I Was There When the Castellano Hit Shook the Mafia – 40 Years Later

🍷 Have you tried my wine yet?: https://yt.franzesewine.com/ 💪🏼 Join Franzese Family: https://michaelfranzese.com/family/ Forty years ago today, December 16th, 1985, Paul “Big Paul” Castellano was shot and k*lled in front of Sparks Steak House in Manhattan. It sent shockwaves through New York and through every crime family, and I remember it like it was yesterday because I was deeply entrenched in that life – and three days later I was indicted on a major racketeering case myself. In this sit down, I walk you through what that hit meant to us on the street, what we really thought about Castellano as a boss, how John Gotti ended up taking over the Gambino family, and why the FBI pressure exploded after that night. I explain why I don’t buy the line that “Gotti alone caused the downfall of the mob,” and why I believe it was the RICO statute – pushed hard by Giuliani and the feds – that did the real damage. I also share my personal history with Castellano from my early days as a recruit driving top Colombo guys to meet him, how he was viewed as a businessman more than a street guy, the resentment over his money policies, and why a lot of men quietly weren’t sad to see him go. And I’ll show you how the Castellano hit fit into a much bigger story: the government’s war on the mob, corrupt prosecutions, and why even now I’m getting ready to expose cases where good men got railroaded. I Was There When the Castellano Hit Shook the Mafia – 40 Years Later 🤝 Book 1 on 1 Call With Me: https://michaelfranzese.com/book-1-on-1-call/ 🔥 Check out my store: https://store.michaelfranzese.com/ 🎙️ Michael Franzese Podcast on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3Eo39qb 📧 Interested in partnerships? partnerships@michaelfranzese.com 0:00 Chickens, Castellano, “I’ll prove it” 1:07 Intro, Christmas and today’s anniversary 1:47 December 16, 1985 – Castellano hit 2:29 Indicted three days after hit 3:49 1996 HBO “Gotti” recommendation 4:27 RICO starts destroying the mob 5:25 Sonny’s Market on Long Island 6:11 Bad chicken order, refund dispute 7:00 Summoned to Brooklyn sit down 7:52 Sit down with Castellano over disrespect 9:24 Gotti’s crew and drug rule 10:11 Wiretaps, damaging tapes, Paul pressing 11:15 Gotti decides to strike first 12:19 Setting up Sparks Steak House hit 13:19 Hit goes down, media explodes 14:32 Shockwaves, FBI intensity skyrockets 15:11 RICO, not Gotti, ruined mafia 16:33 Castellano seen as business guy 17:22 Heavy taxes, “White House” resentment 17:52 Support inside Gambinos for k*lling 19:09 Neil passed over for Castellano 19:51 Gotti “Teflon Don” vs Michael 20:16 Tease: upcoming corruption revelations 23:55 DOJ corruption worse than mafia 24:44 Reflecting on Castellano anniversary today Backbone Media Group Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices