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Sit Down with Michael Franzese

Michael Franzese

From a high-ranking member of the Colombo crime family to a man transformed by faith, Michael Franzese shares his extraordinary journey like no one else can. In Sit Downs with Michael Franzese, Michael dives into raw, unfiltered stories from his life in the mob, his path to redemption, and the lessons he’s learned about faith, family, and overcoming life’s struggles. With gripping interviews and practical insights, this podcast will inspire, challenge, and entertain

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Yesterday · 24 min
Winston Churchill Was a Gangster in a Bow Tie — Former Mob Boss Breaks Down His Life
🥃 Franzese Brandy — 10, 20 & 30 year Armenian brandy, now available: https://franzesebrandy.com/ People, this one’s different. It’s Veterans Day, and I want to talk about a man who was a veteran before he was anything else — and who understood my old world better than most of the guys who were in it. Winston Churchill failed school. Failed the army exam twice. Got captured in a war and escaped with a price on his head. Planned one of the worst military disasters of the century, lost his job over it, and went to the trenches instead of going home. Spent ten years warning people about Hitler while they laughed at him. Then saved the free world. Then got fired for it — and took it with a joke. In my world, there were racketeers — the guys who could think three steps ahead — and gangsters — the guys who did the hard thing when it counted. The smart ones were both. Churchill was both. And he did it all in a bow tie. I walk through his whole life, and I’ll tell you where I saw the same rules in mine: owning it when things go wrong, using the years when nobody’s listening, how to walk into a room prepared, and how to lose with class. And we get to Yalta — three men at one table deciding the whole world. I’ve been to a lot of sit-downs. That was the biggest one there ever was. The story goes that Stalin poured him a glass of Armenian brandy at that table, and Churchill loved it. That’s the tradition our Franzese Brandy comes from — and it’s why I poured one for this. You don’t do shots at this. You sit down with people who matter, you slow it down, and you talk straight. From one boss to another. To everyone who served — thank you. Winston Churchill Was a Gangster in a Bow Tie — Former Mob Boss Breaks Down His Life #WinstonChurchill #VeteransDay #MichaelFranzese #FranzeseBrandy #Leadership Backbone Media Group Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Thursday · 38 min
Ex-Mob Boss Cooks Mafia Style Thanksgiving Turkey & Stuffing
🍷 Get your own Thanksgiving Special Bundle: https://franzesewine.com/products/thanksgiving-special-bundle 📲 Text me — Do you stuff your turkey? And if you don’t know where to start, tell me where you are and my team will try to help: https://my.community.com/michaelfranzese (424) 325 0921 People, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Always has been. Four days, no presents, nothing to do but eat. And it’s one of the two days a year I cook — I don’t want anybody in my kitchen. I do it all. Today, the turkey, and the part everybody actually waits for: my grandmother’s stuffing. And I’m going to tell you the secret right now — I don’t stuff the bird. I’ll show you why, and I promise you it tastes like it came from inside the turkey. Four ingredients. My grandmother would’ve loved how easy they make it now. While it cooks we talk. Eight Thanksgivings I spent in prison. How the crew did the holiday — all the capos, the boss at the table, the week before, because the day itself was for family. My father, who told everybody he was the best cook and never cooked a thing. The night he made me check the check at my own cousin’s restaurant. And why, for the last few years, we’ve been frying the bird — and you should too. Whatever you’ve got going on with whoever this year, put it aside. Sit down, eat, be thankful. For those of you who can’t be with family — I get it. I’ve been there. There’s still something to be thankful for. Happy Thanksgiving, people. Have a glass on me. #Thanksgiving #Turkey #Stuffing #MichaelFranzese #MafiaStyle00:00 My Favorite Holiday — And How the Mob Celebrated It 00:39 Four Days, No Presents, Nothing to Do But Eat 01:46 I Cook Twice a Year. This Is One of Them. 02:33 Eight Thanksgivings in Prison 02:58 The Secret: I Don't Stuff the Bird 03:13 The Broth — Chicken Legs and Onions 04:11 Butter the Pan. On a Holiday, You Let It Go. 04:54 Mushrooms, Peppers, Onions. That's It. 05:53 What Thanksgiving Actually Means 06:52 Me and My Brother — The Only Two Survivors 08:07 My Family's Not Big on Turkey — So We Make a Roast 09:02 Salt, Pepper & Why I Don't Bother With Fresh Bread 09:38 A Glass of White While I Cook 11:51 Put the Politics Aside This Year 12:35 Sitting Down With My Brother Again 15:23 I Wish They'd Made Me the Cook in Prison 16:25 My Father — The Best Cook Who Never Cooked 17:07 Why the Broth Replaces the Turkey Juices 17:27 How the Crew Did Thanksgiving 18:23 "Check the Check — Your Cousin's a Thief" 19:50 Text Me Your Thanksgiving Memories 20:10 Mixing the Stuffing 22:39 Was Anything Special About the Mob on Thanksgiving? 23:34 I Wanted to Be the Best Mobster I Could Be 25:09 The Taste Test 26:11 Yams With Marshmallows — Only Me and My Daughter 26:55 Stuffing, Done — Mob Style 29:37 Basting the Turkey — Keep It Simple 30:15 Text Me "TURKEY" for the Baste Recipe 30:37 The Glory of the Turkey Is the Drumstick 30:52 Honestly? We've Been Frying It for Years 31:56 Three Hours Later — The Bird Comes Out 32:28 Stuffing Goes in the Juices, Not the Bird 33:10 Three Whole Days to Enjoy 34:52 Nice and Brown — Don't Overcook It 35:27 Happy Thanksgiving — For Those Who Can't Be Home 📧 Interested in partnerships? partnerships@michaelfranzese.com Backbone Media Group Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
