Michael Franzese
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Michael Franzese (b May 27, 1951, Brooklyn, New York) is an American gangster of the late 20th century who has claimed to have been a member of the Colombo crime family. He is the son of reputed Colombo mobster John "Sonny" Franzese.
Franzese served as an acting captain during the 1980s while Sonny was serving time in jail. Franzese established lucrative rackets such as the infamous gasoline bootlegging rackets in which the Colombos received hefty sums of cash from Russian gangsters that illegaly sold gas without taxes attached to it at reduced prices. Also, Franzese was involved in getting to college athletes via a sports agency business. He was a silent partner and the scheme was broken up by the government long before any money was made. Eventually, Franzese was indicted for his role in the gasoline bootlegging rackets, and Russian mobster Michael Markowitz testified against Franzese,[citation needed] who was sent to prison but also struck up an agreement with the federal government, but never actually testified against any of his former Colombo associates in court.
Franzese became a Born-again Christian and allegedly left the Colombo family and the life of crime to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. He is the author of an autobiography, Quitting the Mob. In the book, he discusses many of the rackets he and his crew was involved in, providing information on Sonny Franzese, as well as information relating to Genovese crime family soldier Joseph "Joe Glitz" Galizia's own gasoline bootlegging operation, and former Gambino crime family boss John Gotti, who Franzese had known well since their days coming up the ranks within their respective families.
