sonny franzese and marilyn monroe sonny franzese and marilyn monroe

Legendary mobster Sonny Franzese dead at 103 - New York Daily News photo The mourners laughed as they had at the line about taxes, making it two laughs more than at your basic old school mob boss funeral. Yet he was tried for murder only once, and was acquitted. A letter was found recently that appears to confirm the long-held rumor that Bobby Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe had an affair. When the show starts, over there, you know, in the Latin Quarter, the stage goes up, as the show starts, all the lights go out. His first arrest came in 1938, for assault. Doubt she wastes her time with someone like Sonny at that point. John 'Sonny' Franzese, powerful mob boss who hung out with Frank After six months, his family returned with Franzese to their home in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, where his father ran a bakery. Russia . The mutual attraction proved irresistible, and their relationship led to an encounter that that left Sonny deeply ashamed. Sonny franzese and marilyn monroe In the two-page letter, which was written in the early 1960s, Jean . The charges wereand continue to bewidely viewed as false. Still do. And on June 23, 2017, thanks to good behavior and credit for time served, the 100-year-old Franzese was released from prison. Anything you need, you call me, Cassato said. To be sure, John Franzese wasnt leading a quiet life between his 1984 parole and his 2008 arrest. ", "A Godfather Betrayed by His Namesake, Part II", "Hundred-year-old mobster's daughter gushes over dad's freedom", "John Franzese, Mafioso Who Consorted With Celebrities, Dies at 103", "Geriatric NY gangster, 93, gets 8 years in prison", "Legendary Colombo underboss John (Sonny) Franzese sees his holiday bid for bail whacked", "Italian mob boss freed from prison at 100-years-old", "Al Sharpton's Secret Work As FBI Informant", "At 100, mob underboss Sonny Franzese gets out of federal prison", "2 Nabbed in Heist of Elmhurst Bank; Cosa Link is Seen", "Franzese Is Said to Have Killed '30 or 40 or 50' Persons", "NEW BREED SAID TO EMERGE IN ORGANIZED CRIME", "Franzese and 4 are found guilty; Albany jury convicts them in bank robberies", "Five Mafia Families Open Rosters to New Members", Feds want jury to hear Sonny talk about mob murders", "Crime Figure Seized on L.I. Credit: Newsday / Ari Mintz, I was a firm believer that if a guy knew something about you, you had to worry about it, he said, referring to the men who actually robbed the banks and later testified that he was the mastermind behind them. Gangsters added to the noirish glamour of the club, and Sonny exuded the kind of power that people immediately recognized. Franzese also suggested wearing a hairnet during the murder so as to avoid leaving any hair strands at the crime scene that could be DNA analyzed. Marilyn Monroe spent her last night alive at Frank Sinatras lodge with a Mafia boss, according to extraordinary new claims. Though frail, he was all smiles. The pastor said, I will make a phone call, Maurice recounted. I knew them all, he said. In 1970, when Franzese was 10 years old, his father began serving a 50-year sentence for conspiring to rob banks. Auto Culture Franzese, who died on Feb. 23 at age 103, recalled those nights recently as part of a series of interviews with Newsday over the past two years. He then testified against his father, 93 at the time, and later entered the federal witness protection program. By one account, Franzese became a full-fledged made member of the Mafia at 14, the same year Al Capone went to prison, two years before the end of Prohibition forced organized crime to find primary sources of income other than bootlegging. One time, I met an FBI agent on the street, Franzese said. [36] However, in 1971, shortly after his father had been sentenced to 50 years in prison for bank robbery, he decided to drop out of college to help his family earn money. John "Sonny" Franzese Photos. John "Sonny" Franzese, who was one of the deadliest, richest, and longest-living Mafia bosses, died on February 25, 2019. I couldnt get a [liquor] license., Asked why he couldnt get a license, he said, smiling, I was a bad guy.. There were no flower cars outside the funeral of 103-year-old John Sonny Franzesebut gospel music, funny stories, and eulogies from his loving grandkids made it much grander. The women went crazy.. Barricelli joked that he had not yet signed the death certificate. He chuckled as he perused old photos of himself in the tabloids, looking both fierce and dapper in his cashmere overcoat. I wouldnt turn around., Sinatra was used to being in charge, but not when Sonny was around. He thought every girl was, was in love with him. Queens, New York. the news [38] In 2019, Franzese Jr. met with his father at the nursing home where he resided and reconciled with him; John Jr. had previously voluntarily left the Witness Protection Program. [13], However, on March 3, 1967, Franzese was convicted in Albany, New York of masterminding a series of four bank robberies across the country in 1965, and was finally sentenced to 50 years in prison at United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth, by judge Jacob Mishler in 1970, after several denied appeals. [22] John Franzese Jr. testified twice against his father, the last time his father attempted to have him killed; he later lived under witness protection. In the 1950s and 1960s, Franzese listed his official occupation as an owner of a dry-cleaning store in Brooklyn. 82.4k. He also said at work not to trust anyone, she recalled. [26] Prosecutors had asked for a sentence of 12 years, while Franzese's lawyer asked for leniency based on a variety of ailments, including partial blindness and deafness, gout, and heart and kidney problems. The Cosa Nostra accepts him as a coming king. Then his friend said she really was coming to their table. She reported, You better believe I started drinking white wine spritzers at work functions. Im going to have it with her. [16] Until 2008, he was never charged with another crime,[5] although he would return to prison on parole violations on at least six occasions. China He and Sonny, though, had an uneasy relationship, as each jousted to assert dominance. John Sonny Franzese, who was one of the deadliest, richest, and longest-living Mafia bosses, died on February 25, 2019. If the club was filled, he would go to the back door and tell workers to set a table on the stage; and they did. A gunman suddenly appeared and took it. In 2010, the jury convicted him of extorting money from two Manhattan strip clubs and running a loansharking operation. When Kennedys Learned of Marilyn Monroe & Sonny Franzese's Relationship: Michael Franzese 5,011 views Jun 27, 2022 Watch full Franzese podcast:. Franzese, dark-haired and handsome, allegedly claimed alliances with Monroe and actress Jayne Mansfield. Franzeses son Michael remembers that when he and his father were discussing business, his father would routinely lead him into the bathroom of their Roslyn home and turn on the water to drown out their conversation. Sonny : The Last of the Old Time Mafia Bosses, John "Sonny" Franzese Franzese also got involved in the music industry of the 1960s and 1970s, financing recordings by the likes of The Isley Brothers and Curtis Mayfield, while also using this business to launder his illicit mob earnings. [34] Due to this, Michael had initially believed that he had been adopted by John after the disappearance of Grillo, who Michael thought to be his biological father. Sonny knew them wellHe was a good guy, Dean Martin. Once you appeared at the Copa, you could go anywhere in the world. Franzese returned to his family in Brooklyn after his release in 2017 from the Federal Medical Center in Danvers, Mass., leading a quiet life far from the spotlight of his youth. IN THE GALAXY of New York City nightclubs, the Copacabana burned brightest. [4] He became a made man in 1950,[4] and served in the crew of Sebastian "Buster" Aloi, father of former Colombo family acting boss Vincenzo Aloi. He had been the oldest inmate in the federal prison system, but now he was free and on his way to spend time at his daughters home in Brooklyn. However, Franzese ultimately beat the case. And he apologized for what happened, especially near his church.. What we done in New York is unbelievable, he said. [29][30][31][28], Franzese is listed as an associate producer of the 2003 film This Thing of Ours, which starred James Caan. [5] In 1942, in the midst of World War II, he was drafted to the United States Army, but was discharged later that year classified as "psychoneurotic with pronounced homicidal tendencies". DiMaggioby then Monroes ex-husband, but still carrying a torch for hertried to approach Sonny to confront him about their affair. Also Sonny said to him that he was dating Marilyn Monroe and met her at the Stork club. Here I am in a place, theres three hundred fifty people here, and youre the best-looking guy here, too., She says, Sonny, youre the best-looking guy I ever went out with., For Sonny, a woman like Mansfield was simply fun. Both the grandson and the granddaughter recalled Sonny Grandpa saying that you have to listen to gospel music. . Legendary New York mobster John "Sonny" Franzese, the former underboss of the Colombo crime family, has died at 103, according to TMZ. Gorgeous and glamorous women were inevitably drawn to Sonny, something he said he never fully understood. Taxes, a number of the roughly 75 mourners joined him in