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Speaker 1: Now here's a highlight from Coast to Coast AM on

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Speaker 1: iHeart Radio. Man, Welcome back to Coast to Coast George

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Speaker 1: Nori along with Michael frenzies his book. His latest one

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Speaker 1: is called Mafia Democracy. How Our Republic Became a mob Racket.

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Speaker 1: What did you see, Michael to write that book. Well,

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Speaker 1: you know, listen, being in that life for as long

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Speaker 1: as I was, it was all about power, control and money.

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Speaker 1: That was the bottom line. That's that's what Coast and

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Speaker 1: Austra is all about. And I saw the same actual

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Speaker 1: pattern in our government, you know, very machiavellian. And the

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Speaker 1: similarities Georgia so so glaring to me. You know. We

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Speaker 1: talk about, you know, lobbyists and the role that they play,

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Speaker 1: how they basically bribe our politicians. We talk about how,

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Speaker 1: you know, many of our politicians come in with blue

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Speaker 1: collar assets and go out as multi millionaires. And you know,

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Speaker 1: and I point this out, and George, I want you to

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Speaker 1: to understand some I did a lot of research here.

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Speaker 1: Everything I say in this book is backed up. We

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Speaker 1: talk about the price of overregulation, how it's just choking

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Speaker 1: small businesses and and basically putting money in our politicians pockets,

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Speaker 1: campaign financing, term limits. You know something I totally believe in.

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Speaker 1: You know, you got to I mean, you got to

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Speaker 1: be a multi millionaire, almost a billionaire, you know, as

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Speaker 1: far as raising money in order to run for the

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Speaker 1: office of presidency today. And where does that money come from.

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Speaker 1: It comes from people that you later on old favors too.

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Speaker 1: You know. We talk about all of this and it's

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Speaker 1: so Machiavelli. And you know, I'll tell you something that

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Speaker 1: really really got to me when I thought of it

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Speaker 1: when I was in prison, almost required reading for every

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Speaker 1: mob guy, is the book The Prints, written by Machiavelli,

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Speaker 1: because that kind of the ideology that we had on

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Speaker 1: the street. You know, Machiavelli said something. He said so

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Speaker 1: many things that were quotes that stuck out in my mind.

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Speaker 1: And when he said something to one quote that he's

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Speaker 1: said when he was advising his prince how to maintain

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Speaker 1: control of his kingdom. He told the prince, he said,

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Speaker 1: you can do anything you need to maintain control. You

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Speaker 1: can lie, you can steal, you can cheat, you can

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Speaker 1: even kill, because the important thing is maintaining control. However,

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Speaker 1: to the outside world, to all the people, you must

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Speaker 1: always appear to be upright, honest and having integrity, and

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Speaker 1: I point out in this book just how our politicians

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Speaker 1: are following that ideology and everything that they do. And look,

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Speaker 1: I don't want to throw a blanket over everybody. That's

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Speaker 1: not right. I'm talking about the system. It's not me

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Speaker 1: trying to make somebody a Republican or a Democrat or

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Speaker 1: anything else. This is a bipartisan book taking a look

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Speaker 1: at the system and how it has corrupted itself. And

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Speaker 1: all I want to do is I want to make

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Speaker 1: people aware of this. And what's been satisfying to me.

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Speaker 1: I mean, the book can shit the best seller list

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Speaker 1: on both Amazon and from Barns and Noble, but you

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Speaker 1: know that's great. But what's satisfying to me is that

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Speaker 1: the comments that I'm getting, the reviews that are writing,

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Speaker 1: people are really getting it. They're seeing it. They're saying,

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Speaker 1: you know, Michael Bisa, things we always suspected, but it

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Speaker 1: was never pointed out the way it's been pointed out

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Speaker 1: in this book. And what's the URIs out what do

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Speaker 1: I want people to do? Hold them accountable? You know, George,

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Speaker 1: you know this. I'm sure on our daily lives you

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Speaker 1: get somebody you know, close to you. They lie to

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Speaker 1: you once, okay, you give them a pass. Second time,

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Speaker 1: starts to bother you a little bit, third, fourth, and

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Speaker 1: fifth time. That's it. You know, you're not going to

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Speaker 1: take it any further. We see our politicians making promises,

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Speaker 1: campaign promises, get into office either totally reverse themselves or

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Speaker 1: break it. And what do we say, All right, that's politics. No,

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Speaker 1: that's not politics. That's lying, that's the seat, you know,

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Speaker 1: that's that's untrustworthiness. And we should hold them accountable. You know,

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Speaker 1: you boot these people out of office. And that's what

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Speaker 1: I want people to do. Watch for it. Hold them

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Speaker 1: account when they're not doing the right thing for the

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Speaker 1: good of the people in the nation, throw them out

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Speaker 1: and put people in there that are going to do

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Speaker 1: the right thing, because that's all we can do. And

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Speaker 1: we've had some great politicians as well, right, absolutely, absolutely

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Speaker 1: we have. But I don't I don't know if it's

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Speaker 1: a sign of the times. I'll tell you this, George,

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Speaker 1: I just turned seventy one. I've been around a long time.

