[Film and clips of interviews of Michael Franzese].… · 2015. 2. 12. · N: Michael Franzese was a made member of organized crime. His main forte was making money for the mob. In

Intellectual materials are the property of Traders Point Christian Church. All rights reserved.

[Film and clips of interviews of Michael Franzese] N: Michael Franzese was not just a soldier but a capo in the notorious Colombo crime family. He spent

the better part of a decade in federal prison on charges including tax fraud, racketeering, and parole

violation.

MF: I grew up in New York where there are five organized crime families. My dad was an underboss in

the Colombo crime family back in the 1960s.

I went to see my Dad in Leavenworth and I said, “Dad, listen, I don’t want to go to school anymore.”

During the course of that visit he said to me, “Listen, if your mind is made up and you don’t want to go

to school, then if you’re going to be on the street. I want you to be on the street in the right way.” And

that’s how it started for me.

N: Michael Franzese was a made member of organized crime. His main forte was making money for the

mob. In a very short period of time, Michael Franzese made over $300 million for the Colombo crime

family.

MF: By far the biggest and most lucrative business enterprise that I got involved in was the wholesale

gasoline business. In a nutshell, we devised a way to sell the gas, collect the taxes and not pay the taxes.

I was there to be in business and to make money – real money.

N: How much money do you think you, Michael, and your gang stole in your operation?

MF: Several hundred million.

{Headlines/narratives across the screen}

“Life magazine call him the “mob young genius.”

“The government called him one of the biggest minors in the history of organized crime.”

“Handsome and high-living young man. As rich as royalty, and royal he is – a Prince of the Mafia.”

“Michael Franzese has been called every name under the sun by people on both sides of the law.”

“He made millions, lived a classy life and tends to be known as the ‘yuppy don.’”

N: Did you fix any games in college?

MF: Absolutely.

Intellectual materials are the property of Traders Point Christian Church. All rights reserved. 2

N: He says he doesn’t have $14 million.

Spokesperson: He doesn’t. He has about $50 million.

N: How do you know that?

Spokesperson: Because I personally delivered it to him.

MF: I was notorious, maybe infamous, maybe sophisticated at times, but I was a criminal.

You realize it was a life built on treachery and that money and power are the driving forces. I really

questioned the life and my commitment to that life at that moment.

N: But now, the former” yuppy don” has transformed himself into suburban Dad; a pillar of his California

community and the little league manager of renown.

MF: I’ve got faith in you. You can do it buddy.

Kid: What he is doing is so much fun because he’s helping us little kids learn how to play baseball.

Coach: To be honest, I’ve had judges and politicians and ministers that are a lot worse than him.

(laughing)

N: And now a former mob guy to the mafia is coaching third base and teaching kids how to hit and run?

What’s so weird about that? This is what Little League is all about – how someone can turn around their

life – what an example for children this is.

Ain’t no Gangsters in Paradise. Coolio

AB: Hey, let’s welcome Michael Franzese is with us today.

MF: Thank you.

AB: I just want to wish everyone a Happy Father’s Day and welcome everyone especially if you are

visiting with us today and I also want to welcome everybody who is joining us on the simulcast as well as

on the web sites. We are glad you could be with us as well. I want to read a quick passage of scripture

before we talk to Michael out of 1 Timothy, chapter 1. Because in that letter, Paul writes to a young man

by the name of Timothy. He writes some words that I think really relate to Michael’s story and he says in

chapter 1, verse 12: “I thank Him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because He judged

me faithful, appointing me to His service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor and insolent

opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord

overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and

deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the


worst. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his

perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.”

Michael, I so much appreciate your story, and your testimony, and the relationship that you have with

Jesus because of that very passage there. So, tell us a little bit about where you’re from, and how you

grew up, and how you got to this point today.

MF: Before I begin, I want to thank everybody. The first service was really great and people were very

gracious. We were out signing books and I do this all the time. I’m at a different church every weekend

and sometimes you can just feel the difference with the staff and the congregation. Everybody here has

been great so I really appreciate it and I thank you very much.

I’m a Dad. I’ve got seven kids so I’m here on Father’s Day. You have all made me feel welcome, so thank

you. I don’t know if my kids are mad at me or if they figure they got a break for the day – I don’t know.

We’ll celebrate tomorrow.

And again, before I begin, I always like to make it clear that people, I’m just a messenger here this

morning. I’m not here to try to impose my faith on you. I’m not here to try to turn you into a Christian.

That’s not what we do, I believe, when we share our story. I’m here merely to share what the Lord has

done in my life. You know it’s amazing what he has done in my life. I really want to be an

encouragement to all of you. And hopefully, as you hear this story, you’ll understand that if God can do

what He has done in my life, He certainly can do amazing things for you because I travel this country

quite a bit – different church every weekend, I’m all over the place – and the last two years especially, I

have never witnessed the amount of discouragement and despair in the hearts and minds of people that

I have in the past three years. People are struggling in this country. I want to encourage you because if

God can do what He has done for me, then believe me, He can turn things around for anyone. And that’s

really the message. It’s a message of encouragement. I hope you get it as I tell my story.

It’s my story, but it’s the Lord’s testimony and I hope that comes through. I am very passionate about

this. I take this ministry very seriously because when you come from a bad place and you realize what

God has done, you try to give back as best as you can. I really hope you understand that. Some of you

guys out here. Now, you’re not fooling me. I know some of the guys in here you don’t ever come to

church, but you figure, hey, Sopranos is off the air, so let’s see what the real mob guy is all about. Right?

It’s okay. Whatever God uses to get you in the door, that’s okay. But I believe that if He’s got you here

today, you’re not here by accident. No doubt about it. God wants to plant a seed in your heart. I pray

that I’m passionate enough in delivering this message so that God can plant that seed. And I will tell you

this. Some of you guys will walk out of here (and maybe ladies too) and say, “Ah, good story. I’ve heard

it before, but no big deal.” And you get on with your life. I promise you this. Once God has got a hold of

your heart, He will never let you go. It might take 20 years before He gets you, but He’s going to get you

so you might as well make it easy on yourself. Start today if you’re not with Him.


And now to answer pastor’s question. I grew up in Brooklyn, New York. And my Dad was the underboss

of the Colombo family, one of the five La Cosa Nostra mafia families. My Dad was a very, very high

profile guy, always under investigation, always a major target of law enforcement. I grew up, I’m sure, a

lot differently than most of you, because my Dad was the underboss of that family – very high position.

I grew up hating the police. I’ve got to be honest with you – I hated them. It wasn’t because I was taught

that way. My Dad didn’t teach me that way. He actually taught me to respect the law, but it’s really

because of what I witnessed as a kid growing up. Tactics and techniques against organized crime were

very different back then than they are today. Today, everything is very covert – you’ve got a lot of

undercover informants, a lot of high tech surveillance equipment. Back in my day when I was a kid,

when law enforcement wanted a guy to know that they were under investigation, they made their

presence known.

For a period of about ten years when I was growing up, my Dad was under investigation from seven or

eight different agencies from the FBI on down, all the locals, and they all had a car parked around my

house 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I was one of 7 kids also. Whenever we went together as a family

anywhere, we had a parade of law enforcement vehicles following us. Everybody knew when we were

coming into town.

I witnessed some things that were kind of unpleasant. Every once in a while the agents can get out of

hand – that’s a rough detail. One night, we went into a restaurant as a family, sat down, had a bite to

eat. All of the law enforcement people filed in afterward sat at a table behind us. One of them a Nassau

county cop got a little out of sorts, passed by the table and made a nasty remark to my Dad. He didn’t

like that. You don’t disrespect my father, especially in front of his family. My Dad jumped up, went right

after the cop. Cop got scared – my Dad’s a tough guy – pulled his gun right in the middle of the

restaurant. Everybody was screaming. Me and my brother jumped between them to separate them,

pulled them apart. You know, normal stuff you do when you’re a kid. So, I didn’t like them very much

back then, but I want to make this very clear now. I do not feel that way anymore. It’s amazing, people,

how God can not only transform a heart, and He really can, but how He can transform a mind.

