Up next in 10
He generated eight million dollars per week running the largest gasoline bootlegging scheme in American history. Michael Franzese was a made man in the Colombo crime family, took the oath of Omertà, and stood among the most powerful mobsters in New York. Then he did what almost no one survives: he walked away.
This is the untold story of the Mafia's invisible players—the men who built empires while the flashy godfathers took the spotlight. Michael wasn't on magazine covers. He didn't seek fame. He understood that in the underworld, visibility equals death. But his operation stretched from Brooklyn to Panama, defrauding the federal government of over one billion dollars in unpaid taxes. Forbes ranked him as one of the fifty most wealthy and powerful Mafia bosses in America, yet most people had never heard his name.
Now, decades after leaving the life, Michael reviews Hollywood's Mafia movies and exposes the truth behind the mythology. When he watches The Godfather, Goodfellas, or The Sopranos, he reveals what filmmakers get right and what they get dangerously wrong. The code that wasn't really about honor. The loyalty that only went one way. The family that would kill you for profit. This video explores how Michael Franzese survived the impossible: publicly leaving the Mafia and living to tell the tale.
What do you think? Could you walk away from an oath of silence unto death? Drop your theories in the comments. If you want more untold stories about the figures Hollywood forgot, hit that subscribe button and turn on notifications. New investigations drop every week.
Keywords: Michael Franzese, Colombo crime family, Mafia underboss, organized crime, ex mobster stories, true crime documentary, Mafia movies accuracy, Goodfellas real story, The Godfather truth, Italian Mafia New York, gasoline bootlegging scheme, witness protection, breaking Omertà, mob boss interview, crime family secrets
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0:00
You know the faces. Al Capone, John
0:03
Gotti, Lucky Luciano. The names
0:06
plastered across movie posters and true
0:09
crime documentaries. The Godfathers who
0:12
built empires and died legends. But
0:14
here's what Hollywood won't tell you.
0:16
For every famous boss whose face made
0:18
the front page, there were a dozen men
0:20
who held the real power. Men who never
0:23
sought the spotlight. Men whose names
0:26
you've never heard. Men who understood
0:28
that the moment you become famous is the
0:31
moment you become a target. These were
0:33
the puppet masters, the fixers, the
0:36
silent partners who made fortunes while
0:38
the flashy bosses took the heat. Michael
0:41
Fronzi was one of them. At his peak in
0:43
the 1980s, Michael ran the largest
0:46
gasoline bootlegging scheme in American
0:48
history. He was generating between 4 and
0:50
$8 million per week. Not per year, per
0:55
week. In today's money, that's roughly
0:58
$400 million annually. Forbes magazine
1:01
ranked him as number 18 on their list of
1:03
the 50 most wealthy and powerful mafia
1:06
bosses. Federal prosecutors called him
1:08
one of the most dangerous mobsters in
1:10
America. Yet, most people had never
1:12
heard his name. No magazine covers, no
1:15
tabloid scandals, no flashy press
1:18
conferences. Michael Franes operated in
1:21
the shadows of New York's Columbbo crime
1:23
family, building an empire that
1:25
stretched from the streets of Brooklyn
1:26
to the oil fields of Panama. But there
1:29
was a problem. Being invisible doesn't
1:31
mean being invincible. And Michael S.
1:34
Empire was about to come crashing down
1:36
in a way that would force him to make an
1:38
impossible choice. Betray the only
1:40
family he D ever known or spend the rest
1:42
of his life in prison. So, get ready to
1:45
dive into the untold story of the man
1:47
who lived the life Hollywood only
1:49
pretends to understand. Michael Fronzis
1:52
was born on May 27th, 1951 in Brooklyn,
1:56
New York. During this time, the five
1:58
mafia families controlled nearly every
2:00
profitable racket in the city. His
2:02
father, John Sunonny Franz, was a capo
2:06
in the Columbbo crime family and one of
2:08
the most feared enforcers in the
2:10
underworld. FBI documents later revealed
2:12
that Sunny was suspected in over 50
2:14
murders, though he was never convicted
2:16
of any. The truth is, we don't know much
2:18
about Michael's earliest years beyond
2:20
the basic facts. What we do know is that
2:23
growing up as the son of a maid man
2:25
meant living in two worlds
2:26
simultaneously. There was the legitimate
2:28
world, the nice house in Long Island,
2:30
the Catholic school education, the
2:32
family dinners on Sunday. But there was
2:34
also the other world, the one whispered
2:37
about but never discussed openly.
