‘They’re gonna come and kill you’: Son reunites with NY mob boss father after testifying against him

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — By 2019, Sonny Franzese was out of prison and living in a nursing home. He was 102 years old and his health was declining. Meanwhile in Indianapolis, his son John Franzese leaned on his friends to decide what to do.

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“I owed to him, I owed it to myself, they felt,” Franzese said.

So Franzese decided to drive back to New York. It would be the first time he saw his father since testifying against him.

“It wasn’t like I was scared that something was going to happen to me, that might’ve been the case. Look, I lived with killers looking to kill me before,” Franzese said. “I know how to navigate.”

But in Indianapolis, reporter Zak Keefer was in the middle of working on a story about John Franzese.

“And I’m getting text messages from him as he’s on his way to New York and I’m worried, I’m scared to be honest, because nobody knew how this was gonna go,” Keefer said. “Sonny Franzese was a scary figure.”

Some 12 hours later, John arrived in New York and walked into his father’s room.

“I said, ‘Dad, it’s John.’ And he made some expressions and he goes, ‘John!’” Franzese said.  “And he said the coolest thing, he said, ‘Did you sign in?’ I said, ‘Yeah, but I didn’t use my name.’ He said, ‘That’s good because these people, they’re gonna come and kill you and then I have to kill them and I’m in here. How can I get out of here? They can kill me.’ I mean, he went on a tirade.”

The two spent the next couple of hours talking. Sonny was not all there at times but was lucid enough to ask about John’s recovery.

“I said, ‘Dad I haven’t had a drink in 17 years or whatever.’ I don’t remember the time with what year it was and he goes, ‘You know, imagine if you would’ve listened to me back then when I told you to stop,” Franzese said.

But most importantly, Sonny did the one thing John hoped he would do, the one thing John needed him to do. Sonny forgave him.

“Not only was it so good that I got to see him, my favorite part is that the rest of the world knows that it was my dad that forgave me. Sonny Franzese was there in that visit, but ultimately, it was my dad, when I was a little kid, who loved his son more than anything,” Franzese said

Sonny and John would talk on the phone every month until Sonny passed away in February 2020.

This is the fourth story in a series we’re calling “INside Story.” The final chapter of Phil’s series on John Franzese will air Friday evening on News 8.