MICHAEL FRANZESE | Quitting the Mob to Live for Christ (Ep. 435)

In this episode, we welcome Michael Franzese to the show. He is a former mobster who was a capo for the Colombo crime family (one of the Five Mafia families of New York) and the son of Colombo underboss Sonny Franzese. At his peak, he and his crew were generating $8M per week from various schemes. In 1986, at the age of 35, Fortune Magazine named him the #18 Most Wealthy and Powerful Mafia Boss. He had the makings of the next super famous, super wealthy, super powerful mob boss, but God had other plans. Michael became a Christian, and after a stint in federal prison, he very publicly declared that he was leaving the mafia. He left the mob and relocated to California, where is now a speaker and writer. He’s also authored seven books, to include Quitting the Mob, Blood Covenant, and his latest book Mafia Democracy. In this interview, we discuss what it was like growing up with a mobster as his father, why he was drawn to the mafia, the initiation ceremony that he went through to become a “made man”, how entering the mafia changed his relationship with his father, how he maintained an image as an “earner” and not a killer, the various schemes he and his crew ran to make money, the moment he was led into a room where he thought he would be murdered, why he decided to leave the mafia and how he’s alive today to talk about it, the encounter he had with God while in federal prison, how he bases his Christian faith on evidence and not feelings, his opinion of the greatest and most accurate mob movie of all time, and much more. Let’s get into it… 

Episode notes and links HERE.

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