'Goodfellas' creators were inspired by Michael Franzese, pictured, smiling with his arms crossed

Movies

Michael Franzese Walked Out of ‘Goodfellas’ After His Character Was Introduced

Michael Franzese was surprised to see a character named after him in 'Goodfellas' — which is what led him to walk out of the theater.

by Produced by Digital Editors

Published on August 20, 2022

3 min read

‘Goodfellas’ is based on a true story

Goodfellas is told through the eyes of Henry Hill, played by Ray Liotta. The character goes through his life fancying the mob life until he begins running errands for Paul Cicero’s crew. Soon, he becomes fully involved with Cicero and his associates, including Jimmy Conway and Tommy DeVito, all of whom were dangerous criminals.

Hill is depicted as a true hustler, always hustling his way into fortune and relationships, and even when it’s time for him to answer for his crimes, he manages to hustle the law and leaves scot-free. Goodfellas is actually a true story based on real-life events.

Nicholas Pileggi spoke to Hill while he was in witness protection after informing on his associates in the mafia. Pileggi wrote Wise Guy: Life In A Mafia Family through this information. Scorsese, who didn’t want to make another mob movie, read a review of the book and thought it to be the most honest portrayal of the mafia and the mob.

Scorsese and Pileggi worked out strategies to bring the book to the big screen. Hill received $480,000 for his contribution. Goodfellas was released in September 1990 and holds a 96% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Michael Franzese walked out of ‘Goodfellas’ due to one scene

In one Goodfellas scene, Liotta’s character walks through the Bamboo Lounge and introduces many of the mobsters in the room. Among those seen in the movie is Franzese, who is played by Joseph Bono. Although Franzese doesn’t appear again in the film, the scene could have landed him in trouble.

Franzese was a caporegime of the Colombo crime families. The former mobster turned his life around in 1991 while in prison. He left the mob in 1995 and moved to California, but after watching Goodfellas, Franzese was worried the movie would bring unnecessary attention to him.

While rating mafia movie scenes with Insider, Franzese recalled the time he and his wife went to watch Goodfellas when it came out. He said,

“I was in the theater. I had just gotten out of prison, and I went to see this with my wife. And after a few minutes, she looked at me, and she said, ‘Is this really what you guys did? Is this what your life was all about?”

Franzese said he tried rubbishing it off as mere imagination seeing as it’s a movie, but then his character came on. “No sooner do I say that than they introduce my character, and she looks at me, and I say, ‘C’mon, we got to go.’ And I walked out.”

Franzese didn’t understand why the film would name him, considering he was part of a different mafia family.

Michael Franzese’s time in the mafia

Before joining the mafia, Franzese attended Hofstra University and enrolled in a pre-med program. However, he had to leave school after his father was sentenced to 50 years in prison. Franzese was involved in a scheme to defraud the government in gasoline taxes and would reportedly make $1 million a week.

According to ScreenRant, after Franzese left the mob, he received several death threats, and contracts were put out on his life. The outlet notes that Franzese’s father allegedly approved one of those contracts.