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Speaker 1: I've never seen the country so divisive as I'm seeing

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Speaker 1: it now. And it starts at the top, you know,

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Speaker 1: And I'll say this I mean, I did support Donald

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Speaker 1: Trump only because I believed in his policies for America

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Speaker 1: I thought were good, not a personality thing with me.

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Speaker 1: And it's nothing personal. Who's doing the best for my country?

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Speaker 1: Because I have children, I have grandchildren when I'm gone.

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Speaker 1: I want this to be the same America I grew

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Speaker 1: up in. And you know, but he too too divisive.

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Speaker 1: You know all these people they name call each other,

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Speaker 1: they do these things and absolutely down to you know,

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Speaker 1: people in their everyday lives, and that's where this divisiveness

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Speaker 1: comes from. It comes from the top. You follow the

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Speaker 1: leaders in many ways, and it's got to stop. I

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Speaker 1: told people that he would have won reelection had he

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Speaker 1: stayed off Twitter and started to stop badgering people and

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Speaker 1: everything else. George, You're absolutely right. You know, if he

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Speaker 1: a year before this, if he would have said, you

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Speaker 1: know what, I'm not stooping to that level. I'm not

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Speaker 1: going to be knocking people. I'm not going to respond

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Speaker 1: to this. I think it would have been a different outcome.

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Speaker 1: I totally agree with you that, no question about it.

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Speaker 1: Mafia democracy. How our republic became a mob recket. Is

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Speaker 1: it safe or is it dangerous for you to still

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Speaker 1: talk about the mob these days. Well listen, you know, George,

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Speaker 1: I believe it's safe. I mean, I'm still here. I

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Speaker 1: walked away from that life formally, I mean, you know,

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Speaker 1: and I really consider myself out of the life. Was

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Speaker 1: in ninety five, and you know, it was touching gold

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Speaker 1: for me for a couple of years. People were upset

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Speaker 1: with me. And look, I never sell my former associates short.

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Speaker 1: They're very capable. But everybody that I ran with is

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Speaker 1: dead or in prison for the rest of their life.

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Speaker 1: There were there were some huge mob wars in New

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Speaker 1: York over the years. Weren't there. Well, we had a

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Speaker 1: big you know, and most of the time they were

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Speaker 1: in off family because the Colombo is Unfortunately, we were

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Speaker 1: at war quite a bit and we had. The last

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Speaker 1: war we had was ninety one to ninety four and

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Speaker 1: I was in prison at the time, and I think

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Speaker 1: thirteen guys were killed, three guys went to prison, and

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Speaker 1: another eighteen earned government informed. So it was devastating to

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Speaker 1: that family at that time. I mean, they're still there,

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Speaker 1: but it's not what it was during my day. And

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Speaker 1: in those days did they were make most of their

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Speaker 1: money and were gambling prohibition stuff. Like that. Well, you know,

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Speaker 1: I mean obviously no, I say this all the time

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Speaker 1: and you can take this to the bank. It was

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Speaker 1: the government that really created because in Ustra as the

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Speaker 1: organization that it is, because before that there were a

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Speaker 1: bunch of guys running around doing you know, minor rackets.

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Speaker 1: When prohibition came in and they were smart enough to

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Speaker 1: take advantage of it because they were giving people something

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Speaker 1: that they wanted but they couldn't get over the counter. Well,

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Speaker 1: they became multimillionaires and that's what started to make this

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Speaker 1: organization grow into what we see today as modern causing

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Speaker 1: australomafia in this country. And then look, you know, I

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Speaker 1: mean I had created something along with a partner. Other

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Speaker 1: people were doing it, but I think we perfected it.

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Speaker 1: And where I had a scheme to defraud the government

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Speaker 1: out of tax and every gay in a gasoline. We

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Speaker 1: ran it for about eight years. At the height of

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Speaker 1: my operation, we were bringing in close to ten million

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Speaker 1: dollars a week tax money. Why we were dying and

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Speaker 1: that was that was Eventually I was indicted for that

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Speaker 1: and went to prison. But it was very lucrative. You know,

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Speaker 1: we were doing things that you know, they were pretty

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Speaker 1: sophisticated schemes. I'll tell you this, So it's not all

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Speaker 1: about you know, I think a lot of people think

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Speaker 1: it's all about banging heads and you know, hurting people.

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Speaker 1: It's not about that. I mean, there's a lot of

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Speaker 1: guys who were pretty sophisticated in their dealings and they

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Speaker 1: understood how to use the life to benefit met them

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Speaker 1: in business, and I think I was in that category.

