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00:00It is August 24th, 1964. A body is discovered in the waters of Jamaica Bay in Queens, New York.
00:15The body is later identified as that of Ernest Repello, a former contract killer of the Genovese
00:21crime family who had turned against them in the late 1940s. The body is found with concrete blocks
00:27attached, and following an investigation, a high-ranking gangster named Johnny Franzese is
00:33arrested.
00:34Naples, summer 1917. Carmine and Maria Franzese, Italian immigrants living in the United States,
01:01returned to their hometown for a long-awaited vacation. During their stay, Maria gives birth
01:07to their son, Johnny. When Johnny is six months old, the Franzese family returns to Greenpoint,
01:13Brooklyn, where Carmine runs a family bakery. As he grows up, Johnny's mother often calls
01:20him by the nickname Sonny, a name that will stick. As he approaches his 20s and the 1930s,
01:26the New York Mafia is experiencing a period of rapid and explosive growth. Sonny begins
01:32working under a man named Joseph Profaci, the boss of the New York Profaci crime family.
01:38Profaci is an unusual boss, as he initially had very little knowledge of the criminal underworld
01:43before his appointment. For one reason or another, whether because he was the son of a Sicilian mafioso
01:50or because of his large-scale olive oil business, Profaci had become a boss.
01:55By the early 1930s, when Sonny became involved with the family, Profaci was overseeing numerous
02:01criminal operations, including loan sharking, drug distribution, prostitution, and more.
02:07In 1938, at the age of 21, Sonny was arrested for the first time for aggravated assault.
02:15Four years later, he was drafted into the U.S. Army to fight overseas. However, he was soon discharged
02:21after a psychiatric report labeled him psychoneurotic with pronounced homicidal tendencies.
02:28Upon returning to New York, Sonny resumed his criminal activities, establishing himself both in New York
02:34and New Jersey. He ran all kinds of financial rackets, typical of the Mafia, and achieved rapid success.
02:40His willingness to commit murder, combined with his financial intelligence and his attention
02:46to appearance, allowed his career within the Profaci family to advance quickly.
02:51As a man in his 30s, he became a regular at the famous Copacabana nightclub, where he spent heavily
02:58on drinks and mingled with celebrities such as Sammy Davis Jr. and Frank Sinatra.
03:03He also frequently associated with Rocky Graziano, a famous boxer in the 1940s and one of the best
03:09in the country.
03:10Partly thanks to Sonny's role within the Mafia, the organization entered a glamorous era that
03:17has had a lasting influence on how we perceive the Mafia to this day.
03:21In 1950, Sonny was finally formally inducted and became an official member of the family,
03:28working under the orders of the family captain, Sebastiano Alloy.
03:32Sebastiano, a.k.a. Buster, was a highly influential captain within the family and one of its original founders.
03:40Now, it is May 27th, 1951.
03:52Cristina Copabianco gives birth to her son, Michael.
03:56Michael is Sonny Francesi's son.
03:58But during the early years of his life, this fact is not made clear to him.
04:04Although Sonny was a married man with three children, he had gotten the young cigar shop
04:08clerk Copabianco pregnant.
04:10As a result, she married a man named Frank Grillo to avoid a scandal.
04:15The Mafia allowed Sonny to divorce his first wife and marry Copabianco, which led her to
04:20leave Frank.
04:22Until around the age of 18, Michael carried the name of Michael Grillo, believing that
04:27Sonny was his stepfather.
04:30Meanwhile, as the 1950s progressed, Sonny's career received a major boost when he was promoted
04:36to the rank of captain under Perfacci.
04:38Soon after, the Colombo family experienced its first initial war and Sonny rose even further
04:44through the ranks.
05:02Joseph Perfacci was a controversial figure within his family.
05:06Although he was a wealthy man and generous toward the church, he was viewed by his associates
05:11as a miserly boss.
05:13Originally from Sicily, Perfacci implemented an old-school policy that required a tribute
05:19of $25 from every man under his command, amounting to roughly $50,000 each month.
05:26Although this money was supposedly intended to support the families of imprisoned mobsters,
05:30Perfacci kept most of it for himself.
05:34In the 1950s, a family captain named Frank Abate Marco decided to take action against
05:39this unfair policy.
05:42In 1959, the captain allied himself with the Gallo brothers gang to stop paying tribute
05:47to Perfacci.
05:48In response, Perfacci ordered Abate Marco's execution and replaced him with Joe Gallo, a member of
05:54the Gallo brothers gang who had agreed to kill Abate Marco.
