Latest news with #MichaelFranzese
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Real life mafia boss reveals which gangster movie is the most accurate
A former mafia boss has discussed 10 of the lines described as the best ever from gangster films. Michael Franzese, who is originally from New York and served as a caporegime in the Colombo crime family, is now a motivational speaker, TV personality and content creator. He has a YouTube channel where he regularly speaks candidly about the crime organisation and life afterwards. In a recent video, the father-of-seven read an article titled The 10 Best Quotes in Gangster Movies, Ranked published by Collider, and offered his thoughts on the lines presented in the piece. Speaking about the piece, Mr Franzese said: 'There are so many great quotes from so many of the mob movies that most of you are familiar with. 'I came across an article, and I want to talk about 10 of the greatest quotes according to this article, from all the different mob movies. 'Some of you are going to disagree with that. Some of you are going to agree. I have my own opinion, but it's a good article. 'I think you're going to enjoy it. Let's go through it. Let's face it, you know, many of these mob movies, they're just iconic, and some of the lines that come out of them and the way they're delivered are just great. They stick with you.' 10. 'You don't keep a man waiting. The only time you do is when you want to say something. When you want to say f*** you.' (The Irishman, 2019) Speaking about this quote in his video, Mr Franzese said: 'How many of you right now can guess where that line came from? I could because I love the scene.' The line is from the 2019 movie The Irishman directed by Martin Scorsese. Describing the scene the line is in, Mr Franzese said: 'Al Pacino played Jimmy Hoffa [...] I thought he was brilliant.' The scene shows mobster Anthony Provenzano (Stephen Graham) meeting with Hoffa and his employee Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro). Provenzano is late - something Hoffa despises. As the two men wait for his arrival, Hoffa says to Sheeran: 'You don't keep a man waiting. The only time you do is when you want to say something. When you want to say f*** you.' 9. 'You slap me in a dream, you better wake up and apologize.' (Angels with Dirty Faces, 1938) Many contemporary film fans may remember a very similar line from Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs, but the original came from 1938 classic Angels with Dirty Faces. 'You slap me in a dream, you better wake up and apologize,' said Mr Franzese of the line. 'Think about that [...] What a gangster, gangster quote that is [...] if you haven't seen [the film, it's]. It's in black and white, but Cagney was brilliant back then. Different kind of way they carried themselves. 'It wasn't really mob mafia type. It was just a gangster [...] an old school gangster movie that still holds up well, benefiting from the fact that it stars the likes of James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart, of course.' 8. Policeman: 'What's in the car?' Turkish: 'Seats and a steering wheel.' (Snatch, 2000) Describing Guy Ritchie as a 'brilliant' director, Mr Franzese said his style is defined by 'fast paced editing, bursts of shocking violence, numerous characters, all interacting in unpredictable ways, and lots of dark humor, all qualities that are apparent in the movie snatch, great movie'. Describing the exchange between a policeman and the character Turkish (played by Jason Statham), in which the policeman asks what is in the car, and Statham's character replies that there is a steering wheel and seats, Franzese saiid: 'It's [Statham's] unique style and voice and overall bluntness that really sells it. So go see Snatch.' 7. 'One of us had to die. With me, it tends to be the other guy'. (The Departed, 2006) Martin Scorsese's 2006 remake of the Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs marks the only time the celebrated director and top actor Jack Nicholson worked together - a partnership which yielded on screen gold. In the movie, Nicholson's character Frank Costello was based on the real life notorious gangster James 'Whitey' Bulger. Speaking about Costello's line: 'One of us had to die. With me, it tends to be the other guy,' Mr Franzese said many gangsters are funny in real life. He said: 'They don't even know they're funny [...]Guys on the street are funny, I got to tell you.' 6. 'I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse.' (The Godfather, 1972) Speaking about this cinematic classic, the former mobster said: 'Everybody and their brother knows this line. And of course, it was brilliant [...] Obviously we know who that was brilliant, brilliant film. 'You can't really talk about iconic gangster movies without at least briefly bringing up the Godfather.' He added: 'Corleone is obviously a character for the ages, no doubt, demonstrating charisma, loyalty, empathy and ruthlessness, sometimes all within one scene. How do you pull that off, all those emotions in one scene? And [actor Marlon Brando] pulled it off brilliantly.' 5. 