Cosa Nostra News

UPDATED It could've been a scene on reality television...  Mob Wives creator  Jennifer Graziano and  Carla Facciolo, star   of the VH1 cultural touchstone Mob Wives, which was cancelled, pay  a terminally ill  Angela (Big Ang) Raiola  a hospital visit. Bi g Ang debuted in season two and early on was a fan favorite... Where are our favorite ladies from the last season finale? At some point during the hospital visit, Big Ang told the two women, from her hospital bed, what's highlighted as a seemingly selfless and rousing admonition.  "T he show must go on," she said .... Big Ang was suffering from cancer and died after filming of the sixth and final season of Mob Wives in 2016. That's the scenario described in a recent Staten Island Advance report. However, Big Ang's sister, Janine Detore, blasted the Mob Wives reboot in an interview of her own , as well as a YouTube video, below. Detore, owner of the Country Mouse , a children's clo...

REVISED  This Life Of Ours: Fairy Tales Of Mob Bartenders  is the first book in a female-centric series. Click book cover for more information. It tells the other side of the traditional mob love story about what it's like for a nice girl from New York to fall for a notorious mobster. D iane Morton-Gattullo  is the author of This Life Of Ours: Fairy Tales Of Mob Bartenders . Available now, the nearly 500-page book details the mobbed-up nightlife scene of New York City circa 1980s-1990s. An excerpt from Life of Ours: " This is an invitation only club and if you’re lucky you might be invited to the VIP section. This life is not for the faint of heart. Remember, you’ll never know if you have a real friend once you enter our world. My name is Dannie and I will be your guide on the Crazy Train Express! We break for no one but stop at fuck me, feed me and paying my bills way, the fun house, mob dens, nightclubs and jail. Please don’t sit near th...

Luigi Grasso, Big Ang's cousin. It was about about six months ago when newspapers were reporting that Luigi Grasso, c ousin of ‘Mob Wives’ star Big Ang, had saved a suicidal inmate's lif e in a courthouse holding cell before Grasso’s appearance on a weapons rap.  Grasso's actions were lauded  by no less than a Manhattan judge.  The distressed suicidal inmate, who was never identified by officials, had fashioned a noose from a T-shirt and was hanging from the top bar in the pens of Manhattan Criminal Court at 111 Centre St. on Oct. 7 when the brawny mobster literally leaped into the air to save him, according to witnesses.

Big Ang is making drinks at that big bar in the sky.... It was the kind of thing Big Ang wouldn't have condoned.... Mob Wives cast members Brittany Fogarty and Karen Gravano were asked not to attend Angela "Big Ang" Raiola's funeral yesterday. A source with friends who attended the memorial service and funeral have said that a third  Mob Wife, Drita D'Avanzo, who showed up with two bodyguards, was asked to leave one of the memorial services. However she can plainly be seen crying (accompanied by two big burly bodyguards wearing ear pieces) at the funeral.

Big Ang prior to plastic surgery, pre-Mob Wives.... Angela "Big Ang" Raiola, star of the VH1 reality series "Mob Wives,"  died early Thursday morning as she was fighting lung and brain cancer. She was 55. Widely known for her raspy voice, larger-than-life personality (plus humongous bustline), and of course her apparent propensity for plastic surgery, she was one of the very few Mob Wives stars to be universally loved by fans. This blog often referred to her as the show's conscience, as well as its raspy voice of reason.

Tonight is VH1's  Mob Wives series finale. We finally got a chance to watch last week's episode and came to a realization hypothesis: Renee's baptism plays out, then we cut to a restaurant scene where Natalie DiDonato is providing Drita with proof that supposedly will finish off Natalie Guercio . Kind of like The Godfather's infamous baptism scene in which Michael Corleone is taking part in the ceremony in a Catholic Church, no? The scene is inter-cut with scenes of the enemies of the Corleone family getting whacked one by one, and is probably one of the most famous scenes in film history (if not history, period.)

Vinny Asaro was among the top characters of interest in 2014.... His Tommy D rant makes us really want to hear the tapes.... I deleted a bunch of horseshit with which I initially started this post. Based on a quick Google Analytics filter, we found five days when there was a clear spike in our daily traffic. piked progressively, save for the last two samples, which were nearly equal. 

"Renee thinks we're gangsters, we're girls... " Big Ang "Big Ang" Raiola. REVISED SLIGHTLY : Most blogs probably picked up on the idiotic "Ratalie" headline and missed the larger point, in our opinion. Big Ang is back! We were concerned last year. As we noted in our end-of-season wrap up, it seemed like all Angela "Big Ang" Raiola did was react...

Natalie is smokin'... From Enstars : The new season of VH1 hit reality show Mob Wives should be called World War III because the woman on the show are at war, literally, and the drama doesn't look like it's dying down anytime soon. Season 5 of the reality series made its debut on Wednesday and by the looks of the show, it's clear that the women may be not be in a jolly mood this holiday season. During the season 5 premiere of 'Trust No One,' viewers quickly learn that cast mates Angela Raiola (Big Ang) and Drita D'avanzo are now opening up to Natalie Guercio (Renee Graziano's sworn enemy) and of course that wasn't going to sit well with Graziano. Luckily for Graziano, she didn't cast all of her trust in one basket, and her BFF Karen Gravano is back and the two are not a force to be reckoned with; Guercio is going to learn this lesson the hard way. In addition to the dynamic duo being the best of friends, their fans have their backs, and a...