2:39
Michael was a smart kid. He attended
2:42
Hofster University, studying premed with
2:44
dreams of becoming a doctor. His mother,
2:47
Christina, desperately wanted him to
2:50
stay away from the life that had
2:51
consumed his father. For a while, it
2:53
seemed like he might actually make it
2:55
out. Yet, something was missing. In
2:58
1971, during Michael's sophomore year,
3:01
federal agents arrested Sunonny Fronzi
3:04
on bank robbery charges. The trial was a
3:07
media circus. Prosecutors painted Sunny
3:09
as a ruthless killer and organized crime
3:12
enforcer. The jury convicted him and the
3:15
judge handed down a 50-year sentence.
3:17
Michael sat in that courtroom and
3:19
watched his father get swallowed by the
3:21
system. He watched FBI agents smile as
3:24
they led Sunny away in handcuffs. He
3:26
watched prosecutors celebrate their
3:28
victory like it was a game they'd just
3:30
won. That's when something inside
3:32
Michael changed. He dropped out of
3:34
Hofra. He told his mother he needed to
3:36
help support the family, which was
3:38
partially true. But the real reason was
3:40
simpler and more dangerous. He wanted
3:43
revenge against the system that had
3:45
taken his father, and there was only one
3:47
way to do that. He wanted in. But there
3:51
was a problem. Getting into the mafia
3:54
isn't like applying for a job. You can't
3:56
just walk into a social club and ask to
3:59
join. You have to be vouched for. You
4:01
have to prove yourself. You have to show
4:04
that you're willing to do whatever it
4:05
takes, including violence, to protect
4:08
the family. Michael started at the
4:10
bottom, running errands for maid men in
4:12
the Columbbo family.
4:14
He collected debts. He delivered
4:16
messages. He learned how the
4:19
organization worked from the ground up.
4:21
But Michael had something most young
4:23
associates didn't have, a mind for
4:25
business. Where in the early 1970s, and
4:28
at the time, the mafia's traditional
4:30
rackets were becoming increasingly
4:32
difficult to operate. Law enforcement
4:35
had gotten smarter. Wiretaps were more
4:37
sophisticated. RICO laws gave
4:39
prosecutors powerful tools to dismantle
4:42
entire organizations. The old was
4:44
gambling operations, the lone sharking,
4:47
the labor racketeering were still
4:49
profitable. But the risks were mounting.
4:53
Michael saw an opportunity. In 1974, he
4:56
approached a Columbbo Capo named Michael
4:58
Mickey Catino with an idea. The federal
5:01
government had recently implemented a
5:02
motor fuel tax meant to fund highway
5:05
construction. Gas stations were required
5:07
to collect 18 cents per gallon and
5:09
forward it to the government. But there
5:11
was a loophole in the system. The tax
5:13
didn't have to be paid until the fuel
5:15
was sold at retail. Michael's scheme was
5:18
brilliant in its simplicity. He would
5:21
create a chain of shell companies. Gas
5:23
would be sold from one company to
5:25
another on paper, each time adding the
5:27
tax to the price. But before the final
5:29
company in the chain actually paid the
5:31
government, it would simply disappear.
