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How The Mafia Made Millions From Gas Stations!
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Jun 27, 2025
The mob didn't need guns to steal a BILLION dollars - they just needed gas stations. Michael Franzese, the "Yuppie Don" of the Colombo crime family, masterminded the most lucrative tax fraud in American history by skimming pennies from every gallon of gas in New York City. At its peak, this operation was pulling in $8 MILLION every WEEK, making Franzese one of the richest gangsters since Al Capone! Watch how this pre-med student turned mob captain created a shadow empire that controlled HALF of NYC's gas supply, catching the attention of the FBI and prosecutor Rudy Giuliani. From his meteoric rise to wealth and power to his shocking decision to walk away from the mafia—and somehow SURVIVE—this is the untold story of the brilliant scam that crowned a mob king. How The Mafia Made Millions From Gas Stations! #MobHistory #TrueCrime #MichaelFranzese #OrganizedCrime #BillionDollarScam #MafiaStories #NYCHistory 🔔 SUBSCRIBE for more shocking stories from the criminal underworld! 👇 Leave a COMMENT with what mob story you want us to cover next! 💰 LIKE this video if you're fascinated by white-collar crime! ### Timestamps: 0:00 - The Invisible River of Cash 2:14 - From Pre-Med Student to Made Man
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0:00
imagine a river of cash flowing
0:03
invisibly right under the streets of New
0:05
York City A flood of money so huge it
0:10
completely changed what wealth and power
0:13
meant for the American mafia This wasn't
0:16
cash from drug deals or sketchy
0:18
shakedowns This was money being quietly
0:21
siphoned from one of the most normal
0:23
everyday things you can do filling up
0:26
your car with gas For every single
0:29
gallon pumped a few cents were skimmed
0:32
off the top creating a secret untaxed
0:36
pipeline that poured right into the
0:38
pockets of one man At its peak this
0:42
whole operation was raking in somewhere
0:46
between 5 and $8 million a week It was a
0:51
scheme so brilliant in its simplicity
0:53
but so complex to actually pull off that
0:57
it turned a young ambitious captain in
1:00
the Columbbo crime family into one of
1:03
the highest earning mobsters since Al
1:05
Capone His name was Michael Franzi and
1:09
he wasn't your typical mobster He was a
1:12
prodigy of organized crime a guy who
1:15
preferred a calculator over a baseball
1:18
bat This is the story of the billiondoll
1:22
scam that crowned a new kind of mob king
1:25
and how the same genius that got him to
1:27
the top also painted a giant target on
1:30
his back catching the full attention of
1:33
the federal government Section one the
1:36
prince of the Columbbo family So who was
1:40
the architect of this incredible scam to
1:43
really get it you have to understand
1:45
where he came from Michael Franeszy
1:49
wasn't just some street tough who clawed
1:52
his way into the mob He was basically
1:55
born into its royalty His father was
1:58
John Sunny Franesi the notorious and
2:02
feared underboss of the Columbbo crime
2:04
family one of the infamous five families
2:07
that ran New York's underworld
2:10
Sunny was a legend an old school guy who
2:14
lived and breathed the brutal code of
2:17
Lacosa Nostra Growing up in the shadow
2:20
of a man like that Michael saw the life
2:23
up close The power the respect the
2:27
constant tension But at first he wanted
2:30
nothing to do with it He was on a
2:33
totally different path One of healing
2:36
people not hurting them He was a bright
2:39
student at Hofster University enrolled
2:42
in a premed program with his sights set
2:45
on becoming a doctor He was on a track
2:49
that would have taken him a world away
2:51
from the secret meetings and criminal
2:54
plots that defined his father's life But
2:57
life has a way of throwing a wrench in
3:00
the works In 1967 his father Sunny was
3:05
slapped with a 50-year prison sentence
3:08
for bank robbery A conviction Michael
3:11
insists to this day was a setup With his
3:14
dad facing what was basically a death
3:16
sentence behind bars the world shifted
3:19
for the young premed student His
3:22
responsibility to his family suddenly
3:24
came first The legit world just didn't
3:28
seem like an option anymore The only
3:31