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Speaker 1: You have recognized social media. I've got some people who

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Speaker 1: have emailed me today about you, saying that you're huge

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Speaker 1: on YouTube. Well, George, you know, during the pandemic, I'm

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Speaker 1: a speaker and I've been speaking pretty proficiently for you know,

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Speaker 1: over twenty years now. But during COVID, I had over

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Speaker 1: forty some odd dates that were postponed like everybody else,

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Speaker 1: and with my team and I said, well, what are

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Speaker 1: we going to do now? And you know, I wasn't

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Speaker 1: totally into YouTube and all the social media, but they

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Speaker 1: said let's start a YouTube channel, and I kind of

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Speaker 1: was against it for a moment. Fortunately they out, you know,

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Speaker 1: they overruled me and we started a channel and it

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Speaker 1: just blew up. You know, We've been very fortunate in

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Speaker 1: that regard that people liked the content and we're very

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Speaker 1: thankful to that, and so we've kept it going. Good

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Speaker 1: for you. Good for you when you wrote the books.

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Speaker 1: Then the first book was quitting the Mob. What was

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Speaker 1: it like for you to do that? I mean, you

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Speaker 1: just tell us the way it was. It was hard, George,

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Speaker 1: because you know, I mean this may sound crazy, but

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Speaker 1: when you become when you take that old it really

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Speaker 1: becomes a part of you. I mean, the Mob is

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Speaker 1: not a business. It's a whole subculture from everything else

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Speaker 1: that exists. And we have our own rules, our own policies.

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Speaker 1: We affect our family, everybody around us, so it's embedded

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Speaker 1: in you. And of course I grew up under my dad,

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Speaker 1: who was you know, one of the last old time

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Speaker 1: guys that died with his boots on. I mean, he

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Speaker 1: did forty years in prison, he was released at the

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Speaker 1: age of one hundred. He died at one hundred and three.

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Speaker 1: He was the oldest living Mob guy in the world

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Speaker 1: at the time of death. So I mean I grew

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Speaker 1: up under that influence. So it was very very hard

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Speaker 1: for me to say these things. But you know, I

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Speaker 1: became a person of faith and I just felt in

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Speaker 1: my heart it was the right thing to do. But

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Speaker 1: even in writing the book, it wasn't about me hurting people.

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Speaker 1: I don't try to, you know, badmouth anybody or do

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Speaker 1: anything like that. I just right right it as it

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Speaker 1: is and told the truth about the way things were.

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Speaker 1: And you know, I don't I don't know if you

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Speaker 1: know this, George, but I have spoken all over the world,

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Speaker 1: from Singapore to Australia. I have a twenty five city

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Speaker 1: tour coming up in the United Kingdom beginning in July.

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Speaker 1: I could not believe just how amazed or interested people

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Speaker 1: are in this genre, you know, fascinated by it. Because

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Speaker 1: you're part of the life. You know, that's your life.

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Speaker 1: You don't really think about it in that way. But

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Speaker 1: when I got out of a life and I saw

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Speaker 1: how interested people were in it was fascinating to me.

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Speaker 1: And you know that's because of the media and the movies,

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Speaker 1: and you know, guys like John Gotti who were bigger

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Speaker 1: than life. To most people, there's a fascination with this

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Speaker 1: life all over the world. Were you related at all

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Speaker 1: to Joe Colombo, Well, Joe Colombo was I wasn't related

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Speaker 1: to him physically, but I grew up knowing him very well,

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Speaker 1: because my dad was his underboss. I knew, Yeah, his

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Speaker 1: son's Anthony and Joey. I was very close with Joe Junior.

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Speaker 1: And I can tell you this, you know, I got

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Speaker 1: a little bit emotional because I'm watching this show The Offer.

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Speaker 1: I don't know if you've heard of it. Yeah, it's

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Speaker 1: the Yeah, it's on Paramount Plus. But I just watched

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Speaker 1: the episode where Joe Colombo was shot at the Attian

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Speaker 1: American Civil Rights League rally, the second one that we had.

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Speaker 1: I was very active in the league. I saw it

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Speaker 1: as a way to help my dad get out of prison.

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Speaker 1: But I was there when Joe Colombo got shot. He

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Speaker 1: had just handed me a number of brochures to hand

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Speaker 1: out on somewhere around Columbus Circle, and I had walked away.

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Speaker 1: I was heading down from the stage when the shots

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Speaker 1: rang out and he went down. I saw it on

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Speaker 1: the show. I mean it wasn't stage probably in the

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Speaker 1: show because it was a much bigger event than the

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Speaker 1: show has it. But kind of got to me a

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Speaker 1: little bit just thinking about that day and what happened

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Speaker 1: with him, because I liked him a lot. I mean,

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Speaker 1: he was he was a good man. Was he good

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Speaker 1: for the community, even though he did what he did.