5:33
The mafia would pocket the tax money,
5:35
and by the time the IRS figured out what
5:38
happened, the company would be
5:39
dissolved, and the money would be long
5:41
gone. Therefore, Michael needed partners
5:44
who could move large quantities of
5:46
gasoline quickly and had connections to
5:48
distribute it across state lines. He
5:51
found them in the Russian mob. The
5:53
partnership was unprecedented. Italian
5:55
and Russian organized crime had
5:57
historically operated in separate
5:59
spheres. But Michael didn't care about
6:01
tradition. He cared about profit. The
6:04
Russians had the infrastructure to move
6:06
fuel. Michael had the protection and
6:09
legitimacy of the Columbbo family name.
6:11
Together they built what federal
6:13
prosecutors would later call the largest
6:15
gasoline bootlegging operation in
6:18
American history. By 1980, Michael Franz
6:21
was generating between 2 and $5 million
6:24
per week. The operation expanded beyond
6:26
New York, reaching into Pennsylvania,
6:29
Florida, California, and even
6:31
internationally to Panama. Shell
6:34
companies multiplied like bacteria.
6:37
Legitimate gas stations across the
6:39
country unknowingly purchased bootlegged
6:41
fuel. The government was losing an
6:43
estimated $1 billion per year in unpaid
6:45
taxes. Nebert's Michael maintained a low
6:48
profile. While other mobsters drove
6:50
Ferraris and wore custom suits, Michael
6:53
dressed conservatively. He lived in a
6:55
nice but not ostentatious house. He
6:58
avoided mob hangouts where FBI
7:00
surveillance was constant. He understood
7:02
something that many of his flashier
7:04
contemporaries did not. In the mafia,
7:08
fame equals death. However, success on
7:10
this scale doesn't go unnoticed forever.
7:13
In 1982, Michael was formally inducted
7:16
into the mafia. The ceremony took place
7:18
in a private location with Columbbo
7:21
family leaders present. They pricricked
7:23
his finger, burned a saint cart in his
7:25
palm, and administered the oath of
7:28
Michael Franesi was now a maidman, a
7:31
soldier in one of New York's five
7:32
families. But he didn't realize this
7:34
single decision would open the door for
7:36
his most dangerous enemy yet. The FBI
7:39
had been watching. Special Agent Robert
7:41
Morvillo had been building a case
7:43
against the Columbbo family for years.
7:45
He'd seen young associates come and go.
7:49
Most were street thugs with limited
7:51
ambition. Michael Franazi was different.
7:54
He was educated. He was strategic. And
7:57
he was making the kind of money that
7:59
suggested he'd discovered something new.
8:01
Morvaloa assigned a team to investigate
8:03
Michael's business dealings. What they
8:05
found shocked them. The gasoline scheme
8:08
was so sophisticated that it took
8:10
federal investigators months to
8:12
understand how it worked. Accountants
8:14
were brought in. Tax experts analyzed
8:17
the flow of money through shell
8:18
companies. Slowly, the picture came into
8:21
focus. Yet, there was a problem for the
8:23
FBI. The scheme was technically legal in
8:26
many respects. Michael had exploited a
8:28
loophole, not explicitly broken the law.
8:31
Proving criminal intent would be
8:33
difficult. Therefore, prosecutors
8:35
decided to pursue a different angle.
8:38
Racketeering under Rico Statutus, they
8:41
could argue that Michael's entire
8:43
operation was part of a criminal
8:45
enterprise, making even legitimate
8:47
business activities prosecutable.
8:50
Still, they needed leverage. In 1985,
8:53
federal agents arrested several of
8:55
Michael's associates, including Russian
8:57
partners in the fuel scheme. They
8:59
offered deals, testify against Franazi,
9:03
and receive reduced sentences.
