How Did Michael Franzese Make His Money
HUNTER: Sammy The Bull's sit-down with ex-Mob boss Michael Franzese
For an old gangster like Salvatore "Sammy The Bull" Gravano, the rules of the underworld were akin to the Ten Commandments.
The 76-year-old former Gambino underboss took the vow of silence — or omerta — with deadly seriousness.
It served him well for decades as one of the wiliest, under-the-radar mobsters in the business.
Only when the bullets were engraved with his name did Gravano flip and start singing.
Today, the Brooklyn-born criminal mastermind who took part in some of the most spectacular underworld rubouts of the last 50 years is dealing with a different kind of omerta.
"Now, I can't tell ya about that… the guys in Hollywood made me take a vow of silence," Gravano told The Toronto Sun from his Arizona home.
Gravano has been recruited for a flurry of movie and other projects. A docu-series on his life is percolating, there's his smash-hit podcast and then there's the booming movie and TV consulting business.
"Those guys take omerta more seriously than we did … and they've got lawyers with briefcases."
Aficionados of organized crime can now look forward to Gravano and the other twin pillar of the underbelly of society, and no slouch in the reinvention department himself, former Colombo family capo and mob scion Michael Franzese having a sit-down.
Known as the Yuppie Don, Franzese was born into organized crime, although his plan was pre-med at Hofstra.
Instead, the 70-year-old reformed gangster spun a treasure trove of sophisticated schemes that made himself and the Colombo family millions. That ended with a RICO bust and retirement in the early 1990s.
"People have been asking for a sit-down between myself and Michael," Gravano said.
"I will tell you a lot of my followers and a lot of his followers are breaking our balls to do it."
The trailer for Mafia States of America is tantalizing.
"There's an old saying, 'it's better to beg forgiveness than ask permission'," narrator Chazz Palminteri kicks off the trailer.
"The Cosa Nostra doesn't do either."
In the sneak peak, Gravano and Franceze sit at a long table and the ex-Colombo capo says: "Cosa Nostra is an evil life."
The Bull replies: "We built cities. New York. Chicago. Vegas."
Also chiming in is former New York Mayor and federal prosecutor Rudolph Giuliani who put out a hit on gangland that is still reverberating to this day.
Hizzoner said the mob infiltrated "our businesses, our politics … they infiltrated the church."
Giuliani adds: "A lot of these Mafia guys could have accomplished a lot if they'd only gone straight… well, that's only half true."
At times, the conversation between Gravano and Franceze becomes heated and it looks like the two may come to blows. Gravano doesn't tip his hand.
"It was the ultimate sit down, that I can say," Gravano added.
But The Bull says he's never been busier.
"People are calling and talking to me all the f***in' time," he laughed.
And the famed mobster said he never saw celebrity coming.
As one of the smartest criminals in the Five Families, until John Gotti emerged as boss of the Gambino family after Paul "Big Paulie" Castellano was rubbed out in 1985, few knew who Sammy The Bull was.
And that's the way he liked it.
"I never saw anything like this," he said last week, adding that until Gotti he was always low key.
Now, he's a celebrity.
"John Gotti must be rolling in his grave… I can't tell you how much I wish I was 46 instead of 76," Gravano said.
"I think half the women in the country want to bang me."
He added: "Unfortunately, I'm in bed by 8:30 these days."
Gravano's Our Thing podcast has kicked off its second season. You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify .
Stay tuned for more details on the sit-down on Mafia States of America.
bhunter@postmedia.com
On Twitter: @HunterTOSun
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How Did Michael Franzese Make His Money
Source: https://torontosun.com/news/world/hunter-sammy-the-bulls-sit-down-with-ex-mob-boss-michael-franzese
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