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Speaker 1: You know, got he was, wasn't he? Well? Got Look,

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Speaker 1: we were always all good for our neighborhoods. They loved

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Speaker 1: us in our neighborhood because we took care of it.

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Speaker 1: There's no crime in our neighborhood and we took care

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Speaker 1: of the people. So you know, yeah, there's neighborhood. They

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Speaker 1: love Gottie. They loved joe Colombo in the neighborhood and

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Speaker 1: saying with my dad and myself in Greenpoint where we

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Speaker 1: grew up. I mean they loved us there and until today.

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Speaker 1: But you know, unfortunately, I think the league went to

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Speaker 1: Joey's head a little bit and it started to be

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Speaker 1: a little bit of a moneymaking deal for them. It's

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Speaker 1: amazing how quickly that league grew. In the second year

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Speaker 1: rally at Columbus Circle, we had over fifty thousand people there.

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Speaker 1: It was unbelievable. Joey had strong influence. Oh, I gotta

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Speaker 1: hear you use this phrase. Could you just say forget

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Speaker 1: about it? Forget about it? Why do they all say that,

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Speaker 1: don't they all the time? You know how many times

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Speaker 1: we've said that. You know how many times people have

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Speaker 1: asked me to say that, Yeah, everything was to forget

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Speaker 1: about it. Favorite mobster actor who would that be? I

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Speaker 1: got two? Well, let me name three to be fair,

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Speaker 1: all right, Armanda Assanti and that Dotty HBO movie. He

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Speaker 1: was number one for me. Second, I thought al Pacino

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Speaker 1: and Donnie Brasco. I thought that was his best role.

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Speaker 1: I knew Lefty Riggerio pretty well. He was just terrific.

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Speaker 1: He portrayed a typical mob guy of that stature like

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Speaker 1: nobody else. He was terrific. And then of course Joe Pesci.

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Speaker 1: You gotta love him. I mean, yes, he's great. He's

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Speaker 1: just he just electrifies in every scene that he's in.

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Speaker 1: He's unbelievable. Yep, he really is. He's magical that they

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Speaker 1: do a great job in the actors. The director, Martin Scorsese.

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Speaker 1: What a great director he is, isn't he brilliant? Brilliant,

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Speaker 1: really brilliant. Now, for people who want more information, I've

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Speaker 1: got your website as your name, We've got it linked

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Speaker 1: up at Coast to Coast dam dot com. Do you

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Speaker 1: take emails Michael through your website? I do. And also

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Speaker 1: for anybody that that's interested in the book, they can

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Speaker 1: go on Mafia Democracy dot com and we'll give them

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Speaker 1: a free chapter they can read it, and then the

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Speaker 1: book is available on obviously Amazon and Barnes and Noble

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Speaker 1: and all the internet sites they can go on. But

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Speaker 1: we'll give them a free chapter. Mafia Democracy dot com.

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Speaker 1: And yes, my website is Michael Francis dot com. I

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Speaker 1: do take emails, so we get a lot of them

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Speaker 1: and we try our best to answer them all. How

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Speaker 1: strong do you think the mafia is today compared to

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Speaker 1: thirty years ago. I'll tell you the golden years of

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Speaker 1: cousin astra in this country were from the fifties to

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Speaker 1: the mid eighties. That's when we had so much control.

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Speaker 1: And I can get into detail on that, but we

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Speaker 1: don't have enough time for that. But when Juliani, Rudy

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Speaker 1: Giuliani started to effectively use the Racketeering Statute, the Bell

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Speaker 1: Reform Act, the Sentencing Reform Act, that was really the

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Speaker 1: beginning of the downfall of that life. And they took

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Speaker 1: a lot of the control away, you know, with all

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Speaker 1: the forfeiture statutes that they have onder Rico. Rico's a

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Speaker 1: devastating law to the mob, and Giuliani used it effectively

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Speaker 1: and it's nowhere near what it was during my day

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Speaker 1: or during the fifties again to the midays. But it's

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Speaker 1: not gone away. It still exists. And I will tell

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Speaker 1: you this, George. When you see corruption and government, guys

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Speaker 1: on the street are very aware of that. When they

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Speaker 1: see that they can get into the pocket or the

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Speaker 1: arms of a politician, Believe me, they will act because

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Speaker 1: we had a lot of political favor back then. I

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Speaker 1: don't know if you know this, but you know Frank Costello,

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Speaker 1: they called him the Prime Minister. He owned politician. We're

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Speaker 1: aware of that. And the more corruption you see at

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Speaker 1: the highest level, the more the mob will gain control

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Speaker 1: in that sector. Trust me on that, and I see

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Speaker 1: it happening now. Listen to more Coast to Coast AM

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Speaker 1: every weeknight at one am Eastern and go to Coast

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Speaker 1: to Coast am dot com for more