9:06
Somi accepted, others refused, but each
9:08
arrest tightened the noose. Michael knew
9:11
what was coming. He'd seen it happen to
9:13
his father. He'd seen it happen to
9:15
countless mobsters before him. The
9:17
government had unlimited resources and
9:19
unlimited time. Eventually, they would
9:22
find something, someone or some mistake
9:25
that would bring the whole operation
9:27
crashing down. However, Michael had one
9:30
card left to play. In 1984, something
9:33
unexpected happened. Michael met a woman
9:36
named Camille Garcia at a nightclub in
9:38
California. She was a dancer, young and
9:41
beautiful, and completely unconnected to
9:44
the world of organized crime. For
9:46
Michael, who had spent his entire adult
9:48
life surrounded by criminals, liars, and
9:52
informants, Camille represented
9:54
something he'd never experienced:
9:56
innocence. They began dating. Michael
9:59
flew to California whenever business
10:01
allowed. He told her bits and pieces
10:03
about his life, but never the full
10:05
truth. She knew he was involved in
10:07
something dangerous, but she didn't
10:10
press for details. But there was a
10:12
problem. The mafia has rules about
10:15
relationships. You don't marry outside
10:17
the culture without permission. You
10:19
don't bring outsiders into family
10:21
business, and you certainly don't let a
10:23
woman influence your decisions. Michael
10:25
didn't care. In 1985, he married Camille
10:29
in a private ceremony. The Colbo family
10:32
leadership was furious. Some capos
10:35
suggested that Michael was becoming a
10:37
liability, that his attachment to this
10:39
woman made him weak, that maybe he was
10:42
considering cooperating with the
10:43
government to protect her. Therefore,
10:45
Michael had to prove his loyalty. He
10:47
expanded operations.
10:50
He kicked more money up to the family.
10:53
He took on additional responsibilities
10:55
within the Columbbo organization. For a
10:57
while, it worked.
11:00
The suspicions faded. Business
11:02
continued. Nevertheless, the walls were
11:05
closing in. In 1986, federal agents
11:08
executed search warrants across multiple
11:10
states simultaneously. They raided
11:12
offices connected to Michael's fuel
11:14
companies. They seized documents,
11:16
computers, and financial records. The
11:19
scope of the investigation became clear.
11:22
This wasn't a local operation. This was
11:24
a federal task force with a singular
11:27
mission. Take down Michael Friends. What
11:30
happened next shocked even seasoned
11:32
investigators. Instead of running or
11:34
destroying evidence, Michael hired a
11:36
team of high-powered attorneys and
11:38
fought back. His lawyers argued that the
11:40
government was overreaching, that the
11:42
fuel scheme was a legitimate tax
11:44
strategy, and that targeting Michael was
11:46
selective prosecution motivated by his
11:49
last name. The legal battle stretched on
11:52
for months. Yet, while Michael fought in
11:55
court, something was changing inside
11:57
him. Camille was pregnant. Michael was
12:00
going to be a father. And for the first
12:03
time in his life, he started questioning
12:05
whether this was the legacy he wanted to
12:07
leave. His own father had spent decades
12:09
in prison. Michael had barely known him
12:11
growing up. Was he going to do the same
12:14
to his child? Still, leaving the mafia
12:18
isn't like quitting a job. The oath he
12:20
took was for life.
12:22
The only acceptable exits were death or
12:25
prison. Anyone who walked away
12:26
voluntarily was considered a rat, a
12:29
traitor, a target. But Michael had no
12:32
idea what was waiting for him. In 1986,
12:35
one of Michael's closest associates, a
12:37
man named Larry Carrosa, was arrested on
12:40
unrelated charges. Under pressure from
12:42
federal prosecutors, Larry agreed to
12:44
cooperate. He provided detailed
12:46
testimony about the fuel scheme, the
12:49
shell companies, and Michael's role in
12:51
organizing the entire operation. The
12:53
indictment came down in November 1986.
12:56
Michael Franzi was charged with
12:58
racketeering, conspiracy, and tax fraud.
13:00
If convicted on all counts, he faced
13:03
over 100 years in prison. The first
13:06
trial ended in a hung jury. The
13:08
government immediately retried him. The
13:10
second trial also ended in a hung juror.
