Prison stories & My Short Stay On Death Row as a Made Man | Michael Franzese

I said, Jeffrey, you want my honest opinion? He said, yeah, Mike, I do. I says, well, let me tell you what I think you should do. I said, this is a new prison. I said, you see those mountains over there? You notice that they didn't put the wire on top here? I said, I think your best chance of getting out of here is make a connection, get a good friend, have a helicopter come over that mountain, land in the prison, they can do it now, jump in that helicopter and get the heck out of here down to Mexico and hiding in the bushes somewhere until you figure out where you're gonna go. Michael Franzese here and welcome to another sit down with Michael Franzese. I am your host, your narrator. How's everybody doing? You know, I get asked all the time about prison. So many of your comments in all the videos were asking me about prison. Well, I'll tell you this. I know just about as much about prison as anybody here in this country for sure because I've been either visiting somebody in prison or doing prison time myself basically my whole life. So I really understand what prison is all about. And I'm not saying that's a good thing. I would rather have not had it that way, but the circumstances of my life dictated that. That's just the way it is. I visited my dad for well over 30 years and I spent eight years in prison myself. I was arrested a number of times. So I know what jail life, prison life is really all about. Let me tell you this. It's not about the prison scene in Goodfellas where everybody is in their own private condo, it looked like. They're eating everything that they want and having whiskey and wine and everything else. That's a fabricated scene. Yes, sometimes as Italians, we ate a little better. We had somebody working in the kitchen, maybe smuggled some food out, but never to that extent. Not my experience and not anybody that I knew had that experience either. So, but it made for a good cinema. It was good in the movie, but that stuff doesn't happen. But I get asked all the time, did I meet any famous people in prison? Who were some of the interesting characters? And there were quite a few during the eight or so years that I did myself. And obviously when I visited my dad, he was in Leavenworth Penitentiary in Lewisburg and they had some very high profile inmates in there also. So I'll tell you a couple of stories. Look, I could sit here all day and tell you prison stories, spent enough time there to have a book full of them, but not gonna do that. Tell you a couple of things that I thought were interesting. I had been, I did most of my time in the federal system. And people, I wanna tell you this. I don't know if you know this about the United States, but we lock up, we incarcerate more people in the United States than anywhere else in the industrialized world. More people here, we have, I believe now, well over 2 million people that are doing time somewhere in a state or federal prison here in the United States. And do I believe that that's a good thing? No, I don't. And do I think we need prison reform? Yes, I do. Because you can't just lock people up, expect them to be involved in there with other inmates, not be rehabilitated in any way, and then come home and all of a sudden be productive members of society. It doesn't work that way. Yes, I understand people commit crimes, they have to be punished, and that's part of it. But if you wanna protect society, then you have to rehabilitate them so that when they come back out on the street, they don't do the same things and wreak havoc on the population that got them back there in the first place. So for me, rehabilitation is important. Yes, we need prison reform, so on and so forth. That's for another topic in another day. But some of the interesting people that I met. I was doing time in Lompoc, California in the federal prison. I had been locked up on a parole violation. Government was pretty upset with me. I think I mentioned this in one of my other videos. They wanted me to testify in a case against John Riggi, somebody I was closely involved with. He was the boss of the Jersey Crew, a good friend of mine. I refused to testify. Within a few days after that, I was put back in prison. I fell into a trap on me, no doubt, but they were out to get me, and they threw me back in for another four years. It was a maximum I could have gotten, and I did actually three years with good time. Back then, we still had good time. We still had parole. But I did every day of the time back then. Did most of the time in lockdown, in the hole. And I'd been in for almost three years, and I get a call to the lieutenant's office, and he says, Michael, there's some sheriffs here from L.A. County, and you've been indicted in L.A. County. Basically, I was indicted on the same charge I was locked up on the probation violation for, and they were going to extradite me or bring me down to the L.A. County Jail to face these charges. Okay. So I go into R&D, you know, where you're ready to leave. You go through R&D, and they check you out and all of that. And guy was a nice guy in there. He liked me a lot, the CO. And he said to