November 3 · 37 min
EMERGENCY SIT-DOWN: A Cyber Attack Warning Just Went Out — Here’s What I’m Hearing
✅ Take Control of Your Money and claim $10 in US Stablecoin (USD₮)! Download now at http://wallet.rumble.com/InnerCircle and use the code InnerCircle10. 📲 Text me — how are you preparing? And if you don’t know where to start, tell me where you are and my team will try to help: https://my.community.com/michaelfranzese (424) 325 0921 People, I don’t do emergency sit-downs. This is one. Over the last few days, people I trust — Dan Bongino, Glenn Beck, and governments across Europe telling their citizens to stock up for days or even weeks — have been warning about the real possibility of a cyber attack on our water systems and our power grid. We’ve already had a taste of it this summer. And I sat with Donald Trump Jr. I’m hearing things from people higher up. It’s very possible. I’m not telling you to panic. I’m telling you what I told my own daughter: if daddy knows something and doesn’t tell you, you’d never forgive me. So here’s what I’m doing. I went out and bought solar-powered crank radios — if the phones and TV go down, that’s how you’ll hear what’s happening. Battery lights. Water in glass. Canned food you can eat without a stove. Matches. Extra batteries. Blankets, because winter’s coming. Walkie-talkies so I can reach my family. None of it is expensive. None of it is something I’m selling — I bought it on Amazon like everybody else. The reason I’m sitting here alive and free is because I was prepared for something I knew could happen. That’s not fear. That’s common sense. China has operatives in this country. Iran is angry. Our politicians care about themselves first. So be a realist. If you need help figuring out what to get, comment or text me. I’ll have my team do the research. And if we need to do another one of these with a full list, we will. Be prepared, people. Not scared. Prepared. [chapters] #CyberAttack #BePrepared #PowerGrid #MichaelFranzese #Emergency 🍷 Have you tried my wine yet?: https://yt.franzesewine.com/ 📧 Interested in partnerships? partnerships@michaelfranzese.com Backbone Media Group Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
October 29 · 35 min
Former Mob Boss Reviews ‘The Westies’ — I Knew Jimmy Coonan
⚕️Give your liver the support it deserves with Dose. Go to https://dosedaily.co/FRANZESE or use code FRANZESE at checkout for 35% off your first subscription. ✅ Take Control of Your Money and claim $10 in US Stablecoin (USD₮)! Download now at http://wallet.rumble.com/InnerCircle and use the code InnerCircle10. 📲 Text me your thoughts about this Interview: https://my.community.com/michaelfranzese (424) 325 0921 People, a lot of you asked me to review The Westies, the new MGM+ show about the Irish crew out of Hell’s Kitchen. So I watched the first episode — and before I tell you what I think of the show, let me tell you something straight. I knew the Westies. I did business with some of them. Jimmy Coonan did time with my father and I met him many times in the visiting room. He was a stand-up guy. Wild — but stand-up. The show gets the atmosphere right. The violence is brutal, and it should be, because that’s how it was. The acting is the strongest part. But there’s a myth I want to kill: the Gambinos weren’t scared of the Westies. We could have wiped them out. The Westies worked for us. And I’ll tell you what I believe really happened to Mickey Spillane, how the Javits Center put real money on the table, and why there was never an Irish Commission — the same reason I gave you last week. And one more thing. About ten years ago, a man who did time with Jimmy Coonan came to me before he died, with a message from Jimmy about a major case that’s never been solved. I put him on tape. I’ve sat on it for a decade. I might finally tell that story. If you watched The Westies — did they get the Irish-Italian relationship right? What did they miss? Text me. And if there’s a show you want me to review next, tell me. #TheWesties #IrishMob #Mafia #MichaelFranzese #Review00:00 The Westies Weren't Big. They Were Violent. 00:43 Welcome — You Asked Me to Review This One 01:25 I Knew the Westies. I Did Business With Them. 01:45 The Tape I've Sat On for 10 Years 04:52 The Show Is Great — Here's Why 10:39 The Man Who Ran Hell's Kitchen 11:36 Nobody Called Themselves "The Westies" 12:08 Mickey Spillane, Roy DeMeo & the Favor 12:58 They Did Contract Work for Us 13:32 The Javits Center — Where the Real Money Was 13:51 Why Every Developer Had to Deal With Us 21:31 Why There Was Never an Irish Commission 21:45 The Balancing Act — Keep the Italians Happy 22:40 Featherstone Flipped. Coonan Got 75 Years. 22:54 I Walked Away. Most of Them Didn't. 23:36 The Acting Is the Strongest Part 24:04 My Verdict — Worth Your Time 24:22 Want the Real Story? Read the Book. 25:24 If I Reveal What I Know — You'll Be Shocked 26:08 Look Where This Life Ends Up 27:14 "You Betrayed Your Oath" — My Answer 31:29 Text Me — What Did the Show Get Wrong? 32:44 God Bless — See You Next Time Backbone Media Group Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
October 27 · 1 hr 14 min
Polygraph Expert EXPOSES Who’s Afraid of the Lie Detector — Congress, Cops & Cheaters