'Made it, Ma! Top of the world!' (White Heat, 1949) Describing White Heat as a 'final and explosive last hurrah for the Golden Age of Hollywood gangster movie', Mr Franzese described the film as 'arguably James Cagney's best gangster movie', adding that is 'really saying something'. The line, which comes at the climax of the film, marks the final words of Cagney's character, before he is killed. Simply summing up the picture, Mr Franzese said: 'Gangster film, brilliant movie.' 4. 'From now on, I want you to put an equal amount of blueberries in each muffin.' (Casino, 1995) Casino is another picture helmed by American Italian auteur Martin Scorsese - often considered the greatest living director. Robert De Niro plays Sam 'Ace' Rothstein in the picture, which tells the story of the mob's involvement in the development of Las Vegas. While overseeing the daily operations of a major casino, Rothstein gets angry with a chef because one muffin is full of blueberries and another only has a few. He orders the chef to ensure there is an 'equal amount of blueberries in each muffin' - a task the chef says will take hours. The line represents the controlling nature and perfectionism of De Niro's character. Mr Franzese said of the film: 'As a consumer, and a guy that loves blueberry muffins, I'd be a little upset if there wasn't enough blueberries in my muffin. 'So I think that was a good line. It made sense, but it was delivered like a true gangster. Love it.' 3. 'So say good night to the bad guy! Come on. The last time you gonna see a bad guy like this again, let me tell you.' (Scarface, 1983) 'Everybody knows this,' Mr Franzese said of this line from Scarface. The picture stars Al Pacino as a Cuban refugee who comes to America and becomes a major player in the criminal world. Speaking about the quote, which takes place when Montana causes a scene in a restaurant, Mr Franzese describes the performance as his best. He also noted another very famous line from the talkie: 'Say hello to my little friend.' 'Unbelievable movie,' said the former mafioso. 'That was the way it ended, when he's fighting [...] Just a brilliant movie.' 2. 'I'm funny how, I mean funny like I'm a clown, I amuse you? I make you laugh, I'm here to f****** amuse you?' (Goodfellas, 1990) Another exceptional film directed by Martin Scorsese is Goodfellas, based on the memoire of real-life character Henry Hill. In fact, Michael Franzese is himself name checked in the movie. During an early scene in a bar, where the camera pans past a number of characters, narrator Henry Hill (played by the late Ray Liotta) names them. One of the characters, referred to as 'Michael Francesi' is, in fact, representative of Michael Franzese. While the movie is packed full of quotable lines, one of the most popular scenes features the volatile and unpredictable character Tommy DeVito (played by Joe Pesci). In it, Henry laughs when Tommy says something amusing. This becomes a terse interchange in which Tommy asks Henry if he sees him as a clown, there simply to amuse him, before finally laughing and revealing he was just teasing. Because of Tommy's mercurial and violent nature, the characters around him grow increasingly tense, unsure of whether he is being serious. Mr Franzese said of the line: 'It is legendary, unbelievable. Come on, think about that line. Funny how think about and [...] it was a joke, but look at how everybody got scared because they knew what kind of a maniac he was. Was he going to get up and shoot Henry Hill at that point? What was he going to do? Was he going to knock the table over, throw the glasses over? It was all. Nobody knew what he was going to do. 'And all of a sudden, the way, he broke [...] into that line [...] And then, of course, they break out in laughter.' He added: 'Brilliant line. There were other brilliant lines in that film, but Joe Pesci, he is the typical gangster without a doubt.' 1. 'I don't feel I have to wipe everybody out, Tom. Just my enemies.' (The Godfather: Part II, 1974) The second instalment in the Godfather saga saw the further corruption of Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) as he inherited his father Vito's empire. Speaking about the line, which Corleone said to his consigliere Tom, Mr Franzese noted how it highlighted how Corleone ended up alienated from everyone because of his own lifestyle. He also spoke about how the line resonated with his own life experience, describing how his father's commitment to the lifestyle affected his family. He said: 'You know the reason people, I say the mob life is an evil lifestyle - and I'm not calling the men evil, I'm calling the mob life bad and evil - is because families get destroyed. 'The families have made members get destroyed, and at the end of the day, guys end up in prison with nobody you know, or they end up dead, or they end up broke, or they end up everybody being alienated from them. It happens very often. Any lifestyle [...] that causes that to a family, is a bad lifestyle. 'It's something that I realized. I experienced it with my own family that was destroyed because of my father's involvement in that life. So I get it. I really get what was being said there.'
