dont think so,his brother ratted on their father not him;he find god (maybe after that in a meeting for money some wiseguys want to kill him and Sonny didn't try to save his son ?) and left the life.

Read this Furio:
Archives
Crime Figure Testifies to Link With Sports Agent
By STEVE FIFFER, Special to the New York Times
Published: March 15, 1989


In a case involving Federal racketeering charges against sports agents, a jury heard testimony today from a man who described himself as a member of the Colombo crime family and said he was a silent partner in the sports-agency business of Norby Walters.

Mr. Walters and Lloyd Bloom, another agent, are standing trial on racketeering and mail-fraud charges in connection with representation of several athletes who were signed to contracts before their college eligibility expired.

The Government, in a case expected to provide a window onto abuses of big-time sports in higher education, contends that the signings and the loaning of money to the athletes by Mr. Walters and Mr. Bloom rendered the athletes ineligible and thus defrauded several universities of the scholarships they had awarded the athletes.

Today's witness in the case, where the charges are similar to those applied to Wall Street wheeling and dealing and to organized crime, was Michael Franzese, who said he was a captain in the Colombo organization.


Testifying under a grant of immunity before a packed courtroom, the dapper Mr. Franzese, who is serving a 10-year Federal sentence on racketeering and tax-evasion charges and a concurrent nine-year Florida sentence for racketeering, said that as a silent partner, he pressured no athletes for Mr. Walters, who is a lifelong friends. He explained that he and Mr. Walters had long been associated in the music business, in which Mr. Walters was a prominent booking agent, with such clients as the singer Dionne Warwick.

Mr. Franzese, who is 37 years old, indicated that his father, John (Sonny) Franzese, who is also reputed to be a member of the Colombo crime family and has also served time in prison, was also one of Mr. Walters's associates in the music business.

Under questioning by the prosecutor, Anton Valukas, Mr. Franzese said sitated that in late 1984, he met Mr. Walters, at the agent's request, in the Polo Lounge at the Beverly Hills Hotel in California.

At that time, Mr. Franzese said, Mr. Walters indicated that he wanted to duplicate his success in representing black entertainers by representing top black college athletes when they entered the National Football League.

''He asked me to participate in some way, and I told him I'd be interested,'' Mr. Franzese said. 'Using Cash'

The two met again early in 1985, at Mr. Walters's Manhattan office, and at that time, Mr. Franzese said, Mr. Walters told Mr. Franzese ''he would be using cash to sign athletes.'' Mr. Franzese said he agreed to provide Mr. Walters $50,000 in return for a 25 percent interest in the new sports agency.

At a third meeting, in July 1985, Mr. Franzese said, his brother-in-law, Dino Garcia, handed Mr. Walters a brown paper bag containing $50,000 in cash, in Mr. Franzese's presence. The money was from Mr. Franzese, who explained to the court that because of the nature of his business, he did not like to carry money himself.

Mr. Franzese said his role in the agency was not to be limited to that of investor. ''I was to continue to perform the same services I always provided for him,'' Mr. Franzese said, referring to Mr. Walters.

Those duties, in light of Mr. Franzese's testimony, apparently included trying to persuade recalcitrant business associates and would-be business associates of Mr. Walters to agree to the agent's business propositions.

Mr. Franzese testified that on several occasions he paid calls to such associates with Mr. Walters, and that he believed these individuals knew of his organized-crime ties. In 1981, when the singer Michael Jackson and his brothers were considering a national tour, Mr. Franzese, at Mr. Walters's request, talked to the Jacksons' manager.

''I explained that if Norby wasn't involved with the tour in some manner, then there might not be a tour,'' Mr. Franzese said. The tour eventually proceeded without the agent's involvement.

Mr. Franzese was apparently more successful in 1982 in representing Mr. Walters's interests to Ms. Warwick's manager. The manager had indicated his desire to terminate Mr. Walters as the singer's booking agent, but after Mr. Franzese spoke on the agent's behalf, Mr. Walters continued in his role.

