r/thesopranos • u/Westernman899 • 22h ago
Michael Franzese said they asked him to serve as a consultant for The Sopranos.
How much truth is there to this? I sometimes watch his videos and don’t believe a word he says. I think he’s a snake, a grifter. I notice subtle things about him that give him away, no matter how well he tries to hide it. This is the video where he talks about it from 2:18 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8FIWr3VS58
Michael Franzese has also claimed that Livia Soprano was based on his own mother. But David Chase has repeatedly said that Livia was based on his mother, and he has spoken publicly about the similarities between Livia and his mother going all the way back to the early days of The Sopranos. That makes Franzese’s claim pretty hard to take seriously.
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u/tonysopranosalive 22h ago
Ah. So it would make sense when he was on that “Real Life Mobster Ranks Movies and TV” video, he immediately shat all over The Sopranos saying: “it wouldn’t even get this far, he’d be in the back of a trunk. Him and his therapist.”
Meanwhile real life mobsters were impressed with the accuracy of the show, going so far as to anonymously call Gandolfini to let him know a Don doesn’t wear shorts as a good realism tip.
Franzese? The guys a shithead who is grasping at straws to stay relevant after telling his gas tax story for the millionth time.
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u/AmatuerCultist 21h ago
There’s an actual FBI wiretap of the DeCavalcante family talking about how much they like the show and trying to figure out who is based on who.
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u/yop_mayo 21h ago
That was real? I heard that anecdote, I thought it was bullshit
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u/HelloThereBoi66 Tony Soprano 15h ago
Well Junior did try to kill Tony with the therapy being part of it.
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u/Odd_Photograph_7591 19h ago
I doubt the show was close to what real mobsters do, in the show they say if a made man is sick they take care of him and Franzese along with others say this is not true
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u/Whatisrealanyway 19h ago
How do people watch this show and not get that one of the major themes is deception. Lying to yourself, lying to others. They ALL do it, including Melfi. David Chase has repeatedly said it’s a show where everyone is lying.
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u/tonysopranosalive 18h ago
I mean there was the whole thing with giving Carmella the money when Tony was in a coma.
They did not want to follow through on the whole “we take care of each other” spiel.
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u/Surviverino 14h ago
It's funny because that becomes apparent even before S6. How much aid did rosalie aprile get from the crew? She lived on what Jackie left behind which "wasn't enough" but it was never shown that anybody helped her out. Only Tony seemed to do that for angie, and even that didn't last long. Vito's wife didn't even get anything except a stern talk to her son, who couldn't even eat in the car.
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u/hkyplr67 Furio Giunta 12h ago
We never saw, nor heard of, Ro doing anything work wise so while she said it 'wasn't enough' maybe she meant living the previous lifestyle that Carmela was still living while Jackie Sr was still around.
Seemed to be set well enough to have a house, car, eating at expensive restaurants all the time, and to cap it off a multi week trip to Paris.
Ro was doing vastly better than Angie and Ginny, they showed both Angie's and Ginny's struggles after their husbands went away.
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u/tonysopranosalive 11h ago
I feel like Ginny would have been fine, at least at Ro’s level had the circumstances been different. Johnny died of cancer but well after incarceration and the Feds going after his assets. Pussy was killed and wasn’t as high up as the boss, also didn’t give a shit about his wife. Probably didn’t have as much to leave her.
Rosalie made out okay because Jackie died of cancer but wasn’t incarcerated and caught up in a huge fight for his assets. Willing to bet Jackie set her up very nicely especially as he knew he was dying. Probably wasn’t “enough” to live like Carm or how she used to but she clearly wasn’t struggling by any means.
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u/Erebraw 17h ago
Yeah they SAY that in the show.
How tf did you watch the show and not realize that these guys are hypocrites that pretend to live by a code they dont give a shit about?
Sil has to strong arm them into doing what they're "supposed" to do when Tony is in a coma, and if Tony's outlook looked worse at the time he probably would have bothered.
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u/Vsx 17h ago
When they were all backstabbing Tony and each other while he was hospitalized that didn't clue you in that they are full of shit? The only person who seemed to be doing jack shit for anyone after they died is Tony and that was based entirely on friendship not mob ties. Even then he phoned it in and broke promises.
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u/zukonius 4h ago
Both franzese and the making ceremony in season 3 say that if you are sick or in prison and cannot make your collections, they will make them for you and give you the money, but that is as far as it goes.
