Today Wendy Williams had VH1’s Mob Wives pay her a visit. Rumor has it that Mob Wives is her new favorite reality show. It’s my first time watching Wendy and, of course, they saved the best for last. At 9:45 they bring out the four wives and after intros, there is a rapid fire interview.
Wendy announces that she is “obsessed” with VH1’s new show. She says she loves it, as all the women exchange hugs and kisses for the first minute of their segment. All four women are introduced and Wendy says Carla looks like Stacy London…“she gets that a lot.”
The questions start with “what surprised you most about your new found celebrity?” The answers varied from how quickly the show took off to lots of positive responses, but not all positive. Renee chimes in that she is hearing things like she is an inspiration as a strong, single mom. My first reaction to that was saying outloud, “Seriously, an inspiration?”
Then Wendy goes over their alleged ties to the mob. Wendy doesn’t know if she needs to use the word “allegedly” all the time and I have that problem too. All four women answer in unison, “yes!” So I guess Wendy and I will have to keep sprinkling it in. Anyway, we run down the list of alleged mob connections. Karen says Sammy Gravano (we don’t need to use alleged for her because he wrote a tell all book. Renee says her father, Anthony Graziano, who the Feds claim is a “high ranking member” of a crime family. Carla says her husband Joe, who recently got out of jail for stock fraud, but her real connection is her “uncle,” without elaborating further. Drita answers that it’s her husband Lee, who works for the mob and is a bank “burglar.” Some discussion occurs as to the difference between bank “robber” and bank “burglar.” I learned that a burglar never uses weapons, a robber does. Once again my skepticism rears it’s ugly head.
Interestingly enough, Karen discusses how her father cooperated with authorities and left the witness protection program to live in Arizona, where she and other family members joined him eleven years ago. She admits that her father was running a drug ring back in 2000 in which she and her brother participated, but that her father took the fall for her and her brother. She is back in New York, not just for the show, but for her new book.
Wendy immediately goes to Renee and asks if she has issues with Sammy for snitching. Renee, unlike her passionate response on the show, kind of downplays her answer, saying she has issues not just with Sammy, but with all snitches.
Finally, Wendy asks about their kids. Renee says AJ is good, he takes it like a man. Carla says her husband came home recently and will appear on the show. The separation is going well and they are parenting the twins together. And Drita relates a story about how her being on the show has actually helped her daughter make new friends. Drita reveals, “Aleeya went to school — this little girl went up to her and said, ‘I can’t believe your mom is on that show. My dad’s in jail [too],’ Aleeya goes, ‘You’re dad’s in jail too?’ And the little girl goes, ‘Yeah.’ The other little girl goes, ‘My dad’s not around. Now I feel comfortable.’ And they became friends.”
What a touching note to end on, the children of convicts bonding!
Joy Behar, an opinionated and outspoken Italian American woman, invited the four mob wives to be guests on her show Thursday, April 21st. They had a lively discussion and the thing that struck me most was the lack of any and all profanities used. Not one single F-Bomb. I barely recognized the women at all, if it were not for their grating voices.
Joy starts with Karen Gravano and gets right to the point of asking what her father’s claim to fame is in the mob. Karen nonchalantly answers that it’s either being an underboss for the Gambino crime family or his cooperation with Federal authorities by turning state’s evidence against John Gotti. Joy says, “Some people call that a ‘snitch’ how do you feel about that?” Karen justifies her father’s actions because John Gotti “betrayed” him and “double-crossed” him. Joy adds, that many people are not happy with Sammy Gravano so “are you afraid of getting whacked?” Karen answers she is not afraid, she refuses to live in fear. At first she says her family was angry with her father for cooperating, and didn’t go into witness protection with him. But later on, her father explained to her why he felt he had to “rat” after hearing the tapes the Feds had where Gotti was trying to throw him under the bus.
Joy moves on to Renee Graziano, the second “big name” in the group and archrival of Karen. Renee is careful to say that “According to the government” she is the daughter of “high-ranking mobster” Anthony Graziano. Which leads us to her sister, Jenn, who is creator of the show, and described as “brilliant” for putting these four women together. Renee admits to being the “sensitive” one who cries at the drop of a hat. Funny, but I don’t recall seeing that side of her. Now we get to the question of the day from Joy: “But, isn’t your father upset or perturbed, that you guys are on this show?” Implying, of course, that the women may divulge mob secrets such as “where all the bodies are buried.” Karen volunteers that her father wrote a tell-all-book so he has no secrets to hide. Renee is not talking, as far as she knows, her father hasn’t killed anyone, yet Joy seems to think, it’s part of Mafia initiation, based on all the mob movies she has seen.
On to Carla, whose father was in the mob, but she married a stockbroker. Interestingly, Carla immediately claims her father was not in the mob! So, Joy wants to know how is it she is affiliated with the mob. She says, “They say my uncle was involved.” And finally we get somewhere, if she is telling the truth, that her uncle is Bruno (Facciolo). Moving on to Carla’s husband, who was just released from prison for stock fraud, which Carla now considers a crime. She says they are in the process of getting divorced and are no longer together anyway. I get the impression Carla is not very comfortable discussing anything Mob related and I notice her husband‘s name is not even mentioned. Later in the interview Joy goes back to question her affiliation again and comes away with the same answer from Carla…the uncle Bruno connection.
Joy addresses Drita: “You are not even Italian…you are Albanian.” And, in the way of background information adds, that Lee D’avanzo has been in prison 10 out of the 12 years they have been married. Lee is still in prison with no release date as yet. Drita admits that life has been difficult and has no idea what she will do about her marriage, if and when, her husband is released.
After the commercial break Joy is asking about the fact that Karen was with Lee before he married Drita. “What happened there?” Karen seems to downplay her relationship of seven years and living with Lee by saying, “I used to date Lee for a while and then I moved to Arizona…then she started dating him…and they got married.” It is implied that there will be an episode where these two women finally have it out about Lee.
Jump to Jersey Shore…that show bores Joy, whereas she likes Mob Wives. Drita volunteers that the difference between the two shows is that “they” have responsibilities and have lived hard lives, while the kids on the Jersey Shore just party wild all the time. Joy, as an Italian American, is quite offended by Jersey Shore, but not Mob Wives. Her reasoning is this: she feels that people know the mob is a subculture of Italian Americans, and all Italians do not belong to the mob. But, Jersey Shore is a different matter, because they are portraying all Italians as “gafoons” (fools, idiots) like they are. Somewhat of a compliment to her four paesans, who she doesn’t find offensive at all.
Joy asks Renee about her ex-husband, Hector Pagan, who isn’t Italian…what’s up with that? Renee tells the story of how Hector was coming to pick her up and her father asks her what’s his name. Renee answers, when he gets here he will tell you. They go back and forth a couple of times until Hector arrives. Graziano asks him his name and he replies Hector Pagan Jr. Graziano answers, according to Renee, your name is Junior, forget all that other stuff, you’re Junior. And, for 23 years, he has been going by Junior.
Joy poses a poignant question: “What do you think is the biggest misconception about the mob and the mafia?” They answer that the biggest misconception is that people look at mobsters as bad men when actually they are good husbands and fathers…family men.
Yes indeed, they are “family men” in more ways than one!
Video Clip of show:
http://joybehar.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/20/mob-wives-sneak-preview/?hpt=tv
