‘I Walked Away From The Mafia And I Lived To Tell The Story' | This Morning

our next guest wouldn't be out of place in movies like The Godfather and One of Our Own Michael Francis was once part of one of New York's most violent and feared crime families, even ranking 18th on a list of crime bosses. the richest and most powerful

mafia

in the world. and I believe there are only two of them still alive, yes, however, after Michael did the unthinkable and left the

mafia

in 1995. he found himself facing years with a life-threatening Target on his back and now, over 25 years later he can finally

tell

his

story

it's an incredible

story

Michael joins us now we met him at the commercial break and I must say he speaks exactly the way I wanted him to, it's just that you, I mean, you have the voice, Phil, I have to

tell

you

this

.

He was listening to you off stage. I told you he won well, so let's talk about you and your story because

this

is extraordinary. There were five when you were growing up. Five important families in New York City. And this was part of your family. your grandfather, your father, so explain the role. Your role, their role within these families. My grandfather emigrated from Naples and came to New York and was not part of the life, but he was an associate, he never wanted to be, you know, intimately involved in me. Father, on the other hand, started young and was one of the youngest guys ever created and, in our terminology, that means taking an oath and becoming a servant member of that life, so my father finished early, since You know, originally he didn't.

He didn't want that life for me and he wanted me to go to school to be a doctor, but in the 1960s he was sentenced to 50 years in prison for a federal case for which he was convicted. I was a student at school at the time, but I thought my dad was going to die in prison and Joe Colombo, who is the head of our family, my dad was his second in command, so I was very close to him. and you know that many of my dad's friends told me no. If you don't help your father, he's going to die in prison, so my dad and I met in the visiting room at Leavenworth Penitentiary and I told him dad, I'm not going to go to school if I don't help you, you're going to die here. and we know he was a little upset about that because he wanted me to really stay off the streets, but he knew my mind was made up and that's when he proposed to me to be a member of that life because when you come into life you can't just say hey , I want to join, someone has to propose you, you respond, you say you have what it takes, in my case it was my dad and that's another thing that will happen, it's like you say three years is your official. member, yeah, I was a recruit for about three years where I had to pass myself as worthy and what does that all mean, what does that look like?

Well, you know, there's a lot of discipline in that life, a lot of authority, uh, you have to do what you are. I said and look, I'm going to be honest with you, you know, I try to be as honest as possible about a lot of minor things, you know, taking the boss and doing things like that, but you know life is violent sometimes if you're part of that life you know. that you see the violence, well, you rose to captain and that meant you were in charge of about 300 soldiers, so it's a terminology at that stage, and you're being honest, were there people that yours was the last face they saw, Well, you know, let me put it this way, it's part of life and if you're part of that life, you're part of the violence and I don't know if I could have been. that last person, but I've seen, I've certainly seen my share of things like that happen and it's like I hesitate to say the movies, but you hear people who are professionals or soldiers or whoever was involved in it and they see every face of those who are no longer here, maybe thanks to them.

Do you remember all those people? Yeah, you know, Phil. I think there are two types of people in that life and I'm going to be honest there are some people there that seem like Really get into it and enjoy it maybe that's not the right word but they get involved they're street kids, they were born and raised in that way, you know, and other, you know, you have to do what you're told and sometimes maybe you just get out of yourself and handle things that you don't necessarily feel good about, it's not something you want to do and I also want to make something clear.

You know, a lot of people think that from the moment you come into that life, everything is over. about violence and murder and it's not about that, I mean, we're business-minded people, you know, we try to do things a little bit differently and not everyone is a thug on the street trying to do things like that, obviously there are those guys, but no. They're all, so it took you three years until you started to be accepted into that family, but it wasn't long before you really saw yourself starting to make a lot of money, yes Rochelle, you know I was.

I was motivated to do two. things I wanted to get my dad out of prison and I got him out after 10 years, he ended up serving 40 years of those 50. um and I was lucky to know how to use that life to benefit myself in business. I was very aggressive. On the street I worked seven days a week, I brought new things to the family that they had not done before and I managed to earn a very important amount of money and that money in life is power and if you are earning money and you are earning well for the family, you rose through the ranks, you made tens of millions of dollars a week because you had fuel scams, there were all kinds of things you did that the family, the business you were involved in that, it's a huge amount of money, finally the law he caught you, you got arrested, he was released early on parole, then you went back to prison and it was in prison that you made that decision now, when you read Everything You Know About Us, Everything We See About the Mafia, fortunately, comes from the movies that never come out, nobody comes out.