world that could provide the kind of
3:32
cash and influence he needed to help his
3:35
father was the one he'd been trying to
3:38
escape So he dropped out of college The
3:42
decision was made He would follow his
3:45
father into the life And it didn't take
3:49
him long to make a name for himself He
3:52
got to know his father's powerful
3:54
friends Guys like the family's own
3:57
namesake Joseph Columbbo Then on
4:00
Halloween night in 1975 at just 24 years
4:04
old Michael Franesi officially became a
4:09
made man taking that sacred oath of
4:12
silence and loyalty to the Columbbo
4:15
crime family But Franiz was different He
4:19
wasn't like the button-down soldiers of
4:22
his father's generation He had a sharp
4:25
business mind and a strategic way of
4:28
thinking that really set him apart He
4:31
didn't see the mob as just a crew of
4:33
thugs He saw it as a potential
4:36
enterprise and his bosses saw it too By
4:39
his mid20s a ridiculously young age for
4:43
this kind of responsibility
4:45
he was made a kappa regime or captain in
4:49
charge of a crew of over 300 soldiers He
4:53
was a fast riser respected because he
4:56
could earn not just because he could
4:58
intimidate While other guys used
5:01
violence as their first move Franeszi
5:04
saw it as a last resort It was simply
5:08
bad for business He was a new breed of
5:11
mobster the yepy dawn as the papers
5:13
would later call him and he was about to
5:16
apply his corporate mindset to a scheme
5:20
that would flood his family with an
5:22
insane amount of money Section two the
5:26
birth of an idea The late '7s and early
5:29
80s were a kind of golden era for the
5:32
mob in New York but the cops were
5:35
getting smarter and the old school
5:37
rackets were getting riskier The five
5:40
families were always looking for new
5:43
more clever ways to make money Ventures
5:45
that could live in that gray area
5:47
between a legitimate business and an
5:50
outright crime The gasoline industry
5:53
turned out to be the perfect opportunity
5:56
It was a huge cash-heavy business
5:59
totally essential to daily life And most
6:02
importantly it was built on a
6:04
complicated tax system that was just
6:07
begging to be exploited Now France
6:10
didn't invent the gas tax scam but he
6:13
saw its potential and perfected it on a
6:16
massive scale The basic idea had been
6:18
floating around criminal circles for a
6:20
while usually run in smaller sloppier
6:23
ways by different groups including the
6:26
Russian mob In fact it was an associate
6:29
named Lawrence Ayurizo who first brought
6:31
a version of the scheme to France
6:34
Izzo was running a little gas tax fraud
6:37
but was getting squeezed by a rival
6:40
crime family He needed protection and he
6:43
offered Franzi a piece of the action in
6:46
return Franizi dealt with the rival
6:50
family and in the process got a front
6:53
row seat to the mechanics of the fraud
6:56
What he saw was a system with a huge
7:01
fatal flaw You see back then federal and
7:05
state gas taxes weren't collected from
7:08
you at the pump The law said the tax had
7:12
to be paid at the wholesale level The
7:15
wholesaler who sold the gas to the gas
7:18
station was responsible for collecting
7:20
the tax around 30 to 40 cents a gallon
7:24
and then sending it to the government
7:27
This created a gap a time delay a window
7:32
of opportunity between when the tax
7:34
money was collected and when it was
7:37
actually due Fran's realized that if a
7:40
company could collect all that tax money
7:43
and then just vanish before the
7:46
government came looking for it the money
7:49
would be pure profit It was a simple
7:51
idea but to make it work on a grand
7:54
scale to turn it into a sustainable
7:57
billiondoll enterprise
8:00
that would take a level of organization
8:03
that only the mob could provide He saw
8:06
how to turn a smalltime hustle into a
8:10
finely tuned money-making machine The
8:13
idea was born Now it was time to build
8:17
the engine Section three the billiondoll
8:20
machine The scheme Michael Franeszi and
8:23
his crew put together was a masterpiece
8:26
of corporate fraud It was known as a
8:29
daisy chain and it was designed to be as
8:33
confusing as possible creating a paper
8:36
trail so twisted that by the time
8:39
regulators figured out who owed the tax
8:41
