'Mob Wives' Other Halves: Imprisoned Husbands

Joey Ferragamo and former wife, Carla, during happier times.

"Mob Wives" stars Karen Gravano and Renee Graziano have well-known fathers, with Karen's dad, Sammy Bull, admittedly stealing the limelight from all the men known on the show but who do not appear in the show, and not because they're imprisoned, either.

Though in actuality, Renee's father is probably the only true powerful Mafioso. Anthony "The Little Guy" Graziano is the current (though incarcerated) consigliere of the Bonnano family, which has been riven by a long line of informants; the defection of its one-time legendary boss, Joe Massino; and the back-to-back trials of former boss Vinny "Gorgeous" Basciano, who could've gotten the death penalty but got life behind bars instead.

Then there is the surprise: We just learned Carla's father is a notorious mobster who once ran one of New York's five families and is now serving life in prison. Carla's dad -- keep reading to find out who he is -- is no longer boss, and Graziano supposedly "retains" his stripes.

"The Little Guy," Bonanno
consiglieri Graziano.
In 2002 Graziano was indicted on numerous charges (in several states), such as racketeering, illegal gambling, bookmaking and murder. In 2003 he answered to the the various charges and has been sentenced to approximately 20 years (split between 2 different states) in prison. "At the present time the Graziano patron has allegedly fallen ill to diabetes and cancer. His lawyer has requested leniency, and his projected release date is in the summer of 2012," according to Cinderella's Glass Closet blog (Yeah, we don't get WTF the blog's name means and why it is writing about "Mob Wives.") (Also, it should be noted, as it was previously on this blog, that Renee's sister is the producer, and their father is not speaking with either of them because of the show.)

Karen's husband or ex or fiancee or boyfriend or whatever he is, is out in Arizona, far away from the mob. Renee's ex-husband, Junior, an associate or a member, was part of the highly publicized January bust in which 127 arrests were made relating to racketeering, murder, illegal gambling, extortion, and narcotics trafficking.

That leaves Carla Facciolo and Drita D'avanzo, both of whom have husbands active in the mob, though they are far from household names (the husbands, that is, I think the wives  may be closing in on that type of notoriety thanks to this show's surprising -- to this reporter, anyway -- success.

So let's take a look at the two husbands about which we know little aside from the status of their marriages -- Carla's was ended when the series began; Drita's, it seems, will be in the process of ending at the start of the second season.
Carla's father is Louie "Bagels"
Daidone, a former boss of the
Lucheses, now serving life.

First of all, here is something we did not know: Carla's father is alleged mobster, Louis "Louie Bagels" Daidone, former boss of the Luchese family. Daidone had a reputation for being a strict enforcer and received numerous promotions under Gaspipe Casso. Daidone owned a bagel shop, and conducted his activities there -- hence, the nickname. Daidone and associates are known for supposedly robbing a cool million heisting an armored truck.

Hope he enjoyed his cut; the life is over for him. Daidone will be in a Pennsylvania prison until he breathes his last. Unless they move him somewhere else, that is.

"Carla likes to dismiss her soon-to-be-ex-husband’s criminal activity as something minor," reports a post titled "Joseph Ferragamo, Carla’s Husband" on M.O.B. Wives, a blog about the show.

"She doesn’t consider stock fraud a crime," the post continues. "I don’t know how she can say that with a straight face. By the time the show aired on VH1, Joey had already spent several years in jail. The facts of his fraudulent stock practices were well known, documented and presented in court and to the Security and Exchange Commission. What bothers me is that she may be living on money that has been allegedly stolen from many senior citizens and other people, innocent vicitms, who put their trust and life savings into the hands of their stock broker, Joseph Ferragamo."

According to M.O.B. Wives, from 1997 to 2001, Ferragamo worked for six different securities firms -- boiler-room type deals, all of them.

According to the US Security and Exchange Commission documents, a default judgment was made against Ferragamo, along with other brokers of LH Ross & Co, for allegedly violating federal security laws. Investors reportedly lost $26 million dollars in a huge broker bribery scheme involving nine public companies. Brokers allegedly received kickbacks based on sales. Ferragamo was considered a “big producer” and therefore reportedly received 25% in kickbacks from the stocks his clients purchased. Ferragamo’s clients allegedly purchased more than 67,550 shares of stock for $606,000. He reportedly never told customers that he was receiving 25% from the sale proceeds.

Read the rest of his criminal history on M.O.B. Wives.

Ultimately, in 2004, Ferragamo pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering in the 3rd degree and admitted to withdrawing $556,000 from a foreign account. He probably did between a nickle and a dime, but we haven't been able to find out the length of his sentence.

In a future post, it's Drita's hubby's turn. Lee D'Avanzano must've been crying into his prison sheets when his gorgeous wife burst his bubble after sending him that calendar with those hot pix of her which we served up to you in a previous post.





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