A reformed crime boss who helped to run the New York Mafia has spoken out about walking away from the mob life.
Michael Franzese, now 71, defrauded the US Federal Government of over $350 million (£278 million) with a gasoline taxes bootlegging scheme while captain of the notorious Colombo crime family.
He was played by Joseph Bono in the Martin Scorsese classic, Goodfellas, and even ranked eighteenth on Fortune Magazine's 'Fifty Most Wealthy and Powerful Mafia Bosses' list in 1986.
But in 1995, after a stint in prison on racketeering charges, Michael decided to turn his back on the crime group - leading to numerous contracts on his life, including one endorsed by his own father, Sonny Franzese.
Michael told the Manchester Evening News, where he will visit as part of a book tour next month: "It hurt. My dad and I was so close but I also understood. If I became a major witness and put people in prison, well my dad proposed me [to join the Mafia], so it endangers him too.
"Do I think my dad would have put a bullet in my head? No. We patched it up later on.”
His dad spent 40 years in prison before being released in 2017 at the age of 100, dying three years later.
Michael added: "He didn’t want this life for me originally. He wanted me to go to school, he said ‘son, be a doctor, get an education,’ and so I was on that road until he got into some severe trouble in the 1960s.
"He was indicted four times, three in the state of New York for serious crimes but he went to trial and was acquitted, but then he was indicted in federal court, for masterminding a nationwide string of bank robberies, and was sentenced to 50 years in prison."
Michael also recalled taking the oath of Omertà - the oath of silence - which all men take when they are sworn into the Mafia family. His finger was cut by a knife before his blood was dripped onto a card, which was then set alight.
He said: "'Violate what you know about this life, betray your brothers, and you will die and burn in hell like the saint is burning in your hands. Do you accept?’ And I said ‘yes I do'.
“It’s a night I’ll never forget. When you take the oath of Omertà, an oath of silence, you’re never even supposed to admit the existence of that life, and you can never betray the life.
“It’s not an oath that says ‘from tonight you’re going to murder and steal and kill,’ does that happen? Yes. Did I violate the oath? Yes, because I talk about it and I walked away from it.”
At one point in his late twenties, Michael boasted his own jet plane, a Bell helicopter, a 7,000 sqft house in Long Island, a house on the beach in California and a house on the water in Florida.
But on the flip side, he says: "I was arrested 18 times, I was indicted seven times, and with a big crew [of 300 men] under me, I’d be there if someone was in trouble.
“All the while I’m making this money, I’m spending it on lawyers, court, it was part of my life. It was very fast-paced; there was never a dull moment.”
He decided to leave the Mafia after discovering a newfound faith in God, saying his faith "made him determined" to get out of prison and "have his life changed".
Michael has now been married for 37 years to Camille Garcia, a devout Christian who he met while she was a dancer in one of his films.
He has spent the last 25 years as a motivational speaker, working to stop youths becoming involved in crime. This summer he is touring the UK with a show called An Evening with Michael Franzese - The Real Goodfella.
Michael said: "People with challenges in their life should realise there is always a way out. These young people ask ‘how can we walk away?’ I say ‘hey, I walked away from the biggest, most organised gang in the world. I can do it, you can do it.
“It gives people hope and encouragement. That's what we hope to do any time I speak. There could be a happy ending to whatever you’re going through."