the company responsible was already a
8:44
ghost Here's how the machine worked step
8:48
by meticulous step First the setup
8:52
Franiz's organization created a whole
8:56
network of dozens of gasoline related
8:59
companies A lot of these were just shell
9:03
corporations They existed only on paper
9:06
with no real officers or employees
9:10
To make them even tougher to trace some
9:12
were set up as Panameanian bearer share
9:15
companies which is a fancy way of saying
9:18
they were totally anonymous Ownership is
9:21
just based on whoever physically has the
9:24
stock certificate This created a maze of
9:27
connected companies that would become
9:29
the links in their daisy chain The
9:32
second step was the collection Within
9:35
this network one company would be chosen
9:38
as the collection point We'll call it
9:41
company A Company A would act like a
9:44
legit wholesaler selling millions of
9:47
gallons of gas to stations that fr
9:50
either owned or was partnered with The
9:53
price of that gas included all the state
9:56
and federal taxes So for every gallon
10:00
sold company A collected the full amount
10:04
including that 30 or 40 cents in tax
10:07
owed to the government And this is where
10:10
the real criminal genius kicks in The
10:13
third step make the money disappear
10:16
Company A now sitting on millions in tax
10:19
revenue had zero intention of ever
10:22
paying the government Instead of putting
10:25
that money aside for tax day the cash
10:28
was immediately pulled out and laundered
10:30
through other businesses like France's
10:33
own film production company or wired to
10:36
offshore bank accounts in places like
10:38
Panama and Austria The fourth and final
10:41
step was the vanishing act The company
10:45
that collected the tax company A was
10:48
known as the burn company It was
10:51
designed to fail from the start It would
10:54
operate for a few months just long
10:56
enough to collect a fortune in taxes but
10:59
not so long that the authorities would
11:01
get suspicious and start an audit When
11:05
the government finally sent a bill for
11:07
the millions owed they'd find an empty
11:09
office and a bankrupt company The listed
11:13
owners were untraceable frontmen The
11:16
money was long gone and Franiz's crew
11:20
would just move on to the next burn
11:22
company in their network and start the
11:25
whole process over again To make it even
11:28
more bulletproof they used the daisy
11:31
chain of paper transactions
11:33
Before the gas even got to the burn
11:36
company it would be sold on paper
11:38
between several other shell companies in
11:40
the network Company B sells to C C sells
11:46
to D and so on None of these companies
11:49
ever actually touched the fuel They just
11:51
passed fake invoices around This created
11:55
a thick fog of paperwork that made it
11:58
nearly impossible for an investigator to
12:00
figure out which company was actually
12:03
supposed to pay the tax The scale of
12:06
this thing was just breathtaking
12:09
At its peak Franiza's network controlled
12:12
or supplied over 350 gas stations in and
12:16
around New York City The scheme was so
12:19
effective that it was estimated to be
12:21
supplying between a third and a half of
12:24
all the gasoline sold in the entire
12:27
region That river of cash became a tidal
12:31
wave Franizes himself has said the
12:35
operation grossed between 5 and $8
12:37
million a week in stolen tax money This
12:41
unbelievable wealth shot him into the
12:44
highest ranks of the mob In 1986 when he
12:48
was just 35 Fortune magazine ranked him
12:52
number 18 on its list of the 50 most
12:55
wealthy and powerful mafia bosses Vanity
12:59
Fair called him one of the biggest money
13:02
earners for the mob since Al Capone The
13:05
gas tax scam wasn't just a racket It was
13:08
a shadow industry that made Michael
13:11
Franesi the undisputed king Section 4
13:15
the king's reign and rising heat With a
13:18
weekly income that most small countries
13:21
would envy Michael Franes's power
13:24
exploded The money from the gas scam
13:27
fueled a much bigger engine of influence
13:30
that reached deep into New York City's
13:32
economy and way beyond He wasn't just a
13:35
captain anymore He was a powerhouse His
13:39
wealth gave him leverage both inside and
13:42
outside the criminal underworld His
13:46