📲 Text me your thoughts about this Interview: https://my.community.com/michaelfranzese (424) 325 0921 People, I asked David Goldberg one question before we sat down: can you beat a lie detector? He’s run over 20,000 of them. He said no. And then he offered to prove it on me. I’m thinking about it. I took a polygraph years ago, about my father’s case. I passed — because I was telling the truth. So I’ve never understood why the courts call it “pseudoscience” and won’t let a jury see it. In this one, David tells me exactly who benefits from keeping it out, and it’s not the innocent. We get into how a passed test forces prosecutors to deal, the story of me walking into Giuliani’s prosecutors before I was even indicted and answering every question — and what the jury said about it after they acquitted me — the “you did five, tell me about the sixth” interrogation method, why infidelity is now the #1 reason people take the test, what applicants confess when they’re strapped in for a police or fire department job, the innocent people David’s gotten out of prison, and the question we both asked: what would happen if every member of Congress had to take one before they were sworn in? His answer: maybe five seats would be filled. #LieDetector #Polygraph #MichaelFranzese #Congress #TrueCrime00:00:00 Why Won't the Courts Allow a Lie Detector? 00:01:13 Greetings From Palm Beach 00:02:08 I Took a Polygraph About My Father's Case — And Passed 00:05:10 "Pseudoscience" — Why the Courts Keep It Out 00:08:11 Court-Certified — When a Judge Will Let It In 00:12:57 The Day Giuliani Had Me Arrested 00:14:09 I Answered Every Question Before I Was Indicted — The Jury Noticed 00:18:27 A 30-Page Report Nobody Can Ignore 00:19:24 How a Passed Test Forces the Prosecutor's Hand 00:22:43 Christa Pike — Why I'm Against the Death Penalty 00:25:20 20,000 Tests. Never Failed Someone Who Didn't Deserve It. 00:27:46 Strapped In With a Stranger — What's at Stake 00:33:43 "You Did Five. Tell Me About the Sixth." 00:36:00 What You Say in That Room Stays in That Room 00:38:24 Cops Rush to Judgment — Why He Reads the Indictment First 00:41:40 The Innocent People He's Gotten Out of Prison 00:43:09 Death Row Without Justice — For Anyone 00:49:14 The #1 Reason People Take the Test: Infidelity 00:50:41 "I Think My Spouse Is Cheating" — What He Finds 00:52:14 The Dream Job — What Cops and Firefighters Confess 01:00:16 Put Every Member of Congress on the Box 01:03:43 They're in Every Party — I Could Pick Them Out 01:05:10 9/11 — His Proudest Moment in Law Enforcement 01:08:09 I Applaud What You Do 01:11:05 God Bless — See You Next Time Backbone Media Group Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
October 23 · 39 min
Former Mob Boss Ranks The Greatest Mob Songs Of All Time
Frank Sinatra. Dean Martin. Tony Bennett. Everybody thinks they know what the mob listened to because they saw Goodfellas. People, I didn’t watch the life in a movie theater. I lived it. I sat in those clubs. I was at those weddings. I stood in line at the Copa with my father. And some of the men who sang these songs were around our world — everybody knew it. So today I’m doing something I’ve never done: 18 songs, four tiers, S down to C. I’m not ranking who sang it best. I’m ranking how fast it puts me back at that table. Some of these put me right back in the room. Some of them — and you’re not going to like this — Hollywood snuck onto the playlist. Sinatra, Dino, Darin, Prima, the Four Seasons, the Stones, Clapton — and the one song the whole country sang along to without noticing it’s about a gangster. And stick around to the end, because I go off the list and tell you about a song that had nothing to do with the mob — the one I heard in a prison cell that told me I was going home. Tell me what I got wrong. Tell me what I left off. I read them. 📲 Text me your thoughts about this Interview: https://my.community.com/michaelfranzese (424) 325 0921 0:00 What the Mob Really Listened To 1:50 How the Tier Rankings Work 2:50 Growing Up at the Copacabana 5:35 Frank Sinatra: My Way 8:24 Luck Be a Lady & Mob-Era Vegas 9:11 That’s Life 9:48 Summer Wind & Meeting My Wife 10:45 Dean Martin: Ain’t That a Kick in the Head 11:34 That’s Amore 12:11 Volare 13:27 Tony Bennett: Rags to Riches 14:22 Sponsor: Rumble Wallet 16:00 Bobby Darin: Beyond the Sea 17:35 Mack the Knife 17:56 Louis Prima: Just a Gigolo 19:22 Frankie Valli & My Courtroom Story 20:53 Can’t Take My Eyes Off You 21:47 Walk Like a Man 22:26 In the Still of the Night 23:15 Then He Kissed Me 24:19 A Sunday Kind of Love 24:50 The Godfather Theme: Speak Softly, Love 25:57 The Rolling Stones: Gimme Shelter 27:11 Layla & the Goodfellas Aftermath 28:13 Final Rankings & a Sinatra Story 34:27 How Music Got Me Through Prison 36:30 Closing Thoughts #Mafia #Sinatra #DeanMartin #MobSongs #MichaelFranzese #TierList 🤝 Book 1 on 1 Call With Me: https://michaelfranzese.com/book-1-on-1-call/ 🔥 Check out my store: https://store.michaelfranzese.com/ 🎙️ Michael Franzese Podcast on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3Eo39qb 📧 Interested in partnerships? partnerships@michaelfranzese.com Backbone Media Group Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
October 21 · 1 hr 49 min
Face to Face With the Only Prosecutor Who Ever Beat Me
🔬 If you're looking for one simple product that actually makes a difference, that's The Great, visit https://CalderaLab.com/FRANZESE and use code FRANZESE for 20% off your first order. ✅ Take Control of Your Money and claim $10 in US Stablecoin (USD₮)! Download now at http://wallet.rumble.com/InnerCircle and use the code InnerCircle10.📲 Text me your thoughts about this Interview: https://my.community.com/michaelfranzese (424) 325 0921 A lot of prosecutors came after me. Giuliani put me on trial and lost. This man is the only one who ever got me. Ed McDonald ran the federal strike force in Brooklyn — and when I took that plea, it was his case I was pleading to. Ten years. He’ll tell you what he told his team at the time: “Ten years will keep him on ice.” And if his name sounds familiar — he’s the prosecutor in Goodfellas. He played himself. He’s the man who flipped Henry Hill, made the Lufthansa case, and went after Jimmy Burke with a witness nobody was supposed to believe. We get into all of it: why I took the plea and the misstep Giuliani made that pushed me there, what the agents told me on the plane, my father’s hatred for him, how he turned Henry Hill, what it was like watching Goodfellas with the real Henry, and the Gotti investigation he ran before anyone had the case. Forty years ago, this man and I were on opposite sides of a courtroom. Today we’re on the same side of a table. I never thought I’d say that. Face to Face With the Prosecutor Who Put Me Away | The Real ‘Goodfellas’ Prosecutor #MichaelFranzese #Goodfellas #HenryHill #EdMcDonald #RICO 🤝 Book 1 on 1 Call With Me: https://michaelfranzese.com/book-1-on-1-call/ 🔥 Check out my store: https://store.michaelfranzese.com/ 🎙️ Michael Franzese Podcast on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3Eo39qb 📧 Interested in partnerships? partnerships@michaelfranzese.com Backbone Media Group Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
