Photo: Jens Astrup/Play the Game / CC BY-SA 2.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Michael Franzese fascinates me because his life refuses easy categorization. A pre-med student at Hofstra, he abandoned medicine to support his family after his underboss father drew a 50-year sentence, becoming a Colombo caporegime instead. That alone is a tragedy of circumstance. What interests me more is the second act: walking away from the mob and reinventing himself as an author and motivational speaker. Plenty will dismiss that as opportunism, but there is genuine nerve in confronting your past out loud rather than hiding it. Whatever you make of him, a man who survived that world and chose to talk has earned a hearing.
Overview
Michael Franzese Sr. () (né Grillo; born May 27, 1951) is an American former mobster who was a caporegime in the Colombo crime family in New York City, and son of former underboss Sonny Franzese. Franzese was enrolled in a pre-med program at Hofstra University, but dropped out to make money for his family after his father was sentenced to 50 years in prison for bank robbery in 1967.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Michael Franzese
- Name (Japanese)
- マイケル・フランゼーゼ
- Reading
- まいける・ふらんぜーぜ
- Born
- May 27, 1951 (age 75)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Gemini / Rabbit
- Origin
- Brooklyn, New York, United States
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- mobster / influencer / writer / motivational speaker
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Private
- University
- Hofstra University
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
- Official sitehttps://www.michaelfranzese.com
- Wikipedia (Japanese)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael%20Franzese
More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.