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A former mobster once retracted his statement regarding the connection between Michael Jordan's gambling habits and his father James Jordan's murder.
Michael Franzese previously told Vlad TV in a 2019 interview that Jordan's father was murdered because of MJ's gambling debts.
"There was a lot of heat on the fact that because of Michael's gambling habit, his father paid the price," Franzese said. "And the NBA didn't want the press, so they asked him to leave for a while, and that's when he went to play baseball. And when things settled down, that's when he came back. The plan was always, from what I was told, for him to come back.
"Now again, I heard this from a source, I believe was pretty knowledgeable, somebody I knew pretty well, inside the NBA. So, for me, it's second-hand information, but I thought it was reliable. And then putting it all together, knowing that Michael did have this gambling issue, that is very possible that that could happen."
However, Michael Franzese had to retract his statement following Vlad TV's interview with one of the suspects in James Jordan's murder. Daniel Green confessed that he didn't even know he helped dispose the body of Michael Jordan's father.
Green's comments debunked all the consipiracy theories surrounding MJ and his father. "His Airness" did have problems with gambling, but it had no connection to his father's murder. It was an unfortunate incident involving two young men wanting to rob someone with a new car.
Franzese apologized for his earlier statements but was adamant that he only revealed what he heard from NBA circles. Nevertheless, the former mobster made his retraction in stride and was happy that the murder had nothing to do with MJ's gambling and the mafia.
"I'm sorry if I even inferred that at the time," Franzese said. "But that's what I heard at the time. There was rumors going around, and everything was heated at the time with Michael, and people were just speculating. I'm not glad to hear what happened, but I'm glad to hear it had nothing do with Michael because that would be a tough thing to carry around in life."
Michael Jordan briefly retired after his father's death
Michael Jordan shocked the world on Oct. 6, 1993 when he announced his retirement from basketball. Jordan admitted that he lost his desire to play the game, and one of the factors was his father's death three months earlier.
The Chicago Bulls legend would then start playing baseball on Feb. 7, 1994. Jordan's absence from the NBA didn't last long, as he returned on March 18, 1995. He would go on to win three more championships, from 1996 to 1998, before retiring for a second time.