Now, this whole distorted sense of view I had growing up that good was bad and bad was good, over a

period of time, God has been able to fix that. Today, some of my dearest friends are in law enforcement

– all over this country: Chief of Police of Beverly Hills, brother in Christ and a dear friend. Who would

have thought, right?

I want to say this to all of the young people here because this is always an important part of my

message. I have committed myself to our young people today and I deliver a very powerful message to

all of them all over this country – high schools, detention centers, prisons, you name it. On the street, I

speak with these gang bangers all the time and I tell them straight out, “You do not get away with

criminal conduct in this country any more. Law enforcement is too sophisticated, too many weapons,

you go that route, you’re going down.” And I let these kids understand – parents, the best message you

can give them today is, “You are who you hang with.” You hang with the wrong crowd – I don’t care, you


can come from the best family in the world – you’re going to be labeled with the wrong person. We’ve

got to get these kids on track. We’ve got to give them the Lord and keep them straight because they’ve

got more negative influences at their fingertips than we ever had as kids growing up. So, that’s an

important part of our message. So, parents, grandparents, if I come and speak to your kids, don’t worry;

I give them the right message because that’s what I believe.

It was different back then. I tell you, I love my Dad. I didn’t care what people said about him or what I

read in the newspaper. He was a great father, great husband to my Mom, very supportive of me.

Originally he didn’t want this life, he wanted me to go to school and be a doctor. I always like to tell this

story. I was a jock in school; I played all three sports. My Dad would never miss a game – no matter what

he was doing; mob business, legit business, I’m playing ball, he’d show up. I played baseball and this

happened every time. I’m on the field and I’m up to bat and I look out of the corner of my eye and here

comes Dad – big black Cadillac or a black Lincoln. For those of you my age, do you remember those 1960

Cadillacs? Their fin was half the size of this room – you couldn’t miss it, right?

So, he’d pull right up to the field – never go to the parking lot. He pulls right up to the field, he gets out

of the car, always dressed sharp in his suit. He never dressed any other way. Always had five or six guys

with him, Dad would never travel alone. He would get out of the car and start walking into the stands

and I’d be up to bat. The umpire would take one look at that crew, never called strike 3 on me when I

was up to bat. I’d say, “Hey Dad, you’re very good for my batting average.” When I played football,

nobody would tackle me when he was in the stands. It’s good to have a Dad in the mob when you play

sports.

He was great. And like I said, he wanted me to be a doctor. He said, “Son, you’ve got to get an

education.” He wanted me off the street. He got in some real trouble in the 60s. He was indicted several

times, once for homicide in the state. He beat that case after a lengthy trial. Then, in 1966 he was

indicted in federal court for masterminding a nationwide string of bank robberies. After a lengthy trial,

he was convicted in ’67 and in 1970, after he lost all his appeals, he was sentenced to 50 years in prison

and went off to Leavenworth Penitentiary to do his time. I was a pre-med student at Hofstra University

when he went in. He was 50 when he went in. I figured he had 50 on top of that and I figured he would

never get out of prison alive. I was devastated, people. I didn’t only love my Dad, I idolized him. He was

my hero growing up.

Joe Colombo at that time was the boss of my family, and he kind of took me under his wing. I got very

close to him and many of my Dad’s friends and they would say to me, “What are you doing going to

school? If you don’t get on the street and help your old man out, he’s going to die in prison.” I was very

affected by that. I lost interest in school. I went to see Dad in prison. We were in a visiting room in

Leavenworth Penitentiary and I said, “Dad, I’m not going to school any more. If I don’t get on the street

and help you out, you’re going to die in here.” And he was very upset, didn’t want it for me. It was the

first time he and I went at it in the room, but he knew my mind was made up. I was pretty headstrong as

a kid. He said, “All right, son.” He kind of threw his hands up. He said, “Okay, but if you’re going to be on


the street, then I want you on the street the right way.” And in his mind, the right way was to become a

member of his life. He said to me, “Go home, I’m going to send a message downtown. You just do

whatever you’re told.” At that point, my Dad proposed me into membership in the Colombo family. I

was 22 years old.

AB: So, describe a little bit about that process and how that all went down with the oath and the

meetings. Explain a little bit how you got into that lifestyle.

MF: You have to be proposed into that life. You can’t just say, “Hey, I want to join.” Somebody that’s in

the life has to propose you for membership. So, my Dad sends his word downtown. About two weeks

after that visit, a captain in the family picked me up and took me to see the boss. Now, Joe Colombo,

some of you might remember, was shot and seriously wounded in a big Columbus Day rally we had back

in 1971 and he eventually died from his wounds. The new boss took over. His name was Tom Di Bella

and Tom has passed on now. I sat with Tom and he said, “Mike, I got a message from your father and he

said you wanted to become a member of our life. Is that true?” And I said, “Yes.” He said, “Well, here’s

the deal. From now on, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, you’re on call to serve this family, Colombo family

and that means if your mother is sick and she’s dying and you’re at her death bed and we call you to

serve us, you leave your mother’s side and you come and serve us. From now on, we’re number on in

your life before anything and everything. When and if we feel you deserve this privilege, this honor to

become a member, we’ll let you know.”

People, understand something, the mob is not a business, it’s a whole way of life. It takes you over -

mind, body and soul. You’ve got to be in it all the way or you don’t survive. It’s a whole way of life. We

affect everybody around us: family, friends, people we do business with – it’s a whole subculture from

everything else that exists.

Before I do that, I want to go back to this meeting with my father. Because when you finally start to have

this relationship with Jesus – and I’ve always given my testimony – I could talk to you all day about a

relationship with Jesus because you know why? That’s what this life is all about. It’s not about religion;

it’s about relationship and it’s a relationship with Jesus that matters most of anything and He’s shown

me that throughout my experience with Him in my life. When my Dad said to me go home and do what

you’re told, I never questioned him. I didn’t say, “Wait a second, Dad – I’ve been living around you, but

you never sat down and explained your life to me. You never told me this is what’s going to be required

of you.” I didn’t question him. I had blind faith because I loved my father so much, and you know, when

you finally come to Christ and I’m sure many of you have this experience and those of you who have,

and you will. When you finally come to Him, you look back at your life and you say, “You know what,

God, now I get it. Now, I know why you put this person in my life. Now, I know why you allowed me to

go through this struggle. You didn’t cause me to go through this struggle, but you allowed me to go

through this struggle. You’re using everything in my life – every experience I had to prepare me for what

my purpose is now.” And we all have a purpose. God has a purpose for us in this life. He has a plan and a


purpose no matter who you are, what your background is. He’s got a purpose, and He’s made that clear

for me.

All of these experiences we had – sinful or not and I’ve have had guys say to me, “Come on, Mike, I’ve

been in sin my whole life, I’ve been an alcoholic, what can God do with me? What can He use me for?”

Let me ask you this: I asked them the same thing. If God didn’t use sinful experiences and sinful people,

who would He have to use? Amen? All right. So, don’t ever look back at your past and say, “I’ve been too

far out of God’s grace, I’m a bad person, I’m a sinner.” God will use all of that if you allow Him to. I

always tell people – I do a lot of drug and alcohol deals and I tell them, “Hey, who better to speak to

somebody that’s going through the issues that you had than somebody that’s been through it. You’ve

got credibility. Now you use it for God’s benefit.” And that’s really been the story of my life.

