Michael Franzese - Prison

Prison

Franzese was also a co-founder of the film company Motion Picture Marketing, which distributed such films as Savage Streets with Linda Blair. In 1984, Franzese was in Fort Lauderdale, Florida producing a film called Knights of the City when he met Camille Garcia, an evangelical Christian dancer from Los Angeles. Franzese asked Garcia to meet him and have a meal but didn't appear for five times. Garcia and Franzese eventually married. According to Franzese, his wife was the catalyst for him to become a Christian.

In 1985, Franzese was indicted on 14 counts of racketeering, counterfeiting and extortion from the gasoline bootlegging racket. In 1986, Franzese pleaded guilty to two counts. He was sentenced to ten years in federal prison with $14 million in restitution payments.

In December 1987, while in prison, Franzese made a decision to walk away from the Colombo family and organized crime. In 1989, Franzese was released from prison on parole after serving 43 months. Franzese moved to Los Angeles. Prosecutors considered Franzese to be a high-ranking member of the Colombo crime family and sought his cooperation against his former organized crime associates.

On December 27, 1991, Franzese was sentenced in New York to four years in federal prison for violating the probation requirements from his 1989 release. Franzese had been arrested in Los Angeles on a tax fraud accusation and was sent back to New York for the probation hearing. In court, prosecutors complained that Franzese had only started making the balance of his court ordered restitution payments earlier that year. Prosecutors also said Franzese was not considered by the government to be a cooperating witness. He was ultimately released in 1994.