October 15 · 45 min
A Lemmon and a Coppola Are in a New Mob Movie. Former Mob Boss Sits Down With ‘Redemption’ Cast
🥘 Join Me in the kitchen for the cookbook release, a live conversation, and your best questions: http://cookbook.michaelfranzese.com/ 📲 Text me your thoughts about this Interview: https://my.community.com/michaelfranzese (424) 325 0921 People, my father asked me a question once in a prison visiting room. “Son, if you ever had to kill anybody — could you do it?” I’ll tell you what I said. And I’ll tell you why a new mob movie called Redemption made me think about it again.I sat down with the writer and director, Asif, and his cast. Jon Lemmon — Jack Lemmon’s grandson — plays the lead: a good kid who gets pulled into the life to help his father and ends up in deeper than he ever meant to. Weston Coppola — Francis Ford Coppola’s great-nephew — plays Jackson, the guy who brings him in. Two Hollywood names in one mob picture. The movie also has Robert Davi, Frank Stallone, and Jon Lovitz in a role he told the director he’s never played before. The story isn’t mine — but it’s close enough that I had some things to say.We get into why good people do bad things, what it actually costs to walk away from that life, the night I told my father I was quitting school to help him, and why I respect a film that shows the human side of the men I knew.The movie’s coming out in the next couple of months. I’ll tell you when. There’s a New Mob Movie — And a Coppola’s in It. Former Mob Boss Sits Down With ‘Redemption’ Cast 00:00 "Son, If You Had to Kill Somebody — Could You?"00:41 Welcome — A Mob Movie Premiere in Vegas03:17 How Hard It Is to Get a Movie Made05:31 Meet the Cast — A Coppola at My Table06:32 From Cleveland to Hollywood — The Director's Story07:23 Why Mob Movies Never Die09:57 Thank You for Showing the Good Side of That Life10:23 Why Do Good People Do Bad Things?13:16 The Day I Told My Father I Was Quitting School13:42 The Question My Father Asked Me14:02 When Violence Feels Justified18:28 The Real Informant Behind the Film20:53 1980s Cleveland — The World of the Movie22:36 Walking Away Feels Like Betraying Your People23:48 The Milano Family and the Cleveland Mob26:35 I Knew Joe Colombo — And I Loved "The Offer"29:18 My Father Lived to 10329:54 How Weston Got the Call35:25 Releasing a Film the Old-School Way37:24 The World Premiere in Las Vegas38:31 Written With This Cast in Mind39:03 Frank Stallone's Character Was Based on a Real Guy42:14 A Thousand People at the Premiere — What I Saw43:35 God Bless — See You Next Time #Redemption #MobMovie #Coppola #FrankStallone #MichaelFranzese 📧 Interested in partnerships? partnerships@michaelfranzese.com Backbone Media Group Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
October 10 · 49 min
The Biggest Legal Scam in America (Ex-Mafia Boss Reacts)
Free Insider Training Event: Thursday, October 15th at 3pm ET Register here - https://michaelsinsiders.com Online event, 100% free, learn how to find and copy these insider trades. 📲 Text me your thoughts about this Interview: https://my.community.com/michaelfranzese (424) 325 0921 Congress makes $174,000 a year, so how do so many of them leave Washington worth millions? I sat down with Ross Givens, a stock trading educator who has spent years tracking the trades of politicians and corporate insiders. Ross breaks down how the STOCK Act turned into a loophole: lawmakers and executives have to report their trades, and once they file that form, they’re free to keep trading. Here’s the part most people don’t know. Those reports are public, so anybody can see what they’re buying. My friends, I went to prison for tax fraud. What these people are doing makes what we did look like peanuts, and nobody is ever held accountable. I’ve said it for years and I wrote a whole book about it, Mafia Democracy: our government operates just like the mob. The difference is, we never took an oath to serve the people. In this conversation we get into: - What insider trading really is, and why Martha Stewart didn’t go to prison for it - How the STOCK Act lets Congress and CEOs trade on information you and I don’t have - Real examples of suspiciously well-timed trades by members of Congress - Why banning congressional stock trading is all a show - Nancy Pelosi, and why I say she’d be a mobster if she were a guy - Why Social Security is the biggest Ponzi scheme in history - How the government took over the rackets we went to jail for - How the average person can legally follow the insiders’ money Ross is hosting a FREE online training this Thursday, October 15th at 3:00 PM, where he’ll show you step by step how to find these insider trades yourself. Register here (they’ll send you the recording if you can’t make it live): Be safe, be healthy, and God bless each and every one of you. #Congress #InsiderTrading #Pelosi #StockMarket #MichaelFranzese #MafiaDemocracy This video includes a paid promotion. Nothing in this video is financial advice. Investing involves risk, including the loss of principal. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Do your own research. Backbone Media Group The Biggest Legal Scam in America (Ex-Mafia Boss Reacts) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
October 8 · 36 min
Former Mob Boss: She Deserves to Die. I’m Still Against Executing Her.