When Dad said to me, “Go home,” I had blind faith. And the reason this became so significant, people,

was when I came to Christ, I want to share this with you; I want to confess, I didn’t have blind faith and I

didn’t come to Him easy. I challenged God. I said, “Hey, God, wait a second.” I had blind faith in what my

father told me. I took an oath to this life blindly. I did this twice in my life and it got me in a real bad

place, and I’ll describe that later on. I said, “I can’t do this a third time. If this Bible truly is the blueprint

for my life – the Word of God – written by men but inspired by God and if Jesus is my risen Savior – the

only way to get to heaven, no gray area – the only way to get to heaven, if it’s true, You’ve got to prove

it to me. I’m not taking it blindly a third time.” And I’ll get to that a little bit later on.

And people, for those of you who say, “I don’t know if you’ve ever been challenged.” I’ve been

challenged, Pastor. “Oh, come on, Michael, you’re arrogant, you’re a Christian, you believe that’s the

only way.” I said, “Hey, there’s no arrogance in that, that’s what I believe and I’m sharing it with you. I

believe that based upon sound evidence. Let me ask you a question. If we were in a burning building and

there were five exits out and I knew the one true one and we were there together, do you want me to

say, ‘Hey, take your pick?’ Or do you want me to bring you to the one I know that’s going to get you

out?” We share what we believe because as believers we know we’ve got the Truth and God keeps

solidifying that for us.

So, I left there that day and was in like a pledge period. I was 22 years old. I had to do anything and

everything I was told to do to prove myself worthy. It could have been something very menial – there’s a

lot of respect in that life, a lot of discipline, a lot of alleged respect, a lot of authority. Menial things:

drive the boss to a meeting and wait in the car five hours. God forbid you get out before he comes out,

you’re in trouble. You have an appointment at 8:00, if you’re not there by 7:30, you’re late. Big trouble.

You kind of learn the mob ropes. But people, I need to be really honest with you this morning because

you need to understand where God has brought me from, for those of you who are struggling. That life

at times was very violent, and if you’re part of the life, you’re part of the violence and I think you know

what I mean. When I say that, I want you to take a good look at me. I’m probably the most fortunate,

most blessed person that you’re going to see walk up on this stage and the reason I say this is because, if

I would have been left up to my own to follow the path that I was on and do exactly what I wanted to


do, and I don’t blame my Dad or anybody else, I made the choice to go to this life. If I would have

continued on that path, I would either be dead or in prison for the rest of my life. And honestly, it’s what

I deserved; it’s what I earned having spent 20 years on the street. Everyday – not a day passed that I

wasn’t in violation of God’s law sand the laws of man. I did it knowingly. I did it willingly. I can’t make

excuses.

I know people with addictions, and I don’t make excuses for them, but I’m very close to that. I had a

sister who died of an overdose of drugs. My brother has been a drug addict for over 25 years. He is not

in a witness protection program, this kid. Did some things on the street, got himself in trouble, and is

cooperating with the government now in another whole messy situation. The baggage of his life just

won’t go away. So, I understand addictions. I don’t make excuses for them, but I know when you’re

under that addiction, you can do something you wouldn’t ordinarily do. I don’t have that excuse. What I

did, I did knowingly and willingly. And if God can forgive me and I believe He has – why? – because the

entire message of the cross, people, is about forgiveness. It’s the entire message of the Bible. It’s all

about forgiveness. If we don’t believe that God can forgive us, then we’re denying the whole message of

the cross. We are minimizing our Lord’s suffering and dying for us because He did it for all of us. And He

knows our hearts and if we truly confess to Him, and like I said, He knows our hearts so you can’t pull a

scam on God, He knows, but if we truly confess and we ask for forgiveness, then we are forgiven. There

are no “ifs” “ands” or “buts” – that’s it; and I believe that. I believe that if we do that,we’re guaranteed a

place in heaven. So if you’re struggling with that, please look at me and when you walk out today and

say, “If God can do it for this guy, what am I complaining about? I’m ready.” That’s what it’s about.

After about a year, I guess I proved myself worthy. I was called into a room again – it was Halloween

night 1975. That night, myself and five other gentlemen took an oath and became sworn made

members of the Colombo crime family. People, I took that oath very seriously back then. I take it serious

today even though I don’t consider myself a part of the life any more. It’s a serious life. You come into

the life. You don’t sign a contract. There’s no retirement age. What I know about that life is in my heart

and my mind; I’m not going to forget it. They say when you leave the life you leave in a coffin or you join

the government and enter a witness protection program. Obviously, I have done neither at this point in

time. There was a very solemn ceremony – meant to be very imposing. They wanted you to understand

the seriousness of what you were getting involved in. Dimly lit room, late at night. The six of us walked

into the room individually, the boss was seated at the head of a horseshoe configuration. The underboss

and the consigliore were to his left and right, all the captains, they invite all the regimes captains,

alongside of them. I walked down the aisle, stood in front of the boss, held out my hand, and he took a

knife and cut my finger and some blood dropped on the floor. This is a blood oath. I cupped my hands.

He took a picture of a saint, a Catholic voticar, put it in my hands and lit it aflame. It didn’t hurt; it

burned quickly. It was merely symbolic. And he said something to me that night that I don’t recall ever

hearing in my life before. And I grew up as a Catholic – Catholic school from Kindergarten right through

high school, I was an altar boy – the whole bit. But for me, I’ve got to be honest, Catholic school was like

… Catholicism is like a subject in school. I didn’t get this relationship about Jesus. It was like a subject in

school so it didn’t really affect me in that way. And when he said this to me, it was the first time I recall


hearing it. He said, “Tonight, Michael Franzese you are being born again into a new life in La Cosa Nostra

– this thing of ours. Violate what you know about this life, betray your brothers and you will die and

you’re going to burn in hell like the saint that’s burning in your hand.” He said, “Do you accept it?” I said,

“Yes I do.” And that’s the oath. People, the first time I was born again, I was born into a criminal lifestyle

where every day of my life I lived in sin. You talk about … you worry about how far away from God’s

grace you’ve been, you think about that.

AB: So tell us about your relationship with Christ. Was that like an all-at-once sort of thing like on the

road to Damascus – bright light and boom everything changed – or was it a gradual process for you?

Michael, tell us a little bit of how you came to know the Lord.

MF: People, my coming to the Lord was a real process. You need to understand. When you come into

that life that I grew up in, that’s who I was. It was my mind, my heart, my soul. I’m mob guy all the way. I

grew up as my father’s son. For God to change that thought process … because you know I always say

this that when you come to Christ, think about it, you don’t get a lobotomy. You don’t forget who you

were or what you did. God, on some of us, has to work real hard. And for me, He put me through a

process that lasted years. It wasn’t an overnight thing although there was a time when He really got my

attention, when I was kind of at the end of the road, and I’ll get to that. But it was a process and when

you come into the life, you come in as a soldier. I was motivated to do two things. I wanted to get my

Dad out of prison and I wanted to make money.

By the way, my Dad today, he’s 95 years old. He has done 34 years in prison since 1970 in and out five

times – each time on a parole violation and each time for associating with another felon or somebody

alleged to be in organized crime. You can’t do that when you’re on federal parole. When I was on parole,

I had 526 people on my separation list. They give you a list – can’t see these people. Some of them I

never heard of. Some of them were dead. They don’t even let you go to a cemetery and meet with

anybody. Feds are tough, let me tell ya. My Dad would come out. He would meet with people. He

thought it was secret. They would catch him violating – five times in and out.

