A notorious New York mobster became a target of the federal government after Marilyn Monroe allegedly called out his name during an encounter with Robert F. Kennedy, his son claimed.
Appearing on the "Hang Out with Sean Hannity" podcast, former Colombo crime family captain Michael Franzese detailed a bombshell account passed down by his late father, underboss John "Sonny" Franzese.
Franzese said Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy ordered FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover to target Franzese's father after Marilyn Monroe allegedly mentioned the mobster during an intimate encounter with Kennedy. Franzese said his father claimed he had an affair with Monroe after meeting her at Manhattan's Stork Club.
"Now this is my father telling me this, right, she's with Bobby Kennedy," Franzese said of the legendary starlet. "And he said, 'One night they were having fun together, and she screamed out my name.'"
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"She said at that point [Kennedy] got on the phone with Hoover, and he said, 'I don't know who this Sonny guy is, but put him in jail.'"
Franzese, one of the highest-earning Mafia figures to publicly leave organized crime, said his father shared the story after Franzese's mother died in 2012.
He said the conversation started after he asked his father why federal agents constantly surveilled their home instead of focusing on other Mafia figures.
"I said, 'Why you? I mean Colombo was there, all these other guys, Genovese, but you?'" Franzese said. "First time I ever asked him that. So he said to me, 'I didn't want to tell you while your mother was alive, because I'm respectful.'"
Franzese said the alleged targeting of his father made sense in hindsight.
"I said, 'You know what, Dad, I know you embellish things a little bit, but that kind of makes sense,'" Franzese said. "I don't know if you remember back then, J. Edgar Hoover would never even admit that the Mafia existed because we had something on him back then."
Sonny Franzese was arrested in 1967 and later convicted of orchestrating multiple bank robberies across the country. He was sentenced to 50 years in federal prison but was eventually paroled. In 2011, he was sentenced to prison again on racketeering conspiracy charges. He died in 2020 at age 103.
Franzese also detailed his gas tax scheme, which he said generated millions of dollars each week. He said the family collected gas taxes without paying the government and that he was personally bringing home around $3 million to $4 million a week.
