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Title details for Sonny by S.J. Peddie - Available

Sonny

The Last of the Old Time Mafia Bosses, John "Sonny" Franzese

by S.J. Peddie
Tanya Eby
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
John "Sonny" Franzese reportedly committed his first murder at the age of fourteen. As a "made man" for the Colombo crime family, he operated out of his Long Island home specializing in racketeering, fraud, loansharking, and other illicit deeds he would deny to his dying day. His career in organized crime spanned over eight decades-and he was sentenced to fifty years in prison for robbery charges. But even behind bars, Sonny Franzese never stopped doing business . . . This is the true story of an old-school Mafioso as it's never been told before. Newsday reporter S. J. Peddie interviewed Franzese in prison-and uncovered a lifetime of shocking secrets from the legend himself: why FBI director J. Edgar Hoover had a very personal interest in Sonny; how Sonny managed to juggle numerous affairs with women, including a famous model; how Sonny spent a third of his life in prison-and still managed to earn untold millions for the mob; how Sonny accidentally revealed some of his worst crimes-to a "friend" wearing a wire; and how Sonny hobnobbed with celebrities such as Ava Gardner, Jayne Mansfield, Bobby Darin, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Dionne Warwick, among others. This is a must-listen for anyone fascinated with Mafia history-and a rare look inside a criminal mind that has become the stuff of legend.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    March 29, 2022

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781696607322
      • File size: 241390 KB
      • Duration: 08:22:53

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Library Journal

      September 1, 2022

      Award-winning Newsday investigative reporter Peddie interviewed the notorious Columbo crime family member John "Sonny" Franzese just before he died at age 103 in 2020. The only authorized biography of him is superbly performed by Tanya Eby (The Brink: Stories). Known for being tight-lipped about his organized crime work, Franzese bares all. Starting in his teens as a wise guy, he rose to the level of underboss. He offers details of his marriages and infidelities, involvement with business holdings, racketeering, murders, and court trials; and time in and out of prison, when he was released at age 100 as the oldest federal inmate in the United States and the only centenarian in federal custody. Eby narrates with a clipped, rapid-fire delivery in this gritty production, much of it conversing as Sonny. Her smoky voice has just the right amount of Long Island in the accent as she becomes Sonny with his boastful pride of successes, regret for being an absent parent, sadness at his daughters' deaths, disdain for informants like Guy Fatato, and disappointment that his son John Jr. testified against him. VERDICT Fans of The Godfather and Wiseguy will feel right at home with this one.--Stephanie Bange

      Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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