Mobster's Trial Involves Lots Of Family Drama

John Franzese and his son in 2005

Colombo crime family underboss John "Sonny" Franzese has been on trial for the usual mob standbys—racketeering conspiracy, robbery, extortion, narcotics trafficking, and loansharking—and the 93-year-old has been enduring ignominies such as his wife refusing to let him go to the bathroom and his own son testifying against him. Which might have been why he fell asleep, because it was too much excitement. But Franzese's defense woke him up when the lawyer dropped a bomb: That John Jr. has HIV.

The Daily News reports, "The creaky Colombo slept through some of that testimony, but he was wide awake much of the time as his lawyer, Richard Lind, cross-examined his double-crossing spawn Thursday. Lind forced John Jr. to admit a tragic secret - that the reformed junky has HIV. And Franzese made no effort to stop Lind from exploiting that revelation. John Jr. admitted he had been diagnosed with the dread disease back in 1990, before he became a federal informant who secretly taped his own father." John Jr. said, "I got HIV from using a needle. When I got diagnosed, I ended up walking around the streets for 10 years not taking medication." Then he admitted that he was being paid $100 a week for expenses.

John Jr.'s testimony also provided a glimpse into his life as a mobster's son, "I spent an exorbitant amount of money on clothes. I had a brand new car every year until I was 26 or 27. Everyone in my school thought I was the richest kid in the school," and his descent with drugs, "I used cocaine to manage my alcoholism. I’d walk around without shoes on in the winter time in the subway and beg for money. I stole money from relatives, my mother, grandfather, my grandmother when she was in the hospital."

After the revelation about John Jr.'s HIV status, Franzese's wife followed him into he men's rest room while arguing with him. According to the Post, "Cristina Capobianco-Franzese hip-checked Franzese's daughter by a mistress and took control of his wheelchair. She then wheeled him into the restroom at Brooklyn federal court -- all the while shouting and demanding that the 93-year-old gangster plead guilty to spare their son, John Franzese Jr., from testifying further against his father." Capobianco-Franzese was later served a summons for disorderly conduct.