Mobster's rat son tried to make money off Oldfather alleged life of crime: defense
The turncoat son of a Mafia boss on trial in Brooklyn tried to spill the beans on his dad years before he turned star witness -- but nobody was buying his story.
In an 80-page, tell-all book proposal, John Franzese Jr., who yesterday finished testifying at his dad's federal racketeering trial, vented about the pain of growing up in the mob life.
Colombo crime family underboss John "Sonny" Franzese, who is on trial for allegedly shaking down two Manhattan strip joints and a Long Island pizzeria, chose the life of crime, but his son couldn't take it.
Cristina Capobianco-Franzese, the estranged wife of Sonny Franzese, has read her son's manuscript, "The John Franzese Story -- Family, Crime, Drugs and Redemption."
"The FBI went to his baseball games," the Mafia mom said. "It's embarrassing. They used to carry my beach chair. What kind of life is that?"
Sonny Franzese was in jail until his son turned 9.
FBI agents were always in the bushes outside their Long Island house.
"It was 24/7 surveillance. Forty of my neighbors signed a petition against the agents for standing in front of their houses," Capobianco-Franzese said. "One of them turned sprinklers on them."
Franzese Jr., a lifelong drug addict who contracted HIV, testified yesterday that by 2002 he desperately needed cash and saw the possibility of getting some by writing about his and his dad's life in the mob.
Living in a California group home for men struggling with addiction, Franzese Jr. met a writer, Steve Anderson, who was also a drunk.
In a page right out of "The Sopranos," the two put their addled heads together and drafted a "treatment" that Franzese intended to shop around for a book deal, much like mob soldier Christopher Moltisanti did with a movie script in the HBO mob series.
"He made a lot of stuff up," Franzese Jr. said of Anderson in his testimony.
The mob scion also dabbled with the idea of becoming a consultant for a reality TV show about his family.
"It being Hollywood -- throw in the gangster garbage -- that's the marketing tool," he told jurors.
In an 80-page, tell-all book proposal, John Franzese Jr., who yesterday finished testifying at his dad's federal racketeering trial, vented about the pain of growing up in the mob life.
Colombo crime family underboss John "Sonny" Franzese, who is on trial for allegedly shaking down two Manhattan strip joints and a Long Island pizzeria, chose the life of crime, but his son couldn't take it.
MOB SCENES: John Franzese Jr. huddled with a fellow addict writer, like Michael Imperioli's "Soprano" hood.
"The FBI went to his baseball games," the Mafia mom said. "It's embarrassing. They used to carry my beach chair. What kind of life is that?"
Sonny Franzese was in jail until his son turned 9.
FBI agents were always in the bushes outside their Long Island house.
"It was 24/7 surveillance. Forty of my neighbors signed a petition against the agents for standing in front of their houses," Capobianco-Franzese said. "One of them turned sprinklers on them."
Franzese Jr., a lifelong drug addict who contracted HIV, testified yesterday that by 2002 he desperately needed cash and saw the possibility of getting some by writing about his and his dad's life in the mob.
Living in a California group home for men struggling with addiction, Franzese Jr. met a writer, Steve Anderson, who was also a drunk.
In a page right out of "The Sopranos," the two put their addled heads together and drafted a "treatment" that Franzese intended to shop around for a book deal, much like mob soldier Christopher Moltisanti did with a movie script in the HBO mob series.
"He made a lot of stuff up," Franzese Jr. said of Anderson in his testimony.
The mob scion also dabbled with the idea of becoming a consultant for a reality TV show about his family.
"It being Hollywood -- throw in the gangster garbage -- that's the marketing tool," he told jurors.
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