When VH1’s reality show “Mob Wives” made its way to the small screens back in 2011, it was set up to be an edgy version of the Housewives franchise. The participants were all connected to the mafia in any way, shape, and form, either through their fathers or their husbands. The men were either dead, in jail, or served time in sentences for committing criminal activities. So, Mob Wives centered around that concept in Staten Island, New York, and navigated the now cookie-cutter concept of any “Housewives” show.
The first couple of seasons of the show covered a variety of dramas, feuds, and conflicts between cast members, their personal struggles when it comes to career choices and relationships, all while exaggerating Italian-American stereotypes that we’ve seen from family life in those mafia films if you’ve seen The Sopranos, Goodfellas, and productions of the sorts you’ll notice how women are in the backseat of the story, occupying role limited to the Catholic faith, childbearing and rearing and the kitchen. However, one of the attractions of Mob Wives is that these segments, often set aside by the mafia men are almost as important as the mafia men’s activities as we’ll see.
Mob Wives Season 1 & 2: Who Are They?
The first couple of seasons introduced Drita D’Avanzo, Karen Gravano, Renee Graziano, Angela Raiola, and Carla Facciolo. Let’s unpack who’s who in this show. Firstly, Drita is married to Lee D’Avanzo, a mafioso who did time for bank robbery, she’s the most feisty in the bunch and her loyalty is unquestionable. Secondly, we have Renee Graziano, she’s the daughter of Anthony Graziano, a member of the Bonano crime family, she became famous for her fiery temper, aggressiveness, and outspokenness.
Then, there’s Karen Gravano, the daughter of Sammy The Bull Gravano, the underboss of the Gambino crime family who turned informant against boss John Gotti in the early 1990s. Lastly, there’s Carla Facciolo, she’s the wife of Joseph Ferragamo, an associate of the Gambino crime family who went multiple times to jail for fraud and racketeering. She was the calmest of the bunch.
Mob Wives Season 1 & 2 Feuds
In the debut seasons, there was a lot of tension between Karen Gravano and Renee Graziano over Karen’s reluctance to accept an apology for calling Karen’s dad Sammy “The Bull” Gravano a rat during a dramatic fight at a club party. In the sophomore season, Drita D’Avanzo and Carla Facciolo had a huge fight when Carla accused Drita of having an affair when her husband was in prison, this led to a fistfight, cameras stopped filming and both women got arrested.
Coupled with these conflicts, we saw some of the personal struggles of each one of those women. For example, Renee Graziano had to go to rehab for anxiety issues arising from shooting the show; Drita had trouble with balancing motherhood and running her own company; Carla tried several businesses but decided to stay at home and be a mother, and Karen Gravano tried to launch a clothing line but had to shut it down because of some copyright issues.
Also Read: The Real Housewives of New Jersey Season 13 Episode 13: Release Date & Where To Watch
Mob Wives Season 1 & 2: Where Are They Now?
After the show, each one of the Mob Wives kept their lives as usual, they continued with their interesting lifestyles. Here’s a recap of how each cast member from the first two seasons ended up, and what they’re up to.
Renee Graziano
Renee Graziano kept going for the six seasons that Mob Wives ran on VH1 because the show was executively produced by her sister. After the show, she went on to participate in other reality shows like Celebrity Big Brother, where she came in third place. Then she did Marriage Boot Camp with her boyfriend Joey Gambino and then starred in a made-for-TV movie called “Fuhgeddabout Christmas”.
In January 2022 she was arrested while driving drunk and crashed into another car. And also, on the bright side of things, she wrote a couple of books: One’s a cookbook titled “How To Use A Meat Cleaver: Secrets & Recipes From A Mob Family’s Kitchen” and the other is an autobiography titled “Playing With Fire”.
Karen Gravano
Karen Gravano remained active on social media since the conclusion of Mob Wives. She participates in the podcast her dad runs on YouTube and Spotify, has a clothesline, and wrote a book about her life with her father. She’s also a business owner and went on to produce a Mafia family show on VH1 called “Families of the Mafia”.
Drita D’Avanzo
Drita and her husband remained active, and continued to show on series like “Celebrity Ghost Stories” and “Scared Famous”. She also worked as a freelance makeup artist, managing to raise capital and launch her own brand. In 2019 she and her husband were arrested and faced drug and firearms charges. She had the charges dropped in 2020 while her hubby was sentenced to five years.
Carla Facciolo
Carla kept a low profile after the show, she raised her kids and worked on her businesses, a soap and skin care products company for women and pets.
Angela Raiola
After the show, Angela was featured in a spinoff series about her called “Big Ang”, “Celebrity Wife Swap”, and in “Miami Monkey”. She also worked in movies like Scary Movie 5, and Bethenny. Unfortunately, Angela was a heavy smoker and developed lung cancer and died from pneumonia and advanced cancer in February 2016.
Mob Wives: After The Show
Overall, cast members from VH1’s Mob Wives from the first two seasons kept living interesting lives, they went into businesses, raised their kids, or found some way to be creative and productive, while others went back to the mob life and found themselves facing legal issues. Their unique personalities, characteristics, and experiences left an impact on the reality show industry paving the way for other productions to explore the organized crime genre.
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