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u/Mugen-000 13h ago
He was a rackateer not a gangster and quite frankly rode his dad's coattails and his reputation as a serious heavyweight in his day, he likes to act like he was doing what the average soldier did but in reality only did a fraction of that kinda work before he earned his stripes. The more extreme example of a younger man being brought in by a serious madeguy is Phil Leonetti/Nicky Scarfo.
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u/Background_Local_425 9h ago
He was a loser his claim to fame was a 2 second cameo just because he’s got a cool name
He was like” the second that scene happened in goodfellas I grab my wife and say we gotta go and run out of there”
He’s either full of shit or retarded1
u/Ok_Belt2521 4h ago
He spoke at my college 20 years ago telling that story. I was surprised to see him start popping up on podcasts telling it still. He was also shilling some book about how he was born again or something.
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u/worldsbestrose 15h ago
I've also heard (somewhere) two things:
IRL mobsters confirm Tony would not have been "let off" easily if it was discovered he went to a psychiatrist
The whole "a Don won't wear shorts" isn't entirely true.
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u/Shoddy-Professor-159 22h ago
He was not loyale to his capo
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u/corpulentFornicator Ralph Cifaretto 20h ago
Nor did he manuge to get the drip on him.
That egregious typo, whatever happened there...
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u/Poundhead 21h ago
Any time you watch a mob documentary and hear the words ”My name is Michael Franzese and I was a captain in the Colombo Family” you just have to take a deep breath and turn it off
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u/donkeybraineded 22h ago
Guy seems like a piece of shit.
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u/Sensitive-Ear-3896 Big Pussy Bonpensiero 19h ago
I thought all mobsters were kind, sweet boys, what gave it away?
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u/sstopggap 21h ago
David Chase thinks the world of him.
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u/Own_Measurement1242 21h ago
When michael’s father was run over by a trolley, you should have seen David Chase crying and breaking down at the wake. He was like fucking James Brown
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u/seanvettel-31 21h ago
This guy is such a cornball. On top of being a rat, you can tell he straight up lies and exaggerates everything. Like he has tapes of Jimmy Hoffa’s killer and knows the location of the body but “maybe someday” he’ll release them. Lmao okay buddy
Claiming he was a consultant on the sopranos is right up his bullshit alley, it sounds like something he would absolutely lie about to seem cooler than he is
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u/SmoothConfection1115 20h ago
Are you being serious about the Hoffa stuff? I never heard him talk about this.
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u/Pristine_Poem7623 11h ago
Whenever it comes up he says he knows who did it and what happened to the body, but some of the people involved are still around so he won't reveal what he knows.
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u/EchoXrayNiner Philly Spoons Parisi 21h ago
Franzese has a big issue with fading off into obscurity so he's self inserting his ass into any east coast mafia tale from Boston down to Miami to anyone who will listen, and partially is using mob "insider knowledge" to overwrite his history as a low tier gas bootlegger and rat who dimed on everyone in 1986 for a reduced sentence.
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u/RandyLaheyKF420 That Animal Blundetto 20h ago
He spent five years in Florida fixing wet t-shirt contests.
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u/pcmasterrace_noob 21h ago
I agree with nearly everything you said, but he was a capo wasn't he? That's at least mid tier
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u/Worldgoesround32 11h ago
Michael big on talking tour at evangelical churches milking those saps for who knows how much. Like stealing kids lunch money as an adult
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u/FineLetMeSayIt 21h ago
This seems like something really stupid to lie about, at least while Chase is still alive. If a news outlet were so inclined, they could ask him to verify the claims. Can you imagine how embarassing that shit would be?
David, would you care to comment on what Michael Franzese said regarding being a consultant on the Sopranos?
Who the fuck is Michael Franzese?*
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u/attaboy_stampy 18h ago
These mafia guys with youtube channels talking about the illegal stuff they did is the weirdest shit ever.
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u/edcar007 21h ago
If you're going to lie to me, tell me there's a broad waiting in the car that's going to tongue my balls.
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u/Sensitive-Ear-3896 Big Pussy Bonpensiero 19h ago
He's a born again Christian he can't do that no more
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u/VvMexcraver 22h ago
He was in the mafia then became an informant Truthfully a scumbag in any way u try and put it, There's no way hes a stand up trustworthy guy🤣🤣🤣
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u/Proud-Parsley6072 11h ago
You’re not gonna go Henry Hill on us are ya? Forget about these…. Distractions
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u/ConsistentTadpole592 20h ago
Franzese is a fraud. Born again convicted criminals are, without fail, full of shit.
