Lenny Francese (1934-1993) was an Italian-American mobster who was affiliated with the Detroit Partnership Mafia organization.
Biography[]
Lenny Francese was born in Sicily, Italy in 1934, and his family emigrated to the United States and settled in Detroit, Michigan. Francese became a member of the Detroit Partnership organization of the American Mafia, rising to a senior position within the mob's hierarchy.
In 1993, consigliere Vincenzo Coccotti sent Francese and several other mobsters to Los Angeles to retrieve a stolen shipment of $500,000 worth of cocaine from the fugitive newlyweds Clarence Worley and Alabama Whitman, and the mobsters tracked down the couple to the Beverly Ambassador hotel, where the mobsters found that the LAPD had crashed the deal between the couple and Lee Donowitz.
The ensuing standoff devolved into a three-way shootout between Donowitz's bodyguards, the LAPD, and the mobsters, each of whom wanted the cocaine, and Francese was among the dead.