13:13
Prosecutors were furious. Michael's
13:15
attorneys were skilled, and his
13:17
reputation as a gentleman mobster who
13:19
did unengage in violence made it
13:21
difficult for juries to see him as a
13:23
dangerous criminal. However, the
13:25
government had unlimited resources. They
13:28
could retry Michael indefinitely until
13:30
they got a conviction. Therefore, in
13:33
1989, Michael made a decision that would
13:35
define the rest of his life. He agreed
13:37
to a plea deal. He would plead guilty to
13:40
racketeering charges in exchange for a
13:42
10-year sentence. But here's what made
13:44
the deal unusual. Michael refused to
13:47
cooperate against other mobsters. He
13:49
wouldn't testify. He wouldn't provide
13:52
information. He would serve his time and
13:54
keep his mouth shut. This was critical.
13:58
By not cooperating, Michael technically
14:00
wasn't breaking. He was simply accepting
14:03
punishment for his own crimes. It was a
14:05
distinction that might keep him alive.
14:07
Nevertheless, some Columbbo family
14:09
members didn't see it that way. While
14:11
Michael served his sentence, word on the
14:14
street was that certain factions within
14:16
the family wanted him dead. They
14:18
believed he was weak. They believed his
14:21
marriage to Cable had compromised him.
14:23
They believed that eventually he would
14:25
flip and cooperate.
14:29
Yet, Michael had one card left to play.
14:31
In prison, Michael did something that
14:34
shocked everyone who knew him. He became
14:36
deeply religious. He started attending
14:39
Bible study. He read scripture. He met
14:42
with prison chaplain. Some mobsters
14:44
thought it was an act, a performance
14:47
designed to impress parole boards.
14:50
But it wasn't. Michael's conversion was
14:52
genuine. He later described it as the
14:54
first time in his life he'd felt truly
14:57
free. The mafia had controlled him
14:59
through fear, obligation, and family
15:02
loyalty. But in that prison cell,
15:04
reading the Bible and reflecting on the
15:06
life he'd lived, Michael began to see a
15:08
different path. In 1994, Michael Franzas
15:12
was released from prison after serving
15:14
approximately 5 years. He walked out of
15:17
the facility, expecting to return to the
15:19
life he'd known. His wife and children
15:22
were waiting. His wealth, though
15:24
diminished by legal fees and government
15:26
seizures, was still substantial.
15:28
However, things were about to change.
15:31
The Columbbo family was in chaos.
15:34
Leadership had fractured into waring
15:36
factions. The family's acting boss,
15:38
Carmine Periko, was serving a life
15:40
sentence. Young mobsters who didn't know
15:43
Michael's history or respect his
15:45
reputation were moving up. One afternoon
15:47
in 1995, Michael received a message
15:50
through an intermediary. The new
15:51
leadership wanted to meet. They had
15:54
concerns about his intentions. They
15:56
wanted reassurance that he wasn't
15:57
cooperating with the government. Michael
15:59
knew what this meant. This wasn't a
16:02
meeting. This was a trap. They were
16:05
going to kill him. Therefore, Michael
16:08
made the most dangerous decision of his
16:10
life. He left the mafia. Not quietly,
16:14
not secretly. He announced publicly that
16:17
he was done. He started giving
16:18
interviews to the media about his life
16:21
in organized crime. He wrote a book. He
16:24
began speaking at churches and
16:26
universities about his experiences. He
16:28
became in essence a public figure whose
16:31
fame and visibility made him difficult
16:33
to kill without attracting massive law
16:36
enforcement attention. The mafia hates
16:39
public attention. But here's the
16:41
question no one can answer. Why didn't
16:43
they kill him anyway? Some say Michael
16:46
had insurance information hidden away
16:48
that would be released if anything
16:50
happened to him. Others believe that his
16:52
high-profile conversion to Christianity
16:54
made him untouchable. Killing a
16:56
born-again preacher would bring heat the
16:58
Columbbo family couldn't afford. Still,
17:01
others suggest that certain powerful
17:03
figures in the underworld respected
17:05
Michael's refusal to cooperate with the
17:07
government and granted him an unofficial
17:09
pass. The truth is more complicated than
17:12
anyone imagined. Michael himself has
17:15
said that leaving the mafia required
17:17
divine intervention. He's described
17:19
close calls, moments when he should have
17:21
been killed but wasn't, encounters that
17:24
logically made no sense. Whether you
17:26
believe in providence or luck, the fact
17:28
remains, Michael Franzi is one of the
17:30
very few made men to publicly leave the
17:33
mafia and survive. To this day, nobody
17:36
knows exactly how he managed it. By the
17:38
early 2000s, Michael had fully
17:41
reinvented himself. He became a
17:43
motivational speaker, traveling the
17:45
country, sharing his story. He consulted
17:48
for law enforcement agencies, training
17:49
agents on organized crime. He produced
17:52
movies and documentaries and
17:54
significantly he started reviewing
17:56
Hollywood's mafia movies on YouTube,
17:59
breaking down what was real and what was
18:02
fiction. Videos like X-Mub Boss reviews,
18:05
mafia movie scenes, and how real is the
18:07
Godfather have garnered millions of
18:10
views.
