You meet the most interesting people in solitary confinement.
For former New York mobster Michael Franzese, in prison on a parole violation, those people happened to be Erik and Lyle Menendez, encountered while serving time in a Los Angeles County federal correctional institution.
Notorious for having killed their parents – including father Jose, a big shot in show business who they claim sexually abused them – the Menendez Brothers were in the midst of their matching 1996 life sentences without parole. Since 2018, years after meeting Franzese, they have been in Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in Southern California.
But they not be locked up for long. There is now a movement afoot for them to have those sentences shortened and for them to be released. It was energized by the Ryan Murphy produced Netflix biographical series “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.”
Dropped this past September, it tells the tale of the murderous brothers, their alleged sexual predator of a father Jose and their laissez faire mother Kitty. Franzese gave it a rave on his YouTube channel and also stated the brothers “did enough time.”
Franzese arrives at this opinion via firsthand knowledge. “Lyle opened up to me and told me about the abuse,” Franzese told The Post. “I asked him a lot of questions. I have a good BS detector, and I believe that they were abused by their father.”
That said, he remembers something strange that came out of Lyle’s mouth in anticipation of not dying behind bars: “I’ll never forget him telling me that [if he gets released from prison] ‘I don’t know what I’m going to do without my father.’”
Despite everything, Franzese added, “They were so dependent on him. [Lyle] always expressed love for his father — even though there was the abuse from his father. He said he lived in fear of him. But he was so much a force in his life.”
Now, the former mobster is among a varied cadre of actors, relatives, influencers and others rallying for early release of the brothers. Kim Kardashian, Rosie O’Donnell, the rapper Anerae “X-Raided” Brown and a couple dozen relatives have all stepped up to rally for reconsideration of lifetime incarceration.
Los Angeles County’’s embattled district attorney George Gascón – amid whispers the ultra-liberal DA is desperate for a public comeback as he face challenges to reelection in November – announced he would review the sentences of Lyle and Erik and decide on whether or not reconsideration is justified.
He briefly posted and quickly deleted a screenshot of a letter from Erik to his cousin, uncovered by Robert Rand, who wrote a nonfiction book about the brothers’ murders. “I’ve been trying to avoid dad,” the letter stated. “Every night I stay up thinking he might come in.”
It is believed by some to offer proof of the alleged molestations.
The brothers have been imprisoned since 1990, convicted of first-degree murder for parricide – murder of their parents in 1989. They claimed Jose sexually abused them while mother Kitty stood by in silence. Roy Rosselló, of the boy band Menudo, made similar claims against Jose in the years since they were convicted.
Erik and Lyle maintained the dual killings, which they have admitted to carrying out were in self-defense, as they claim their parents would have killed them to stop them exposing their father.
For years, the Menendez brothers were pretty much a punchline, and the likelihood of them seeing the light of day seemed remote. Then Ryan Murphy did the Netflix series covering the alleged sexual abuse, murders and two trials – the first being declared a mistrial.
The series was panned in Variety and the brothers hated it, insisting it is “horrible” and “filled with blatant lies,” particularly objecting to scenes which hint the brothers had an incestuous relationship.
Murphy responded, “It’s really, really hard – if it’s your life – to see your life up on screen.”
But then something unexpected happened. “Younger people saw it and were so outraged by the characterization,” Lyle and Erik’s lawyer Mark Geragos told The Post. “The Ryan Murphy thing created a backlash that was really helpful. To that extent, when Ryan Murphy says, ‘I’m the best thing that ever happened to them,’ it’s because he was so over the top. It’s so outrageous that I think the backlash helped.”
Much as Franzese highly regarded Lyle and Erik, he had no respect for their post-murder behavior – particularly a luxe shopping spree that had them spending their dead parents’ money on Rolex watches and a Porsche – which was said to have shown a lack of grief that put law enforcement on their trail.
“I can tell you that those guys were not real criminals … they were amateurs,” said Franzese. “They didn’t act properly after this whole thing was done. I mean they went out and bought a car! They should have been doing the opposite.”
Since the series dropped the brothers have also captured the interest of reality star turned social justice advocate Kim Kardashian.
She wrote in an essay for NBC, “They are kind, intelligent and honest men … My hope is that Erik and Lyle Menendez’s life sentences are reconsidered.”
Rosie O’Donnell claims to have been penpals with Lyle for 30 years, following a “Larry King Live” appearance. She ignored the advice of Barbara Walters, who warned, “He’s a murderer. He’s very cunning.”
These days, O’Donnell and Lyle speak frequently on the phone – his wife, former magazine reporter Rebecca Sneed, made sure they connected on Mother’s Day 2023 – and she hugs the brothers when she visits them in prison. O’Donnell described herself as a “big sister” and as a “cheerleader” for their freedom.
The rapper Anerae “X-Raided” Brown has gone public about the brothers encouraging him to take prison classes, enroll in Narcotics Anonymous and to renounce his violent past as a Crips gang member who landed in jail for being involved with a murder.
“They have served the time equivalent to the crimes they committed from the perspective of being victims of child abuse, sexual abuse and psychological abuse,” Brown, now free, told The Post. “I very much believe that they have rehabilitated themselves and dozens of other men – including myself.”
Earlier this week, at a downtown Los Angeles news conference, Menendez family members, young and old, rallied for the release of Lyle and Erik. Joan Andersen VanderMolen, the 92-year-old sister of Kitty, has expressed unflagging empathy for her nephews. “It became clear,” she said, “that their actions – while tragic – were the desperate response of two boys trying to survive the unspeakable cruel[ty] of their father.”
Though it is unclear what their finances would be like when they leave jail – “I’ve never asked about it,” said Geragos who believes any leftover family money “is long gone” – rapper Anerae “X-Raided” Brown has no worries.
“They have powerful allies, including myself [who would] find it unacceptable for the Menendez brothers to not be financially secure,” X-Raided said.
But not everybody is willing to write off the blood that is on the hands of the Menendez brothers. Their uncle, Milton Andersen, Kitty’s 90-year-old brother, would like to see them remain in jail for life. Andersen maintains, according to his attorney Kathy Cady, “his nephews were not molested.”
As Cady told Eyewitness News of Andersen, “He believes that is a fabrication and that the motive was pure greed.”
Brown acknowledges that “nobody gets to put a cap on the amount of time for which people are hurting,” but he does believe that, out of incarceration, Lyle and Erik Menendez will contribute mightily to society. “They’ve gotten plenty of time in terms of the crime and the motivation behind it. The brothers’ success and the way they’ll perform in society, once they are released, will justify everything.”
