Franzese was enrolled in a pre-med program at Hofstra University, but dropped out to make money for his family after his father was sentenced to 50 years in prison for bank robbery in 1967.

[7] However, in 1971, Franzese decided to drop out of college to help his family earn money when his father was sentenced to 50 years in prison for bank robbery in 1967.

[6][17] During the late 1970s, Franzese met with future Gambino crime family boss John Gotti, who was then a soldier.

[20][21] In 1981, Franzese was contacted by Lawrence Salvatore Iorizzo, who had developed a scheme to defraud the federal government out of gasoline taxes in 1985.

Once enforcement agents attempt to collect the tax from the dummy company, it declares bankruptcy and the daisy chain would continue.

[27] Authorities believe the money was laundered through Franzese's film production company, Miami Gold, to offshore bank accounts in Austria and Panama.

Franzese would later testify he provided the initial $50,000 to Walters to start his agency booking company with a 25% share of any profits.

Franzese claimed he first met Sharpton through the Genovese crime family mobster Daniel Pagano.

[38] In another case in December 1985, Franzese was charged in both Florida and New York in regards to counterfeiting and extortion from the gasoline bootlegging racket.

[40][22][34] Franzese was sentenced to 10 years in prison and ordered to pay $14.7 million in restitution on the federal charges, agreeing to sell his assets including a mansion in Old Brookville, New York, the Miami Gold production company, and use proceeds from the Knights of the City film.

[25][40][34] He then reached a plea agreement and was sentenced to nine years in prison for state racketeering charges in Florida which would run concurrently with his previous conviction.

[34][25][43] Walters was found guilty, fined $395,000 and given a sentence of 5 years with the judge in the case citing the importance of Franzese's testimony.

[46][47] On December 27, 1991, Franzese was sentenced in New York to four years in federal prison for violating the probation requirements from his 1989 release.

[25] Franzese had been arrested in Los Angeles on a tax fraud accusation and was sent back to New York for the probation hearing.

[25] In court, prosecutors complained that Franzese had only started paying the balance of his court-ordered restitution payments earlier that year.

[25] "Mr. Franzese has led the Government on a long, merry chase for a number of years," United States Attorney Andrew J. Maloney said after the court session.

[52] In the book, Franzese discusses his criminal activities, life with his father, and meeting his second wife, Camille Garcia.

Franzese was released on November 7, 1994, retiring from the mob in 1995 by moving to California with his wife and children; the relocation was also a result of receiving multiple death threats and contracts on his life, including one approved by his father.

[28] On July 23, 2002, while appearing on the HBO television program Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, Franzese stated that during the 1970s and 1980s, he persuaded New York Yankees players who owed money to Colombo loansharks to fix baseball games for betting purposes.

[28] In March 2015, he appeared in a two-part documentary on the American Mafia with television presenter and reporter Trevor McDonald.

[29] Franzese hosted a stage musical, A Mob Story, at the Plaza Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

[63] Slices serves Sicilian-style square pizzas with ingredients sourced from Naples and Campania, with ovens from Venice.

[67] On his channel he tells stories about his past life, makes interviews, and reviews mafia-related films, television shows and video games, and analyzes their accuracy.

[68] Franzese is the author of seven books: Quitting the Mob (1992), Blood Covenant (2003),[69] The Good, the Bad and the Forgiven (2009), I'll Make You an Offer You Can't Refuse (2011),[69] From the Godfather to God the Father (2014),[28] Blood Covenant: The Story of the "Mafia Prince" Who Publicly Quit the Mob and Lived (2018) and Mafia Democracy (2022).