How furniture guru Franco Cozzo was haunted by the antics of his estranged son

Furniture magnate Franco Cozzo became a beloved figure in Melbourne for his no-nonsense TV ads in his thick Italian accent, but behind the beaming grin he was tormented by the antics of his wayward son who was jailed for drug dealing.

Cozzo, 88, died peacefully in Melbourne on Wednesday, surrounded by his wife and extended family.

It remains unknown whether Luigi 'Lou' Cozzo ever made peace with his estranged father in his final years.

Lou's evil deeds haunted his father for decades, leading to scandalous rumors that his furniture stores had been a front for an illegal drug trafficking empire.

Those rumors stemmed from the behavior of Lou, who was jailed for four years in 1989 after being arrested for dealing cocaine.

The story made national headlines, with Lou blaming his famous father for his crimes.

Lou was 34 years old at the time and had pleaded guilty to trafficking approximately 200 grams of cocaine.

His lawyer Con Heliotis, who still practices law, said Lou was devastated when his father left his mother to live with a woman 20 years his junior.

Mr Heliotis claimed that Lou – Franco's only son among nine daughters – had turned to cocaine in response to his father's infidelity, and was trying to gain the popularity denied during a “repressed childhood”.

Judge Glenn Waldron at the County Court of Victoria accepted that Lou had been “negatively affected” by his father's abandonment of the family, but said this did not excuse the drug dealing.

“Despite the substantial benefits derived from your father's successful business, you led a self-indulgent lifestyle… which led you to commit this most serious crime,” the judge said.

The cocaine smuggling operation had lasted just three and a half weeks in late 1988 and took place from Lou's home.

The finer details of the case were lost to the Melbourne public in the years that followed, with endless rumors that Cozzo himself was a crime lord who had smuggled the drugs in his own furniture.

Cozzo rose to fame in the 1980s after creating a series of low-budget TV advertisements for his furniture stores.

His thick accent, which was a hybrid of Australian and Italian, made him an Australian sensation.

He was best known for his catchphrases, including “megalo, megalo, megalo!” and 'big sales, big sales, big sales!' – always with a reminder that his shops were in 'Brunswick and Foot-a-scray'.

He also spoke Greek, and combining the three languages ​​was so challenging that Channel Seven was unable to find someone who could properly translate his directions into English.

Although Cozzo spoke the jargon, he could not put them on paper.

In the years that followed, Cozzo appeared on television shows parodying himself and his famous advertisements.

He was loved by his beloved Western Bulldogs AFL team and had a mural of himself painted in his Footscray store.

His popularity was so great that singer and songwriter Tony Cursio wrote a song about him and his great television ads.

Last year, a documentary entitled Palazzo Di Cozzo was released, which highlighted his life.

Cozzo said that the choices made by documentary team Lou had nothing to do with him.

“Things happen, I can't do anything about it,” he said.

By 2016, things had turned so sour between Cozzo, then 81 years old, and Lou, then 58, that the famous furniture salesman had to appear in court over allegations that his son had threatened to kill him.

Cozzo reported the alleged threat to police after a phone conversation between the couple became heated when he refused to give his son $400.

“He called me a dog… told me I'll fix you up, I'll kill you,” said the Herald Sun then reported.

“He called me all the names my mouth can't say. I am ashamed.'

Cozzo claimed that Lou was his son in name only.

'If he were a son, Franco Cozzo would not appear in court. He is not a son. He's not my son,” Cozzo said.

'I have nothing to do with him, I don't want anything to do with him. He has no respect.

“I got him out of jail, gave him a car, gave him money, gave him everything, and look where I am today.”

Cozzo revealed that his relationship with Lou had been bad for years.

'I am a glorious man, everyone loves me. Only he doesn't love Franco Cozzo because he is jealous,” Cozzo told the court.

But Lou again portrayed his father as a controlling and manipulative man.

He said Cozzo was above the family emotionally, physically and financially and admitted the pair regularly argued about money.

'He thinks it's his money. It belongs to the company,” Lou said.

'The company I have worked for since birth. It's my curse.'

Lou would later be cleared of any wrongdoing, with prosecutors dropping the charges.

Cozzo himself was no stranger to bad publicity and was once accused of punching a reporter from 'The Truth' newspaper.

Footscray Council went to war with him over the way he promoted his name in his Footscray store and the vandals smashed the windows of his Brunswick store.

Cozzo denied that the attack on Brunswick came from a disgruntled customer.

“No, my customer, they are all happy and all my friends,” he told reporters at the time.

Cozzo was forced to deny that he had been involved in 'dark dealings' for much of his life.

“Mate, do you think Franco Cozzo is doing shady business?” he told the documentary team in Italian.

'Franco Cozzo sells furniture.'

Talks are already underway to convince the Victorian government to hold a state funeral for the Melbourne icon.