November 14. Michael Franzese. Back when Michael was a notorious mob boss, he was earning about $5 to $8 million a week from businesses—legal and illegal. Who would have guessed that he would spend the best years of his life speaking to people all over, encouraging them, and telling them about Jesus Christ? Here’s how it happened.
Your darkest night is no match for God’s light. In any prison, He can reach you.
Michael wanted to go to medical school, but when he was just 22, his father—a notorious mobster—invited him to join the Mafia.
Two years later, Michael and five others took a blood oath and heard: “Tonight you are born again into a new life.”
By age 35, Michael was earning money on par with Al Capone and was the youngest person on Fortune magazine’s survey of “The 50 Biggest Mafia Bosses.” But his life took an unexpected turn when he fell in love with a young woman who was a follower of Jesus.
Seeing the contrast between the two of them, Michael started making changes. He knew the only way to leave the mob was in a coffin. But more than anything, he wanted to start a new life with this beautiful girl.
To clear his name, Michael made a deal with the Feds. He spent five years locked up, and for one of those years, he was transported from prison to prison in an attempt to break him down and make him a cooperating witness. Michael held his ground while his young bride and newborn child waited for his release.
Finally, he got out on parole. He started to rebuild his life while literally dodging bullets; whenever the FBI informed him his life was in danger, he had to move his family.
Thirteen months later, he made a mistake. A costly one. Failing to file an income tax return landed him back in prison. The Feds told him: “It’s over.” They were locking him up for life, indicting him on another racketeering case. He was 39. Without hope. “It was the worst night of my life,” he said.
That night, a prison guard brought Michael a Bible. The angry prisoner slammed it against the wall but picked it up a moment later and asked God to help him. The book fell open to Proverbs, and Michael started reading. A proverb made everything clear to him:
“When a man’s ways are pleasing to the LORD, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him” (Proverbs 16:7 NASB).
Michael kept reading, devouring the Word of God and other Christian books his wife sent him. When he was formally released on parole in 1997, he was not only a free man as far as the law was concerned, but he was also a free man in Christ, truly born again into a new life.
Does your life seem hopeless? Your darkest night is no match for God’s light. In any prison, He can reach you.
Dannen, Fredric. “The Born-Again Don.” Hive, Vanity Fair, April 5, 2012. https://www.vanityfair.com/news/1991/02/john-gotti-joe-columbo-fbi-investigation-witness.
St Clair, Josh. “Fear City’s Michael Franzese Was a Member of One of America’s Most Legendary Crime Families.” Men’s Health, July 22, 2020. https://www.menshealth.com/entertainment/a33391559/who-is-michael-franzese-fear-city-netflix/.
Story read by: Daniel Carpenter