me, Michael, have you ever been to L.A. County Jail? And I said, no, that's one place I missed. He says, well, I'm gonna do you a real favor right now. And he tells the two sheriffs, he says, listen, this is an important federal inmate, and he doesn't have that much time left on his sentence. We want him back here exactly the way we're sending him to you. And with that, he takes photographs of me, right? Back, front, the whole bit. I'm saying, man, what the hell were they sending me, right? Sheriffs take me down, and because I was a high-profile inmate, a lot of publicity, so on and so forth, they put me in the hole in lockdown, and I was actually on death row, on death row, same tier that O.J. Simpson was on. But this was before O.J. came in. He came in a little bit after that. But everybody on that tier was there facing life without parole or the death sentence. And then there was me on a parole violation. It was almost embarrassing to be there, but we were all locked up in our individual cells. Well, I think you might've heard of the ninja killings back in L.A. It was a guy that allegedly had his mom and dad killed in the driveway of his house with people that had masks on. They were like ninjas, ninja killing, famous case. He ended up getting convicted. I believe he got a life sentence. He didn't get the death sentence, but he's doing life in prison now. And then there were the Menendez brothers. I remember you remember Eric and Lyle Menendez killed their parents in Beverly Hills many, many years back. They were on the same tier. And so I got to know them pretty good. We used to talk all the time, and they were interested in me, and I had some stories to tell them. And they were young, and I was trying to give them some advice as they were going through some really tough times, going through a couple of trials. Well, one point in time, they moved, they separated one of the Menendez brothers, I think Lyle, no, not Lyle, the other one. They separated the younger one because there was supposedly a plot where they were gonna try to escape. Ridiculous, you can't escape out of there. But because of that, they separated them. I believe they did that so they couldn't prepare properly for their trial. They just separated and put the other one on a different tier. And now, I used to get a lot of visits. My wife would come and visit me quite a bit, and Eric got a lot of visits. Both of the Menendez brothers got a lot of visits. And we used to go together. When they took us down there, we were shackled because we were in a special housing unit. They shackled us and chained us, and we walked kind of in a line. And as we would walk to go to the visiting room, we would go through the jail hospital. And let me tell you something. You would thought you were walking through Vietnam. I mean, during a war. These people, that was like Animal House in there. They were just destroying each other. A lot of fights. Whose eye was hanging? It was just a mess. Every time we went through that hospital. But they didn't like the Menendez brothers. They killed their parents. They didn't like them. So every time we would walk, they'd say, oh, you guys, when you get to prison, we're gonna get you. You know, and they were cursing at them and all this kind of stuff. And I was walking behind them all the time. But what happens after they separate them, me and Lyle used to walk together. They brought Eric to that different tier. Me and Lyle used to walk to the visiting room together. And I was a younger guy back then. We were both white guys. And as we started walking through the tier, they were mistaking me for one of the Menendez brothers, right? And now they're coming at me. We're gonna kill you when we get you on the other side, and you killed your parents, and we don't go for that. And they're cussing at us and so on and so forth. And we're shackled. If somebody would have attacked us, not much we could do. The guards, they run away. When they see a disturbance, they leave. They come back with the guns, with the rubber bullets, and then they start, you know, hurting everybody. By that time, you're in trouble, right? So after that visit, we get back to the tier, and I tell the sheriff, I said, hey, I mean, I tell the CO, I said, hey, look, yeah, well, there were sheriffs in there. And he said, look, I don't want Lyle to be insulted, but I ain't walking through that tier with him anymore. I got enough trouble being Michael Francis. I don't need to be Eric Menendez. I said, so you walk in by himself, and you take me by myself, because I'm shackled. If somebody attacks us, there's nothing we can do. But, you know, Lyle said to me, oh, Mike, I do understand that. I said, I'm glad you do. No offense meant, but I'm glad you do. Anyway, they went to trial twice there, two sensational trials, I think. Matter of fact, my wife told me a story. She was with my son in a store, a stationery store, and they had magazines there. And it was a crowded store at the time, and my son used to come and visit me, and he met, you know, Lyle and Eric Menendez at the same time. So he sees the magazine with Lyle's picture on the front page. I don't know if it was Time Magazine or whatever. So