We were talking about that top 50 list published in Fortune magazine, the top 50 mob bosses of all time. The highest earners, you were number 18. Yeah, and there's a guy in prison and there's you and everyone else is dead. Yeah, how do you decide to go out and live well? Let me tell you, Phil, there is no plan to get

away

from that life and survive. and you know, I didn't know how it was going to turn out because I never underestimate my former associates, they're very capable, but I'll tell you what happened. I met a young woman who is now my wife of 37 years and she was a young woman of faith and when I met her I said I fell in love with her and I said one of two things are going to happen if I marry this girl and stay in her life, eventually she'll end up without me because she had a porthole on her back, you know, my name was very big.

The government really wanted to put me in prison, so I said either I stay with her or I'm in her life, so I decided to try to get

away

from her. a plan that didn't work out exactly the way I wanted, but here I am, you know, 30 years later, I'm alive and I'm free, but you had children, even though you had children and you had to do it, you were told by law enforcement agencies you have to leave town , I mean, it wasn't an easy road, you did like you said, have a target on your back, well, I'll tell you what I did.

I moved out of New York. I never would have made it in New York. I moved to the west coast and I'll tell you what happened. Phil, everyone, and I mean everyone I know, started having problems with these organized crime laws and people thought I was going to become a witness because normally no one gets out of that life without testifying working with the government, right. , that's not what I wanted. I don't want to imprison people. I never imprisoned anyone. I just want that out of life and eventually when people understood that I wasn't out to hurt anyone, they had their own problems so they were trying to defend themselves and they kind of forgot about me and then before I knew it, everyone the ones I know are dead or in prison for the rest of my life. your life, everyone, so know for me.

I'll be honest, I'm a person of faith. I believe God had a different plan and purpose for me and I never thought he would ever speak, but I was recruited from prison by the same people who tried to put me there, the FBI and I had a big street gambling operation, we had a lot of athletes betting with us, so they came to me and said, hey, we have a problem in Pro Sports and college sports, will you help us keep these athletes straight? So I started working with him when I got out of prison and I've been speaking for the last 25 years all over the world obviously your life has moved I mean in a completely different direction you met a lovely woman you fell in love you started a family you have changed your life like it was crazy this to me obviously that life you used to live seemed so implausible so out of place The normal thing for most people is to understand what that type of life does mentally.

You know, bend over and dive while watching your back. You have a threat hanging over you. What does that do to your mind? Well, you still know it today, I mean, even. Although I don't know, I don't live in fear, honestly, but if I go to New York I'm very careful, I always look back, I'm very aware of what's around me, it's natural, it's instinct, you know, because look. There was one night, one of the horrors of that life is that you are in trouble, you don't know it, your best friend takes you to a room that you never come out of again and I had that experience one night while he was walking.

I

walked

into a room and I didn't know if I was going to come out and honestly people have told me why didn't you run away and you know it wasn't heroic, it was robotic. I just said, hey, if this was this? I was very much a product of that life, that's what makes you you and, uh, but obviously I'm here, so I want to say it worked, but you know, I want to make this point. I call that life an evil life. and I want to make it clear that I'm not calling that guy evil, that wouldn't be right, I was one of them, I was just very blessed, but I don't know any family of any member of that life, including my own and not my wife and children, but my brother, sister, mother, father, who have not been totally devastated, yes, and that is true for every family of every member, so any lifestyle that does that to a family is obviously a bad life that still continues.

It still continues, it's not like they were the golden years of that prima austro mafia life in New York from the 50's to the mid 80's when they started using the racket during it was very effective it still exists I don't think it will disappear in my lifetime, but now It's not like it was before, well, you say you're giving talks and you're putting yourself out there and that's exactly what you're doing because you could if you wanted to, um and as you see, you know this is advice. of the iceberg what a fascinating evening it is with Michael Francis he is a good guy, it will be a fascinating evening at the Grosvenor House on July 2, will you be able to keep the money?

You know, people always ask me all the things. Now, where is all your money? I want to tell you this, you know, they say I have hundreds of millions of dollars buried, if it's out there, I doubt I'll ever be able to use it, Phil, but let's leave it at that, but you know I want to. To say this, I am very excited to come here. I think we are going to visit about 25 cities. I met a guy here, these fellow Cavs with Mandela Adventures and a wonderful group of people who made me very, very comfortable and I'm going to say some things that I haven't talked about in the past.

I'm serious and I think people will have an eye opening experience when they hear some of the things because people think they know about the mafia and close enough to it but they really don't but when it's over they'll know well keep up safe, be careful what you say. Yeah, um, the second of July, like we said in Grove at the house, thank you. you should have done that in a day, yeah, like they're like wait, where I'm from. I have so much water to hell with that for continuing, thank you, thank you very much.