Exactly 50 years ago tonight, on Halloween 1975, I stood in a dimly lit room and gave my soul to the devil. At 11 PM, Tom DiBella pricked my finger, blood fell to the floor, and I cupped my hands as they burned a saint’s picture. “Tonight, Michael Franzese, you are born again into Cosa Nostra,” he said. “Betray your brothers and you will die and burn in h*ll like this saint.” I was 21 years old, and I took that blood oath very seriously. But here’s what they don’t tell you - I didn’t want this life. I became a made man to save my father from a 50-year prison sentence. Tonight, 50 years later, I’m reflecting on that Halloween night that changed everything. The ceremony, the fear, the moment my dad told me in Leavenworth: “If you ever had to k*ll somebody, could you do it?” This is my most personal story - why I took the oath, what it cost me, and how God delivered me from a life where everyone I knew is either d*ad or in prison for life.

I Waited 50 Years to Tell You What Happened on Halloween 1975