Updated news on the Gambino, Genovese, Bonanno, Lucchese and Colombo Organized Crime Families of New York City.

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Legenday Colombo Underboss Sonny Franzese Bid For Xmas Bail Denied



Legendary mobster John (Sonny) Franzese was hoping to get out of jail for Christmas - but the judge wasn't playing Santa Claus Friday.
The jailed 93-year-old Colombo underboss made a last-ditch pitch for bail before he's sentenced next month - offering a sad tale to the court.
Franzese claims he fell in the shower at the Metropolitan Detention Center and couldn't get up, and his lawyer delicately raised the issue of incontinence and bedsores.
Still, Franzese's medical issues couldn't eclipse a storied past of crime spanning eight decades.
In a doozy of a sentencing memo, federal prosecutors urged the judge to throw the book at Franzese, convicted last summer of shaking down the Hustler and Penthouse strip clubs.
"In 1942, in the midst of World War II, he was discharged from the United States Army because he displayed 'homicidal tendencies,'" wrote Assistant U.S. Attorney Cristina Posa.
"This penchant for violence and depravity culminated in literally countless murders; even Franzese struggled to keep track of them all."
Franzese has boasted on tapes about dismembering corpses in a kiddie pool and drying the parts in a microwave oven.
He even discussed killing his son, John Jr., who turned rat and testified against him. His lawyer insisted he was merely "thinking out loud."
Franzese's doctors fired off a letter blasting the "Judas" son for causing his father extra stress.
Posa argued the bail request was Franzese's thinly disguised attempt to spend the holidays at home, and Federal Judge Brian Cogan denied the motion.
Sitting in a wheelchair, Franzese did not appear to be following the arguments, but let fly a few expletives while chatting with lawyers.


http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2010/12/18/2010-12-18_oldfellas_not_too_jolly_mobsters_holiday_bid_for_bail_is_whacked.html#ixzz18UoyOk1G


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