Rumor has it that there will be big cast changes on season four of Mob Wives. I have tried to get to the bottom of it, but I can only tell you what I have learned in my spare time from reading Twitter, which is not official. I have been busy the past six months, too busy to keep up with the drama. However, I have a couple of followers who alert me when they see anything of significant interest. About two months or so ago, Carla was having, what I like to call, a “tweeting tantrum” and was directing her rants at Executive Producer, Jennifer Graziano. She went on and on about how Jenn let some of the original mob wives go and replaced them with mob wives from Philadelphia, where some of the filming has been taking place. What did Carla have to say? Here, read the tweets for yourself:
I thought her tweets might make for a good blog one day, so I saved them. I tried to get Mob Mistress to write it up. I knew she would do a better job of it than I could, but she too was very busy with “real life” and never had the time. Last night my brain acted up and wanted me to get what I know out there. Let me sum up the Carla rants for you. Carla said that three mob wives were let go because of money. I guess they wanted more money and VH1 or Just Jenn Productions wasn’t willing to pay them more, but allegedly did pay the others more. She accused Jenn of many things including being a Puppet Master, a backstabber, “the snake who screwed her own friends,” cheap, etc. She said the show should now be called “Philly Wives” and that Love was “played by the puppet master.” All of this makes for a lot of questions, questions I patiently tried to get answers to before writing this blog. However, contractual issues may be involved as to why no one else is really “spilling the beans.”
In case you haven’t already heard, the other two Mob Wives allegedly being let go are Karen Gravano and Ramona Rizzo. If this is news to you, please take a minute to get over the shock. It’s hard to believe that two “real” major Mob Wives are being let go from a show that is about Mob Wives. Karen’s departure was especially surprising to me because her father, Sammy Gravano, was the Underboss of the Gambino crime family and the one who brought down the “Teflon Don,” John Gotti. As far as I am concerned, he is the most notorious living mobster of our time. Having Karen on the show really kicked off season one of Mob Wives. No one could dispute her “bloodline” and her father’s reputation. The Gravano name was the one name everyone knew. Then we have Ramona, whose grandfather, “Lefty Guns” Ruggiero was so important in the mob that they made a movie in 1997, called “Donnie Brasco,“ with Al Pacino playing the role of Ramona‘s grandfather. I don’t know how either of these two Mob Wives can be “replaced,” but I guess we will find out. From reading Twitter, I have gathered that neither one is happy with this turn of events, but they haven’t said much about it. I have been waiting for the truth to come out, and I still think it will, it’s just a matter of time. I also know that Karen and Ramona have other projects they are working on and I hope they will keep us up to date. As for Carla, well everyone knows how I feel about her, and I think she basically hung herself with her own soap on a rope last season.
Who will be the new cast members? I can give you one name that has been popping up on Twitter in recent weeks, Alicia DiMichele, from Philly. I have written a couple of blogs on her in the past. You can Google her name and read about her background online. I am not sure who else from Philly might be joining the cast, but Alicia and Renee have become friendly and I think it’s a safe bet she has joined the cast.
How they will tie the leftover New York mob wives with the Philly mob wives is anyone’s guess. I have no idea. I don’t know if there is any history between these women. I don’t know if they had a problem getting a full Philly cast for another spin off and decided to merge the two cities. Who knows? We can’t even get answers to simple questions. Questions like: Why were Karen and Ramona let go? Who is officially joining the cast? Why is this all being kept a secret from fans who supported the show from day one with their loyalty? Why aren’t the ladies being allowed to tell us what happened? Was Love really set up, as Carla, of all people, claims? Was this all about money or is there more to these changes?
And, one last and maybe most important question, how has all this affected the lifelong relationships of the women? It seems to me that these business decisions have affected their friendships. Jenn, Karen and Ramona have been friends since they were kids, but from what I read on Twitter, strictly between the lines, things are not what they used to be. I think that it would be a shame if business has come between them and caused a rift at this time of their lives. But, then again, how could it not?
I’d love to know your thoughts. Will you still be as interested in Mob Wives without Karen and Ramona? Will you watch the show? I will have to watch it. The changes are huge and I’m sure I am going to have a lot to say, one way or the other. After all, two of my favorite Mob Wives were let go and I am starting off season four as an unhappy viewer. Season four of Mob Wives is set to premiere in December so stay tuned.
Special shout out to @drizz24!
One parting gift for Carla from Mob Mistress, as requested:
Picture Credit: Carla's Twitter Account
