100 YEAR OLD COLOMBO UNDERBOSS RELEASED FROM PRISON!

Former Colombo crime family underboss John “Sonny” Franzese is back on the streets after being released from prison on Friday. The longtime wiseguy was welcomed home with open arms by his family at his daughter’s place in Brooklyn, New York.

John "Sonny" Franzese  center

At 100 years old, Franzese was the oldest inmate in the federal prison system in the United States. He now will be looking to enjoy his last days in freedom surrounded by his loving family.

Newsday  reports John "Sonny" Franzese left the Federal Medical Center in Devens, Massachusetts, in a wheelchair just before noon Friday. He was serving a 50-year sentence for bank robbery.

He was around when Joe Profaci was the boss. He was a capo in the mid-1950s and by 1964 he had been promoted to underboss. In the mid-1960s, he was convicted of masterminding several bank robberies.
John "Sonny" Franzese, Michael Franzese's father, 100 years old, came out of prison on June 23, 2017. If he ever decide to write a book about his life in the Colombo family, it COSA NOSTRA FACEBOOK PAGE

His son, Michael, says the elder Franzese is planning to live with a daughter in Brooklyn. Franzese was accused of being involved in loan sharking and extortion. The U.S. Bureau of Prisons confirms he was the oldest prisoner until his release. He was paroled at least six times since his 1967 conviction, but each time ended back in prison.

NEW PHOTOS FROM JOHN GOTTI JR'S BOOK

This photo from 1970 shows John Gotti holding his son Frankie Gotti and standing beside his wife Victoria Gotti with John (Junior) Gotti standing in front at Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary. The photo is featured in John (Junior) Gotti's book "Shadow of My Father."

John Gotti holds son, Frankie. The boy was fatally mowed down on his bike at the age of 12 by a driver on March 18, 1980. The driver, a neighbor of the family, vanished months later.

John Gotti, with his wife, Victoria, and their firstborn, daughter Angel

This photo from the book "Shadow of My Father" by John (Junior) Gotti shows (l. to r.) unknown, Frankie DeCicco, George Remini, John Gotti, unknown and Mickey Boy Paradiso at Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary in 1970.

This photo featured in the John (Junior) Gotti book "Shadow of My Father" pictures (l. to r.) unknown, Frankie DeCicco, John Gotti, Angelo Ruggiero, unknown and unknown at Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary in 1969.

In this rare photo featured in the book "Shadow of My Father" by John (Junior) Gotti pictures (l. to r. back row) Peter Gotti, John (Junior) Gotti, John Gotti and (front row) Angel Gotti, Kimberly Albanese (Gotti) and Victoria Gotti at the wedding of John (Junior) Gotti in 1990.

Victoria, her eyes puffy from bawling, dances with Dad on her wedding day. 

The Gotti Children

THE GAMBINO CRIME FAMILY BOSSES

Carlo Gambino 1959-1976

The Gambino crime family is the most publicized family of the American Mafia. It’s one of “Five Families” based out of New York that dominates organized crime in the United States. The Gambino family got its name from previous boss Carlo Gambino who controlled the family from 1959 until his death in October 1976.

The family got its start in the late 1800’s as the Salvatore “Toto” D’Aquila gang of Manhattan who joined the established Morello gang. They were the first Italian American gang in New York, and possibly the entire United States.

"Big" Paul Castellano - 1976 - 1985

(D'Aquila/Mangano)

"The Howard Hughes of the Mob" and "Big Paulie" (or "PC" to his family), succeeded Carlo Gambino as head of the Gambino crime family, then the nation's largest Cosa Nostra family at the time. The unsanctioned assassination of Castellano by John Gotti would spark years of animosity between the Gambinos and the other New York crime families.

 Peter Clemenza "Leave the gun take the cannoli"

His nephew was actor Richard S. Castellano "Clemenza" from The Godfather.

John Gotti felt that Castellano was not a gangster - he did not think he was fit for the role of Don. He assembled a group of high level conspirators that included  Sammy "the Bull" Gravano, DeCicco, Leonard DiMaria, and Joseph Armone. 

An initial plan was to kill Castellano outside his house, but Gotti was afraid of federal agents there. Gravano suggested killing both Castellano and his driver, Billotti while they were eating breakfast at a diner. However, when Castellano announced a dinner meeting on December 16, Gotti and the other conspirators decided to kill him then. 

John Joseph Gotti, Jr. (October 27, 1940 – June 10, 2002)

John Gotti was an American mobster who became the Boss of the Gambino crime family in New York City after the assassination of Paul Castellano. Gotti and his brothers grew up in poverty and turned to a life of crime at an early age. Operating out of the Ozone Park neighborhood of Queens, Gotti quickly rose to prominence, becoming one of the crime family's biggest earners and a protégé of Gambino family underboss Aniello Dellacroce.

John Gotti after convictions in Marion prison

Gotti was incarcerated at the United States Penitentiary at Marion, Illinois. He spent the majority of his sentence in effective solitary confinement, only allowed out of his cell for one hour a day. His final appeal was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1994.

 

Gambino acting boss John A. "Junior" Gotti

John Angelo Gotti III or "Junior" Gotti (born February 14, 1964) is a former New York City mobster who in the 1990s, according to law enforcement claims, was acting boss of the Gambino crime family of Cosa Nostra from 1992 to 1999 after his father, John J. Gotti, was sent to prison.