Christa Pike was supposed to be the first woman executed in Tennessee in 200 years. They strapped her to the gurney, started the execution — and she didn’t die. As of today, she’s alive, in a hospital, and talking. People, I read what she did. The torture of a 19-year-old girl. The skull fragment she kept. I’m not going to sugarcoat it — it’s demonic, and yes, she deserves to die. Even I’ll say that. But here’s where I’m going to lose some of you: the state still shouldn’t execute her. Not because of her. Because of the 203 people who’ve been freed from death row since 1973 — 145 of them because a prosecutor or a cop lied, framed them, or hid evidence. The death penalty isn’t for one person. It’s for everybody. And a civilized country cannot execute innocent people. We’re not Iran. We’re not China. I did eight years. I spent my first night in solitary thinking my life was over. Life without parole in a six-by-eight cell is not mercy, people. It’s severe punishment — and nobody ever gets exonerated from a grave. I also get into O.J., prosecutors who never pay for framing people, and what I think happens to Christa Pike now. Tell me where you stand. Keep it intelligent — we’re trying to have a real conversation here. 00:00 Christa Pike Survived Her Own Execution 00:22 Welcome — Shot Up With Phenobarbital and She Didn’t Die 01:03 Does This Woman Deserve to Die? 01:44 Satanic Murder Scene Still Haunts Police 31 Years Later 02:35 How They Lured Colleen Slemmer to Her Death 03:31 She Kept a Piece of Her Skull as a Trophy 04:41 Murder Is Murder. Torture Is Demonic. 05:29 Text Me — Should Christa Pike Die? 06:23 The Botched Execution — Where Things Stand Now 07:09 Yes, She Deserves to Die. No, the State Shouldn’t Execute Her. 07:38 The Death Penalty Isn’t for One Person. It’s for the Masses. 08:38 203 People Freed From Death Row Since 1973 09:26 My Father Was Framed — 50 Years for a Crime He Didn’t Commit 10:33 Execute an Innocent Person and There’s No Appeal 11:59 What If They Confess to the Crime? 13:26 The Same Stance I Took With OJ Simpson 14:34 Prove It Beyond a Reasonable Doubt or Set Them Free 14:54 Take Control of Your Money With Rumble Wallet 16:40 You Pay for It in This Life or the Next 17:20 Official Misconduct in 71% of Death Row Exonerations 18:21 What If It Were Your Family Member on Death Row? 19:31 Life Without Parole Is Not a Walk in the Park 20:01 My First Night in Solitary — I Thought My Life Was Over 20:56 Prosecutors Who Frame People Never Pay for It 21:38 They Have All the Money, Time and Power 23:22 DNA, Perjury and Doctored Forensics 24:59 If It Were My Daughter... 25:24 Redemption Doesn’t Erase Accountability 27:09 Will Tennessee Try to Execute Her Again? 27:53 My Position — End the Death Penalty 28:48 Thank You for Watching the Family Sit-Downs 31:12 My Brother John and I Are Building an Addiction Recovery Program 31:48 Big Things Coming This Holiday Season 32:18 Be Safe — A 7-Year-Old Girl Killed in Chicago 32:47 Ladies, Walk Next to Your Husband 33:15 Be Healthy — Why I Only Promote What I Believe In 33:51 God Bless America #ChristaPike #DeathPenalty #MichaelFranzese #TrueCrime #Tennessee Backbone Media Group Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
October 6 · 1 hr 7 min
My Daughter Told Me the TRUTH About Growing Up With a Mobster Dad
My oldest daughter Miq sat down with her Uncle John a few weeks ago. She hadn’t seen him in years. Now he texts her five times a day. So I figured it was my turn to sit across from her. I was in and out of prison until she was nine years old. I always thought I was there for my kids, even from inside. Miq told me the truth — how growing up with a father who kept disappearing affected her relationships, her trust, and what she thought a good marriage was supposed to look like. She didn’t even realize it until her late twenties. We get into all of it: 41 years with her mother, and the time she thought we might not make it. Why she wishes she’d seen her mom be more affectionate. Her own rough first year of marriage, and why she refuses to be blindsided the way her mother was. Traditional roles — and yes, I said what I said. And I admit something on camera I’ve never really talked about: I wasn’t a good father to my two daughters from my first marriage. That’s on me. No excuses. I’m praying that changes. Our family has been offered reality shows more than once. We always said no. This is as real as it gets. My Daughter Told Me the TRUTH About Growing Up With a Mobster Dad 0:00 Introduction 2:43 My Daughter, Miquelle 6:02 What Miq Learned Sitting Down with My Brother John 8:52 On Trial with Giuliani When Her Mom Got Pregnant 11:24 Indicted Again a Month After She Was Born 14:01 How My Prison Years Affected My Daughter 17:54 Why Kids Need a Mother AND a Father 20:30 Becoming a Father Figure to My Sons-in-Law 23:32 “Anybody I Marry Has to Have a Misdemeanor” 26:47 What 41 Years of Marriage Taught My Daughter 31:01 Why My Wife and I Argue (Two Glasses of Wine) 32:41 The Rough Patch in Our Marriage 34:36 Marriage Is Tough: Money and Trust 35:45 My Regrets with My Daughters from My First Marriage 46:26 Don’t Keep Your Wife in the Dark About Money 49:37 Men and Women Are Equal but Have Different Roles 53:13 Men, Do Your Job: Provide and Protect 56:30 Praying for a New Grandchild 58:38 Why My Family Turned Down a Reality Show 60:30 You Asked Me to Call You “Friends” 62:36 Final Thoughts: Be Safe, Be Healthy #MichaelFranzese #MiquelleFranzese #FranzeseFamily #FatherDaughter #Marriage Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
October 1 · 1 hr 22 min
Face to Face With My Brother — The Son Who Testified Against Our Father (Part 3)