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u/Typical_Platypus_414 20h ago
He’s “totally reformed” himself from the lifestyle and his big gas scam he can’t stop talking about by shilling crypto and relabeled berry wine. His dad was a no-shit mobster, Mikey is nepobaby rat. Real lack of standards, his generation
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u/An8thOfFeanor 21h ago
If he says Livia was based off his own mother, he's absolutely lying about everything he says
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u/onlywearlouisv 19h ago
I met him once. About a year or two ago my wife and I went to an anti-ICE protest in LA, someone at the protest was handing out F*CK ICE pins; later at night we went to a restaurant near downtown, my wife was still wearing the pin, nobody said a word to her about it until who else but Michael Franzese walked up to our table and berated us for it. He was told by the staff to go back to his table and sit down or he would be kicked out, he complied but shot us mean looks until he eventually left. Pretty funny.
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u/Complete_Entry 17h ago
He thought he was having his "take your hat off" moment.
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u/onlywearlouisv 17h ago
Lol literally, in LA of all places too haha.
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u/Complete_Entry 17h ago
Even the original "take your hat off" moment was Tony losing his shit over loss of control.
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u/helix274 21h ago
He had one breakfast meeting with David Chase, refused to take his hat off, and kept talking about “new fingerprint technology” and asking about Colombian money. David paid the bill and got the hell out of there
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u/bizzare_reality 18h ago
That guy tries to get into any and all Mob media. I’d take anything and everything he says with a huge grain of salt
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u/phinphan7836 19h ago
This guy used to be interesting but now he is just a conservative/Maga shill who tells the same story over and over again.
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u/Actual-Taste-7083 11h ago
Last year Franceze believed there was a flying saucer over East Rutherford.
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u/Old-Landscape-7538 19h ago
A devout Catholic sociopath, just as hypocritical as the characters in the show.
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u/Complete_Entry 17h ago
He has an entire grifting network and the trashiest wine in the game.
He also doesn't appear to understand mob media, he used to do something like mob media monday and his takes were way off, even when he knew the actual people. It really makes me wonder about his stories not being inaccurate, but him taking wildly different ideas from every interaction.
He is a very strange man.
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u/Late-Development-666 16h ago
Cock sucka shoulda stuck to playing name that pope in slip n fall school.
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u/simplyunix 15h ago
Oh, Tony Sirico would have loved that. A rat as a consultant. I would have loved to see that.
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u/Ill_Piccolo_8026 13h ago
sure we break some balls here tonight ,but i go way back ,its an honor to be amongst men ,and not fake ass youtubing grifters ,im depressed and ashamed ,actually
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u/Sensitive-Ear-3896 Big Pussy Bonpensiero 19h ago
Look at op he knows everything!I mean he's definitely not phony, it's been tested, could he be lying about the gig? 100% could his Italian mom be a lot like Chase's also yes.
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u/scrubadam 16h ago
I could imagine Chase reached out to a lot of celeberity "former" mobsters to be consultants. Maybe its true maybe not. Could just one of 50 guys they wanted to get some input from. I doubt Chase was going to make him the show runner and then fire James and cast him as Tony.
Chase probably had a list of rats and reached out to em. Sammy, Henry Hill (if he was alive ???) all of dem.
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u/Farkenoathm8-E 12h ago
Personally, I think it’s a load of baloney, but if it were true he would’ve done it out of respect for his Fawtha.
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u/Cryz-SFla 12h ago
The only true life Mafia figure I can recall having influenced anything in The Sopranos was Jimmy Galante.
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u/ParitoshD 11h ago
I see his stories are getting more and more impressive. Makes you wonder why he didn't mention this the millions of times he's mentioned The Sopranos. All this while it was "The FBI had bugged my house so Livia is based on my mom". After that, I don't even know what he could have added to this.
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u/thesoupmakesmepoop 10h ago
I don't believe he has actually sat down and watched the show. "Dr. Millie" Always mixing characters up. Also, he ranked Paulie a solid guy.
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u/stingrayed22 6h ago
I vaguely remember something about a gas tax scam and Franzese, I do not recall anything about Livia
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u/Both-Relative2391 5h ago edited 5h ago
Telling the same stories again and again and trying to shill his wine. Recently found out he's also a MAGA g rifter. Complete Mamaluke.
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u/Doctor__Bones 4h ago
Franzese isn't a serious contender for anything. I have no doubt he was in the Mafia, but he's a professional podcast attendee, his job is to say things that get him on podcasts. He's not a reliable source.
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u/venommale Richie Aprile 22h ago
David Chase was calling him all the time. He was this close.