saying. [39], Franzese died in a New York City hospital, on February 24, 2020, aged 103. But after violating parole by associating with known mobsters, he was placed back in prison in 1982 only to be inexplicably paroled again in 1984. Later a coroner ruled that the death was a probable suicide. Sonny Franzese Biography, Age, Height, Wife, Net Worth, Family Over the years, Franzese has listed his legitimate job as a tailor, baker and seller. He was sentenced to eight more years. Now 102 years old, John (Sonny) Franzese, the longtime underboss of the Colombo crime family, is the epitome of the old-style crime chieftain. One of Monroe's last flings was Giancana, who was arguably the most powerful gangster in the country at that time, and was in Sinatra's circle. He asserted that no one in history has done what he did and grandiosely even compared himself to Jesus Christ. Later, he would become convinced that his affair with Monroewho was rumored to have been involved with Kennedys brother, U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, toowas what brought the wrath of the U.S. government down on him. He spoke to Newsday, in part, because he said he remembers reporters treating him fairly after his conviction for conspiracy to rob banks in 1967. Sonny met actress Marilyn Monroe, not at the Copa, but at the Stork Club, thanks to an introduction by Frank Costello. Sonny was tough as nails. Screwed his mind up," Franzese said of his estranged son. On August 20, 1962, about two weeks . I could never give a guy up because I knew what jail was, he said. In an interview, John said he had become sober in 2001 after battling a yearslong drug addiction. I really think the FBI did it, he says. They wanted me to roll all the time, he said over a bowl of pasta e fagioliin the nursing home where he now lives. . Health Sonny Franzese (left) with famous boxer Rocky Graziano (center). [1][2][3] His parents had already immigrated to the United States at the time of his birth, and were back in Italy for a visit. But Franzeses commercial side was darker: he had once admitted killing 10 men during a 2006 chat with a mafia informant, with other estimates of his mob murders reaching 60. How the Bounty Mutineers Found Their New Home on a Secret Pacific Island, Jeffery Deaver's Guide to Writing Page-Turning Fiction, Seven Crime Novels Centered Around Musicians Out in 2023, An Author's Guide to Stealing from the Books You Love, The Many Levels of Mystery: Whodunnit? to Whydunnit? and Beyond, The Literary Film and TV You Need to Stream in March, Tracey Rose Peyton: Exploring Six Stories of Motherhood for Enslaved Women, The Day Explorers Finally Found One of the Worlds Great Lost Shipwrecks, What If? Sonny Franzese was ultimately convicted of the charges and, at the age of 94, was sentenced to eight years in prison. Franzese was a well-dressed regular at the Copacabana nightclub, where he spent lavishly and hung around with the likes of Sammy Davis Jr. and Frank Sinatra. Indonesia Franzese, widely admired and respected in the Mafia for sticking to his oath of omerta and keeping silent, was finally freed in 2017 at the age of 100. It also probably was inevitable. He could be heard saying on one tape that he had committed numerous murders, but he was acquitted the only time he was ever charged with homicide. All rights reserved. Then-Nassau District Attorney William Cahn, who went to Washington D.C. to debrief Valachi, became keenly interested in Franzese. Franzese returned to his family in Brooklyn after his release in 2017 from the Federal Medical Center in Danvers, Massachusetts, leading a peaceful life away from the spotlight of his youth. He served as underboss of the Colombo family from 1963 until he was sentenced to 50 years in prison for orchestrating a string of bank robberies across the country in 1967. My father was a chameleon, Michael said. I was ashamed. Mike said he knows the shooter and he has a tape to this today which discusses where Hoffa was killed. Youre chasing me off the table., Sonny replied, I cant have sex with you. Then in 2010, at age 93, he was sentenced to eight more years in prison after being convicted of extorting the Hustler and Penthouse strip clubs in Manhattan and a pizzeria in Albertson. When I was away, I would run five miles a day, every day, he said. He was beginning to address the mourners when a glass collar at the top of a burning Paschal candle suddenly shattered. I dont know. Most importantly in his mob career, Franzese was an earner, making money for the family in a variety of ways. He was arrogant. Jimmy Hoffa claimed to have in his possession "seamy" material about John and Bobby Kennedy. As Newsdays Bob Greene reported in December 1965 when Franzese and his family were living in Roslyn:For Franzese, the world is his apple. His Lips Are Sealed: the Death of Sonny Franzese, New York'S Last Old As a caporegime, Michael was making $5-10m weekly from a petrol bootlegging scheme, involving the Russian Mafia.Watch my interview on Michael Franzese's channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6hqYXMeeZU\u0026t=64sSupport us on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/shaunattwoodShaun Attwood merch: https://shaunattwood.shop/collections/allShaun Attwood's social media:TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@shaunattwood1?Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shaunattwood/?hl=enTwitter: https://twitter.com/shaunattwoodFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/shaunattwood1/Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/shaunattwoodOdysee: https://odysee.com/@ShaunAttwood:aJen's website: https://www.organiccottonclothing.co.uk/Jen's Insta: https://www.instagram.com/boomer_jen/Jen's Twitter: https://twitter.com/boomerandjenLtdJen on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ7utxeVCXBkhDXms36xLfgJen's clothing company on Insta: https://www.instagram.com/boomerandjen_organic_clothing/Jen on FB: https://www.facebook.com/BoomerJen-106167247767169/Andrew Gold's links: YouTube: http://youtube.com/andrewgold1 On the Edge with Andrew Gold Podcast - https://podfollow.com/on-the-edge-with-andrew-gold Twitter: twitter.com/andrewgold_ok Dr DAS' CHANNEL: https://www.youtube.com/c/APsychForSoreMinds Dr DAS\" social media: TWITTER - https://twitter.com/PsychSore FACEBOOK - https://www.facebook.com/psychsore INSTAGRAM - https://www.instagram.com/psychforsoremindsWatch our true crime podcasts: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPT_cCpNMvT50d_7cJ55ciKoZEY8q_YPtWatch all of our Wild Man videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPT_cCpNMvT5SlYuhHm-kLYekc8FIAWvzWatch UK Wild Woman, Sammy the Bull Gravano, Arizona, Mexico: Kerry Osborne: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5CKU-Qg0tM\u0026list=PLPT_cCpNMvT50d_7cJ55ciKoZEY8q_YPt\u0026index=3Watch our Royal Family videos here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPT_cCpNMvT7FSrvAJL-44G2_WQTeU5d5 Watch John Abbott's California San Quentin prison stories: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPT_cCpNMvT4opC39yEqNU3fmPBQUHsv3UK gangsters playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPT_cCpNMvT55XryzNClntlWEHGqDs-HZWatch our full interview with a Mafia hit man for the Gambino crime family: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_o3tTOekqY\u0026list=PLPT_cCpNMvT50d_7cJ55ciKoZEY8q_YPt\u0026index=6\u0026t=9075sWatch smuggling stories with David McMillan: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPT_cCpNMvT6P4orHr3HqE2Dpw5aPyv_OOur donation links: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/shaunattwoodPayPal: https://www.paypal.me/SAttwoodJustGiving: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/shaun-attwood-1SubscribeStar: https://www.subscribestar.com/true-crime-podcastMerch:Books: https://shaunattwood.com/shaun/books/Wild Man T-shirts: https://everpress.com/wildmanShaun's Website: http://shaunattwood.com/ Shaun's Blog: http://jonsjailjournal.blogspot.co.uk/ #truecrime #mafia #thegodfather #franzese #gravano #sammythebull #podcast But one particular patron never had a problem. He was so much a part of who I am as a man, good or bad. You should have asked, Did Frank Sinatra know Sonny Franzese?. Born in 1917 and raised in New York City, John Franzese grew up during a boom era for organized crime and it didnt take long for him to get involved himself. Yeah, I seriously doubt it, then. Over the years, Franzese listed his legitimate work as a tailor, a baker and a salesman. Legendary mobster John 'Sonny' Franzese dies at 103 [25], With the help of Franzese Jr.'s testimony, the 93-year-old Franzese Sr., on January 14, 2011, was sentenced to eight years in prison for extorting two Manhattan strip clubs, running a loanshark operation and extorting a pizzeria on Long Island. According to his son Michael, he passed away in a hospital in the New York area, but no further details were given. He beat a life sentence. vaccine He would be the last guy I thought would do that. And I got in her, her drawers. In 2017, he was freed from prison, the . /r/Mafia features stories, interviews, documentary and news articles about organized crime around the world. When he made his entrancestriding briskly, confidently, and with a slight smilea frisson of excitement rippled through the crowd. However, this certainly doesnt mean the end of the Colombo crime family. All this from a man who was 91 at the time. government Some of their shared friends were put off by Sinatras arrogance. John "Sonny" Franzese reportedly committed