People, this is it — the final sit-down with my brother John. Three weeks ago we went back to the house we grew up in. Last week he told you why he wore the wire. This week we go to the years in between: when my brother was in the life too, during the war, and our father was doing everything he could to get him made.John was five years sober when he went to see dad. Dad told him, “Son, I’m proud of you.” Took two steps. Then: “It’s a shame you ruined your whole life, though.” That’s our father. And if you knew him, you know he meant both.We get into the night they called John down to the club during the war — no gun, nobody there, and a captain telling him “your father can’t help you anymore.” What dad said from prison when John asked him what to do. The rumor our mother started in a visiting room that almost got our father hurt. The meeting at a lawyer’s office where dad tried to bring John in — and why it never happened. Chicky, Louie, Frankie, and some stories about dad that still make us laugh.And my brother says something in here I want you to hear: 24 years, and he hasn’t raised his hands or wished harm on a single person.I couldn’t sit down with my father anymore. So I sat down with his other son. If you’ve watched all three, thank you — this one was for us.Part 1 and Part 2 are linked below if you’re just finding this.#MichaelFranzese #JohnFranzese #SonnyFranzese #ColomboFamily #MobFamily Face to Face With My Brother — The Son Who Testified Against Our Father (Part 3) Backbone Media Group Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
September 29 · 35 min
Why the Irish Mob Died and the Mafia Didn’t
📲 Text me — who do you think was the more powerful organization? Make your case. I read them: https://my.community.com/michaelfranzese (424) 325 0921 People, let me set this straight right now. The first real organized crime gangs in New York weren’t Italian. They were IRISH — decades before my people ever got off the boat. The Forty Thieves, the Dead Rabbits, the Gophers, the Hudson Dusters. They owned the docks, the unions, and City Hall. So here’s my question: if the Irish were first, why is there no Irish Commission? Why was there no Irish Luciano? I knew these guys. I did business with the Westies. Jimmy Coonan was a stand-up guy — and I know more about Jimmy than most people do. Some of that I’ll get to. And I’ll correct a few things the legend gets wrong: the Gambinos didn’t partner with the Westies out of fear, and Fat Tony wasn’t the real power behind that deal. We go through all of it — Hell’s Kitchen, Whitey Bulger and the biggest law enforcement scandal in mob history, Danny Greene in Cleveland — and then I give you my verdict. Because the answer to who won isn’t about who was tougher. A feared crew dies with its leader. An organization replaces him by Tuesday. That’s the whole difference. #IrishMob #Westies #Mafia #WhiteyBulger #MichaelFranzese #OrganizedCrime 🍷 Have you tried my wine yet?: https://yt.franzesewine.com/ 00:00 The Irish Were First. So Where's the Irish Commission?00:35 Welcome — And a Quick Word on the Diddy Verdict01:33 Were the Westies Really an Organization?02:20 Why There Was Never an Irish Luciano03:38 What I Know About Jimmy Coonan04:05 The Forty Thieves — New York's First Gang Was Irish04:42 Dead Rabbits, Whyos, Gophers — They Owned the Street and City Hall05:44 The Westies — Hell's Kitchen, Coonan & Featherstone06:20 We Didn't Partner With Them Out of Fear06:56 Fat Tony Wasn't the Real Power. The Chin Was.08:15 A Feared Crew Dies With Its Leader08:47 What Made the Italians Different — The System10:14 Jimmy Got 75 Years. The Westies Went With Him.13:22 Whitey Bulger — Boss and FBI Informant15:00 Danny Greene and the Cleveland War16:13 My Verdict — Hierarchy Beats the Neighborhood Crew17:39 Why the Family Survives the Boss18:48 Could a Non-Italian Ever Be Fully Inside?20:28 Did We Use the Irish for Work We Wanted Distance From?21:51 Were the Westies Really Independent?23:14 They Had Killers and City Hall. We Built a System.23:53 Text Me — Who Was More Powerful?24:33 A Glass of Wine and a Slice25:56 A Warning for the Ladies — Please Be Safe29:42 Franzese Fam, Lives & Ministry Monday31:25 I'm Not Going to Hell for Anybody Backbone Media Group Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
September 25 · 33 min
Former Mob Boss Ranks the Top 10 Richest Mobsters Ever
📲 Text me your pick for top 10 richest mobsters: https://my.community.com/michaelfranzese (424) 325 0921 ✅ Take Control of Your Money and claim $10 in US Stablecoin (USD₮)! Download now at http://wallet.rumble.com/InnerCircle and use the code InnerCircle10. 🍷 Have you tried my wine yet?: https://yt.franzesewine.com/ In 1986, Fortune magazine put out a list of the 50 biggest mafia bosses in America — a Fortune 500 for my world. I was number 18. The youngest man on the list. I found out about it sitting in a federal prison in Arizona, when the lieutenant called me into his office and locked me down for a week over it. Here’s the thing, people — they got it wrong. Those were journalists guessing from the outside. They never saw the cash. They didn’t know who was kicking up to who. And in our world, the smartest earners were invisible on purpose. So today you’re getting the list they couldn’t write: the 10 richest mobsters of all time, ranked by a guy who was on the inside, knew how the money actually moved, and made the list himself. Capone, Lansky, Luciano, Costello, Carlo Gambino, Fat Tony, Marcello, Trafficante, Rothstein and Gotti — and I’ll tell you my number one and exactly why it’s not close. And yes, I answer the question you’re all going to ask: where would I rank on that list, and what it really cost me. Tell me in the comments who I got wrong — if somebody makes a good enough case, we’ll do a part two. Former Mob Boss Ranks the Top 10 Richest Mobsters Ever 00:00 The List Fortune Magazine Couldn't Write 00:52 1986 — They Locked Me Down Over That Article 02:18 I Was #18. The Youngest Man on the List. 02:44 Why They Got It Wrong 03:30 My Father's Reaction 05:08 Nobody Really Knows the Numbers — Here's Why 06:55 Arnold Rothstein — He Made Crime a Business 07:46 Al Capone — $100 Million in the 1920s 08:46 Lucky Luciano — The Architect 10:02 Meyer Lansky — "Bigger Than U.S. Steel" 11:02 Frank Costello — The One I Modeled Myself After 12:14 Carlo Gambino — The Richest Man You Never Heard About 13:34 Fat Tony Salerno — Fortune Said #1. I Disagree. 16:33 "Give These Mamalukes a Job" — My Day With Fat Tony 19:10 Carlos Marcello — Half of Louisiana Answered to Him 20:06 Santo Trafficante — The Mob's Foreign Minister 21:01 John Gotti — The Flash Is What Kills You 22:33 "What About You, Michael?" 23:06 The Jet, the Helicopter & the Houses 24:07 What It Actually Cost Me 26:15 My #1 — And It's Not Close 28:12 My #2 30:02 The Only Wealth That Lasts #Mafia #AlCapone #MeyerLansky #JohnGotti #MichaelFranzese #Mob #Top10 Backbone Media Group Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
September 23 · 59 min
