Sonny Franzese | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Undated mugshot of Franzese | |
| Born | John Franzese February 6, 1917 |
| Died | February 24, 2020 (aged 103) New York City, U.S. |
| Resting place | St. John Cemetery, New York City, U.S. |
| Occupation | Mobster |
| Spouse | Cristina Capobianco-Franzese (second wife) |
| Children | 8, including Michael Franzese and John Franzese Jr. |
| Allegiance | Colombo crime family |
| Conviction(s) | Bank robbery (1967) Racketeering, extortion (2011) |
| Criminal penalty | 50 years' imprisonment (1970) Eight years' imprisonment (2011) |
John "Sonny" Franzese Sr. (Italian: [ˈfrantseːze; -eːse]; February 6, 1917 – February 24, 2020) was an American mobster who was a longtime member and former underboss of the Colombo crime family.
Franzese's career in organized crime began in the 1930s and spanned over eight decades. He served as underboss of the Colombo family from 1963 until 1967, when he was sentenced to 50 years in prison for orchestrating a number of bank robberies across the country. He was paroled in 1978. He was re-jailed at least six times on parole violations in the decades that followed. He became Colombo family underboss again in 2005.
He was convicted of extortion in 2011, and sentenced to eight years in prison. His son John Franzese Jr. testified against him, becoming the first son of a New York mobster to turn state's evidence and testify against his father. At the time of his release on June 23, 2017, at the age of 100, he was the oldest federal inmate in the United States and the only centenarian in federal custody. He died in a New York City hospital on February 24, 2020, at the age of 103.