Mob Wives: Karen Gravano Speaks Out!

Karen addresses some issues the first ten minutes of video

The premiere episode of season four of Mob Wives is set to air in early December. The rumors that three wives have been dropped and a new Philly wife added has been pretty much confirmed. What we still don’t have is any legitimate explanation why. Carla is crying it’s about the money (money, money) and Ramona also says it about money and being lied to by the producers to stir up drama. Well now Karen is answering a few questions about it in a recent interview with This Is 50. You can hear it for yourself.

There is some indirect history or connection between Karen and new Philly Mob Wife, Alicia DiMichele Garafalo. Karen says Alicia’s whole story line is Karen. It seems that Karen’s father, Sammy Gravano, was responsible for the hit on Alicia’s father in law, Edward Garafalo, which is old news. But Karen says that his son, Edward “Tall Guy” Garafalo Jr., Alicia’s husband, wants to use his wife’s being on the show to help bolster the case against a man who was involved in his father’s murder by allegedly having her reveal information he hopes will reach jurors. Karen is pretty adamant in her interview. She feels the producers decided this would be a “good” story line for season four and she doesn’t agree it should be a one-sided story line.  It appears that this difference of opinion led to Karen’s being let go or quitting. Karen seems to feel that producers may have told Alicia that Karen wasn’t going to be on the show to get her to sign on. But, Karen adds, when she came back to do the show, the “dry snitch” Edward “Tall Guy,” who is currently in prison, allegedly didn’t want Karen on the show so he could get out his story on this 23 year old beef. And, although Karen will not be seen in season four, she says we will be hearing a lot about her because of this mob history. Karen is limited by contractual obligations not to reveal many facts that I’m sure she would love viewers to know. Karen has always operated from a position of truth and I’m sure it bothers her a great deal to have to withhold the truth or be faced with a lawsuit. In fact, she says as much in recent tweets.

I’ve heard Karen speak about how she was persuaded to join the cast of Mob Wives by her friend and Executive Producer, Jennifer Graziano. From what I’ve heard and read, I think it took quite a bit of convincing. Karen had to leave her daughter in Arizona to come back to New York to film the show. Karen had no idea what she would be facing on her return. Many in Staten Island, families of the victims of Sammy’s crimes, still harbored a great deal of  anger at Sammy and everyone in his family. They tried to block her book from being published and even tried claiming the profits from her best seller, Mob Daughter. It wasn’t an easy move on Karen’s part, she gave up a lot, but her lifelong childhood friend needed the Gravano name to help sell the series to a network and to insure viewers would tune in. She ultimately agreed. So when Karen says there would be no Mob Wives if she hadn’t joined the cast, I think it’s safe to say it’s the truth. Karen ends by saying the show shouldn’t even be called Mob Wives any more, it should be called Mob Stuff.

I guess we will see how season four gets along without three of the original wives and without the name that got viewers and the network interested in the first place.