18:11
Audiences are fascinated by his insider
18:13
perspective. When Michael watches a
18:15
scene from Good Fellas or The Sopranos
18:18
and says, "That's exactly how it
18:20
happened." Or, "That would never happen
18:22
in real life. People listen." Because
18:25
Michael didn't just study the mafia. He
18:28
lived it. He knows how hits are actually
18:31
ordered. He knows how money flows
18:33
through the organization. He knows the
18:35
subtle signs of respect and disrespect
18:37
that Hollywood often gets wrong. He
18:40
knows because he was there at the
18:42
highest levels making decisions that
18:44
affected millions of dollars and dozens
18:46
of lives. Nevertheless, his new career
18:49
has created a strange paradox. Michael
18:52
is now more famous than he ever was as
18:55
an active mobster. His YouTube channel
18:57
has hundreds of thousands of
18:59
subscribers. He's appeared on major
19:01
podcasts and television programs. He's
19:04
exactly the kind of high-profile figure
19:06
he avoided being during his criminal
19:08
years. Yet this fame might be the very
19:10
thing keeping him alive in the mafia's
19:12
costbenefit analysis. Killing Michael
19:14
Franes in 2024 would generate massive
19:17
media attention, federal investigations,
19:20
and public scrutiny. The return on that
19:23
investment is minimal. He's been out of
19:25
the life for nearly three decades. He
19:28
has no current knowledge of ongoing
19:29
operations. His value as a target
19:32
approaches zero. Still, some mobsters
19:35
will never forgive him for walking away.
19:37
In interiors, Michael has acknowledged
19:40
that there are men who would kill him if
19:41
given the opportunity. He takes
19:43
precautions.
19:44
He doesn't travel to certain areas. He's
19:47
careful about his routines. But he also
19:50
refuses to live in fear. I spent 20
19:52
years of my life afraid, he said. Afraid
19:55
of getting arrested, afraid of getting
19:58
killed,
19:59
afraid of making the wrong decision. I'm
20:02
not doing that anymore. Think you know
20:04
what happens next? Keep watching because
20:08
here s where Michael S story intersects
20:11
with something larger than himself. The
20:13
mythology of the mafia. For decades,
20:17
Hollywood has romanticized organized
20:19
crime. Movies like The Godfather
20:21
presented mobsters as honorable men with
20:24
a code. The Sopranos showed them as
20:26
complex and even good fellas with all
20:29
its violence had a seductive quality
20:31
that made the life look exciting.
20:33
Michael's reviews systematically
20:35
dismantle these myths. When he watches
20:37
The Godfather, he points out that real
20:40
mafia bosses were UN noble philosophers
20:43
making decisions for the good of the
20:45
family. They were businessmen focused on
20:47
profit, often willing to kill their own
20:49
relatives if it served their interests.
20:52
When he analyzes Good Fellas, he
20:54
confirms that yes, the violence and
20:56
paranoia were real, but the camaraderie
20:59
and loyalty were often exaggerated.