his first murder at the age of fourteen. Jun 23, 2017 at 11:31 pm. The elder Franzese was born in Sicily, moving with his family as a child to Brooklyn. Once again, John Franzese had beaten the system. Some mid level wiseguy, as Sonny Franseze was at that time, might have been a stepping stone on her way up to Sinatra and Jack Kennedy. Did you know she was pronounced dead, and then they brought her back to the house, and she was still alive, and they took her back to the hospital, and brought her back home, and then the coroners came over, and they found her dead in another bed somebody moved her, he says. He was silent, even though he hated prison. People would come there to see me, too, Sonny said. The Hollywood actress is said to have spent the evening with Sam Giancana after taking the singers private jet to Cal-Neva Lodge in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. Wife Claims Sonny Franzese's Son Destroyed His Family George specifically told me that Marilyn spent the evening with Sam Giancana. [4][5][6] Court papers accused him of committing rape against a waitress in 1947, but he was never arrested in relation to the crime. Monroe and Mr Masters apparently flew back to Los Angeles where he dropped her off at her home around 9am on Sunday August 5 1962. I did it on spite. Play a lot of base ball with peoples kneecaps, eat well (the grilled cheese on the radiata) and have a reason to live (to outlive all the people that wronged you) and you'll look this good at that age. [17], In 2006, Franzese discussed techniques for mob murders with Gaetano "Guy" Fatato, a Colombo associate, not realizing that Fatato was a government informant and taping the conversation. It's better to take that half-an-hour, an hour, to get rid of the body than it is to leave the body on the street. On June 23, 2017, Franzese was released and returned home. The charges, ranging from vagrancy to rape, all followed a strikingly similar pattern they were either dismissed or he was acquitted. Sonny maybe met Al Capone but he said Sonny knew him and it's a pretty vague term. Active in the criminal underworld well into his 90s, Franzese was convicted on federal charges of running extortion rackets in New York in 2011. He said, If you want to play rock and roll, first you have to play blues, then you have to play jazz. And I get her close and Im kissing her and I got my hands on her backside and I put them under her dress. John (Sonny)Franzese and wife, Tina,leave federal courtin Uniondale, where their son Michael Franzese was on trial, in December 1985. Credit: Newsday. I liked Joe DiMaggio. The cassette tapes were found by his nephew, Jeff Platts, and have now been made public. His procedure was to dismember the corpse in a kiddie pool, dry the severed body parts in a microwave oven, and then run the parts through a commercial-grade garbage disposal. Your goal in life is to succeed.. You are spunkier than all the women I met in life. Both had immigrated to the United States from Italy. Nonetheless, Franzese said he has no regrets about his life. Sinatra? When Kennedys Learned of Marilyn Monroe & Sonny Franzese's - YouTube And he said to me, [On]account of you, we could have broke the Mafia up. Colombo's legendary gangster gangster John "Sonny" Franzese, who was with Frank Sinatra and befriended Marilyn Monroe before a bank robbery conviction made him the nation's oldest federal inmate, died in a hospital of New York City. Just doing the numbers and the only way sonny met Al wouldve been as a young pre teen kid. He is largely responsible for the glamorization of the Mafia over the past century, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Cristina Posa after his 2017 release. Your wifes a whore? He and three fellow Brooklyn vocalists made the send-off all the more unlike what anybody might expect. economy FBI director J. Edgar Hoover listed Franzese's prison term among the bureau's major achievements for 1967, along with sentences for extortion given to hoodlums Charles Battaglia of Tucson, Arizona, and Sam Battaglia of . Only now he gets to feel holy and forgiven while he cashes the checks. Not only was she ultimately proven right on both counts, but Franzese didnt even have to finish that prison term. She replied that her husband, Mickey Hargitay (who was 1955s Mr. Universe), would take her home. Meanwhile, this movie star of a mobster even got involved in the film business himself as a financier for both The Texas Chain Saw Massacre in 1974 and Deep Throat, the infamous 1972 pornographic film that shared its name with the informant who helped The Washington Post break the Watergate scandal. Sonny frequented all the citys top clubs, but he felt most at home at the Copacabana, with its roster of glittering acts and Copa Girls dance