Franzese vs Franzese Son Testifies at Trial

The 93 year old John "Sonny" Franzese dozed at the defense table during his son's first day on the witness stand last week. The elder Franzese is charged with extorting strip clubs and a pizzeria as underboss of the Colombo organized crime family.Prosecutors enlisted John Franzese Jr., a former Colombo associate, now paid informant, to help convince jurors that the defendant's frail looks and use of a wheelchair in court are deceiving.

"I'm not talking about my father as a man," Franzese Jr. said Tuesday while concluding three days of testimony in federal court in Brooklyn. "I'm talking about the life he chose. … This life absorbs you. You only see one way."

Defense lawyers accused Franzese Jr. of trying to cash in on his father's notoriety by getting involved in a reality show and writing a tell-all book. He confirmed he once consulted a television producer about "goodfellas" and "how they talk" while doing business. "That was appealing to these people in California," he said.

Former Colombo member Michael Franzese, said his father was "sick" that his namesake "betrayed him like this." He went on to say his brother had been a "nobody in the mob life" before agreeing to wear a wire.

Authorities say behind the scenes another informant recorded him bragging about killing Mafia rivals, "I killed a lot of guys" but was "never caught" advising that the best way to dispose of body parts was to dry them out with a microwave and grind them up with a garbage disposal.

Franzese was convicted in 1967 in a bank robbery, sent to prison and paroled in the late 1970s and was never convicted of another crime. Authorities say he rose to second in command of the Colombos. In 2008, he was arrested on the racketeering indictment and freed on $1 million bail.

Source: Chicago Tribune

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Tags: Colombo, Cosa Nostra, Organized Crime