I went to see him about three years ago and he was in Milan, Michigan, in a penitentiary. And I said,

“Dad, come on, man. You’re getting too old for this. You’re 91 years old. Stop meeting people.” He said,

“Son, what do you want me to do? I don’t know anybody else that’s not a felon – even you’re a felon.” I

said, “I know, Dad; you don’t have to remind me.” Old and cantankerous, but I’ll tell you the sad thing …

I’m going to bring you down, bring you up. My Dad is back in prison again. He was indicted and

convicted of another racketeering case and given another eight years before he gets out. My Dad has

got to live to be 100 if he gets out of prison on this one. The prospects on that are not great, but I’ve

been praying for my Dad for 20 years. The weakest part of my ministry is praying for Dad. Every time I

talk to him about Jesus, he wants to talk mob stuff – like I never left. I‘ve been praying. I’ve had

thousands of people praying for him. Long story short, six months ago in a jail cell in Manhattan, my Dad

accepted Christ at the age of 95. Amen. I was shocked, pastor. I thought it was going to be a deathbed

experience. I knew God would answer the prayer, but I figured on his deathbed.


Ladies, God bless you all you ladies who have been praying for 30 years for us knucklehead guys and

your husband and your Dad – don’t give up on prayer. God answers it. His time. His place. It might be a

deathbed experience, but the important thing is that He gets up there. So, let that be an

encouragement. He’ll come; God will get there.

So, I come out of prison. I’m motivated to do things. The second thing was to make money. My Dad said

in this life you make money, it translates to power. So, I’m highly motivated. I was fortunate. I knew how

to use that life to benefit me in business. You saw the DVD. I don’t need to go into it. I went on to make

a lot of money. I opened new areas for the mob to get into. In 1980, the boss of my family Carmine

Persico, he’s now doing life in prison. He was convicted on the mob commission case in 86 – Guiliani

convicted him. He said to me, “Mike, you’re doing a good job. I’m going to make you a caporegime

(captain).” That’s a pretty powerful position. From caporegime, you could become a boss one day. And

from 1980 until about 1984, I operated in that capacity. I want to tell you where I was in this process

when I think God started to get a hold of me. In 1984, I’m caporegime of the family. They were grooming

me to be the boss. The boss had a son. He and I came in at the same time. We were going to take over

as boss/underboss whatever way it worked out. I became a major target of law enforcement, people.

They were on me every minute. I got indicted five times; two federal racketeering cases. I went to trial

five times; I beat every case. I beat Guiliani in 84 – major racketeering case. As a matter of fact, I was the

first major mob guy to be indicted under the Rico statute. I was the lead defendant. I had 15 co-

defendants. The day of my arraignment, in the courtroom, Rudy passes by my table and he says, “Hey,

Franzese, I convict you on this, you go down on this, you’re getting double what your father got. I’m

going to give you a hundred years.” That’s the kind of time they were giving mob guys back in the 80s. I

said, “Hey, Rudy, bring it on. I beat your guys four times in a row already; let’s go for round 5.” People,

that was one of the dumbest things I ever did in my life. You don’t ever antagonize law enforcement.

They don’t need any more incentive, but I was dumb and arrogant back then and didn’t like the police.

After a seven month trial, by the grace of God, I was acquitted. Some of my co-defendants were

convicted and they got 30 years. I lose that case; I’m not here today. So, I beat all of these cases.

I’ll be honest with you, I’m bringing in $8 – $9 million a week into my operation. I’ve got my own jet

plane – a Lear 25. I’ve got a helicopter, house in Florida, house in L.A., house in New York. I’ve got 300

crazy guys ready to do anything I tell them to do to prove themselves worthy. I’ve got it going on. Thirty-

one years old, top of the world, going to be the boss of a major family – got it going on.

Now, people, did I believe in God back then? Sure I did. Why? I’m an analytical kind of guy. I look around

here. There is no Big Bang Theory that’s going to pass my mind. This had to come from someplace. I’m

believing creation. I believe that there is a God. But did I have a relationship with Him? No. Do I believe

in evolution? I don’t think I have anything in common with a crocodile or a snake or an amoeba or a

snail. And if I came from an ape, why are apes still here? I don’t get that – the evolution, there’s a

breakdown. So, God makes sense. You know what I believe? I believe one day evolution is going to be

proven to be the biggest joke ever played on mankind. It doesn’t make sense. There are more holes in


that theory than there is in Swiss cheese, but for some reason people latch onto it. I didn’t have a

relationship with God. He was there; I was here. That was it. And then something happened.

Among many things I was doing, I was making movies back then. I had a production company in L.A., and

we were making movies. And Sammy Davis and Smokey Robinson, they were friends. Smokey came to

me – he had a screen play for a breakdance movie. And he said, “Mike, you want to make this – lot of

music, lot of dance, lot of rap music.” That’s when you could listen to rap music on the radio – not like

today. Forget about the stuff today. Back then, it was cool. The Sugarhill Gang, Fat Boys, Run D-M-C,

Kurtis Blow – I love those guys; old school rap. I said, “Hey, Sammy, I’ll make the movie if we can film it

in Florida. I’ve got a house down there. I like the warm weather.” So great. We’re going to make this

movie. It’s called Knights in the City. You can rent it on video – pretty good film. But anyway, I bring

everybody down to south Florida. I bring cast and crew from L.A. to work on the film. I bring 50 dancers

from a professional dance company. I’ve got them all housed in a hotel in south Florida – Fort

Lauderdale. We’re in pre-production and we’re getting ready to film in a couple of days. One day, we’re

sitting by the pool just hanging out, chilling and getting ready to film. And guys, you’ll appreciate this.

I’m sitting by the pool. I’m minding my own business, gorgeous day in Florida. I’m sitting there talking to

a few guys. I’ve got a drink in my hand. All of a sudden, out of the water comes this gorgeous 20-year-

old girl. I see her, everything went in slow motion. It’s like a Pepsi commercial. She comes out of the

water. You know that movie, “You had me at hello?” She had me at the first shake of a head, the water

comes off. Beautiful, right? She looked like a dancer. She had a dancer’s body.

So the choreographer, Jeff, was sitting next to me. So I said, “Jeff, one of your girls?” He said, “Yeah.” I

said, “Bring her over, I want to meet her.” Big shot producer – she’ll want to meet me, right? Why not?

So she comes over. Her name is Camille. I introduce myself to her, “Camille, I want to get to know you

better. I’m your producer. Let me take you to lunch one day.” She said sure, very sweet and polite,

gorgeous face. So, I get this restaurant set up on top of one of the major hotels in Miami. I figure no

problem, I’ll bring her up there and sweep her off her feet. I had everything going but the violins.

I’m up there. I’ll never forget this. I’m up there for 15 minutes, half an hour, 45 minutes, she never

showed up. She stood me up. Stood up a mob guy; imagine that. She didn’t’ know who I was. Anyway, I

see her on the set the next day. I said, “HeyCamille, what happened? You didn’t show up.” She doesn’t

make an excuse. She just smiles – her smile gets me again. I’ve got to make myself feel better, I make an

excuse for her. I said, “Were you busy? Were you rehearsing?” She said, “Yeah, I was rehearsing.” Let’s

try it again. We make a second date. She stood me up again. Now, she does this to me five times. I’m

telling you if she was sitting here she would say would you stop exaggerating five times. Excuse me, I

was the offended party. I wasn’t used to rejection. Guys, we know when we’re rejected. It was five

times.

I want this girl. She doesn’t want anything to do with me. One night, we’re having a cast meeting. It’s

9:30 at night and she’s coming out of the meeting. I see her. She’s with her friends. She’s upset.

Something’s wrong. I said, “This is it.” Whatever the problem is, I’ve got to fire somebody, get rid of


somebody. I’m in, right? So, she finally stops to talk to me. I ask, “‘Camille, what’s wrong?” She said,

“You know, Mike. I think I need to go home.” She tells me she’s from Anaheim, California – Disneyland.

She used to dance at Disney and Knott’s Berry Farm. She had no clue what she was getting involved

with me. She said, “You know, there are some crazy things that are happening on this movie set that I

don’t really agree with. My Mom and Dad want me home. I’ve never been away from home this long.” I

say to her, “What are you talking about? You’re a dancer. What’s the big deal?” Those movie sets can

get kind of wild. A lot of young kids, music/dance – they go crazy. Then I’m realizing she never really

came out with us. We used to go some of these places after hours after we’d rap and she would never

come. She would rehearse with one or two friends and then back to her room. I question her. I said,

“What’s the problem?” She said, I forget how she put it, she says, “I’m a girl of faith. I’m a Christian,”

something like that. I said, well, I’m a Catholic. We’ve got something in common. Let’s talk – anything to

get to know her better.