05:58Or at least, that was how it was supposed to happen.
06:01Instead, when Perfacci ordered the Gallo gang to also hand over Tony, Abate Marco's son, they refused.
06:08As a result, Perfacci failed to honor his end of the deal, triggering an internal war within the Mafia.
06:16On February 27, 1961, the Gallo gang kidnapped four of Perfacci's men, under boss Joseph Maggioco,
06:24Perfacci's brother Frank, family captain Salvatore Musacchio, and family soldier John Shimon.
06:31Knowing he was next, Perfacci immediately fled by plane to a safe house in Florida, while
06:38Joe Gallo escaped California.
06:40Eventually, the crisis came to an end when both sides reached a peace agreement.
06:46The hostages were released in exchange for more lucrative positions for the Gallos within
06:50the family.
06:52On August 20, 1961, Joseph Perfacci ordered the murder of Larry Gallo and Joseph Gioielli.
06:59When the hitmen successfully killed Joseph, Larry survived an attempted strangulation when
07:04a police officer intervened.
07:06The Gallo brothers later discovered that the man behind the attempt on Larry's life was
07:10Carmine Perseco, one of their former allies who had initially turned against Perfacci.
07:16It was from this betrayal that he earned the nickname, The Snake.
07:21As the war intensified, bodies began turning up across the city as gangsters vanished without
07:26a trace.
07:27By the end of the conflict, 21 people had lost their lives.
07:32In November 1961, Joe Gallo was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
07:38The following year, Perfacci died of cancer.
07:42As a result, Joe Maggiocco assumed the position of boss while the war continued to rage.
07:49Maggiocco, also known as Joe Evil Eye, was born in Palermo, Sicily.
07:54He was a highly energetic and active man, passionate about his work with the appearance of a natural
08:00leader.
08:02He lived on a large seaside estate in New York, and managed several businesses, including an
08:07alcohol and linen supply company.
08:09Meanwhile, his son Ambrose served as a captain in the family, and Perfacci was his brother-in-law.
08:15With Maggiocco now at the head of the family, he feared that the other families might perceive
08:20him as a weak and indecisive leader.
08:24To assert his dominance, he launched a bloody campaign against the gallows.
08:28Drive-by shootings and car bombings became commonplace in gang-controlled neighborhoods,
08:33as Maggiocco did everything in his power to maintain control over the mobsters.
08:38However, by 1963, the conflict had subsided, but the commission still did not recognize Maggiocco
08:46as the legitimate boss.
08:48In 1963, Joe Bonanno launched a campaign against the commission to seize control of New York,
08:55seeking Maggiocco's support.
08:58As a longtime friend and opponent of the commission, the new head of the Perfacci family agreed
09:02to assist him.
09:04Maggiocco was tasked with eliminating Tommy Lucchese and Carlo Gambino, a high-level assignment
09:11that he trusted to his best hitman, Joseph Colombo.
09:15Colombo, however, revealed the assassination plot to the commission, forcing Bonanno to
09:20flee to Montreal.
09:22By this point, Maggiocco was in poor health.
09:25He confessed to the assassination plot and was spared.
09:29For his cooperation, Colombo became the new head of the family and appointed Sonny Francesi.
09:34As his new underboss.
09:36Meanwhile, the glamorous underboss became a partner in Buddha Records in 1967.
09:41He produced a wide range of genres, including folk and soul rock.
09:46He used Buddha Records to launder money and engage in payola, the illegal practice of paying
09:52a commercial radio station to play certain songs without the station reporting the payment.
09:57In the United States, radio stations are required to disclose sponsored content, and it is likely
10:03that Sonny used this method to promote songs in which he had a financial interest.
10:09In 1964, he faced legal trouble when he was accused of murdering Ernest Rapolo, a Genovese family
10:16hitman.
10:17Under the dazzling lights of the running twenties, jazz echoes through the streets lively and
10:29plenty, fringe dresses twirl in the cabaret haze, the wild nights begin in a fevered craze.
10:42Rapolo was a Genovese family hitman who had been charged with murder in 1944 and had chosen
10:48to cooperate with federal authorities.
10:51On June 2, 1945, Genovese went on trial for murder, but he pleaded not guilty.
10:57Thanks to Rapolo's cooperation, the prosecution was able to call witnesses against the family
11:03boss.
11:04As a result, on June 10, 1946, one of the witnesses, Jerry Esposito, was found murdered
11:10by the roadside.
11:12Shortly afterward, another witness, known as La Tempa, was discovered dead in a protective
11:17custody cell.
