And I won't back down.

I want to say, baby, there ain't no easy way out.

Hey, everybody, thanks so much for joining us right here on the Right View.

Tonight, we are joined by former mobster, motivational speaker, and obviously so much more to him than just that. Michael

Francisi, Michael, welcome to the show. You, as I just advertised, former mobster, how does somebody go

from being a mobster to a motivational speaker, commentator, and so much more. You've had quite a life, my friend.

Well, Laura, honestly, first, thanks for having me. And, you know, if you would have said to me 25,

30 years ago that I'd be speaking to anybody in any place in the world, I would have said you're

crazy. You know, just looking back the way it happened, it was nothing that I planned. You know, I was actually

finishing up a 10-year prison sentence when all of the pro leagues, Major League Baseball, the NBA,

they came into the prison and asked me to do a video about gambling, you know, in professional

sports. Because I had a big operation on the street. We had a lot of

bookmakers working for us and a lot of ball players were gambling with us. So at that point,

I had made a decision to turn my life around and walk away from that life. So I participated in

that video. And then I got out of prison. They asked me to come to speak to the players. So I've actually been doing that for the last 25 years on both the pro and the college level.

And that's really how it all started.

Wow.

And I read that you, part of the reason you kind of transitioned away from that old life is because you found your faith while you were in prison.

Do you remember some exact moment? Like, did you have an

epiphany? How did that all come about? Yeah, I remember it, you know, very, very well, very clearly.

I was, I had done five years in prison. I got out on parole. I was home for 13 months. Very difficult

time for me. I had a lot of people upset with me because I walked away from that life. The government was upset with me. They were trying to get me to cooperate. And so I violated my parole and they threw me back in prison. And Lara, they were really upset with me. They said, you're never going to get out again. We're going to indict you on another case. And they put me in solitary that first night. And, you know, it was the first time of my life that I really felt that I lost control of everything. I was always kind of like your father-in-law and I can get anything done. I can handle it, no problem. But that night I felt really lost and I said, this is it. I'm going to lose my wife, you know, I'm going to lose my children. I'll never get out of prison. I had visited my father for 25 years. I said, if I got to spend the rest of my life like this, you know, God take me. And I was laying on the, you know, the little cot there they give you. And a prison guard walked by myself. And he said, Franzies, you don't look good. You

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