Long story short … cut to the chase as we used to say on the street, I fell very much in love with this

young woman and she’s now my wife of 27 years. There’s no doubt that she was the catalyst that God

used me to lead me to the Lord. The reason I say catalyst and lead is somebody can lead you to the Lord.

Nobody can make you accept Him. That’s very personal. That’s between you and God. Pastor asked me

about my mother-in-law. As we got to know each other, she started to like me a little bit on the set. She

said, “Hey you’ve got to come home and meet my mother.” Hey, I’m good with Moms – let’s go. We get

on a plane and I meet her Mom, Erma. Her Mom, Erma, pastor, was the most godly woman I have ever

met in my life. You meet Erma and after two minutes, your name goes in a prayer book. She had a

prayer book like a telephone book. And the entries in the book, I kid you not, the guy I saw on the

corner with one shoe, the delivery boy that came to the house. She didn’t need to know your name. She

met you for five minutes; you’re in her prayer book.

I’m watching this woman. Had she ever beat me over the head with the Bible? She just lived like Jesus

was a part of the family. I can’t explain it. It was kind of creepy to me at times – these women always

talking about Jesus like He’s around someplace. I’m nervous. But here’s what’s happening. I’m starting

to fall in love with this girl and at that point in time when I wanted something, I was going to have it. I

wanted her in my life, but I’m saying wait a minute, my life is a direct contradiction to everything these

people believe. You’ve got to understand something. My wife is a young Mexican-American from

Disneyland, California. I’m a mob guy from New York. First of all, I had never met a Mexican before. I

never even ate a burrito before I met my wife. That’s how out of left field He hit me. And she had never

met an Italian guy so she didn’t know anything about my life. She saw The Godfather once and I didn’t

sit down and tell her, “Hey, this is the deal.” You don’t talk about that stuff.

So, I’m seeing they’re never going to be able to accept my lifestyle. Now, here’s the amazing thing and

this is the thing that always got me. My love for this girl is becoming very strong and I want you to get

this. It was never on my radar screen ever to walk away from that life. I meet her. I’m at the top of my

game – mob guy all the way, Dad’s son and going to be the boss. I’m falling in love with her and all of a

sudden my love for her is becoming more powerful than this bond I had with my Dad. This love and this


lifelong bond I had with him. More powerful than this blood oath that I took to La Cosa Nostra. How do

you explain this? There are no coincidences in God’s design for our life. We may not recognize

something at some point, but it’s not a coincidence that God put this girl in my life. I’ll be honest. She

wasn’t the first beautiful woman I met in my life, but there was something about her and if you look at

the history of my life now, that something was God.

Hey, He knows how to get our attention. For me, it happened to be a beautiful woman. That was it. He

said, “Mike, I know how to get you. I’ll put her there and you’ll just see what this is all about later on.”

But think about it. Who did God put in your life? What circumstance came about that maybe God is

trying to get your attention and you don’t get it yet? You know what? We’re here for a purpose. God has

got a design on you. We may ignore it, but there is a reason. And God allows us to go through

circumstances and meet with people for a reason. The point we have to get is we have to get it and be

focused on it and understand it. When we realize that, things start to change.

So, here’s the deal. I want to marry this girl. I had a plan. I always had a plan. They were going to indict

me again on another major case. No problem. I beat these people so many times, they’re going to want

to get a conviction on me. I told my lawyer, “Hey, we’re going to take a plea this time around.” I’ll do a

couple of years in jail. Jail didn’t scare me. I visited my father my whole life. I figured I’d do a couple of

years, I’ll marry Camille. When I get out of jail, I’ll have parole and probation. I’ve got an excuse. The

guys in New York know I can stay away from them. We’ll move out to California. After 10 or 12 years,

they’ll forget about me and New York and I’ll live happily ever after with Camille on the west coast. That

was my plan. It had nothing to do with God.

It wasn’t God’s plan though; He wasn’t going to let me backdoor this. But you know what happens in

life, people? Think about it. Some times we walk in parallel to God. Did you ever feel that way, pastor?

We’re walking parallel to God. I married Camille, but I married her for me; I didn’t marry her for God. I

did walk away from that life, but I walked away for me. I didn’t walk away for God. But I believe God was

sitting up there and saying, “Okay, you married the girl – good move - Christian girl I put in your life. You

don’t get it, but I’ll show you later on. You left this life. Great. I can’t do anything with you when you’re

running around on the streets of Brooklyn. Right now, you’re walking alongside of me, young man, but

someday, we’re going to intersect and you’re going to understand this was My plan for your life, not

yours.”

Think about it, people. Are you walking parallel to God? Is He trying to get your attention? Because He

will – there’s no doubt about, He will. He’ll do it the easy way, the hard way, or whatever way He’s got

to do it. He’s going to do it. So, I married Camille in July and people, I want to say this, I’m not the story

here; my wife is the story. I brought so much baggage to this young girl’s life, not only to marriage, but

to her life. And I’ll never forget, I tell her, “Honey, I might have to do a couple of years in prison. Can you

handle that?” I’m kind of laying all this stuff on her. Obviously, there’s more to the story. But I’ll never

forget that she said to me, “You know what, God will be in the foundation of our marriage. We will make

it through.” And I will tell you this – she will tell you this, if God wasn’t in the foundation, we wouldn’t


have made it – too tough. By the grace of God, her mother, Erma, took a liking to me, and a loving to

me, and prayed for me, and supported me throughout our entire marriage. She has passed away now,

but she was the angel of my life – no doubt about it. She held my wife up through such tough times. She

prayed for me. I believe she prayed for me to where I am now. The woman was a prayer warrior and my

wife recently wrote a book. After 20 years, I finally convinced her that this is our ministry. Women want

to hear from you, they don’t want to hear from me all the time. Why’d you stay with this guy? Right? So,

she writes this book after 20 years. It’s funny, I’m at a men’s group and I’m talking about this and I talk

about my wife and I mention the book. I go outside, everybody’s buying her book; they aren’t buying

mine. I say, hey, what’s going on? The guys tell me, “Hey, when I bring this home to my wife, they’re

going o love me because if your wife hung with you, then they’re going to think I’m an angel.” But

anyway, she’s the real story here.

So we got married in July and I go off to jail in December. About two years into my sentence, the warden

comes to me and says, “Hey, Franzese, Life magazine is doing a story on you. They want you to

cooperate. They said it will be a better story.” I’m always looking for the angle. I figure, all right, “Let me

talk to this guy and maybe I can smooth it over,” because they never wrote anything good about me

back then. So I sit down and say “Hey, there is no mafia.” I tell them standard mob stuff. I married this

girl. I liked the warm weather, I moved out to the west coast. That’s it. I leave. Two weeks later, the

warden called me back into the office and says, “Franzese, I thought you were a smart guy.” I said, “Why

not?” He says, “You have a death wish?” I said, “What are you talking about?” He shows me the article.

Bad article – it’s like 10 pages; big double paged thing with a big picture of me and across the top,

“Quitting the Mafia.” This guy wrote everything except that I was testifying against everybody in New

York. It was a bad article. It put me in a lot of trouble. The warden says, “Hey, we’ve got to lock you

down. You’re in trouble here.”

About two weeks after that, something happens in Chicago where I have to make a decision whether to

renounce my life or not; and I did. People, at that point in time, all heck broke loose in our life.

