The target of a three-and-a-half year undercover operation by New York's Organized Crime Control Bureau, Sonny was characterized by the New York Post as "...a middle echelon member" of one of New York's five mob families. His arrest resulted in a three year sentence in State Prison, where he maxed out in facilities like Sing Sing, Dannemora, Downstate, and Arthurkill.

  Convicted later of racketeering, under the R.I.C.O. Organized Crime Statute, by Rudy Giuliani's office, and sentenced to seven years in Federal Prison, Sonny Girard again served the maximum time allowed under the law. It was during that term that he wrote the first of his three novels, "Blood of Our Fathers," which was published by Pocket/Simon & Schuster.