On October 31, 1975, Michael Franzese was walked into a room with a top Mafia boss seated at the head of a horseshoe table, with underbosses to his left and right. Michael, then 24, walked towards them and held out his hand, where they cut his finger with a knife.
His blood spilled onto a card placed into the cup of his hands, depicting a saint, which was then set alight. “‘Michael Franzese, you are born again into a new life, Cosa Nostra.
“Violate what you know about this life, betray your brothers, and you will die and burn in hell like the saint is burning in your hands. Do you accept?’ And I said ‘yes I do,’” Michael, now 71, tells the Manchester Evening News.