11:19This led to Genovese's release, who subsequently ordered Rapolo's murder.
11:24In 1964, Rapolo was found assassinated in Jamaica Bay, and Sonny Francesi became the prime suspect.
11:32During his trial, the prosecution managed to claim that Sonny had killed between 30 and
11:3650 victims by that time.
11:38However, due to a lack of corroborating evidence, the mob boss was released.
11:43A year later, on March 3, 1967, Sonny was convicted for four bank robberies he had planned in 1965.
11:51In 1971, he was sentenced to an astonishing 50 years in prison.
11:58Although the evidence against him was relatively weak, and his exact involvement in these robberies
12:02remains debated to this day, he still ended up behind bars.
12:07Michael later told journalists that his father had insisted he would serve the full 50-year
12:12sentence.
12:13Meanwhile, Sonny's first wife told the media that she would be surprised if he did not
12:17live to 100, adding that this was a man who could serve a prison sentence with his eyes
12:22closed.
12:24Initially, Sonny had offered Michael the chance to lead an ordinary life, and Michael had
12:29begun studying medicine.
12:30However, after his father's imprisonment, Michael realized that the family needed another
12:35means of livelihood.
12:37He then abandoned his studies to enter the world of crime.
12:41Although Sonny initially opposed this decision, he eventually understood that he could not
12:45steer his son away from this path, and chose to support him.
12:49It was a big event for the two executive producers of the movie, Jerry Zimmerman and Michael Francesi,
13:01two newcomers to Hollywood who in only a few years have been able to raise millions of dollars
13:07to make and distribute movies.
13:09Closely watching all this in surveillance vans across the street were police and FBI agents
13:15investigating Francesi, Zimmerman, and organized crime in the movie business.
13:36After joining the Colombo family in 1971, Francesi began working under his father's guidance
13:42to advance his career.
13:44In 1972, Sonny financed Deep Throat, a notoriously famous pornographic film, which marked the beginning
13:50of what is considered the golden age of adult cinema.
13:55Meanwhile, in 1974, Sonny also financed The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which became a major
14:02success.
14:03Francesi almost immediately began establishing criminal connections, notably with the family
14:09boss, Joe Colombo.
14:11Due to his status and background, on Halloween night, 1976, he took the mafia blood oath and
14:17became an inducted man.
14:18Francesi's mob knowledge came from Joseph Vitacco, a family soldier.
14:24He often traveled with him to Utica, where Vitacco managed his rackets.
14:29At the same time, Francesi tried to turn a blind eye to the violence and immorality of his new
14:35life.
14:36By the late 1970s, Francesi had established connections with John Gotti and Angelo Ruggiero,
14:43two high-ranking members of the Gambino family.
14:46When an Opus market owner asked him for a favor, the owner asked Francesi to drive away a drug
14:52dealer who was operating in his market, in exchange for becoming a partner in the business.
14:57Francesi sent Anthony Saravola to handle the matter, but later discovered that the dealer
15:02was one of Gotti's men.
15:04Nevertheless, both parties expressed mutual admiration.
15:08Meanwhile, Sonny became a partner at Cala Records, another record label thanks to owner Nate McCullough.
15:16The production company closed in 1977, and three years later, McCullough was found murdered.
15:22At the same time, Francesi managed numerous legitimate businesses in the area, including
15:28car dealerships and nightclubs.
15:30Yet, Francesi was not untouchable by the law.
15:35In 1983, Chet Cummings, a New York boxing promoter and long-time acquaintance of my father's,
15:41was approached by Bobby and Victor Guerrero, who used the name Victor Quintana, to help arrange
15:47a meeting with Don King for the purposes of discussing the possibility of co-promoting some
15:52major boxing events.
15:55Unbeknownst to all of us at the time, Guerrero was an undercover FBI agent and Bobby an undercover
16:01informant working a sting operation directed at professional boxing.
16:06In 1983, the FBI began investigating Don King, a prominent boxing promoter with ties to organized
16:12crime.
16:14The plan was to introduce an undercover agent going by the name Victor Quintana to King
16:18through Francesi.
16:20Although Francesi did not know King personally beforehand, his criminal associates did.
16:26Quintana's role in the undercover operation was to pose as someone seeking entry into the
16:31boxing promotion world, which would allow authorities to gather evidence of King's illegal activities.
16:37However, the investigation had to be abandoned.
16:41In 1985, Francesi and Walter joined forces to open a management agency.