Immediate contract on my life, the boss of my family, my Dad disowned me. Done. Finished. Feds came

to me, “Frazese, quote, ‘You’re a dead man anyway. You might as well cooperate with us. We’ll put you

in the witness protection program and we’ll preserve your life and that of your family.’” I didn’t want to

do that. I wasn’t interested in hurting anybody; I just wanted out of the life. I refused. They didn’t take

no for an answer, and that made it very difficult on me.

I get out of prison after five years. I’m on parole 13 months. It was the worst 13 months of my life. Big

shot mob guy made all this money on the street. I couldn’t get anything going in L.A. I was like a fish out

of water. I couldn’t do anything. The feds kept coming to me. They got word from their informants that

people are our in L.A. to hurt me and my wife. We couldn’t put a house in our name – no utilities. We

were constantly moving around. I’m literally dodging bullets and it was really bad. What that poor girl

went through – every time I left the house, we didn’t have cell phones, we had beepers, she would beep

me because she was afraid I wasn’t coming home. It was tough. One morning after 13 months, I told

her, “Hey I’m going to the bank, Cam. When I come back I’ll take you to breakfast.” I go to the bank, five


minutes from my house, I walk out the door and there are 15 agents. They slapped the cuffs on me,

throw me in the paddy wagon. They went into the bank, seized all of my bank accounts, took my car.

Seized the car. Went to my house with a search warrant and cleaned us out – took every penny. Went

into my wife’s purse and took every penny and said, “Hey, this is your husband’s money; you don’t work

– it’s racketeering money. He’s being indicted again on another RICO charge and we can confiscate all of

his assets.” And they did. She didn’t have enough money to buy milk for the kids. They left her with

nothing.

They are driving me down to the lockup and say, “Franzese, we don’t want you anymore. We’ve got new

charges on you, new criminal charges. We have new informants. We are indicting you on another

racketeering case. We violated you on our parole right now. You’re done; you will never see the street

again.” They drive me down to the federal jail in L.A. They’re going to transport me back to Brooklyn in

the morning. They throw me in that 6 x 8 cell, people, and here’s my situation. I’m done. It’s over.

Thirty-seven years old; they took all my money, another racketeering case. You can’t beat these cases

with money; without money, forget it. You’re not going with a public defender. They’re tough; you’ve

got to work hard to get an acquittal in a case like that. I said, “My wife, she waited for me five years; 13

months on parole, we’ve got two kids now. How is she going to wait for me now? I’m going to lose the

girl I did all of this for – the girl that I did this for is gone. How could she wait for me now? I said, you

know, they can’t put me out in the yard, I’ve got nothing but enemies – everybody is looking to kill me.

I’m going to spend the rest of my life in this 6 x 8 cell.”

I don’t know if you have ever had this moment, but I’ll tell you this. I have felt every emotion you can

feel in life, from ecstasy right down to grief and everything in between. I’ve led a pretty full life, but by

far, the worst emotion you could ever feel is when you’re depressed and you’re hopeless. Hopelessness

is horrible. When you think you’ve lost it all – everything that’s dear to you is gone. You’re in this deep

dark hole that there’s no way to get out. It is the worst feeling in the world. My heart hurt so much that

night, it was like a physical pain. You can call me a coward, weak, whatever, I was scared. I thought it

was all over. My head was pounding. I’ll never forget – I’ll be honest with you, I was mad with God.

Why? Because I accepted Christ. My mother-in-law and my wife said, “Accept Christ, He’ll forgive your

sins. I want some of that; I’m a sinner. What do I have to do? Get on my knees, say a prayer, really try to

feel it.” Was I really sorry? I don’t know. I don’t know my own motivation at that point in time. But when

they said to me that you’ve got to surrender your life to Jesus, I couldn’t process surrender. I’m a mob

guy. I’m in control of my life. Italians grow up, for those of you out there, God helps those who help

themselves, right? It was a total contradiction of what we’re taught in the Bible. We have to surrender

to Jesus, but I couldn’t get it. I believe that your acceptance of Christ is made whole in your surrender to

Him because that’s when He can work through you and for you.

So, I’m laying on that cot and I’m angry with God. God, you did this to me. I married the girl. I left the

life. Look what you did to me. Of course, we blame God when we screw up. I’m laying there, and I’ll tell

you this. I used to think people that wanted to commit suicide were weak, weakness – but I get it now.

Because, I wasn’t suicidal – but I wanted to close my eyes and not wake up. Honestly, it was too painful


to think of my wife. I wish I had never met her. I saw an image of her and it was driving me crazy – like

the enemy was working on me in such a way. I’m laying on that cot; I’m done.

A prison guard walks by my cell, “Franzese, you don’t look good. You okay?” I said, get away from me. I

chased him. I didn’t want to see anybody at that point. He left and then he came back, I’m not kidding, a

minute later. He pushes a book through the slot of the door, I was in a holder. It falls on the floor. I’m

kind of groggy, but I hear the thump. I looked down. It was a Bible. I see the Bible, I got mad. I didn’t

want a Bible. I wanted a bottle of Prozac or something – I wanted to forget what I was going through.

I’m looking down at that Bible – I’m not dramatizing this, as a matter of fact I’m probably minimizing it –

I’m looking down and I’m getting so angry with God, all of my emotion is building up with me – the fear,

the anger, I jump off the cot, pick up the Bible and I threw it against that cinder block wall as hard as I

could. It’s like everything came out of me. I’ll never forget, it took me about 30 seconds and I said, “You

know what, I’ve got nothing but enemies tonight, I don’t need God as my enemy.” I believed in Him. It

was only me and Him in this cell.

And, I picked up the book and until that point in my life, I don’t remember crying out to anybody –

maybe my mother when I was a kid - but I looked up that cinder block wall and said, “Hey, God, if You’re

up there, You need to give me something to help me tonight. I can’t take this; I need help.” And I’m

holding the Book, and I open the Book, and the first Book in the Bible that I come to is Proverbs. I never

really read the Bible. When you go to Catholic school, you don’t read the Bible, you read the catechism.

The priest reads the Gospel on Sunday; that’s about it. I open the book of Proverbs and it wasn’t a

coincidence that I opened it to Proverbs. Why? I’m a very analytical guy – things have to make sense to

me. I opened it up and I’m read Proverbs and it really caught my attention. It’s the most brilliant book

ever written. When God said to Solomon in the book of Kings as a reward for something he didn’t ask

for, remember, He said, “Solomon, nobody before you will ever be as wise and nobody after you will

ever be as wise.” Very prophetic and with the exception of Jesus, who had an advantage because He

was God, nobody was as wise as Solomon. And I start to read it and it really catches me and all of a

sudden, a verse hits me.

And people, I want to tell you this. I have never heard God speak to me audibly and I’ve never seen Him

in a dream. Now, some people have that gift; I don’t have that gift. But He speaks to my heart all the

time now because I have a relationship with Him and I’m paying attention and I ask for discernment,

“God, is this You talking? Is this what You want for me?” And I kind of take my time with it and pray and

see if I’m going in the right direction. That’s the first night that God spoke to my heart that I listened.

And He hit me first with this verse, Proverbs 16:7: “When a man’s ways are pleasing to the Lord, even

his enemies are at peace with him.” Now, why did that verse strike me? I’ll tell you why. Because, God, I

almost picture Him standing there in front of me saying, “Hey, big shot, mob guy, you’re lying on that

cot, you’re crying like a baby, you’re blaming Me for everything. Oh, you married this girl – great thing

you did. Who did you marry her for? Did you marry her for Me? Did you marry her for you?” I married

her for me; I didn’t marry her for God.


