tliving’s blog



Premiering Sunday, April 17 at 8 p.m. the new reality show, Mob Wives, will air on VH1. Cameras will follow the lives of four Staten Island women who are “allegedly” associated with members of the mob.

Dressing in furs, high heels, dresses but living as a single mother life trying to make it on their own becomes difficult the ladies say. The women are long time friends who live in New York City’s, Staten Island.

The cast consist of four women; Renee Graziano, Karen Gravano, Drita D’avanzo and Carla Facciolo. The four women will have to pull everything together for themselves and family after their husbands or fathers were sentenced to prison for mob- related crimes.

To these women, “loyalty and family is everything.”

Renee Graziano is known as the drama queen of the group. She is the daughter of Anthony “The Little Guy” Graiano, the consigliore of the Bonanno crime family. He is serving 11-years in jail for tax evasion, racketeering, and conspiracy. She is divorced from Hector Pagan Jr., who was arrested last year for convicted of running a marijuana distribution. Together they have a son, AJ, who does not want to become involved with the mob.

She says, “Family is everything, without your family you’re alone. You’re right if you’re loyal, you’re wrong if you’re not loyal. Loyalty is everything.”

Karen Gravano is the daughter of mob turncoat Sammy “the Bull” Gravano, which is currently serving 19-years in prison for murders. She is returning home to the Staten Island after she was moved away for 10-years by the federal government’s witness protection program to Arizona. While she was in Arizona, she served years on probation after she was implicated in drug ring her father confessed to running.

“Family to me is extremely important. I feel like the people you need to be loyal to in life is the family,” says Gravano.

Drita D’avanzo comes from an Albanian household who was disowned when she married New Springville Boys gang member, Lee D’avanzo, who dated Karen Gravano before getting married. The couple has been married for 12-years but shortly after the marriage, Lee was sentenced to prison. He went to prison for bank robbery when Drita was pregnant with their first daughter, Aleeya. He was released three years ago, got a job and the couple had another daughter, Gizelle. But he was arrested again for a bank robbery, and is now serving a two to five year sentence. Drita is currently working as freelance make-up artist to support her family.

“Everything I do, everything I think to do, revolves around my family. Without my family I would have nothing,” says Drita.

Carla Facciolo grew up around the mob in Brooklyn, when her dad was sent to prison at the age of 7. She later married Joseph Ferragamo, a stock broker.  He is currently serving an 88-month sentence for stock fraud. Going through the process of divorce, Ferragamo in jail; Facciolo raises their twins by herself.

Facciolo says, “Family is everything. Without my mother, all the time I was alone, I would have been lost.”

The reality show revolves around Karen Gravano, daughter of Sammy “Bull” Gravano. Her father was the mob turncoat who testified against John Gotti and the Gambino crime family then later. She was moved to Arizona with her father and family as part of the federal government’s witness protection program.

She’s moving back to Staten Island after 10-years, where the daughter of the mob’s most famous “rat” is not welcome.

She said: “One of the reasons why I chose to go back is because I want to write a book about being the child of a gangster, I chose to write this book to close that chapter of my life so I can move on.”

“Mob Wives” will air for ten episodes of set in Staten Island, N.Y., credited Jennifer Graziano as the creator and executive producer of reality television series.