16:46A massive scandal soon followed, involving approximately 43 collegiate athletes.
16:53He was also implicated in the notorious mafia gasoline scandal, which, while propelling his
16:58career to its peak, also marked the end of his direct involvement with the mafia world.
17:03In 1980, a New York con artist named Lauren Salvatore Urizo contacted Michael Friseisi to ask for help with a problem in California.
17:29A group of criminals was harassing a white collar scam operation that Urizo was running, and he offered
17:35a percentage of his profits in exchange for Francesi's assistance.
17:40With Francesi on board, the two began to formulate an official plan.
17:45The idea behind the scheme was as follows.
17:48Urizo and Francesi would set up 18 companies holding shares based in Panama, registered under
17:54the names of ordinary Panamanian citizens whom they had paid.
17:59Panama was chosen because it was the nearest country without a wholesale gasoline tax.
18:04But in New York, the Columbos collaborated with the Russian Mafia to distribute their gasoline.
18:10The scheme worked by selling gasoline wholesale between companies A and D.
18:15However, the gasoline first passed through companies B and C before reaching D.
18:20C was responsible for reporting the sale of gas on paper and falsifying tax documents for
18:26Company D.
18:29Company D would then sell the gasoline at a reduced price to customers through gas stations operated
18:34by the Russians.
18:36Through this manipulation, the Salvatore gasoline cartel pocketed approximately 9 cents per gallon
18:42in unpaid taxes.
18:44At the time, the IRS was still relatively slow in collecting tax payments.
18:49When it came time to recover money from Company D, it would immediately declare bankruptcy and
18:55shut down.
18:55Francesi would then buy the company back under a new name.
19:00This new company used the same name as the Panamanian distributors.
19:04As a result, the long and complex paper trail combined with the immediate bankruptcy filings
19:10allowed the scheme to go undetected.
19:13It ensured a continuous flow of profit while evading tax authorities.
19:18In reality, these companies were just empty offices with a single phone number.
19:23This scam amounted for nearly half of fuel distribution across New York City, with Francesi taking
19:29nearly three-quarters of the total profits.
19:33While the exact amount of these earnings is unknown, estimates range from $2 to $8 million
19:38per week, a massive sum at the time, and a rapid accumulation of wealth for Francesi and his accomplices.
19:46The scheme also expanded to many other states, and by 1986, it was estimated to be operated
19:52in 14 of the 50 states.
19:54It is possible that Francesi used Miami Gold, his film production company, to launder the funds.
20:02Thanks to this operation, he became one of the richest gangsters in the country, earning
20:06him the nickname, the Yuppie Don.
20:08However, all the attention focused on the young Francesi at the age of 34 ultimately caused
20:14more problems than it solved.
20:19Toward the end of 1985, in December, Michael Francesi was indicted on 14 counts related to
20:25the gasoline fraud, alongside eight other defendants.
20:30Shortly afterward, in Florida, he was indicted again, this time with 25 additional people,
20:35for a total of 177 individual counts.
20:39Although he managed to evade several similar prosecutions in the past, this case was different.
20:45While Francesi was held without bail, his partner, Lorenzo Rizzo, was sentenced to five years
20:50in prison and fined $1.7 million.
20:54Facing this sentence, Rizzo decided to cooperate with authorities in March 1985, becoming an
21:00informant.
21:02The situation was clearly unfavorable for Francesi, and on March 21, 1986, he ultimately
21:09pleaded guilty to two counts, one of tax fraud conspiracy and one of racketeering conspiracy.
21:15He was handed a massive restitution fine of $14.7 million and a 10-year prison sentence.
21:22As a result, he had to sell his assets, including his enormous mansion in Upper Brookville.
21:29He ended his second trial by accepting a plea deal, receiving a sentence of nine years in
21:33prison and a $3 million fine.
21:36Then, in 1989, Walters went to court for allegedly intimidating collegiate athletes into signing
21:42contracts with him.
21:44Francesi was summoned by the court and called to testify.
21:47However, the prosecution did not consider him a federal informant, and he refused to cooperate.
21:54In reality, his testimony provided only limited information regarding the agency's scandal.
22:01Despite his refusal to cooperate as an informant during the Walters case, Michael Francesi was
22:06not indicted for his activities with his former partner's agency.
22:11Walters, on the other hand, was sentenced to five years in prison and fined $395,000.
22:18In September 1990, however, Walters' case was overturned on appeal.
22:23By the end of 1991, Francesi was sentenced to 40 years in prison after violating the terms
22:29of his parole.
