Jennifer Graziano, creator and executive producer of VH1’s new Mob Wives show, is no longer on speaking terms with her father Anthony Graziano, who is currently serving time in prison in North Carolina for racketeering crimes. The reason for the rift is her new business venture. Jennifer is also the sister of Renee, one of the four women featured on the show. Anthony Graziano is not happy with his daughters involvement in a show that talks about mob life.
Jenn Graziano is said to be a graduate of New York University with a Master’s degree in Business. It is nice to see that she is putting her education to good use these days. Unfortunately, this wasn’t always the case.
Prior to starting up her production company, Jenn has had her own brush with the law when she was 28. Documents, from the United State Court of Appeals indicate, her legal issues occurred around the year 2000, while Jenn was a graduate student. She was allegedly charged with being involved in a marijuana distribution ring, allegedly run by Renee’s husband and her brother in-law, Hector “Junior” Pagan. DEA Agent, Michael Cline, is reported to have documented various incriminating acts, in the arresting complaint, implicating Jenn. Some of these alleged criminal acts include details, gotten from overheard conversations, “discussing pickups, work schedules, and paydays of runners who delivered pot to customers around the city.” (http://www.ipsn.org/)
Jenn started her career at Sony Entertainment in 2001 and worked in their Artist & Repertoire department. She left Sony to manage an R&B/hiphop artist, Frankee. Jenn is said to have written her number one, hit single, F.U.R.B. (FU Right Back) for her (links below). Her last position was director in the consumer lifestyle marketing department of MWW Group while also heading up her own company, Bounce Marketing, which paired artists with brand names such as Sony and Dodge.
JustJenn Productions is a new company and Mob Wives is its first production. It appears that Jennifer pitched the idea to The Weinstein Co (TWC) and Ben Silverman’s Electus production companies, who are credited as producers of the show along with JustJenn. The producers may have then pitched the show to various cable stations and it was picked up by VH1 with a commitment for a 10 episode series. Taping began around Thanksgiving 2010. The first episode aired on April 17th, 2011 and was watched by over 2 million viewers. JustJenn is currently operating out of TWC offices in LA and New York.
F.U.R.B. Official Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1K0pUSSFUo
F.U.R.B. Profanity version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_eVRqCH_Bk
