Michael Franzese

Was I guilty of the crime that they indicted me on?

The one time that I took a plea, yes.

The other five times, no.

All right, we're going into a different area here, but let's talk about the paid informants.

In my experience, paid informants, and I'm gonna take, this even pertains to my brother.

I saw my brother get on a stand and testify against my father.

My brother was a paid informant, and as I sat there and watched him, I know he lied.

If my own brother will lie against his father, which is a very extreme situation, I am telling you, I know guys on the street.

That's where I grew up.

I know guys.

You give them money, you give them incentive.

And listen, it's a bad system.

It's a bad system.

I'm not saying you don't use informants.

I understand you have to use informants.

But to pay informants, I can give you so many cases where guys are doing time because of paid informants because these guys get up there and lie.

They have incentive to lie.

So when an informant comes to us, we're not going and knocking down Francis's door and taking him away, right?

There's a structure and things we have to follow in order to ensure that the information not only that's presented is accurate, but we also take into account, why is he coming forward with this information?

And you have to understand, we don't get to pick witnesses, right?