“Oh, Franzese, what a noble thing you did. You left the crime life. You’re no longer a mobster – great

noble thing. Who did you do that for, by the way? Did you do it for Me? Did you do it for you?” We can

hear God sometime speak to our hearts. Certain verses hit us at certain times according to where we are

at that point in life. It has happened to me; I know it’s happened to you. “Even your enemies are at

peace with you.” I had nothing but enemies that night. I believe God was reprimanding me and giving

me consolation in the same verse. He said, “Hey, if you would have done this for me, I’d take care of the

enemies; don’t worry about it.” That’s how I interpreted it that night. That’s how God spoke to my heart

that night. He motivated me to move on and to read more.

I came to a verse, people, that became the verse of my life. I’ll tell you this – I don’t want to tell you

what to do, but I’m going to tell you what to do because mob guys, we have a habit of doing that, right?

It should be the verse of every one of your lives. It all should start here. You’re going to read so many

verses that impact you in the Bible, but it all should start here. I’m going to sign some books for you. I’ve

signed thousands of books in my life. Little kids, you sign their shirt, their forehead. I’ll be honest with

you, it’s almost embarrassing for me to sign a book. You know why? My signature doesn’t mean

anything – it’s just a name on a piece of paper. It doesn’t add anything to the value of the book.

Although I’ve got to tell you this, I said this in one service, I walked out and the guys said, sign this. If you

get killed, it might be worth a little more money. I said, well, thanks a lot. He was serious too. But

anyway, when I sign a book, you will not see my signature without this verse underneath it because I

want to bring your attention to it. It’s everything in life. Proverbs chapter 3, verses 5 and 6. “Trust in the

Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways …” in everything

that you do, “ … acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.” Now, you heard the story.

Amen.

Do you think it was a coincidence that that verse spoke to me in that way? I didn’t trust in God. I hardly

even acknowledged Him. But what God was telling me was, “Hey, you’re in this situation now you’ve got

nobody to turn to. It ain’t about your father. It isn’t about that blood oath. You’ve got nowhere to turn –

it’s all about Me.” And you know what? I believe to this day that God allowed me to go through that

struggle because I’ll confess to you, if I’m on the street, I never go that way – too much a product of that

life. He would never have got my attention. He had to close me down, but sometimes God will allow us

to go through the worst pain to give us the best pleasure later on. And that’s the night I said to Him,

after I read the verse, I said, “Okay God, I’ll give you a shot because I don’t have a choice. I don’t know

where to turn.” God will take you when you don’t have a choice – any way that He can get you, He’ll get

you.

So, I start going into my Bible. Now, this big racketeering case fell apart – never indicted me. I still don’t

know why. Couldn’t get it together. They did violate my parole. They gave me another four years. I spent

35 months and seven more days – 35 months and 13 days in prison, 29 months and seven days in that

hole – 6 x 8 cell, me and God 24/7. During that time, people, I read my Bible inside out and upside down.

If you see my Bible, there are more of my notes in there than there is scripture. I don’t recite verses; I

don’t have that great of a mind, but I know my Bible.


I read over 400 books starting with Chuck Colson’s Born Again. I read every book on Christianity that you

can imagine and every book about every other faith. Why? Because that’s also the night I challenged

God and said, “Hey, wait a second. I trusted my Dad. I surrendered my life to La Cosa Nostra – I did it

twice, three strikes, you’re out. I can’t do this again. If what my mother-in-law’s telling me is true, if

what my wife has been telling me is true, then God you’ve got to prove it to me.” And you know what I

said to Him? I challenged Him and said, “You have to show me the evidence.” Do you know why? I think

in terms of evidence because it has been a major part of my life. Five indictments. I’ve been to more

grand juries than there are people in that section of the room. I know every standard of proof that exists

in the criminal justice system. Evidence has been so much a part of my life. I have lived it all my life. So I

said, “God show me the evidence.”

When I finally opened up this heart and my stubborn mind – and I’m speaking to you guys now on

Father’s Day – I found out there was more evidence, not conjecture, not some fairy tale stuff and not

some pastor trying to preach me something that I don’t want to buy into – there’s more solid evidence

to prove that the Bible is truly God’s Word and that Jesus is our risen Savior. We’re not putting our faith

in anybody that’s dead and buried in a tomb. Dead people can’t help you. There is more evidence to

prove that than there is anything that exists in the world. And if you give yourself … Amen.

And you guys out there – I do all these men’s groups – “Ah, come on, Mike, you’ve got to show me,” and

then you don’t look. You’ve got to do the work. You’ve got to do the work. But if you do it and if you

open your mind and your heart, God will take you the rest of the way because it’s there, it’s solid. I’m

very much into apologetics – Lee Strobel, all of these guys. I want to prove my faith. I want to know

what I’m talking about so I can be as passionate as, hopefully as I was this morning. And then the

experience He gives you in your life, you put this together, there’s no other way. There is no other way,

people. I’m not trying to throw it at you; I’m just telling you what God has done for me in my life and

how He has shown me this.

Now, don’t get the idea that I’m perfect. Don’t get the idea that I’m not a sinner. I am. I have weak

moments. I’m a lot better than I was, but I know that when I sin, I confess and God does forgive me and I

sin a lot less than I did before, hopefully. But that’s the deal. You know I get angry with people that say,

“Oh, you Christians you’re all hypocrites, you fall into sin.” Wait a second. Nobody said that Christianity

is perfection. Read the Bible. It doesn’t say that anywhere, but what it does say is that when you ask for

forgiveness of your sins, God will forgive you and we do get better. That’s the sign of a Christian: sincere

asking for forgiveness and going on to do better in this life. And that’s what it’s all about, people. We

have a gracious God and I want to say this – just to the men today – a special message I didn’t give it

today.

When I came to Christ, I grew up my entire life hearing that, “Michael you’ve got to be a man’s man.”

That’s the mob’s standard – you’ve got to be a man’s man in life. What was the standard of man’s man I

looked up to? The bosses of the family. Carmine Persico, Jr., my boss, the Colombo guy; Fat Tony

Salerno, boss of the Genovese; Vincent “Chin” Gigante – I looked up to these guys. They had power,


prestige, character, class, I thought. Sonny Franzese, my father, I idolized these guys; men’s men. So,

when I came to Christ, I had to say, “Wait a second, Jesus was alive, He was a man, I’ve got to see what

type of man this guy was.” And I separated his deity from his manhood, and I studied Jesus the man.

Guys, I was blown away. There is no greater man that ever walked the face of the earth. There’s nothing

wimpy about following Jesus. I can go line by line by line, the strength, the power, the love, the humility

that He had. I never saw strength and humility until I saw it with Jesus. The guy that had the world in His

hands and yet stood in front of Pilate, knowing that He was innocent, kept his mouth shut because He

had a job to do. There isn’t a mob guy in the world that would do that. We’re guilty as sin and we’re

crying our innocence. The pain that He went through – the suffering on the cross, the way He loved

women and treated them when they were six class citizens and how He loved little kids. What was His

message? Love God and love your neighbor.

When people argue with me about Christianity, do you know what I tell them? I say, “Put that aside for a

minute, let’s talk about Jesus the man.” Nobody can argue with you about Jesus the man. You know

what their problem is? The resurrection. Same people wrote about his life. Same people wrote about his

death. Same people wrote about his resurrection, but that’s when everybody stops, “Ah, He rose from

the dead.” You get beyond that then you see that nobody can ever argue with you about Jesus’

character and his manhood, and when I put that argument in front of any guy that I have ever spoken to,

they halt. They try to go around it or they start to stutter a little bit because He was the greatest man

who ever walked the face of the earth and He convinced me. So, you men, on Father’s Day, if you follow

Jesus, you’ll be better husbands, better men, better people in the community. Look up to Him because

he was the greatest man – the only man’s man that ever walked the face of the earth. So, I had to say

that because I love my Lord and Savior for what He has done for me in my life.