lifestyle definitely matched his new
13:48
status He owned a mansion on Long Island
13:51
a place in Florida and another in
13:53
California
13:55
He flew around in a private helicopter
13:58
but the money wasn't just for luxuries
14:01
It was a tool to get bigger He plowed
14:04
the dirty profits into a portfolio of
14:07
businesses both legit and not so legit
14:11
He had car dealerships leasing companies
14:14
and even that film production company
14:17
Miami Gold This blurring of the lines
14:20
between the legal and illegal worlds was
14:23
his signature move A lot of his power
14:26
came from the mob's old playbook unions
14:30
Franiza and the Columbbo family had huge
14:33
control over different labor unions
14:35
which they used to extort businesses and
14:38
steer juicy contracts to companies they
14:40
were partnered with They could stop a
14:43
multi-million dollar construction
14:44
project with one phone call threatening
14:47
strikes unless they got a kickback or
14:50
their guys got the job This power over
14:53
labor combined with the endless cash
14:55
from the gas scam let franes move in and
14:58
dominate industries like construction
15:01
and trucking Inside the mob his success
15:05
made him a major player As a top earner
15:09
he was kicking up a huge share of his
15:12
profits to the Columbbo family bosses
15:15
which bought him a lot of respect and
15:18
freedom to operate He had alliances with
15:21
powerful guys in other families like the
15:24
infamous John Goty of the Gambino family
15:28
And he navigated the treacherous world
15:30
of mob politics with the same skill he
15:33
used in his business deals But an
15:36
operation that's stealing hundreds of
15:39
millions of dollars from the government
15:41
can't stay a secret forever The sheer
15:44
amount of missing tax money started
15:46
setting off alarm bells at the highest
15:49
levels of law enforcement
15:52
Investigators in New York noticed a
15:54
massive unexplainable hole in their
15:57
gasoline tax collections and it was
16:00
getting bigger every year The scam was
16:03
just too big to hide The name Michael
16:06
Franesi started popping up on the radar
16:09
of ambitious federal prosecutors One of
16:12
them was a very driven US attorney for
16:16
the southern district of New York Rudy
16:19
Giuliani Giuliani and his team was
16:22
starting to use the powerful RICO Act
16:25
the racketeer influenced and corrupt
16:28
organizations act to take down organized
16:31
crime from the top down They didn't just
16:35
want to bust guys for individual crimes
16:38
They wanted to take down the entire
16:40
criminal enterprise The gas tax scam
16:44
wasn't just tax evasion It was a
16:47
textbook racketeering conspiracy And
16:50
Michael Franza the yepy dawn was its CEO
16:54
The heat was on The king sitting on his
16:57
billion-dollar throne was now a top
17:00
target for the most powerful law
17:02
enforcement agency in the world This
17:05
whole empire was built on a simple
17:08
brilliant scam But as we all know
17:11
empires have a tendency to fall If
17:15
you're finding this look into the
17:16
criminal underworld fascinating make
17:19
sure you hit that subscribe button and
17:21
turn on notifications so you don't miss
17:24
what happens next Section five the
17:27
downfall The federal investigation into
17:30
the gas tax fraud was a slow painful
17:33
grind because the whole point of the
17:36
daisy chain was to hide the money
17:38
Prosecutors couldn't just follow a paper
17:40
trail So they went back to the classic
17:43
mob busting strategy They went after the
17:47
people The FBI started putting the
17:50
squeeze on individuals involved in the
17:52
scheme flipping witnesses and building
17:55
their case one person at a time The
17:59
pressure was building Associates were
18:01
getting arrested And when faced with
18:04
long prison sentences they started to
18:06
talk The real knockout blow came when
18:10
Franiz's own partner Lawrence Ayoritzo
18:13
the guy who brought him the idea in the
18:15
first place started cooperating with the
18:18
government and agreed to testify against
18:21
him In December 1985
18:24
Franes was hit with a massive 14count
18:27
indictment for racketeering
18:30
counterfeiting and extortion
18:33
A second indictment focused just on the
18:36
gas scheme He was facing multiple trials
