Sometimes it is easy to forget that the ladies of Mob Wives are called “mob wives” for a reason. However, due to the recent drama with Renee Graziano’s father and ex-husband, the women seem less like reality stars and more like the products of their crime family pasts.
Renee’s mobster father Anthony “TG” Graziano was just indicted on racketeering charges… charges that were a result of Renee’s ex-husband Hector “Junior” Pagan going all Benedict Arnold on Renee’s family by wearing a wire to get information from his former father-in-law.
A recent article from the online edition of the New York Post spoke about Renee’s breakdown outside the New York courthouse this week after her father was charged. She talked openly about her ex-husband (who she had hoped to reconcile with on the current season which filmed months ago). Her ex, as you know, ratted out her father by becoming an FBI informant.
As Renee’s father was taken away by U.S. Marshals, the Mob Wives star couldn’t handle the pressure of the given situation. And who can blame her? It was during this real life “Usual Suspects” moment that Renee realized perhaps Junior’s promises of a stronger relationship were nothing more than an attempt to get closer to her father to garner information for a DEA investigation, which would send her father back to the clink. Shame on you, Junior. Not that I’m pro-mobster, but I am totally against betraying your loved ones in exchange for immunity for your own misgivings.
A tearful Renee told the magazine, “They’re in ‘The Life’ with you one day, and then cooperating the next.”
Renee hasn’t seen Junior, who is reportedly in the witness protection program, but she is devastated by the potential effect on AJ, her 17-year-old son, with Junior. She reveals, “My son is taking this very hard. He loves his father.” Continuing, the mama bear is adamant that she “won’t forgive [Junior] for what he did to my son.”
Renee admits that had she known of Junior’s intentions she would have tipped off her father, regardless of the pair’s tumultuous relationship. She cites Junior’s actions as an “immense betrayal.”
“I would have told my father — 100 percent,” Renee promises the magazine.
The article points out that had Renee tipped off her father, she likely would have sealed her ex-husband’s fate. According to the New York Post, the mob is quick to extinguish government informants. As someone who has always been indifferent about Renee on the show, I do hate to hear that she could have potentially been put in such an explosive situation.
With the cameras still rolling for the VH1 hit, Renee chooses to focus on the positive things the series has done for women in her position. While she’s the star of a show which highlights the feminine side of the Mafia world, Renee wants to point out, “This is not about the men. It’s about what women go through.”
And speaking of turncoats, everyone’s favorite overly-enhanced second season addition, Angela “Big Ang” Raiola, gave an interview to Good Day L.A. explaining the seemingly counterproductive concept of having a reality show about people whose family members are literally trying to remain anonymous… you know, because they’re hardened criminals and all.
Huffingtonpost reports on that appearance, saying that in this reality world of the mob, according to our love Big Ang “everybody rats” and the series is in no way on La Cosa Nostra’s radar.
Big Ang can relate to the world of informants, as she herself was arrested in a cocaine bust in 2001 because of one. She admits, “A girlfriend of mine, an informer, had a wire … She went into witness protection and then we all got arrested. I did house arrest … We had parties every day for six months.” Sounds kind of fun, right?
It certainly makes people wonder why these women would do a show when most of their family and friends are involved in a very secret–and very dangerous–crime ridden world. However, Big Ang believes that the secrecy involved with being part of a mob family rarely exists nowadays.
She explains, “How could it be secretive? Everybody’s rats … There’s no more secrets, they’re all ratting each other out. It’s over.”
Of course Big Ang is in the perfect place to call out the turn-coating ways of infamous Mafia crime families. Of her own family, linked to the mob, she admits, “Thank god they’re dead.” It’s definitely hard to hate on a show that exposes your family secrets when your family isn’t around to watch it!
[Photos Credit: WENN]
WHAT DID YOU THINK OF JUNIOR TURNING ON RENEE’S DAD? IS HE JUSTIFIED TO EXPOSE A CRIMINAL OR DID HE OVER STEP THE BONDS OF FAMILY LOYALTY? THOUGHTS ON BIG ANG’S INTERVIEW?