he looks at that, and he goes, oh, mommy, there's daddy's good friend, Lyle Menendez. And everybody starts looking at him, and my wife grabbed the magazine, put it back, said, come on, Michael, let's go. You know, crazy things like that. But you got a lot of crazy things when you're in prison. Anyway, that's my, you know, a lot more things happened because I was on that tier for 11 months. So I can tell you a lot of stories about being in the hold and the lockdown in L.A. County Jail. Wasn't a good place. And like I said, O.J. Simpson came in just when I was leaving. He came in there. You know, another time I was in Sheridan, Oregon, and that was a federal prison, fairly new. The prison had just been built, not too long. It was pretty good at that point in time. Everything was brand new. Even the guards were nice. They were new, you know, COs. They weren't really mad at the inmates yet, I would say. So it was a pretty nice place to do time. And one of the guys that I got very friendly with during my time, he was with me in Terminal Island, again in Sheridan, Oregon. They just happened to move us around together quite a bit, was Jeffrey McDonnell, Dr. Jeffrey McDonnell. For those of you that don't know who he is, you can look him up. Fatal Vision was a movie done on his life. Very, very big case at the time. And Jeffrey and I, he was doing triple life. I think he got three life sentences and they put him in the federal system because he was a Army officer and it was actually a federal crime when it's done on an Army base, federal property. So Jeffrey and I got, you know, quite friendly. He used to talk to me all the time about his case. Good looking guy, used to get a lot of visits. Very intelligent guy and always proclaimed his innocence. Always proclaimed his innocence all the time. And he knew that I, you know, I knew a little bit about the law, you know, more than a lot of guys did. So he used to discuss different things with me about his case. And so we're walking a yard in Sheridan, Oregon at one time and we're walking around the track. It was a nice day. And the way the prison was built, it was kind of built in between a couple of mountain ranges, right? And in these prisons, I don't know if you know this, but they have like wire across the top of the yard so that somebody couldn't come in there with a helicopter, you know, grab an inmate and fly away. It would have been a nice escape, right? And they got people in guard towers. Obviously the cops are in there. The COs were in the guard towers and they have guns. But what you may not know, but what I knew at the time is even though they had guns, they weren't allowed to shoot at the inmates, even if there was an escape. They weren't allowed. They could shoot around them, but they weren't allowed to shoot at them. At least that's what we were told at the time. And I never seen any, you know, an escape attempt like that. So I didn't know, but that's what we were told. So we're walking around a track and Jeffrey's telling me about his new appeal. He was always appealing his case. And I knew it was a lost cause. I mean, that was a sensational case and there was no way that, you know, he was gonna get out of it at that point. But I used to listen to him. And we're walking and talking and walking and talking and he stops me. He says, Mike, you know, what do you think? You think I really got a shot? I mean, this is strong evidence and I think I got a real good shot on appeal. I said, Jeffrey, you want my honest opinion? He said, yeah, Mike, I do. I says, well, let me tell you what I think you should do. I said, this is a new prison. I said, you see those mountains over there? You notice that they didn't put the wire on top here? I said, I think your best chance of getting out of here is make a connection, get a good friend, have a helicopter come over that mountain, land in the prison, they can do it now, jump in that helicopter and get the heck out of here down to Mexico and hiding in the bushes somewhere until you figure out where you're gonna go. I said, to me, that's the best shot you got, Jeffrey. And I hate to break it to you. And he looked at me, he was kind of like, are you serious? I said, yeah, I am serious. I said, you know, a triple life sentence, what do you got to lose, my friend? Anyway, he didn't take up that suggestion and I probably shouldn't have told him that. But look, I was being honest with him. He's still doing time. And unfortunately, I think he'll die in there. Well, unfortunately, it was a rough case, people. If he was guilty, and again, I don't pass judgment on that. He proclaimed his innocence and it was, you got a raw deal. He said some hippies came in and they did the murder and he got beat up over it. I don't remember the facts of the case. Fatal vision, you could probably look it up and watch it. But I said, man, this is such a nice guy, you know? I mean, how could he do something like that? But I'll tell you this, one day he's on the phone and he's talking to his lawyer. Very intense call, you can see it. They're back and forth, back and forth. And one of the COs was telling him, Jeffrey, off the phone, it's count time. And Jeffrey's going like