Under cross-examination by attorneys for Mr. Walters and Mr. Bloom, Mr. Franzese, who was indicted in 1985 on 14 counts including racketeering, counterfeiting, extortion and tax evasion and pleaded guilty to two of the counts in 1986, said that he never exerted pressure on any of the athletes with whom the agents had been dealing.

The Government contends that while Mr. Franzese might not have had direct contact with the athletes, Mr. Walters invoked Mr. Franzese's name in threatening the athletes when they indicated they wished to terminate their agreements with the agents.

Under cross-examination by Mr. Walters's attorney, Robert Gold, who tried to challenge Mr. Franzese's credibility, Mr. Franzese admitted that he became a Federal informer in February 1986 and that his sentencing in connection with the charges for which he pleaded guilty was contingent upon his cooperation with the Government in several investigations.

He stated that he had informed the Government of meetings at which Carmine Persico and top leaders of New York's five organized-crime families discussed taking retaliatory measures against Federal agents.

Mr. Franzese admitted to Mr. Gold that he lied at a Federal detention hearing and also lied in a deposition given to the Government in April 1986, when he did not mention his holdings in Mr. Walters's sports agency. ''At that time, being a member of a organized-crime family did not allow me to tell the truth,'' he explained.

The trial will resume Wednesday. Maurice Douglas, a defensive back for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League, who is one of the athletes whom Walters is alleged to have threatened by invoking Franzese's name, is expected to testify for the Government.

http://www.nytimes.com/1989/03/15/sports/crime-figure-testifies-to-link-with-sports-agent.html

And this too Furio:

Archives

A 19-Year-Old F.B.I. Videotape Keeps Pulling Sharpton Back to the Past
By RALPH BLUMENTHAL and SUSAN SAULNY
Published: July 25, 2002

The Rev. Al Sharpton once said he was created with no reverse in his transmission, but if so, he has shown he can brake suddenly and make U-turns.
In the latest test of his adroitness, Mr. Sharpton has been responding to a secretly recorded 1983 F.B.I. videotape, included in an HBO report this week, that depicts him mostly listening but sometimes responding without commitment to an undercover agent masquerading as a Latin American drug lord offering to sell him kilos of cocaine.
Yesterday, Mr. Sharpton, 46, announced at State Supreme Court in Manhattan that he had filed a $1 billion lawsuit against HBO and its parent company, AOL Time Warner, contending that he had been smeared by ''dirty tricks'' intended to derail his campaign for the presidency. Also named as defendants were the HBO show, ''Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel;'' the reporter, Bernard Goldberg; and Michael Franzese, a former Colombo family Mafia captain who became a government informant.
''They may think they have given me a stumbling block,'' Mr. Sharpton said on the courthouse steps, entering the building and then returning. ''They will see it turned into a steppingstone.''