News.com.au
20-06-2025
- News.com.au
‘You die': New York mafia boss unleashes on gangs in Sydney, Melbourne
Crime gangs playing out their drug wars on Sydney and Melbourne streets are lacking the moral compass of old school New York criminals who made sure 'their own' were protected, according to Michael Franzese, one of the world's most powerful former mob bosses. 'I spent over 20 years in that life, I grew up in it with my father, a major figure, and the truth is we didn't go around killing innocent people, we took care of people in our neighbourhood,' Franzese told 'You couldn't get involved in the drug business, you deal with drugs you die.' Franzese said allowing innocent people to get caught in the crossfire of organised crime was an example of 'morality being at an all time low'. Since the gang war in Sydney began in October 2020, 28 people have been shot and killed – eight of them innocent people, while a further six have been injured – many of them children. On Monday a f50-year-old emale kebab shop worker was caught in the crossfire, critically injured when two men stormed the store and opened fire. Melbourne is facing the same crisis, and was shocked in January this year when 27-year-old 'completely innocent' Katie Tangey died after arsonists linked to the city's tobacco wars hit the wrong house. Franzese said the rise in attacks on innocent people was a reflection on the deterioration of society in general. 'I think it's a reflection on the decline generally of the world we live in. When the mafia originally started in the US there were lots of street gang wars, innocent people caught in the crossfire but it was all straightened out, divided into families and we were very careful,' the 73-year-old said on the eve of his Australian visit. 'We had a code of conduct. Today I would say it's the attitude in general. The conduct has been deteriorating.' Franzese, who was played by Joseph Bono in Martin Scorsese's classic movie Goodfellas, was the caporegime of the New York Colombo crime family but left in 1995 after serving eight years for a $520m tax dodge. He became a major target of law enforcement and was arrested 18 times, indicted seven times and had two federal racketeering cases brought against him, one by former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. These days Franzese travels the world telling stories of his mob days, being as 'honest' as he can about his violent way of life, hoping he can wipe some of the shine, courtesy of Hollywood, of a career in crime. 'I like to be as honest as I can, it gives me a lot of credibility,' he says, though shying away from directly answering a question about whether he has committed murder. 'When people ask me that I tell them I lived a violent life at a violent time and if you're part of the life then you are part of the violence. People are usually satisfied with that answer.' Forced to postpone his planned trip to Australia because of immigration hold-ups, Franzese has now provided all the paperwork about his criminal history to satisfy officials and will hold talks in Sydney and Melbourne in July. 'There's a lot of interest in my former life especially in the last four or five years because of social media raising the level of interest about mafia and mob life in general,' Franzese said. 'No doubt Hollywood has played the major part. There has never been any kind of organised crime life that has been romanticised and publicised by the media and entertainment industry as much as the New York mob life,' he said. 'No other group has been covered in such a romantic way.' But the reality is a world away. 'People were very upset when I walked away. The bottom line is I had a lot of years where I struggled because my boss was very upset and took it very personally,' he said. 'You are not allowed to walk away. I need to lie very low, I moved to California. The bottom line is I did not join witness protection or cause hurt to anybody so it turned out okay for me.' The catalyst was a woman. 'I wanted to marry her. The mob life, the mafia life, it's a bad lifestyle. I don't call the guys bad, I had many friends. Good people do bad things. Some very good people did bad things and at the time we believed it was justified. 'The life is bad though because I don't know any family member of that life that wasn't devastated. My dad was in prison for 42 years. My mum blamed him for everything, and rightly so. 'I knew I had to change to preserve my family. I chose my wife over the life. We've been married for 40 years so I made the right decision.'
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Ex-mobsters: Diddy 'wouldn't last' in the mob, ‘we didn't beat up women'
The federal case against Sean 'Diddy' Combs hinges in part on RICO charges that have traditionally — but not exclusively — been used against organized crime figures. Two former members of mob families, Michael Franzese and Anthony Ruggiano, join 'Banfield' to talk about their own experiences trying to fight RICO charges in court.
