Mob Wives: Gravanos vs Garofalos Family Feud

It’s the men’s business. It’s not supposed to be a storyline on Mob Wives. But, then again, inquiring minds like mine, want to know…since they brought it up. There is a lot more to the history between the Gravanos and the Garofalos than we know. In fact, from what I am reading, this is really a “family” affair in more ways than one. I hope you can follow this blog and I apologize in advance for any inaccuracies because this is really complicated and confusing.

Let’s try to get the participants straight. We have Sammy “the Bull” Gravano, his sister Fran is married to Edward “Cousin Eddie” Garafola, Sammy’s brother in-law, AND Edward “The Chink” Garofalo Sr. (Alicia’s father in-law or, as she calls him, “the victim”). I have to wonder if you can be in the mob and also claim to be a victim?  PLEASE NOTE: the spellings of the two names are very similar Garafola and Garofalo!

Here’s what I could piece together…Sammy and his brother in-law, “Cousin Eddie”  Garafola were both in the Gambino crime family and owned a disco and other businesses together. Garafola got in trouble with the Feds and was charged with several serious criminal counts. He was in trouble for a big stock fraud scheme along with 19 other mobsters, in addition to other crimes. Allegedly, Garafola tried to convince Sammy to cooperate, along with him, with the authorities in October, 1991. According to Sammy:

"Comes October (1991) and I'm still not even thinking of cooperating, it's my whining brother-in-law Eddie, a whining motherfucker all my life, who puts the idea in my head. He's caused me nothing but trouble with his devious ways, always looking for the angle. A couple of guys in my crew wanted to whack him. You can't trust him, they said. But he's got a big edge with me. His wife is my sister and I ain't ever going to hurt her, even though he's treating her like shit."

"He says, 'I hate to say this Sammy, but maybe you should cooperate. I'll go with you. Me and you cooperate and we'll go into a whole other life. Take our families and run after it's over…We'll make another life, Sammy.'" Gravano says he took Garafola's advice and agreed to cooperate, but Garafola, "double crosses me. You know, it's like when you're kids standing by the edge of the pool, and it's one, two, three, jump! Schmucko jumped, and he didn't."

In 1996, Peter Gotti, acting boss, allegedly met with John Gotti in prison and was given orders to kill Sammy Gravano, who was now in Arizona, having served his five years from the plea deal. His brother in-law, Eddie Garafola was one of the hit men sent to Arizona to carry out the orders. He made many trips, but failed. The plan was never completed because Sammy was arrested in 2000 for his participation in an Arizona ecstasy ring.

Alicia DiMichele with husband Eddie “Tall Guy” Garofalo

This is the same Edward “Cousin Eddie” Garafola who pleaded guilty in 2004 for participating in the murder of his cousin, Edward “The Chink” Garofalo, Alicia’s father in-law, in 1990. The hit was ordered by John Gotti and carried out by Sammy Gravano‘s crew, because it was allegedly thought that Garofalo was cooperating with authorities, amongst other reasons. Garofalo was gunned down outside his Brooklyn home. Sammy has recently agreed to testify on behalf of hit man, Daniel Fama, to say that the mob had no knowledge of Garofalo’s cooperation, he was killed for other reasons. The Feds have dubbed this murder, Gotti’s Last Hit. So this is the beef Alicia’s husband has with Karen, and it’s Alicia’s issue by proxy. Considering Karen was only about 17 years old when this murder took place, I can’t see why she should be held accountable in any way, shape or form by the Garofalos or any of Sammy’s other “victims.” I could be wrong but, from everything I have read, the mob doesn’t include women in their business, let alone 17 year old girls.

Meanwhile, the son of Eddie “the Chink” Garofalo Sr. and husband of Alicia, “Edward “Tall Guy,” Jr. has recently been sentenced to seven years in prison. Various sources report he has been indicted for racketeering, extortion, conspiracy to murder, witness tampering, and embezzlement. Do you think any of his crimes had victims?  Did you ever hear Alicia say she was “distraught” over his victims and their families? I didn’t. But I did hear her say how much she loved her husband…and all I've ever heard Karen say was she loved her father.

And here is a little article about “Tall Guy” you might be interested in reading: Beat-the-Beep-out-of-him! 

Quotes: Underboss by Peter Maas

Mob Wives: Why Isn’t Karen on Season 4?

Meanwhile Karen has a new hair extension line out called Tresses

CHECK OUT her website @ http://www.karengravano.tv/dev/?p=871

The question every fan would like the answer to…why isn’t Karen Gravano going to be on Season 4 of Mob Wives.  I have been patiently waiting and searching for some explanation from VH1 or even Jennifer Graziano, executive Producer and long time friend of Karen. No explanation has been forthcoming except that the show needed some “new blood” to keep it fresh. I don’t know why the “new blood” couldn’t mix with the “old blood,” but now maybe there is at least one reason.

The reason is “bad blood.” This bad blood is the result of past mob history involving Karen’s father, Sammy “the Bull” Gravano and Edward Garafalo, father in-law of “new blood” mob wife, Alicia DiMichele, from Philly. According to reports, Gambino family boss, John Gotti, allegedly ordered a hit on Edward Garafalo Sr. back in 1990 and it was carried out by underboss, Sammy Gravano. The mobster who has been charged with committing the hit, along with two other men, is Daniel Fama. Compounding the seriousness of the murder for authorities is the assertion that Edward Garafalo Sr. was an informant who was allegedly killed so he could not testify against the mob. Fama contends he was never aware that Garafalo was an informant.

Now, it is being reported that Sammy Gravano is prepared to testify on behalf of Fama, saying John Gotti ordered the hit on Garafalo for various reasons, none of which included Garafalo’s cooperation with authorities. Thanks to Sammy’s willingness to help, Fama is now out of prison on bail. This is surely not sitting well with Alicia’s husband, Edward “Tall Guy” Garafalo, Jr. who is currently sitting in a prison cell himself since 2010 for several of charges, including pension embezzlement. (Alicia is awaiting sentencing on similar charges.) I imagine “Tall Guy” would like Fama to be punished for killing his father and cannot be too happy that Sammy is intervening on his behalf.

This may be the reason that Alicia’s husband allegedly wanted her on Mob Wives, so that she could reveal information that might impact Fama’s trial. At the same time it appears, from what I heard Karen say in an interview last month, that “Tall Guy” had something to do with Karen’s not being on season four of Mob Wives. From what I read between the lines, Karen seems to feel that Garafalo would not let his wife be on the show if Karen was going to be back this season. Karen believes that the Garafalos want to tell a one-sided story to the public. Her absence from the show makes it impossible for Karen to refute anything Alicia says this season. It seems that Alicia’s storyline is so compelling to producers that the “powers that be” decided it was better for the show to have Alicia on rather than Karen. However, I think it would have been wiser and more fair to have them both, don't you?

So 23 year old mob history has now become current events. Old blood plus new blood equals bad blood. This is just a small sampling of tons of information currently on the internet, you just have to Google the names. Since Karen will not be an active part of the storyline this season, I will be taking a lot of what happens with a grain...no, a box of salt.