Mafia Democracy (eBook)

How Our Republic Became a Mob Racket

Michael Franzese (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2022 | 1. Auflage
208 Seiten
Lioncrest Publishing (Verlag)
978-1-5445-3080-2 (ISBN)

Infos

It is necessary for a prince wishing to hold his own to know how to do wrong, and to make use of it or not according to necessity. -Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince Greed. Lies. Corruption. These are the foundational elements of the American Mafia story. Here, the pursuit of power overshadows even the desire for a dollar, and self-interest outweighs the greater good. It's a world that's foreign to the average American-or is it? The values of our democracy and those of Mafia culture are separated by a thin line that's quickly disintegrating. No one sees this more clearly than former mob boss Michael Franzese. Born into one of New York's most feared crime families, Michael spent eight years in prison before he walked away from the Mafia for good. Now, he's sharing the undeniable parallels between mobster and politician. In Mafia Democracy, Michael exposes our government for what it's become, revealing the psychology behind the gangster lifestyle and how these ideologies have infiltrated the landscape of American politics. With in-depth investigation and astounding examples, this book is your chance to see politicians through a new lens, hold them accountable, and reclaim the democratic ideals that once united our great nation.

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It is necessary for a prince wishing to hold his own to know how to do wrong, and to make use of it or not according to necessity. -Niccol Machiavelli, The PrinceGreed. Lies. Corruption. These are the foundational elements of the American Mafia story. Here, the pursuit of power overshadows even the desire for a dollar, and self-interest outweighs the greater good. It's a world that's foreign to the average American-or is it? The values of our democracy and those of Mafia culture are separated by a thin line that's quickly disintegrating. No one sees this more clearly than former mob boss Michael Franzese. Born into one of New York's most feared crime families, Michael spent eight years in prison before he walked away from the Mafia for good. Now, he's sharing the undeniable parallels between mobster and politician. In Mafia Democracy, Michael exposes our government for what it's become, revealing the psychology behind the gangster lifestyle and how these ideologies have infiltrated the landscape of American politics. With in-depth investigation and astounding examples, this book is your chance to see politicians through a new lens, hold them accountable, and reclaim the democratic ideals that once united our great nation.

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Introduction

“Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people, who have a right…and a desire to know.”

—John Adams, 1765

You could say John Murtha was an American hero. He served with distinction in the Marines in the 1950s and then ten years later volunteered for the Vietnam War, where he earned two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star. In 1974, the former Eagle Scout was elected to Congress and became the longest-serving congressman in Pennsylvania history. He lived modestly. He owned a small car wash in Johnstown. He was regarded as a fierce defender and protector of his district, which had been decimated by the decline of the coal and steel industries.

When he died in 2010 at age seventy-seven, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates called Murtha “a true patriot.” Murtha was, in every respect, the antithesis of a made man in the Mafia. Or was he really?

Murtha was the ranking Democrat on the Appropriation Committee’s military subcommittee. This gave him a lot of clout. Like a Mafia capo in charge of a crew that earns big dollars for the family. Over the years, Murtha figured out how to funnel federal dollars not only to his home state but also to his relatives, former colleagues, and business associates. Sound familiar, President Biden? In the Mafia, this kind of diversion of money gets you killed. In government, diverting taxpayer money to outside sources provides the perpetrator with big benefits. As the Mafia boss Carlo Gambino once said, “Judges, lawyers, and politicians have a license to steal. We don’t need one.” I’m not saying Murtha slipped our federal tax dollars into his own pockets, but his deal-making and control over appropriation earmarks made him a lot of friends. He rarely had trouble getting reelected, and his campaign coffers were always brimming with donations from grateful constituents.

Although his first campaign slogan was “One Honest Man is Enough,” Murtha used his power in Congress to pass out checks like a rich uncle at Christmas. In the 1980s, Murtha was nearly ensnared in an FBI sting operation when he was videotaped discussing payoffs from a federal agent posing as a sheik seeking favors. Years later, a lobbying firm Murtha worked with was raided by federal agents who were investigating improper campaign contributions. Another lobbying firm paid for a driver for Murtha, and a principal in that firm—a former appropriations staffer who worked with Murtha—was later sent to jail for two years for improper campaign contributions. In 2007, the Justice Department began investigating why Murtha was directing earmarks to clients of his brother Robert’s “consulting” firm. The feds were particularly interested in earmark recipients who had no offices, websites, or phone numbers, appeared to do little work, and were owned by principals at the lobbying firm.

Murtha’s activities were one of the worst-kept secrets on Capitol Hill. No one blew the whistle because few dared to challenge Murtha for fear he would cut them out of the appropriations process altogether. In Congress, that’s known as power. But extortion is a better term for that kind of retaliation.