21:01
Mobsters informed on each other
21:03
constantly. Trust was rare. When he
21:05
critiques The Sopranos, he notes that
21:08
while the show captured the psychology
21:10
of mob life accurately, it downplayed
21:12
the sheer boredom and stupidity of most
21:14
mobsters. "These weren't geniuses,"
21:17
Michael said. "Most of them were guys
21:19
who couldn't hold regular jobs.
21:22
Therefore, Michael's YouTube presence
21:24
serves a dual purpose. Entertainment and
21:27
education. Young people who might be
21:29
attracted to the glamorized version of
21:31
the mafia here directly from someone who
21:33
lived it and walked away. They hear
21:35
about the paranoia, the betrayals, the
21:38
destroyed families, and the prison
21:40
sentences. They hear about friends
21:42
killed over petty disputes and fortunes
21:45
lost to legal fees. However, there's an
21:47
irony in Michael's role as a mafia
21:50
expert. By becoming the public face of
21:52
mafia reality, he's inadvertently become
21:55
part of the mythology himself. He's the
21:57
mobster who got out. The made man who
22:00
found redemption. The criminal who
22:02
became a preacher. It's a narrative arc
22:04
straight out of Hollywood. But the truth
22:07
is even stranger. Because Michael
22:09
Franesi isn't just reviewing movies.
22:11
He's rewriting his own story in real
22:14
time. Every video, every interview,
22:17
every public appearance is a way of
22:18
controlling the narrative, of defining
22:20
who he was and who he's become. And
22:23
maybe that's the smartest move he ever
22:25
made. In Day Mafia, your reputation is
22:28
everything. It determines how people
22:30
treat you, whether they fear you,
22:32
whether they respect you. Michael's
22:34
reputation as a non-ooperating former
22:36
mobster who found religion has created a
22:39
unique space for him. He's not in the
22:41
life, but he's not a rat. He's not a
22:43
threat, but he's not powerless. Yet,
22:46
there's a question that haunts every ex
22:48
mobster. Can you ever really leave?
22:50
Michael has children and grandchildren
22:52
now. He's built a legitimate career and
22:54
a public platform. He's traveled the
22:56
world sharing his story and by his own
22:59
account helped steer countless young
23:02
people away from crime. Still, every
23:05
time he reviews a mafia movie, every
23:07
time he describes how a hit is ordered
23:09
or how money is laundered, he's drawing
23:11
from a past that can never be completely
23:13
left behind. The bodice he saw, the
23:16
violence he participated in, the lives
23:18
he helped destroy those are permanent
23:21
marks. Michael has acknowledged this in
23:23
interviews. He's expressed remorse for
23:25
his crimes and the harm he caused. He
23:28
said that no amount of good work erases
23:30
the past, but that you have to try
23:32
anyway. Nevertheless, there are people
23:34
who will never forgive him. Families of
23:37
victims, former associates who went to
23:40
prison while Michael walked away.
23:41
Mobsters who view his public career as a
23:44
form of cooperation, even if he never
23:46
testified. For them, Michael Franes is a
23:50
traitor who broke the code and got away
23:52
with it. And maybe they're right. Or
23:55
maybe Michael did something even more
23:57
subversive. He exposed the code itself
24:00
as a lie. The mafia's mythology is built
24:02
on honor, loyalty, and family. But
24:05
Michael's story reveals the truth. It
24:09
was always about money and power. The
24:12
oath of Amerta wasn't about honor. It
24:15
was about protecting the organization's
24:17
profits. The family would kill you the
24:19
moment you became inconvenient. And
24:22
loyalty was a one-way street demanded
24:25
from subordinates, but rarely extended
24:27
by bosses. By walking away and
24:29
surviving, Michael proved that the
24:31
emperor had no clothes. So, what do you
24:34
think? Did Michael Franesi truly escape
24:37
the mafia? Or is the real story still
24:39
hidden here? S what we know for certain.
24:44
Michael Franesi was one of the
24:46
wealthiest and most powerful mobsters in
24:49
American history. He generated hundreds
24:52
of millions of dollars through illegal
24:53
schemes. He was inducted into the mafia
24:56
and took an oath of silence unto death.