22:31During the trial, prosecutors revealed that Francesi had only begun repaying his restitution
22:35fines that very year.
22:38The lead prosecutor claimed that Francesi had deceived the government for many years by providing
22:42no useful information about the Cosa Nostra, essentially labeling him a fraud.
22:49In a later interview, Francesi explained that he had not actually collaborated with the government.
22:54He admitted that he had made authorities believe he was cooperating, but in reality he never did.
23:00Although he was sent back to prison when officials uncovered his strategy, he emphasized that he
23:05had never sent anyone behind bars.
23:08His statements reveal how he sought to mislead the authorities while remaining loyal to his
23:12principle of never betraying his mafia associates despite the pressure he faced.
23:18While in prison, a guard gave him a Bible and the gangster became a born-again Christian.
23:24This spiritual transformation led him to vow to leave his criminal life behind for good.
23:30On November 7, 1994, Francesi was released from prison as a free man.
23:35When he was released from prison in 1994, Michael Francesi decided to turn the page on his criminal
24:02life.
24:03In 1995, he and his family moved to California, trying to hide from the mafia's reach.
24:12Although agents told him it would be impossible to relocate without going underground, Francesi
24:16chose to settle on his own and remain vigilant throughout each day.
24:21He changed his habits and kept his distance from his former contacts and for good reason.
24:27He knew very well that a contract was out on his head and that his own father was involved.
24:32He understood, however, the difficult situation Sonny was in.
24:37Even though he was his son, Sonny faced the threat of certain death if he did not turn
24:41against Michael since he had been the one to introduce his son into the mafia.
24:47Sonny Francesi became the underboss of the Colombo family once again after John DeRosa was imprisoned,
24:54marking the second time he held this position.
24:57Two years later, he met Gaetano Fattato, a Colombo family gangster who secretly recorded
25:03their conversations.
25:05Sonny went into detail about how to carry out mafia-style murders, admitting that he had
25:10personally killed numerous people.
25:12He explained various methods for avoiding DNA detection, cleaning up crime scenes, and disposing
25:18of victims discreetly and efficiently.
25:22Subsequently, in May 2007, Sonny returned to prison for violating his parole and was indicted
25:28in connection with the recorded conversation, his involvement in the Third Colombo War, and
25:33a series of burglaries in 2006 in New York.
25:37On June 4, 2008, Sonny Francesi was officially indicted on a wide range of charges, including racketeering.
25:45He was released later that year, on December 24.
25:50In 2005, Sonny's son, John Jr., became a federal informant.
25:55He was not really an active member of the family mafia, but rather a troubled addict with
26:00legal issues.
26:02He began wearing a wire to record his father and testified against him twice.
26:07After the second testimony, Sonny allegedly attempted to have his son killed, and Jr.
26:12entered the witness protection program.
26:16On January 14, 2011, Sonny, then 93 years old, was sentenced to eight years in prison for
26:22extortion related to a strip club.
26:25At that time, Sonny suffered from gout, partial blindness, kidney problems, and rapidly declining
26:31health.
26:32He was granted compassionate release only in 2017, leaving the Federal Medical Center
26:39in Massachusetts at the age of 100.
26:43Around that time, his son Michael had become a television personality and a Christian motivational
26:48speaker.
26:49The two reconnected and repaired their relationship.
26:52But Sonny passed away on February 24, 2020, at the age of 103.
27:01The story of Michael Francese is one of the strangest.
27:04Born into a mafia family, as the son of the underboss of one of New York's most powerful
27:09families, his life took a radical turn when his father was imprisoned.
27:14Until then, Francese had led a normal adolescent life, but he decided to join the Colombo family.
27:21He quickly became one of the city's most influential men, earning millions every week.
27:26However, everything fell apart within a few years.
27:30Although he testified to some extent, he was never considered a true informant and never
27:35sent anyone to prison.
27:38Upon his release, he lived a difficult life until the early 2000s, when he began giving lectures
27:44and interviews.
27:46By 2020, he went viral on YouTube, a hopeful ending to a story that could have turned out
27:51very badly.
27:55Thank you for watching this video.
27:57If you have enjoyed it or found it useful, don't forget to leave a like and subscribe
28:01so you don't miss future videos.
28:03Also tell me what you thought in the comments.
28:05I'd love to hear your opinions.
28:07And as always, stay tuned for what comes next.
28:10See you very soon.
28:11Underneath the skyline, the empire never dies.
28:15Fated faces, ghosted names.
28:19New York's underworld still burns in flames.
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