DEA records, subj: John Franzese, aka "Sonny"

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:

All DEA records mentioning John Franzese, alias "Sonny," a member of the Profaci/Colombo organized crime family of Cosa Nostra. To assist in finding records, the following biographical information is known: date of birth, February 6, 1917; date of death February 23, 2020; US Bureau of Prisons listed Register Number is 70022-158.

The death of John Franzese was widely reported; additionally, Franzese was born over 100 years ago. While not necessary, a copy of Franzese's obituary as appeared in the NY Times is attached as a courtesy and to establish that privacy concerns are diminished viz. FOIA Exemption 6, 7(C) as well as the Privacy Act.

Please conduct a search of all DEA systems of records for both main-file records and cross-reference records for all relevant names, agencies and companies. Records of interest are all Investigative Filing and Reporting System records that can be found using the Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Information System. In addition, due to Franzese's longevity, I request a search of the any available legacy records from the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, including any dossiers or debriefings mentioning John Franzese personally.

If any potentially responsive records have been destroyed and/or transferred to NARA, then I request copies of the destruction or transfer slips as well as any other documentation relating to, mentioning or describing said transfer or destruction, to include but not be limited to confirmation that DEA has no other copies of said records.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 20 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

T. McElwee

To Whom It May Concern,

On February 24, 2020, I submitted the below request ("Freedom of Information Act Request: DEA records, subj: John Franzese, aka 'Sonny'") under the Freedom of Information Act.

Despite my correspondence, I have received no acknowledgement of my request and it has not been given a final determination nor have I been furnished an estimated completion date.

As twenty working days have elapsed without a substantive determination, I am appealing the constructive denial of my request, and asking for a determination that the agency must respond to my request, providing the documents or outlining reasons that they are exempt.

Best,
T. McElwee

To whom it may concern:

My thanks for this follow-up to my FOIA request, which was given Case Number 20-00550-F.

I would like to perfect the request. I believe due to the advanced age of John Franzese and his foreign birth, it is possible I had a mistaken source for birthdate information.

I have found references to Franzese's birthdate as both 2/6/1917 and 2/6/1919. However, his son Michael has referred to 1919 as his birthdate, and attached is a PDF of the old Federal Bureau of Narcotics's dossier which agrees with the 1919 birthdate.

A search for his records in a database yields a First-five-digits-of-Social Security Number: 099-12. I believe this reflects his own Social Security number; however, it is possible it is his namesake son's.

Additional identifiers are contained in the PDF attached.

-T. McElwee

Re: FOIA Case Number 20-00550-F.

Mr. Josh Delo,

Speaking to the background of the specific individual John "Sonny" Franzese, the subject is notable for an incredibly long career criminal and exceptional longevity; his rapsheet begins as early as 1938 and proved to be a prolific habitual re-offender through 2011 and possibly all the way to his 100th birthday.

It is for that reason I am interested in seeing the DEA's full array of documentation of his criminal career. I understand that this may be a very wide scope of records to search, so I would propose dividing the task into a few particular search queries, if the Administration prefers an ongoing/rolling release of records rather than an all-at-once release. This would go as follows:

1) First, release of the full results of a NADDIS "pointer index" search using name/date of birth which should contain summary-level information in the Investigative Reporting and Filing System (IRFS) system of records. This should be prioritized first as I believe it can be accomplished fairly quickly and with minimal redaction needed, the release of summary NADDIS/IRFS data has been generally upheld as releasable.

2) Release of underlying "legacy" records inherited by the DEA from the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. This would date 1938 to 1968, conveniently encalpsulating the first half of Franzese's criminal career. This is a long period but I believe it should be manageable, and (as noted by the scan provided earlier) at least a dossier is known to exist.

3) Finally, release of the modern DEA's records, which would begin 1968 and would extend to the present. However, I will note that there would likely not be much material until 1984, after which there may be records all the way through to the present.

I believe this to be the sensible and least-budensome path that will allow the GIS to move the quickest. If the GIS has a counter-offer, I have no objection to hearing it.

My thanks for helping perfect this request, it is greatly appreciated.

-T. McElwee

Ms. Wallace,

My thanks for your reply, and for reporting in good detail.

I believe the subject-only approach you suggest is the prudent, with the caveat that I would appreciate any top-level index of cross references so that I may review it for a possible follow up requests.

As to the subject of destroyed or transferred files, I do wish to ask that if slips documenting the destruction/transfer are located, they should be treated as responsive.

Thanks again for your diligence.

—TM