this. All right, one more minute, one more minute. Jeffrey, get off the phone. One more minute, one more minute. Jeffrey, off the phone. He looks at the CO and he grabs that phone and he shoves it down. And there was like a fire in his eyes. I said, oh, I says, there's the Jeffrey that they're saying committed that heinous crime. Now again, I'm not saying he did it. I don't pass judgment. He proclaimed his innocence. That's all I know, but I can tell you this. Something, a switch was flipped at that point in time with him. And I saw that anger. And then it just made me think, man, I wondered. So anyway, that's a couple of people that I know. And again, I can tell you a lot more stories about prison. But I will tell you this, people. Prison is for fools. I used to laugh at the guys that come up to me. They used to like to talk to me all the time. Everybody wanted to get into the gas business. Michael, tell me how to do it. You made so much money. Don't worry about it. I'll do everything. You don't have to do anything. I used to say, yeah, to myself, until you get caught. And then I'm the one that told you how to do everything. No thanks. But they used to come to me and say, oh, Mike, don't worry about it. I got it figured out this time. Next time I go out, I'm going to do this, and I'm not going to get caught. And I used to tell them, really? Where did you learn that? You're talking to everybody else in here that got caught. How are you going to learn not to get caught? I said, look, the best thing you can do when you get out of here, go straight. Don't come back here. Because if you continue to do the crimes, you're going to spend the rest of your life in this place. It's a message that I give to young people. I don't know if you know this, but I have a very strong prison ministry. And I visit inmates quite a bit, try to give them some encouragement, some hope. Hope is a big thing in prison. Let them know that, hey, if I was able to turn my life around, if I was able to walk away from a bad situation, had a lot of help, a lot of good people around me, accountability, God was my guide. If I could do it, you could do it. I was in a tough situation. If I can do it, you can do it. And it gives them hope and gives them encouragement. And these young people, I tell them straight out, you know, prison is for fools. You continue on this road. Before you know it, you're going to end up coming back here two, three, four times. You're going to end up being 40, 50 years old. You're going to look back on your life. You're going to say, hey, where did all this time go? You know the best way to stay away from trouble? Stay away from it. Avoid it. You're not going to get away with it, people. Listen to me. Like I said, I've been into that all my former life. It's not something that you want to do. Stay away from it. Once again, I got to thank you all. Man, our YouTube channel is really growing. The comments have been great. We continue to provide, hopefully, content that you enjoy that's interesting, something you can get a lesson from, an experience from. We really appreciate those of you that are subscribing. It's good to subscribe because as we put content up there, you get alerted. You press a little button or you hit a little bell or something like that, and you get alerts when a new video comes up. So be sure to do that. And we appreciate when you subscribe. I think I told you last time, we're well over a million views in less than a month. So that's thanks to all of you. We really appreciate it. But we're putting a lot of time and effort into a lot of these stories. And eventually, we're going to be interviewing some very, very prominent people. I know you're going to enjoy it. We're waiting for COVID to get over and so that we can sit in a room with people. I'd rather do that than doing it on a Zoom call or anything like that. I like to get personal, get one-on-one. To me, that's the best way to communicate and talk. And I think you'll get a lot out of that. michaelfrancise.com. For those of you that have joined my crew, I really appreciate it. It's growing. We're over 2,000 people now, members of my crew, members of my community. You're interacting with one another, telling each other stories and encouraging one another, talking about your struggles, your challenges, your faith. It's a great community, especially through this pandemic. And then for those of you that want to go another level, that's free, by the way. Crew is free, free of charge, okay? You meet with everybody. For those of you that want to go to the next level, you can have me as your personal coach, life skills, leadership, business. I'm there to help you. If you think that I can impart some wisdom on you, help you do a little better in life, then that's what I'm there for. A little fee involved in that, but I think it's well worth it. We got some products coming aboard. You're going to see some books and other things, a lot of content that we're putting on here. And don't forget Mob Story Monday, Mob Movie Monday. We're going to keep this thing going. And hopefully to your enjoyment, I know I'm getting a lot out of it. So God bless, stay safe, stay healthy. See you next time.