line. John 'Sonny' Franzese, legendary New York mobster, dead at 103 But one of the actual bank robbers took the stand to say Franzese had overseen the heists. While in prison, Franzese suffered from maladies that could have brought his story to an end (including kidney disease and high blood pressure), but he beat the odds each time. Sonny was always nattily dressed and knew full well that reporters would describe his wardrobe in detail, his cashmere coats included: In those days, cashmere was expensive.. In 1963, Genovese gangster Joseph Valachi appeared before a televised and explosive U.S. Senate hearing on organized crime, revealing for the first time the secrets of La Cosa Nostra. Franzese, who died Monday, had been living in New York since being released from prison. You wont disappoint. In 1931, Franzese was straightened out, or inducted into the mob, when he was just 14, his son John said. We have estimated Sonny Franzese's net worth , money, salary, income, and assets. The Rat Pack? Franzese, widely admired and respected in the mafia for respecting his oath of omerta and keeping silent, he was finally released in 2017 at the age of 100. [4] Altogether, Franzese had eight children, 18 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. No flower cars accompanied the hearse and the three black limousines that pulled up to Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church. She was hard as a rock.. Interesting interview. [5], Franzese operated out of New York City and New Jersey and was involved in racketeering, fraud, and loansharking. You asked the question the wrong way, Franzese replied. John "Sonny" Franzese - A Colombo Family Legend Although Monroe's death was officially ruled a "probable suicide". Within 30 minutes, Sonny came with the pocketbook with all the money, plus some money that didnt belong to them. Franzese was more open about his own family. Franzese said his superior officers liked his quick intelligence and fighting spiritbut that his gambling and liaison with a majors wife probably were what got him into trouble. He is so smart and careful and sufficiently insulated that police are frustrated in every attempt to nail him down. He was chasing me all over the place. But the business side of Franzese was darker: He once acknowledged killing 10 men during a 2006 chat with a mob informant, with other estimates of his mob murders running as high as 60. Sonny Franzese - Wikipedia One of his paramours was Jayne Mansfield, the buxom blonde star of the 1950s and 60s who was one of Playboys early centerfolds. Zephany Nurse Was Kidnapped As A Baby And Ended Up In The Same Class As Her Biological Sister, The Aral Sea Was Once A Desert Oasis Now It's Just A Desert, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch, Nick Sorrentino/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images. He knew Frank Sinatra in his heyday, a CBS News article described the New York mobsters conviction. John "Sonny" Franzese Sr. (Italian:[frantseze; -ese]; February 6, 1917 February 24, 2020) was an Italian-born American mobster who was a longtime member and former underboss of the Colombo crime family. The granddaughter had arranged for a gospel group headed by a singer/piano player known on Instagram as The Black Franz Liszt to perform at the funeral. [28] Franzese was released from the Federal Medical Center in Devens, Massachusetts, on June 23, 2017, at the age of 100; he was the oldest federal inmate in the United States and the only centenarian in federal custody at the time of his release. By 1963, he had been promoted to underboss by boss Joseph Colombo. [34] While married, John had gotten Cristina Capobianco, a 16-year-old cigarette girl at the Stork Club in Manhattan, pregnant with his son Michael Franzese. Ava Gardner, I started to talk to her. Net Worth in 2022. A feared enforcer and dictatorial head of the Profaci (later Colombo) family, he knew where all the bodies were buried, so to speak, and may have had inside knowledge on the JFK assassination. Tops [37], His younger son, John Franzese Jr., was a Colombo family associate before becoming an FBI informant. The claims are the first time that any mention has been made of such a trip in the days before Monroe died in 1962. Ruggedly handsome with a swagger many women found irresistible, he frequented the citys top clubs, especially the Copacabana, where Frank Costello boss of the Luciano mob family, which was the precursor of todays Genovese family was a silent partner and Franzese was an honored guest among the celebrities. His son Michael, who initially followed his father into the crowd, eventually left organized crime and became a born-again Christian and motivational speaker. Al moved to Chicago in the 1920s then Alcatraz after in the early 30s.