A well-known mobster from New York became a target for the federal government after Marilyn Monroe supposedly mentioned him during a meeting with Robert F. Kennedy, according to his son.
Michael Franzese, a former captain in the Colombo crime family, discussed these surprising claims in a recent podcast episode of “Hangout with Sean Hannity.” He shared revelations he received from his late father, John “Sonny” Franzese, who served as underboss.
Franzese explained that Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy instructed FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover to focus on his father after Monroe reportedly brought up organized crime during a personal discussion with Kennedy.
According to Mr. Franzese, his father had claimed to have been involved with Monroe after meeting her at the Stork Club in Manhattan.
He recalled his father saying, “Yeah, she’s with Bobby Kennedy,” adding, “One night we were having fun and she screamed my name.”
He continued, “That’s what she supposedly said. [Kennedy] contacted Hoover and said, ‘I don’t know who this Sonny is, but please put him in jail.’”
Michael Franzese, one of the few Mafia figures to publicly distance himself from organized crime, mentioned that his father recounted the story after his mother’s passing in 2012.
The conversation came up when he questioned why federal agents seemed to be fixated on their family rather than other Mafia members.
“I asked him, ‘Why you? Colombo, Genovese, all those others were around, so why focus on you?’” he recalled.
His father responded that he hadn’t wanted to divulge that information while his mother was alive out of respect for her.
In retrospect, Franzese said the allegations against his father began to make more sense to him. “I thought, ‘Okay, Dad, maybe you’re dramatizing it a bit, but it sounds plausible,’” he said.
He added, “I don’t know if you recall, but J. Edgar Hoover never acknowledged the Mafia’s existence at that time because we had something on him.”
Sonny Franzese was arrested in 1967 and later found guilty of masterminding several bank robberies nationwide. He received a 50-year sentence in federal prison but was ultimately paroled.
In 2011, he faced another prison term for racketeering conspiracy. He died at the age of 103 in 2020.
Additionally, Mr. Franzese provided insights into a gas tax operation that reportedly brings in millions weekly. He claimed his family collects these taxes instead of remitting them to the government, with his personal take-home amounting to about $3 million to $4 million each week.