24:58
He served prison time, left the
25:01
organization, and not only survived, but
25:04
thrived. Today, he's one of the most
25:06
prominent voices demystifying organized
25:09
crime. His reviews of mafia movies have
25:11
reached tens of millions of viewers.
25:14
He's shown that the Hollywood version of
25:15
the mafia is both accurate and wildly
25:18
misleading. accurate in its portrayal of
25:20
violence and paranoia, misleading in its
25:23
romanticization of honor and loyalty.
25:26
But here's the biggest question. What do
25:28
the current mobsters think? There are
25:30
still active members of the Columbbo
25:32
family. There are still made men who
25:34
knew Michael, who worked with him, who
25:36
possibly wanted him dead. When they see
25:38
him on YouTube reviewing the Godfather
25:40
or Good Fellas, what goes through their
25:42
minds? Some probably feel betrayed,
25:45
viewing his public career as a violation
25:47
of everything they believe in. Others
25:49
might feel envy, wishing they'd had the
25:51
courage to walk away when they had the
25:53
chance. A few might even feel respect,
25:56
recognizing that Michael managed to do
25:58
what almost no one else has done, leave
26:00
the mafia and live to tell the tale. To
26:04
this day, nobody knows the full story of
26:06
how Michael Fronzi survived leaving the
26:08
mafia. He's given explanations, his
26:11
faith, his refusal to cooperate, his
26:14
high-profile visibility, but there are
26:16
likely details that will never be
26:18
public. Arrangements made, promises
26:21
given, debts called in. The question
26:24
remains, is Michael Fronze, the
26:27
exception that proves the rule or
26:29
evidence that the mafia's power is
26:31
weakening. In the 1980s, when Michael
26:33
was at his peak, the American mafia was
26:36
still a formidable force. Today it's a
26:39
shadow of its former self. RIO
26:42
prosecutions decimated leadership.
26:44
Younger generations have no interest in
26:46
the life. The internet and digital
26:48
currency have made old school rackets
26:50
obsolete. Maybe Michael got out at
26:53
exactly the right time a few years
26:55
earlier and they would have killed him a
26:57
few years later and there wouldn't have
26:59
been anything worth leaving. Or maybe,
27:02
just maybe, Michael Fronzaz was always
27:04
smarter than everyone else. He saw what
27:07
was coming before other mobsters did. He
27:09
built his empire on a sophisticated tax
27:12
scheme, not violence. He avoided the
27:15
spotlight while accumulating wealth. He
27:17
refused to cooperate with the
27:19
government, maintaining a shred of honor
27:21
while still protecting himself. And when
27:23
he finally left, he did it in the most
27:26
public way possible, making himself
27:28
simultaneously too famous to kill and
27:30
too unimportant to bother with. It's a
27:32
masterclass in survival.
27:35
So, what do you think? Drop your theory
27:37
in the comments. I read every single
27:39
one. Was Michael Fronze, a criminal who
27:43
found redemption, a cone man who
27:45
reinvented himself, a pragmatist who
27:48
chose survival over honor, or something
27:50
more complicated than any simple label
27:53
can capture? Perhaps the truth is this.
27:56
Michael Franes is living proof that the
27:58
mafia's greatest weapon, its mythology,
28:00
is also its greatest weakness. As long
28:03
as people believe in the code in Omar,
28:05
in the idea that you can never leave,
28:08
the organization maintains power. But
28:10
the moment someone walks away and
28:12
survives, the illusion cracks. Michael
28:15
didn't just leave the mafia. He revealed
28:17
it for what it always was, a criminal
28:20
organization dressed up in the language
28:22
of honor and family. And by reviewing
28:24
Hollywood's version of that mythology on
28:26
YouTube, he's doing something even more
28:29
subversive. He's making sure the next
28:31
generation sees through it. Subscribe
28:33
for the next investigation into the
28:35
figures Hollywood forgot and the truths
28:38
the mafia never wanted you to
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