 Welcome into the original gangsters podcast. I'm your host Scott Bernstein and we're gonna hit a Lightning rod of a topic right now a hot button issue. That's been percolating online for for a little bit Definitely more recently. We're gonna talk about Michael Francis who I just want to you know get off You know get off my chest right off the bat. I got nothing but respect for this guy He is literally a genius both in what he did as a wise guy and What he's been able to do in his legitimate business over the last 30 years he you know that this idea of You know people branding themselves and and making themselves a brand that's kind of been more you know in the Influencer social media era Mike Francis like he invented the blueprint for this in the 90s So, you know, he he's a real visionary and pioneer and there's a lot of debate about whether or not He cooperated or what his cooperation can be categorized as You know, is he a Rat is he a snitch? Is he a cooperator? Again, I that's neither here nor there. I'm not I'm not into editorializing I'm just gonna give you the straight facts and Norby Walters a Incredibly powerful prominent and popular music agent power broker in the entertainment industry he passed away this week at age 92 and Back in 1989. He was on trial for Racketeering related to a sports agency that he opened up And I'm gonna give you a little backstory on him in a quick second and Michael Francis was the star witness at that trial and Norby Walters was initially convicted Sentenced to I believe 10 years in prison and then never did any of the time the the case was thrown out His conviction was thrown out and he went about his life returned to the case was out of Chicago returned to his life in Hollywood and and You know was was brought right back in with with open arms over the last two and a half three decades He's been holding a pretty Swanky Oscar viewing party in Beverly Hills. It's gotten a lot of attention from the tabloids But he is without question. It's not it's not really debatable. These are facts during his Business career starting back in the 60s Maybe even in the late 50s in the New York nightclub restaurant scene he was under the protection of Sonny Francis the legendary underboss of the Colombo crime family and Michael Francis his dad and mentor and He was paying tribute From his nightclub businesses in his restaurants lounges Sonny Francis went to prison in the late 60s early 1970s and According to testimony and FBI Documents records court filings Norby Walters continued to pay tribute to the Francis crew through Michael And then at some point he goes to LA and Becomes the number one music agent booking agent for all of the biggest R&B disco Funk and Soul acts of the 70s and 80s. I mean, it's just a a list of Hall of Famers the Commodores Marvin Gaye Cool in the game Gloria Gaynor Dionne Warwick Luther Vandross new edition the Jackson five there was just you know, he represented them all and According to Michael Francis and and his testimony the the Colombo saw a piece of that business and That that piece of that business grew as the business group there was a incident an anecdote that comes up in a FBI file Record document and Michael Francis also testified to this that after Sonny Francis got out of prison in 1979 he had It'd been a long time battle with the government over, you know, multitude of things but at the end they nailed him on a very questionable bank robbing conspiracy And then that's really what jammed him up until the end of his life kept on getting violated and going back to prison Into his you know He was in his 90s and 100 died at 103 a couple years ago that true og and it defines the term og You look up og in the dictionary Sonny Francis's faces is staring right back at actually so he gets out of prison in 1979 and he calls Norby Walters to a meeting by this point Norby Walters had become a really big deal in the music industry and Francis and the Columbus were seeing a piece of this But it all changed in 1979 when when Francis got out of prison and he He gets Sonny or he gets nor Norby Walters At a meeting and Sonny Francis says you all right All the kind of nickel and diming is now a thing of the past. I'm in for 50% I got half of your business and that continued through the 80s when he got into trouble and this is where Michael Francis's testimony comes into play Norby Walters had had found such success in the music industry decides that he wants to throw his hat into the world of sports agent team and in 1985 opens up a sports agency In a shady move, I don't know how illegal it was but in a shady move he Go in and throughout the 84 85 college Athletic season football and basketball Him and a partner of his go and they sign up like 60 College athletes that have pro potential and this is totally illegal in the in the eyes of the NCAA it's a huge violation in terms of college athletics but in in the world of the justice system it falls in some gray areas and With within those contracts that he's signing these kids to he's giving them cash advances and cars and trips jewelry At the end of the day He didn't turn out to be able to close on those deals and like 58 of the 60 people that he had signed up ended up going with Other agents once they turn pro But a lot of money had been Put out and norby welter's gotten trouble by trying to collect That money to some of these now pro at that point pro athletes that had taken money from him as amateurs There was racketeering As well as a mail fraud and wire fraud charges that he got hit with Francise gets nailed Michael Francise gets nailed in the end of 85 In a racketeering money laundering extortion all tied to Get various rackets, but if that the center of it was that you know classic You know brilliant, you know bootleg gas scam and he wants to leave the life and He doesn't have to testify against his father or any of the persicles or any of the Colombo bosses but he had to testify against norby walters takes to stand in 1989 he admits to Not so much with the sports agency, but when he's given backstory he admitted to you know muscling a lot of famous Musical acts in order for them to stay keep their business with norby. He mentioned specifically The Jackson five the on Warwick new edition. I think with the new edition guys they wanted to leave norby and Michael Francise steps in and says, oh, you know that You know that thirty thousand dollar alone that norby gave you well twenty of that is mine and You ain't going anywhere and another situation. He goes to the Jackson five Manager with with some guys with him including his best friend at that time champagne Larry Coroza who ends up getting killed issues with drugs and Francise's sister and They tell the Jackson five owner that you know both the Jackson five manager that You know that tour you're going on that you're trying to cut norby off from it You ain't going on a tour unless Norby's and us, you know by proxy are in for a piece of it And then same thing with the on Warwick's Representation and this was all testified to a date 1989 trial, but Michael Francise now again he's a superstar and You know, he's he's laid the foundation for all the stuff that's going on online right now and YouTube and branding He's just he's really the gold standard. So I Got nothing but respect for the guy, but with norby welter's passing I thought I'd add some clarification to that whole situation and that's you know the long and the short of it for OG pod Scott Bernstein