Mob Wives: Sexy Salvatore Gravano

Yes, I am embarrassed.  However, I am around here to blog about my opinion.  I know. I know.  Sammy the Bull was a murderer among other things.  I can't help it that the man was sexy back in the day.  Sammy the Bull was one HMMMPH, HMMMPH, HMMMPH fine.  You can argue with me in the comment box if you want.  I am sticking to my opinion.  Even as he was aging and allegedly going under the knife he could have starred in one of my naughty dreams.  I'd play cop.  He'd play robber trying to steal my goodies.  Okay, I know too much information.  I am just keeping it real.

However, as life proves to me as I get older than Donald Trump's bad hairdo, aging is not kind to everyone.  Some sexiness comes to an end.  We all don't age like fine wine without the help of botox, juvederm, face lifts, acid peels, cheek implants and teeth implants.

           Mister Salvatore Gravano still had sex appeal.

          Sammy getting caught up.  The life of crime has takened it's toll.

     

 Man, crime doesn't pay in the end. 

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I have to wonder who Salvatore could have been if he had gone straight long ago.  By all accounts Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" was extremely smart. I have to also think of his 19 victims and pain of their loved ones because he didn't.  So what's your take on Mr. Gravano?

Mob Wives: Bruno Facciolo, Carla’s Uncle

Carla has been very tight-lipped about her ties to the mob, even though that’s what is supposed to have gotten her on the show. I have been searching for her father, the one who went to prison when she was very young, and have come up empty. However, in a recent interview with Joy Behar, Carla mentions that her uncle Bruno was her connection to the mob, not her father. That brings us one step closer to finding Carla’s daddy.

Bruno Facciolo has a very interesting story. Bruno was allegedly a made man or “soldier” of the Lucchese crime family. He is said to have been a member of Vario’s crew, whose story was told in the “Goodfellas” movie. Bruno is said to have willingly performed hits, collect loans, rig horseracing, and whack rats and witnesses. He also was said to have owned a nice little Italian restaurant in Brooklyn, called “Bruno’s,” where he was a chef.

Unfortunately for Bruno, two NYPD detectives, Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa, who were on the “family” payroll as associates, allegedly accused Bruno of being an informant. Bruno’s murder was ordered based on their word. In August, 1990, Bruno was executed by the detectives and by mobster Louis Diadone, who was eventually found guilty of the murder in 2004. Bruno was led to a garage where Diadone and the two associates stabbed and shot him to death and then stuffed a dead canary in his mouth. The dead canary is a classic mob message, sent as a warning to all mobsters, who think of becoming informants, to let them know anyone who “sings“ to law enforcement will suffer the same fatal ending. Bruno was found in Brooklyn, a few days later, stuffed in the trunk of his car. According to investigators, suspicion that Bruno was guilty of “ratting” was untrue, however in the mob, even the slightest impression of wrong doing can and will get you killed.

Louis "Louie Bagels" Diadone 

Which leads us to the “Daddy” connection. Bruno Facciolo is allegedly the brother of Louis "Louie" Facciolo, who is reported to have been an “associate” of the Gambino crime family. The fact that Louie Facciolo is the brother of Bruno, makes him a viable candidate to be Carla’s father. The allegation that he was an “associate” means, by definition, that he was not a made man or official member of the mob. So, when Carla tells Joy Behar that her father was not a member of the mob, she is technically correct. Therefore, Louis being the brother of Bruno and a mob “associate,” gives us two good reasons to suspect that he may be Carla‘s dear old dad. Hopefully, one day soon, we will be able to put this question to rest.



Mob Wives: Lingo Of The Mob

My name is Chiara. In Italian that means “light” or “clear.” In this blog I am going to shed some light on the language used by the mafia so it all becomes clearer to you. The Mob has a language all it’s own. It might be fun to get familiar with some of the standard, more popular vocabulary which may come out of the “mouths of the babes” on VH1’s new show Mob Wives. If, during the course of the show, other words come out in their conversation, you will find them translated in my blog review of the episode. Now let’s get down to business!

La Cosa Nostra - translates into “Our Thing” and refers to the Mafia in the US

There are/were five Italian American crime families in New York: Bonanno, Colombo, Gambino, Genovese, and Lucchese.

The Mafia is an organization and, like any other business, ranks its members:

The Boss or Don is the head of the Mafia family. He decides who gets killed and gets a portion of all money made by his workers.

The Underboss is the one that runs the family and oversees all the other workers. He is next in line for the position of Boss. There is only one of these per family.

The Consigliere is an advisor to the Boss and assists him in making important decisions. He also represents the Don in meetings within the family and with other crime families. There is usually only one of these in a family.

Caporegimes or captains are in charge of a crew of workers/soldiers. They answer to the underboss and collect money from the workers to give to the Boss, underboss, consigliere and keeps some for himself. There can be from 2 to 20 “capos” in a family.

Soldiers are the workers, in Italian “soldati“, who earn money to give to their captain. They do what ever is asked of them by the capo or underboss and there can be 10 to 300 of them in a family.

Associates are people who work with the Mafia family, but are not members.
　
Common words and expressions:

Babbo - a soldier who is consider to be useless and expendable.
Burn - to murder (clip, do a piece of work, hit, ice, pop, whack, put a contract on)
Comare (goomah, goomar, goomatta) - a mafia member’s mistress, every wise guy has one.
Come heavy - bring a loaded gun
Earner - refers to those who bring in money to the Mafia family
Facia Bruta - Ugly face, what you call someone you dislike
Flip - one who breaks the omerta code and cooperates with authorities
Guests of the state - doing time in prison
Juice - the interest paid to a loanshark
Lam - lay low or go into hiding
Large - one thousand dollars, a grand, G
Made guy - join the family as a member; mother must be Italian
Mezza morta - half dead
Mock execution - beat someone up to the point of scaring the shit out of them
Omerta - code of silence
Pinched - to be caught by the police
Puttana - whore
Rat - a snitch
Shakedown - blackmail or scare someone into handing over money
Shy - interest charged by loan sharks
Shylock business - loan shark business
Spring cleaning - getting rid of or hiding evidence
Strunz - a piece of shit
Taste - a percentage of the take
Tax - to take a percentage of someone’s earnings
Wise guy - a made guy, member of the mafia.