John “Sonny’’ Franzese is getting a fresh start in his second century of life!
The 100-year-old Colombo family underboss, who was sent up the river at age 93, was wheeled to freedom out of the Federal Medical Center in Massachusetts and is headed back to Brooklyn.
He was the oldest inmate the federal prison system — doing hard time for shaking down two popular Manhattan strip clubs.
At the time of his sentencing, Franzese was promised he could be paroled at 100 for good behavior — if he made it! He currently suffers from a host of health ailments not uncommon for his advanced age.
His first arrest, for assault, happened before he was out of his teens and was later discharged from the United States Army.
During the 1960s, Franzese was heavily involved in loan sharking and extortion while maintaining financial interests in record labels, restaurants, strip clubs and even the 1972 pornographic film “Deep Throat.”
He served his longest stint behind bars after being convicted in 1967 for bank robbery, doing 35 years of his 50-year sentence.
Franzese kept company with the elite of his time and was known to rub elbows with the likes of Frank Sinatra — showing the glamorous side of being a made man.
He was found guilty on racketeering and numerous other charges in 2010 after being arrested by the FBI two years earlier. His son, John Franzese Jr., himself a former Colombo associate now in witness protection, testified against him at his trial!
Throughout his life in the Mafia, it is believed Franzese was responsible for the murders of close to 100 people. However, he stayed true to the old school ways of “Omerta” — adhering to the code of silence about criminal activity and always refused to give upevidence to authorities.
One former FBI Agent called Franzese, “the last of a dying breed.”