18:40
and the very real chance he'd spend the
18:43
rest of his life in prison Rudy
18:46
Giuliani's office made it known they
18:48
were pushing for a 100-year sentence For
18:51
Franiz this was a moment of truth He had
18:55
seen what the life did to his father He
18:58
had also recently met and married a
19:01
woman named Camille Garcia a dancer he
19:04
met on the set of one of his movies And
19:07
for the first time he could actually
19:09
picture a future outside the mob He knew
19:13
he was a big target and it was only a
19:15
matter of time before a conviction would
19:18
stick Facing a mountain of evidence and
19:21
the thought of dying in a prison cell he
19:24
did something that was almost
19:26
unthinkable for a highranking mafioso
19:29
On March 21st 1986
19:33
Michael Franesi pleaded guilty to one
19:35
count of raketeering conspiracy and one
19:38
count of tax conspiracy He agreed to a
19:42
10-year prison sentence and was ordered
19:44
to pay back over $14.7 million to the
19:48
government As part of the deal he had to
19:52
give up his mansion his film company and
19:54
all the profits from his criminal life
19:57
The king had been checkmated The
19:59
billiondoll machine was shut down for
20:02
good Section six the aftermath and a
20:05
different life Prison was the start of a
20:09
massive change for Michael Franesi He
20:12
did his time including a brutal stretch
20:15
of almost 3 years in solitary
20:18
confinement
20:20
It was during that isolation that he
20:22
found religion and embraced Christianity
20:26
a change his wife had a lot to do with
20:29
along with a Bible a prison guard gave
20:31
him When he was released in 1994 he did
20:35
something even more shocking than
20:37
pleading guilty He publicly quit the mob
20:42
This was a complete violation of the
20:44
mafia's blood oath which is supposed to
20:47
bind you for life It was a move that
20:50
should have gotten him killed There were
20:53
contracts out on his life One was
20:56
reportedly even approved by his own
20:58
father But somehow France survived
21:03
becoming the only high-ranking official
21:05
of a major crime family to ever publicly
21:09
walk away without going into witness
21:11
protection and live to talk about it He
21:14
moved his family out to California
21:17
cutting all his ties with the world he
21:20
once ruled The golden era of the gas tax
21:24
scam was over and its collapse left a
21:27
huge hole in the Columbbo family's
21:30
finances For Franesi a totally new life
21:34
began The former prince of the mafia
21:37
became a motivational speaker an author
21:40
and a public commentator
21:42
Using his story as a warning about the
21:46
destructive nature of the mob he now
21:49
talks to audiences all over about his
21:52
past his transformation and the business
21:55
lessons both good and bad that he
21:58
learned during his unbelievable rise and
22:00
fall Conclusion: The gasoline tax fraud
22:03
was a crime of shocking audacity It
22:06
wasn't some violent bank heist or a dark
22:09
alley shakedown It was a quiet white
22:12
collar conspiracy that targeted the
22:15
pennies on every dollar of a totally
22:17
mundane product Michael Franes and his
22:20
crew didn't need guns to steal a billion
22:23
dollars They used shell corporations
22:27
fake invoices and a deep understanding
22:30
of a broken tax system The scheme really
22:34
was a testament to his unique place in
22:36
the criminal world a leader who acted
22:39
more like a Fortune 500 CEO than a
22:42
traditional mob boss His story is a
22:46
complicated one a mix of ambition smarts
22:50
crime and in the end redemption So what
22:54
was he a criminal mastermind who got
22:57
what he deserved a product of his
23:00
environment who made an impossible
23:02
choice to save his family or a truly
23:05
reformed man who managed to turn his
23:07
life around The truth is probably
23:10
somewhere in the middle But what's
23:12
undeniable is the sheer brilliance of
23:15
the scam he perfected It's a powerful
23:18
reminder that sometimes the biggest and
23:20
most successful crimes aren't the ones
23:23
that make the most noise They're the
23:26
ones hidden in plain sight buried in the
23:30
complex machinery of modern life in the
23:33
invisible transactions that power our
23:36
world and in the price we pay for a
23:39
simple gallon of F