Ex-Mob Boss Plays Never Have I Ever

Have I

ever

killed someone? Hello

ever

yone. Michael Franzese here, former Colombo family mobster in New York. I was a soldier of the kapa regime at one point. I lived that life for over 25 years. I made a breakup in 1995. I left. that life and since I am a motivational speaker, I

have

written several books, I

have

made several documentaries, I am here today to reproduce, I have

never

left something that I would reproduce in the past, okay, I have a lot of statements in front of me questions that I'm going to be asked I don't know if I've ever been asked these questions before, but we're going to find out that I've

never

put a horse's head in someone's bed.

No, but I have to say it's one of the best scenes ever seen in The Godfather. It's something everyone remembers. I can certainly see my old partners doing it back then and it was great, it was a great scene. I wish I had thought about that, but No, I never had to resort to something like that, but I know other things were done that were at that level, but we won't go into all that. I've never had a hit. Unfortunately, when you walk away from that life, you're not allowed to do that and my former

boss

, Carmine Persico, was very upset when it became public that I was walking away from that life and he hit me.

As far as I know, it has never been rescinded. You know, I don't know if those things ever go away, so you can't walk away from that life when you take that oath. You know it is the omertà oath of silence. You are not allowed to betray and you are not even supposed to admit that there is a mafia or that you are part of it, but yes, I have been hit and you know that by the grace of God, I have been able to. to overcome that challenge and here I am, I have never been to prison.

I spent eight years in prison. I received a 10-year prison sentence in 1985. I pleaded guilty to extortion. The underlying law was tax fraud. I created a big scam to defraud. The government was exempt from taxes on each gallon of gasoline. It had more than 350 gas stations. 18 companies that had a license to collect the tax for each gallon of gasoline. When I finally got caught, my partner testified against me. Other people, so I pleaded guilty. 10 years. prison sentence 15 million dollars in restitution five million in forfeitures went to serve my sentence you know prison is what you make of it I mean it's yours certainly they will be punished look every time they take your freedom away that's punishment and It's hard I've never done it I've ever made a bribe.

Yeah, you know, in the past we certainly had a lot of politicians on our payroll and we used to pay them, we used to fund a lot of their fundraisers, we would go to them and contribute big dollars to get them to do our bidding, in fact, in a gasoline business, I needed to have licenses for my wholesale operation, I had to have a license to be able to collect the tax. Well he had 18 licenses, they weren't easy to get but I was bribing public officials to catch him and they were very happy to do my bidding and as a result of that I was able to defraud the government with the help of the government.

You know, it helped politicians. It was very accessible to us. At that time I have never been an informant. Not now. This is somewhat controversial because I want to clarify this. I'm glad I had the opportunity to do this. I never imprisoned anyone. Nothing I told the government. resulted in someone going to jail. Have I talked about my previous life? Sure, but the things I've talked about almost everyone knows because my former associates have been captured on tapes and recordings, etc., etc., I admit it. I played sort of a game with the government for a while.

I made them believe I could agree with them, but in the end I never did and as a result, my probation was violated. They sent me back to prison, so I want to make that clear, I have never been an informant, I have never said anything to the government that put anyone in prison with my former associates, I never have and I never will, any I once fired a grenade launcher while yelling, say hello to my little friend, I haven't done that at all. I love that scene. I thought Pacino was fantastic. I mean it was a classic movie.

He was great in that movie, but no. I never had to shoot a grenade or anything like that. You know, I used weapons at that time. I never used the machine gun either. that was in the 30s, 40s and 20s, we didn't do that, we used short range guns at that time, so we never had to resort to anything, no, no, high artillery like that, I have never killed anyone. throw one of these out, you know, credibility in what I do is very important to me, so I never want to lie to anyone, whether in private or public.

I'll tell you this: life is a very violent life if you're a part of it. of life you are part of the violence there is no escape and if someone tells you otherwise, they are either not being honest with you or they were not a member of that life and you know what I will say this, you know, murder in which life was taken very seriously and I'll tell you this about myself and I'm glad I have the opportunity to say this. I don't judge other people, I don't know their hearts, but I was surrounded by a lot of guys, yes. they had to commit a violent act it seemed like that was part of them I'm not going to say they enjoyed it but they did it with a kind of fervor and when I did it when I was involved in anything I could have you know, I had violence to be a part of. from this.

I never felt good about it. I want to make this clear. I never glorify my previous life and the reason I don't is because I think it is an evil life and I want to be clear. In this I'm not calling the kids evil, I was one of them, I was just very blessed, but I don't know any family of any member of that life that hasn't been totally devastated, including mine, nor my wife and children, You know, fortunately God has preserved them, but my brothers and sisters, mother and father, had a very, very difficult life as a result of my father's involvement in that life, so any lifestyle that does that to families is obviously an evil life and I will tell you. that I'm extremely blessed and very fortunate to be where I am today to have left that life, to be able to talk about it and hopefully be a source of encouragement and hope for people to make them understand that you can't get out. from a bad situation in your life, you can change it for me, it's all about my faith, but you know, I never lose hope, you know, do the right thing and there is always a way out.