I got out of prison. A speaker? The pastor of my church who I love – I hardly knew this guy. He was a

good ole boy from Tennessee; he was sending me money in prison, sending me books and I was

embarrassed. I said, “Hey Cam,” I told my wife, “why is this guy sending me stuff? I don’t even know

him.” She said, “Be quiet. He loves the Lord. He loves you. Just take the stuff and do good with it.” I get

out and he says, “Hey, Mike. You’ve got a great story. I want you to give your testimony to the

congregation.” Testimony? I didn’t even know what he was talking about. I thought you did that from a

witness stand. Right? I didn’t know what he was talking about.

Long story short, the reason I tell you this, people, I had no clue where I was going to end up. I didn’t

plan to be in the ministry. When I heard the name “ministry” next to the name “Michael Franzese,” I

couldn’t process it. God is totally responsible for dragging me along. I’m trying to do every other thing.

God brought me here and finally, about six or seven years ago I said, “You know what, God, this seems

to be working. Maybe this is where I’ve got to focus and concentrate my life.” And since then, God has

just opened the doors wide for me. Have I struggled? Heck, yeah. Struggled in my family – my son drove

me crazy for six years – all sorts of things – because the enemy does attack you, but the ministry has

grown.


I have written four books. I’m on my fifth. They are doing a movie on my life based upon my

autobiography Blood Covenant. People, I’ll tell you this, for 20 years they have been trying to make a

movie on me. Another Goodfellas, Casino – I didn’t want to do that; I didn’t need that kind of attention.

Recently, in the last year, producers came to me, the same ones who did Soul Surfer and they’re going to

tell the whole story and I promise you this, I’ve read the script. I’m very pleased with it. If God isn’t

honored in that movie, I promise you it will never hit the screen because that’s what it’s all about.

Anything I do has to further the purpose of the ministry.

I’m involved now in two television shows. I’m going to be hosting a show probably in September for the

History channel. It’s about the mob, but I get to tell my story, hopefully with encouragement. And God

just keeps expanding the ministry even beyond our borders. He has me going other places. It’s all Him,

people. It’s all Him. When you finally realize what your purpose is in life, then God can carry you along

and you can go on the way that He wants you to go.

Just to show you how significant this ministry is, when I left that life everybody predicted my death. And

I didn’t know what was going to happen – there’s no blueprint for walking away from that life publicly

like I did. And if you look it up anyway, I don’t know if anybody else has ever done this publicly. Yeah,

the witness protection program and all that stuff, but never the way I’ve been – in such s high profile.

When I walked away, everybody predicted my death. You read the inside cover of my book Blood

Covenant … by the way, I’ve got to apologize again, I was told to make this announcement, you people

were gracious – we’ve just about run out of books. But they’re taking orders. You can buy them. I’ll sign

them for you. We’ll have them delivered here. It will be better than today. They are very gracious out

there. They’ve been terrific. So, don’t worry about it, if you want it you’ll get it. And that goes for all the

stuff.

But, inside cover of my book, Life magazine, “If he holds to what he has promised, it will mark the first

time a high-ranking member of the mafia will publicly walk away from his past and live.” 1996, Ed

McDonald, Head of the Organized Crime Strike Force went on national TV and said quote, “I wouldn’t

want to be in Michael Franzese’s shoes. I don’t think his life expectancy is very substantial.” He was my

prosecutor – very diplomatic guy. Bernie Wells, the FBI agent in the case, followed him to the podium on

national TV. He wasn’t as diplomatic. Bernie said, “He will get whacked.” I think you know what that

means in street terms. My mother, they interviewed her, “I pray for my son every night. I don’t know

what he’s doing.” That was in 1996.

Little more proof. In 1975, when I took that oath six of us walked in that room that night. I’m the only

one alive today. Not one of them died of natural causes. A little more proof that when God’s got a

purpose for you, nothing gets in the way.

You saw the Fortune magazine article up there – written in ’87. A huge article of the 50 biggest and most

powerful mob bosses in the country. They actually had a chart with the 50 of us on it. Don’t ask me how

they got this chart – they didn’t interview us for that. But anyway, they had us in rank – I was #18 on the


list, five behind Gotti at that time – the youngest guy on the list. That’s not important because the list is

silly. What is important is this. Out of the 50, today 20 some odd years later, 43 of them are dead. Three

of them that I know of are doing life in prison and I’m here to talk to you and give honor and praise to

my Lord and Savior and my Hero in life – Jesus Christ. Amen.

People, when God has a plan and a purpose for you, nothing is going to stand in the way – no mob, no

sickness, no death, nothing, not the enemy. The only one that can stand in the way is you because our

God is never an intruder. He’s always an invited guest. And I encourage you this, people – if God is not in

your heart, if you’re not walking with Him, if you’re losing faith with what’s going on in this world, you

need to turn to Him. I spoke to people outside that are going through some stuff. The answer is in our

Lord and Savior Jesus. I don’t know how you get through stuff without turning to God. In that cell,

people, as much as I love my wife and family, they couldn’t do a thing for me. Nobody could. If I didn’t

have Jesus there to talk to, to fellowship with, to encourage me and to have my back, which is such a

powerful phrase on the street “to have my back,” I don’t know how I would have gotten through it. Guys

go crazy in that situation. He got me through it and He’s got me through every step of the way out here.

All I ever pray, and if you want to pray for me, is that I don’t screw it up and bring dishonor to my Lord

because that would be horrible. But that’s the prayer if you want to pray for me. So, please I encourage

you, give the Lord a chance. He’ll pay you back in dividends you will never believe.

AB: Thanks, Michael. Would you just express appreciation to him (standing ovation).

MF: Thank you. And I want to say this. I really mean this. I do this quite a bit and quite often the pastors

… it’s tough for the pastor to give up the pulpit and they like to talk a lot. Pastor just let me go and let

me share what was in my heart with you and I really thank you for that.

AB: Absolutely.

MF: I appreciate it very much.

AB: Hey, before I let you go - quick housekeeping items. #1, I’d love to just invite all of you to hang out

in the parking lot afterwards. I’m in the dunk tank at 1:25 – take your best shot. The other thing for our

church family, if you came ready to give your tithes and offerings, you can drop those off in the brown

boxes as you leave today.

What I want to do as we close up is pray for you. What I want to do is I’d like to ask you to close your

eyes and bow your heads. I’ve told you this before that you don’t have to close your eyes to pray to

God. But it does help for focus and privacy. So, I’d just ask you to real quickly close your eyes and bow

your heads. And Michael has spoken into an issue here. Very few of us have a story and a testimony as

colorful as his, and yet what God teaches us through someone like Michael is that you are not out of the

reach of God’s grace. And today, I know there are a number of people in a room this size that feel that


they are. They’re in just the middle of a mess. You may not be in a literal hole of a prison cell, but you’re

in a hole. And what I want to do is just pray over you. As I pray, you may not even know the words to say

to God. I’d like to guide you through that. So, let me pray and you can latch onto this prayer and make it

your own today.

Dear God, I come to you this morning feeling the sense of hopelessness, and despair, and

discouragement from whatever circumstances are in my life at the moment. And God I come to You not

knowing all the answers. I come to You feeling kind of beat up and bruised and hurting. God, I’ve tried

religion and that didn’t work and I maybe tried attending church for a while and that didn’t seem to

work, and yet here I am in this place, at this time, not even quite fully sure why I’m here. Somebody

invited me, somebody drug me here, somebody told me there would be a race car in the parking lot, and

here I am. God, I’m ready to at least have an intersection with You on Your terms and so I come to You

empty-handed with my arms open, asking that if You’re real, if You’re there, if it’s true, that You’d begin

to work in my life in a very similar way that you worked in Michael’s. It may not be in an instant, bright

light, flashy light, audible voice, but it may be a process – one little baby step at a time and I’m ready for

that, God. And I give this to You today and I ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen

Documents

[Film and clips of interviews of Michael Franzese].… · 2015. 2. 12. · N: Michael Franzese was a made member of organized crime. His main forte was making money for the mob. In