Newsday (Suffolk Edition) from Melville, New York • 5

The Franzese File A Porsche a pool and not much informing for mobster set free reporting on this by the late Tam organized who died in The reporting by staff writer who wrote the lombo organized crime family in return for information on a booking said Ray Jermyn chief of the rackets bureau in the Suffolk County district office who provided the federal government with much of the information that helped indict Franzese in December 1985 deprived of his use as a witness and we get the money he owes us frankly I think Michael ripped off the US government" said James Stein deputy chief US parole and probation officer for the Eastern District which includes Long Island In a lengthy telephone interview last week Franzese conceded not living in a But he denied he was getting a free ride from the government and said he was under constant pressure to pay his fines say that I got away with the better bargain or that the government did great either It was a he said calling his decision to sign the deal one of the toughest he ever made I absolutely do not feel that I pulled the wool over But Franzese who refused to join the federal witness protection program also said that really hurt by providing information and that of the people I knew were already in The two officials who were key to engineering the pact with Franzese Anton Valukas then US attorney for Chicago and Ed McDonald then chief of the federal Organized Crime Strike Force in Brooklyn which is now defunct are now in private practice In recent interviews McDonald blamed the terms of the psct on a separate deal he said Valukas made with Franzese for testimony in the Walters case but Valukas denied he had made any agreement John Gleeaon the chief of the organized crime unit in the Justice Eastern District who is overseeing the pact refused to discuss the agreement on grounds that Franzese was still linked to pending investigations entirely inappropriate for me to comment on whether a good deal or a bad deal for the Gleeson said But he added that any Please see DEAL on Page 24 Less than two years after being released from prison former Long Island mobster Michael Franzese has resumed his luxurious lifestyle frustrating prosecutors who say he owes them $147 million in fines and information on organized crime When not relaxing in his swimming pool or sauna at his Southern California mansion sources say the 39-year-old Franzese once described in Life magazine as the Yuppie mobster is cruising in a Porsche or sometimes a Mercedes also working with a best-selling author on his memoirs and is discussing oilers to sell his life story complete with details of his days as a Colombo crime family captain and film producer for a movie or a mini-series What rankles prosecutors in Suffolk County and Florida is that under the terms of a deal the former Brook-ville resident cut with the federal government little they can do to force Franzese to pay up or begin talking Under the deal Franzese was released from prison in May 1989 after serving only 3V4 years of a 10-year sentence for racketeering and conspiracy In addition the pact gave Franzese immunity from prosecution on his past organized crime activities It kept his five-year probation sentence and his fine In return Franzese was to turn over everything he knew about his mob activities and associates but prosecutors had only a year until April 30 1990 to pump him He also was required to testify in any trial related to his information if the indictments were filed before April 30 1990 Law enforcement officials said the time constraints in the deal were virtually unprecedented and made the cooperation clause essentially useless As a result some prosecutors say that biggest contribution as an informant has been his 1989 testimony against New York talent and sports agent Norby Walters who was convicted of racketeering for illegally signing college athletes to professional contracts But conviction was reversed in September on an unrelated legal technicality government gave up one of the most important up-and-coming members of the Co- Much of the story was done Renner Newsdayfc crime reporter January -1990 was completed Letta Tayler Btcry Franzese in custody in Florida in 1985 A Life Like a Mob Movie He hates being compared to Michael Corleone but when Michael Franzese saw Godfather Part he says he identified with the movie don who suffered from his life in organized crime was in so much pain and that got to me a little said Franzese 39 a Hamer Colombo crime family captain from Brookville But Franzese said that he sees no parallels between himself and mobster Henry HiU whose real-life story was the subject of the film Both Hill and Franzese operated in the New York area and both signed pacts with the same federal prosecutor that set them free in return for testifying against their former mob associates not trying to become a crusader for the government unlike a Henry Hill who I think is a low Fran-zese said HiU went into hiding under the federal witness protection program but Franzese lives under his own name with his Franzese 'GoodFellas': No parallels between himself and Henry HiU Franzese says Please see FRANZESE on Page 25 i i i.