Face to Face With My Brother — The Son Who Testified Against Our Father (Part 2)
📲 Text me your thoughts about this Interview: https://my.community.com/michaelfranzese (424) 325 0921 ✅ Take Control of Your Money and claim $10 in US Stablecoin (USD₮)! Download now at http://wallet.rumble.com/InnerCircle and use the code InnerCircle10. 🍷 Have you tried my wine yet?: https://yt.franzesewine.com/ People, last week my brother and I went back to the beginning. This week we get to the part you’ve been waiting for — and I’m going to let him tell it himself. Why John wore a wire on our father. Not the version you’ve read, not the version the papers wrote. His. He walks me through all of it: the meeting in 1995, what he was told about mom and dad getting re-indicted, what he thought he was doing for our father, the money they paid him — $600 a month, he was living under the poverty line — the device they wanted to put under his skin, and the moment he heard what they wanted done to somebody and knew he couldn’t be part of it. And then there’s my father. Dad telling him “if it was the other way around, you’d have done it to me.” Dad telling him “we don’t kill our family.” I’ll be honest with you — there are things in this conversation that disappointed me in my own father, and I say so out loud for the first time. We also get into the day John got sober and everything changed, the years I didn’t know where he was, and how a guy from our old neighborhood ends up as his friend in California. You can call my brother whatever you want. Hear him out first. Face to Face With My Brother — The Son Who Testified Against Our Father (Part 2) This is Part 2 of 3. Part 3 drops next week. #MichaelFranzese #JohnFranzese #SonnyFranzese #FranzeseFamily #MobFamily Backbone Media Group Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
September 17 · 1 hr 10 min
Face to Face With My Brother — The Son Who Testified Against Our Father (Part 1)
📲 Text me your thoughts about this Interview: (424) 325 0921 People, I’ve told my story for over 30 years. Today you’re going to hear the side of it I couldn’t tell — because I didn’t live it. My brother John is finally at my table. Same house, same father, same life... seen from the other side. You may know his story — and believe me, we’re going to get to ALL of it — but it starts where WE started: growing up as Sonny Franzese’s sons. I can’t sit down with my father anymore. So this sit-down, with his other son, might be the most important one I ever do. John takes full responsibility for everything in his life — he’s never made excuses. And in this one he tells me things even I didn’t know: the truth about our mother — I say some things about her I’ve never said publicly — the night dad went to jail, the prison visits he hated, the day dad told him “there’s no shame in crying,” his 16-year war with addiction and the rehab he walked out of on day 88, our sister Gia, and the conversation where I begged our father to see what was happening to his son — and he couldn’t. This is Part 1 of 3. Part 2 drops next week — and that’s where we get into the part of John’s story you think you know. If you or someone you love is fighting addiction — my brother is living proof it can be beaten. Don’t give up on them. Face to Face With My Brother — The Son Who Testified Against Our Father (Part 1) #MichaelFranzese #JohnFranzese #SonnyFranzese #FranzeseFamily #Addiction #MobFamily Backbone Media Group Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
September 15 · 1 hr
My Daughter Finally Opens Up: The Tragedy, the Healing & Her Wedding Day
🍷 Join me in the next video with a glass of wine: https://yt.franzesewine.com/ ✅ Take Control of Your Money and claim $10 in US Stablecoin (USD₮)! Download now at http://wallet.rumble.com/InnerCircle and use the code InnerCircle10. 📧Inquiries: julia@michaelfranzese.com People, this one is emotional for me. Four years ago, my youngest daughter Julia went through the unthinkable — she lost someone she loved, in our own home, to a pill laced with fentanyl. When she sat down with me back then, she could barely talk about it. Today, my little princess is back at this table — as a married woman. And I had the privilege of officiating the wedding myself. We talk about everything: the three years where she was surviving instead of living, why she refused to settle, how her faith carried her when she couldn’t hear God at all, the moment Tyler walked in — and why she almost passed on him — what marriage has already changed, and the conversation about fathers, daughters and what a man owes his family that I know some of you are going to blow me up for. Good. Tell me in the comments. If you or someone you love is struggling with loss or addiction, please — talk to somebody. That’s part of why we share this story. #MichaelFranzese #JuliaFranzese #FentanylAwareness #Faith #family Backbone Media Group Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
September 11 · 33 min
Former Mob Boss Ranks the Top 10 Mob TV Shows Ever Made
🍷 Join me in the next video with a glass of wine: https://yt.franzesewine.com/ People, a couple of years ago I ranked mob movies and shows together — today, it’s TELEVISION ONLY. The top 10 organized crime shows ever made, ranked by a guy who lived what they filmed. I knew Joe Colombo personally. I knew the real guys these characters are based on. So when I tell you a show got it right — or got it dead wrong — I’m not guessing, people. I was there. All ten are on the board: the giant that started it all, the rawest Italian crime show ever put on TV, the one that isn’t even a mob show but HAD to make my list, an old-school deep cut most of you have never even heard of — and Tulsa King placed somewhere you wouldn't expect. I know some of you are going to blow me up for that. Good. Tell me why I’m wrong in the comments, give me YOUR number one, and tell me what I left off. And stick around after the rankings — I get into which shows actually capture the life, and my honest problem with how some of them use violence. Best and worst. No mercy. Salute.🍷 #TheSopranos #TulsaKing #Mafia #MobShows #PeakyBlinders #MichaelFranzese Former Mob Boss Ranks the Top 10 Mob TV Shows Ever Made 🤝 Book 1 on 1 Call With Me: https://michaelfranzese.com/book-1-on-1-call/ 🔥 Check out my store: https://store.michaelfranzese.com/ 🎙️ Michael Franzese Podcast on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3Eo39qb 📧 Interested in partnerships? partnerships@michaelfranzese.com Backbone Media Group Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
