Karen.. Drita.. Carla.. Renee
.. When Mob Wives first premiered on VH1 last year, I’ll admit I rolled my eyes. You know me.. I’m all about reality shows but growing up an Italian in South Philly during the 80’s hayday of bubble gum gangsters and daily mob hits during Federal trials I was like.. yea, no thanks.
But during the 4 days I had off over the Christmas holiday, VH1 put the whole first season On Demand and because I was able to stay up until 3 or 4 am without worrying about dragging my ass out of bed for work.. and because I had already watched everything I wanted to watch.. I took the plunge.. and was hooked.
Thankfully, I didn’t have to wait too long before the second season premiere on January 1st.
If you have a love of reality shows.. and the way over the top woman on them, then watch Mob Wives. If you won’t have the background that I have you might find them a little on the unbelievable side. But I guarantee you.. they’re attitudes and way of thinking are very, very real.
Renee is a trip and a half. Very old school in terms of loyalty and respect and family. Very tough exterior but in true cancer fashion, very soft on the inside. In Season 1, Renee struggled with that old school thinking.. The mob’s hayday has long since passed and Renee was having a difficult time living in the here and now but thinking like back then. She also was still clinging to the piece of her heart belonging to her ex-husband and seeing a therapist because of depression and self-esteem issues.
What I like about Renee is that even though her attitude can be trying and her ways of thinking a little more than left of center, she lets everything show.. warts and all. How many other reality show mavens would allow themselves to be shown on camera after a skin peel? A very painful looking.. raw and bloody skin peel?
Not to many..
My other favorite Mob Wife is Drita D’Avanzo.
Drita puts the BAD is BADASS. But again, attitudes are deceiving. Yes, she can drop you on your ass faster than she can pull off her stilettos but as a mother of two young girls, she realizes her actions will have a negative impact on them. But sometimes, your past is the only thing that people remember..
Drita is Albanian.. the daughter of immigrants whose family sort of disowned her when she married Lee D’Avanzo.. an Italian with a little bank robbing hobby. It’s sad that Lee went away to prison when their oldest was little more than an infant.. and sadder still that his family wasn’t enough reason to keep his nose clean. He went back to prison before their youngest child could form a memory of him. This isn’t lost on Drita.. who remained faithful and committed to him and their marriage until the end of Season 1 when she found out he had been cheating on her the last time he was a free man.
I don’t know.. I like Drita. She also wants to break free of the mold she cemented herself in.
Next up there’s Carla Facciolo.
Like Drita, the father of Carla’s 8 year old twins is in jail. But Carla is moving on with her life. She’s dating and doing “her”, as she puts it. Carla doesn’t have as big of a personality like the other three and the decision to have her on the show is sometimes lost on me. But as quiet as she is.. as nonchalant as she comes off.. there is something going on there underneath. She’s just not as bold about it.
With her babies daddy being released from jail and mandated to a half way house, Carla should have more meat in Season 2. Figuratively .. no literally.
Well.. maybe that too!
Finally there’s Karen Gravano.
While the names Graziano, DAvanzo and Facciolo may not mean anything to you.. but I think I’d be hard pressed to find someone who hasn’t heard of Sammy, The Bull, Gravano .. the man who turned canary and brought down John Gotti and the Gambino crime family.
Karen is his daughter.
Moving west after what went down with her father, Karen now wants to write a book about growing up the daughter of an underboss to ratted. Um.. an interesting read? Jury’s out. No pun intended.
Anyway.. Karen heads back to Staten Island in order to do research for her book even though there are people like Renee Graziano who think she needs to just stay where ever the hell she was. That was in the first 15 minutes of the first episode of season 1. Renee and Karen are now besties because they both understand honor and loyalty. Ok.
Karen also was the long time live in girlfriend of Lee D’Avanzo. Name sound familiar? Read a few paragraphs up. He’s now Drita’s husband.
So at the end of Season 1, we find Drita and Karen have an all out slug fest because of things in the past not said and not done. Renee and Carla had had a hair pulling fest because of Carla’s boyfriend that is still an open wound with both of them. Renee decided it was finally time to let go any fantasy she had with rekindling anything with her ex and Drita sees a divorce attorney because her husband’s infidelity left her feeling like a woman who’s waiting close to a decade for a man feels when they find out he’s cheated.
Season 2 began January 1st. Recap soon.
LIVING ME 101 