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He contended that the segment of three and a half minutes shown nationally Tuesday night distorted the encounter and omitted material, including a second tape, that made it clear he would have nothing to do with drugs.
He also questioned why the 19-year-old tape, written about in the 1980's, had now reappeared. ''For whom and for what?'' he demanded.
A spokesman for HBO, Ray Stallone, called the lawsuit ''so silly that it is unworthy of comment.''
He called the tape ''an integral part of the story we presented'' and said Mr. Sharpton's response was included in its report. As for his statement that there was a second and exculpatory videotape, Mr. Stallone said, ''We indicated to him that we would welcome the chance to see it.''
It was hardly the first time that the tape and others have made trouble for Mr. Sharpton.
Just 10 years ago this summer, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, looking into reports of corruption in boxing, played audio and videotapes growing out of a 1980 F.B.I. investigation called Crown Royal.
On one of the tapes, presented by a former F.B.I. agent, Joseph A. Spinelli, who was then the New York State inspector general under Gov. Mario Cuomo, Mr. Sharpton is shown meeting with the undercover agent -- a supposed drug kingpin named Victor Quintana -- and a reputed mobster, Danny Pagano, discussing ways of approaching the boxing promoter Don King to arrange bouts and launder money.
On the tape, Mr. Sharpton tells the agent that he would get a ''fair deal'' from Mr. King because of Mr. Pagano's underworld connections.
At the same Senate hearing, Mr. Franzese, who had been caught in an F.B.I. sting and ended up cooperating with the government, testified that he had used Mr. Sharpton to get close to Mr. King and he added: ''I knew Sharpton and was aware that he was associated with people in the Genovese family, in particular with family soldier Danny Pagano.''
Mr. Franzese also testified that Mr. Sharpton had arranged a meeting with him on Jan. 12, 1983, in Mr. King's Manhattan office where Mr. Franzese reported that his efforts had been blessed by mob bosses in Cleveland.
At the time, Mr. Sharpton denied that he consorted with mobsters, saying he knew nothing of the backgrounds of those he met with. He said he had not been charged with any crime and called allegations from people like Mr. Franzese ''fabrications.''
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/25/nyregi...o-the-past.html

Or in jail

It always surprised me in all his interviews never talks about scarpa. Not a word. FBI probably told him never to.

After read this articles Im agreed with you Beanshooter Michael Franzese is a rat like his brother.

1000% Bean.. he said they were going to kill him in a show he did..he said his father was going to let it happen.. he is a rat and thats it..face it michael, if you are on this site..if you ratted on a martian you are still a rat just like scarpa jr ..and his garbage pail father.. killer ,yeah ,with the fbi never going to pinch you for murdering everybody.

What kind of a deal did they get the guy? He wasn't even facing murder charges. Yet, he does almost 8 eight years, thereof 3 in the hole and is forced to pay a $15 million restitution. That's one of the worst rat deals I've ever heard of lol. My guess is that he backed out and didn't exactly do what the feds wanted.

Still ratted bad deal or not

Yup, just like John Gotti Jr. and Craig DePalma.

I do agree. They're all rats. It's funny how much Gotti Jr. and Franzese try to deny they ever ratted. The records don't lie, and yet they claim they never ratted.

Easy to call someone a rat on here

But would you do life for a family if say...people are fucking your wife, stealing your rackets, not funneling you or your family any money? etc?

Certainly not defending these guys but look at both sides of the coin.

[quote=Blackjack2121]Easy to call someone a rat on here

But would you do life for a family if say...people are fucking your wife, stealing your rackets, not funneling you or your family any money? etc?

Certainly not defending these guys but look at both sides of the coin."

Not the way it used to be..That's the problem. You go on vacation and you have nothing. Left out to dry.They should set up a vacation fund..like a insurance policy..lol

Right next to this guy, wearing a T-Shirt that says,
"I'm with him ------>"

LOL

good examples

don't be surprised if they do a joint venture together..seems like they are going to promote each other

agree with you, but that is not the issue, not the reason why, but why they see themselves other than a rat ..you give info on anyone you ratted period

correct Bean,

The more you read mob books the more you understand why people rat.

I'm not talking about guys like Franzese or Gotti Jr who were just pussies who wanted to avoid jail time.

I'm talking about guys like Willie Boy Johnson.

Guys who are used to do the dirty work, get treated like shit for it and are forgotten about when they go to prison.

Hell I'd rat too.

Look at what happened to Ralph Natale and other guys in Philly getting robbed and scammed by guys like Merlino & Borgesi when they go to prison.

It's not what the mob is supposed to be about.

There are many shades of ratting and you can't tar all rats with the same brush.

How old can he be ??? I have seen him on TV interviews and he didn't look too old. He could be in witsec for all we know. From all that I have read about the current NYC mob, he could be walking the streets of NY.

Who Franzese? He's 64 and lives on the West Coast