The Price of Power

My point here isn’t that Murtha was a remarkably deceitful politician. My point is that Murtha’s behavior is standard practice today in American politics. Politicians like Murtha leave for Washington as members of the middle class and return home millionaires. They enrich themselves through earmarks, grants, and regulations that benefit their family members and associates. They serve a few terms doing the bidding of powerful industry lobbyists, and then they leave office for high-paying jobs with the very same firms they previously regulated.

It’s nice work if you can get it.

But most politicians don’t have to leave office to get rich. Mitch McConnell, the Republican from Kentucky, has quadrupled his wealth since being elected. The key words being “since being elected.” He’s worth around $12 million, although his Senate salary is only $174,000 a year.

Nancy Pelosi was already well off when she was first elected to Congress but has managed to get even wealthier using her office. For instance, she secured nearly $1 billion for a light rail project that also happened to increase the value of a San Francisco office building she owns by an estimated 150 percent. She’s also directed earmarks to waterfront redevelopment and beautification projects adjacent to other properties she owns. In 2010, she helped Rep. Bernie Thompson, a Democrat from Michigan, become chair of the powerful House Homeland Security Committee. That same year, Thompson got an earmark to upgrade the Napa Valley airport near other properties Pelosi and her husband own. All this time, Pelosi has hypocritically vowed to root out corruption on Capitol Hill. “What we have to do is drain the swamp in Washington, DC,” she said in 2006. I guess she meant every swamp but her own.

Harry Reid got $18 million to build a bridge no one wanted—except Reid himself, who happened to own land near the bridge. (Harry was a friend to the Mob going way back.) Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert made millions by buying some land in Illinois and then finding federal money to build a highway next to it. Finding “federal money” typically means using your tax dollars for pet projects that will line their pockets.

Like most concerned Americans, I’ve watched these shenanigans from a distance for many years. But unlike most citizens, I can see our elected officials’ behavior for what it really is—a Mafia-style Democracy. Our elected leaders have become racketeers proficient in carrying out Mob-like rackets, and we are all suffering as a result. They are getting rich as they exert increasing control over our lives.

This is how the Mafia operates too. It’s all about control.

I can say this because from the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s, I was a made member of the Colombo crime family in New York City. I started out as a soldier and eventually became a caporegime with a crew of nearly three hundred made men and associates. I was known as an “earner” because I developed illegal schemes that made the family millions of dollars each week.

During my years in the Mafia, a.k.a. Cosa Nostra in America, we infiltrated almost every major industry in America. We controlled the unions, the construction sites, and the shipyards. We bribed judges, city and state officials, and local cops. We created “associations” to control the cost of garbage collection. We controlled gambling and the numbers. We bribed athletes to shave points so we could maximize our gambling profits. We shylocked, and when businesses couldn’t repay our exorbitant interest rates, we took over their operations and pocketed their earnings. We controlled all of the concrete contractors in the city, taking a percentage off every cubic foot of concrete poured for big developers like Jerry Gutterman, Harry Helmsley, and Donald Trump. We extracted kickbacks from contractors putting up police stations and prisons.

I left that life in 1995. After serving almost eight years in prison on racketeering conspiracy and tax charges, I decided my life as a gangster/racketeer was over and that I needed to walk away. By then, the Mob in New York was a shadow of its former self. The feds had put away most of the crime family bosses, and made men and associates were testifying against the Mob to avoid long prison terms. Federal agents had legal wiretaps everywhere. The life we knew was over. So I quit and moved to California with my wife, Camille, and our children and never looked back. I did look over my shoulder from time to time—both the government and the media say I am the only capo to ever publicly walk away from the Mafia, not enter a witness protection program, and go on to lead a fairly normal life with my family—but I’ve never testified against any of my former Mob associates nor did I do anything or reveal anything to law enforcement to cause any former associate to spend even a day in prison. Although I was very aware that leaving the Mafia could have resulted in severe consequences, I do not live in fear for my life.

But I do fear for the future of my children and grandchildren, who are currently living in a land governed by all too many corrupt politicians. And that’s why I’m writing this book.

How the Mob Rule

When you’re a “made man,” it is almost inevitable that you will end up in prison at some point. That happens when you’re engaged in criminal activities. And when you do, it’s almost required that you read a copy of The Prince by Machiavelli. So that’s what I did.

Niccolò Machiavelli is considered by many to be the father of modern political science. He was a writer and a diplomat in sixteenth-century Italy, and his name has become synonymous with deceit.

In The Prince, he recommends that leaders embrace immoral behavior—including violence and deception—to maintain power. A leader must appear to be virtuous, but to maintain power, the leader sometimes has to lie, steal, and cheat, Machiavelli said. You must do whatever it takes to maintain control of...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 10.5.2022
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Biografien / Erfahrungsberichte
• ISBN-10: 1-5445-3080-3 / 1544530803
• ISBN-13: 978-1-5445-3080-2 / 9781544530802