September 8 · 1 hr 36 min
Democrat Insider Reveals Dark Truth About Who Controlled Biden, His Decline & Why They Hid It
People, Lindy Li raised MILLIONS for the Democratic Party. She was in the rooms almost nobody gets into — and what she told me, face to face, is worse than anything you’ve heard. The President of the United States, who’d known her for a decade, told her “tell your husband I said hi.” Lindy has never been married. Staff confiscated her phone in a ziplock bag every time she got near him — so nobody could show the world his condition. The family doctor vouched for his fitness out of LOYALTY, not medicine. And the chief strategist was paid $4 MILLION — with another $4 million coming if they duped the American people into thinking Biden was fit. That’s not a campaign, people. That’s an operation. And I know an operation when I see one. We get into who was really making the decisions, why Jill pushed him to run — Lindy calls it what it is — the media blacklist and the 3 A.M. slot they punished her with, what she handed over to Congress that you’ll hear about here FIRST, and her honest verdicts on Kamala, Newsom, AOC and the party she finally walked away from. 📖 Her new book tells the whole story — get it here: https://a.co/d/01AsSmCl 00:00:00 "Funding a Vegetable" — What You're About to Hear 00:01:03 Welcome, My Friends — I've Got a Confession to Make 00:05:22 My Confession — Why You Need to Hear Her Out 00:10:43 What Walking Away Cost Her 00:14:02 Being a Christian Inside the Democrat Party 00:18:43 The mRNA Push — And the 10-Year Fauci Pardon 00:20:32 He Pardoned His Whole Family Too 00:21:44 Jill Knew — "That's Not Love" 00:22:20 "This Is Elder Abuse" 00:23:13 She Was in the Room on Debate Night 00:23:54 "Tell Your Husband I Said Hi" — She's Never Been Married 00:27:30 $4 MILLION to Keep the Lie Alive 00:28:06 "Our Country Was Collateral Damage for the Biden Family" 00:30:51 The Media Knew Her Well — Until She Spoke Up 00:32:09 The 3 A.M. Slot — How They Punished Her 00:36:16 Her Great-Grandfather Was Murdered by Communists 00:37:05 Her War With AOC — "A Classic Bully" 00:38:30 Kamala & Willie Brown — I Can Back That Up 00:39:30 "I Was Duped by Obama" 00:40:12 The BLM Mansion — Grievance Grifters 00:44:44 What the Party Really Said About the Border 00:45:27 $150 Billion a Year — The Permanent Majority Plan 00:48:17 $39 Trillion in Debt — Who Pays for the Wars? 00:51:43 Newsom — I've Been His Biggest Critic 00:54:43 She's Dealt With Newsom Personally — "It's Worse" 00:56:25 His Best Friend's Wife — That Tells You Everything 00:59:49 Shapiro Stripped Her Commission — No Call, No Text 01:00:37 Socialists in Power — I Never Thought I'd See It 01:04:27 9/11 — They Took Our Innocence 01:05:25 Her Book — The Forrest Gump of the Democrat Party 01:07:01 They Confiscated Her Phone Around Biden — Every Time 01:07:39 What She Handed Congress — You're Hearing It FIRST 01:10:30 I Know the RICO Statute — My Take on the Investigation 01:12:49 "I Think He's Dying" — Her Honest Word on Joe 01:13:09 Hunter Is a Different Story 01:21:18 Credit Where It's Due — The Border Today 01:23:21 Her Book, Her Loss & Why She Wrote It 01:28:16 Song of Solomon 8:7 — Until Next Time #LindyLi #Biden #MichaelFranzese #CoverUp #Democrat #Insider Backbone Media Group Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
September 4 · 34 min
Former Mob Boss Interviews Mark Wahlberg About Playing Greg Scarpa in 'By Any Means'
🍷 Join me in the next video with a glass of wine: https://yt.franzesewine.com/ ✅ Take Control of Your Money and claim $10 in US Stablecoin (USD₮)! Download now at http://wallet.rumble.com/InnerCircle and use the code InnerCircle10. People, I knew the real Greg Scarpa. We were in the same family — I was close with him, and his son Greg Jr. and I were made on the same night. So when Mark Wahlberg sits down with me after playing Scarpa in “By Any Means,” I told him straight to his face: you made him look NICER than he actually was. We get into everything: who Greg Scarpa really was behind the movie version, the story of a mob killer working with the FBI to take down the Ku Klux Klan, what I now believe REALLY happened with the Colombo shooting — and it’s not what everybody thinks — whether Persico knew Scarpa was informing all those years, Mark’s dad playing the numbers back in the day, his faith and why he never hides it, and the question this whole movie hangs on: who’s worse, the mob or the Klan? And is the government ever right to use one monster to catch another? “By Any Means” opens in theaters Friday, September 4th. It’s dark, it’s violent — but that’s exactly who Greg Scarpa was. Go see it, then come back and tell me if I’m wrong. And stay tuned, people — my sit-down with my friend Greg Scarpa Jr. is coming next, and after that, my full review of the movie. Former Mobster Who Knew Greg Scarpa Grades Mark Wahlberg's Performance — To His Face I Was a Capo With the Real Greg Scarpa. I Told Mark Wahlberg How He Really Did. 0:00 — I Told Mark He Made Him Look Nicer Than He Really Was 1:25 — My Sit-Down With Mark Wahlberg 2:37 — Who's Worse — the Mob or the Klan? 3:28 — Mark Almost Played Scarpa Once Before 3:55 — What Really Happened the Day Joe Colombo Got Shot 5:03 — The Guys Scarpa Killed Using FBI Information 6:29 — What the Government Did to Him in Prison 7:37 — I Told Mark Somebody Wants to Play Me 8:20 — His Next Movie Is on Pete Rose 10:19 — My Dad Lived to Play the Numbers 11:14 — The Day They Stole My Hub Caps at the Track 11:49 — Mark's Faith and His Jailhouse Tattoo 14:14 — My Honest Take After Sitting Down With Him 18:36 — Jack Ruby, JFK, and What I Was Told 19:24 — Lucky Luciano and the War Effort 20:24 — How the FBI Used Scarpa to Solve the KKK Murder 21:44 — What I Was Told About Marilyn Monroe 23:00 — The Mob or the Klan — Who's Really Worse? 24:04 — Where the "Italians Are Racist" Myth Started 26:36 — Why Mark's Faith Moved Me 30:26 — Go See "By Any Means" #MarkWahlberg #GregScarpa #ByAnyMeans #MichaelFranzese #Mafia #Colombo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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