Make sure you are watching at the 10 minutes 35 seconds part....from April.... REVISED, INCLUDES BACKLINKS:  " Mob Wives " season five is slated to commence in December. How is Vito Rizzuto involved in this story? Keep reading.... Check out the above video of Sway interviewing Renee and Jennifer Graziano . I had never listened to or even heard of Sway: I think he's pretty damn good. He comes off all folksy and polite and supportive to kind of disarm the guests. The questions he poses are quite relevant. He's asking about the right stuff -- and not really getting any answers. The Grazianos chose this forum to bolster sales of their cookbook, the one with Meat Cleaver in the title.

Fasano and his attorney in court. The man accused of fatally punching another man outside the Drunken Money in West Brighton pleaded not guilty at his arraignment today for manslaughter and other charges. The bar was made famous based on its affiliation to Big Ang Raiola , one of the stars of the VH1 reality show "Mob Wives." Stephen Fasano, 23, punched Abdou Cisse, 46, in the head, knocking him to the ground, and cracking his skull on June 8 outside the Drunken Monkey bar, said authorities. Cisse was trying to calm down Fasano outside the bar, and Fasano responded by punching him twice in the face — not once, as initially reported by police.

"Mob Wives"  season five,  which has commenced filming , apparently has not started off with a bang. Or, filming so far has mostly been limited to second unit-type stuff... Who knows? Some of these women might be guilty of being boring, though we wonder if maybe filming so far has been limited to second unit stuff... Big Ang with her grand babies is the only storyline, so far. God help us...

“Mob Wives” star Big Ang has closed The Drunken Monkey in DUMBO. Which is kinda weird cause that's exactly where we'd expect to find an eatery/bar/whatever owned by Big Ang. The bar opened with a Cinco De Mayo party on May 5, but sources told the New York Daily News that the lights went out on June 6. “[Staffers] went home that Friday night and just didn't show up the next day.” The spot was suffering some “financial setbacks,” but reality star told the News that she believes the Monkey will reopen. “We're having some little paper problems there, but it’s not closing.”

Big Ang from   Mob Wives  had a garage sale  at her house in Staten Island this weekend. Which means if you didn't know about it, you missed your (probably one and only) chance for a walk-on role on the reality show "Mob Wives." Or at least, that is what Big Ang said. I just read about it on yet another giant entertainment news blog, called Bustle : " [U]nless you follow her on social media and/or were just in the neighborhood, you missed out. Honestly, it’s a miracle that I’m able to type at the moment, because my disappointment at not being there is paralyzing. There is not a shred of irony in this statement. I’m experiencing the horror of FOMO nightmares come true. The pain is excruciating. "All weekend, Big Ang was blowing up Twitter and Instagram with updates on the sale. She was obsessed with it, which is about as amazingly absurd and entertaining as she is herself. But really, if there is anything to become obsessed with, it’s mash-up of flea...

Natalie, far right, had the gall to tweet... Mob Wives: New Blood was renewed for a fifth season this morning, following a terminally boring show finale last night. (Yes, we know the Reunion is next week, and Natalie and Renee are going to fight some more.) The question remains, though: Who will be returning/not-returning for the fifth and, we predict, final season... It's hard to write with passion about this show. I have come to a realization: the show, scripted or not, is serving merely as a platform to enrich these women so they'll never have to work again. Is it coincidence that Renee, suddenly in the last episode, has written a novel, and has even found a publisher? (Probably sis acted as the agent and probably hired the ghostwriter, too) And the publisher is even throwing a book debut party--just in time for the season finale. (Of all the curve balls in reality TV, this is the most spectacularly offensive.) Now, I can't recall, was there even one scen...

Big Ang and daughter, Racquel Celeb Dirty Laundry  earned its name with its recent report that Alicia DiMichele , convinced that Renee and her friend Carla Murino (whom DiMichele has repeatedly accused of having an affair with her husband, Colombo gangster Eddie "Tall Guy" Garofalo ) are “rats” who are selling her out to the press, is actually partly correct -- someone has had an affair with Tall Guy. A source close to Carla Murino told Dirty Laundry that Alicia's belief that a member of her inner circle has done her dirty -- only it isn't Carla Murino or Renee Graziano. The blog notes that, on the latest episode of Mob Wives, Big Ang was actually misleading DiMichele and had an ulterior motive regarding why she has been siding with the Philly mob wife and fueling the feud between her and Rene.

  Mob Wives Chicago was cancelled for a variety of reasons, foremost among them the cast members' lack of credible ties to the mob -- or the Outfit, the name by which the organized crime entity is better known in the Windy City. Carla and soon-to-be-former husband. It could be argued that really only one Chicago mob wife, Nora, had legit ties -- primarily through her deceased former-hit man father. The bottom line: None of the other women were mob wives in that they were not married or otherwise related to bona fide members of the Outfit (which says a lot about the Outfit, and how seriously even its women honor old-world codes). With the case of "Mob Wives" New York, that was seemingly less of an issue among some of the women, many of whom have very real ties to the "honored society" via husbands and/or fathers -- and it seems to have had very real repercussions on a heavyweight mobster who at one time was consiglieri for the Bonanno family, J...

CelebrityNetWorth.com, founded in October 2009 in Los Angeles, claims it has grown into "one of the most popular and influential celebrity finance outlets on the Internet." "Whether you're looking for the latest net worth and salary of your favorite celebrity or you want to stay up to date on all the most expensive products and gizmos in the world, Celebritynetworth has you covered," the site declares. Drita D'Avanzo is up there but Big Ang is the wealthiest of all... All its figures and articles are thoroughly researched, scrutinized and fact checked by writers and financial analysts, the site notes, adding that the figures are acquired from publicly available information, including salaries, real estate holdings, divorces, record sales, royalties and endorsements. The estimated net worths come from a formula that takes out taxes, manager’s fees, agents’ fees, and lifestyle. So, of course, we immediately checked out what the low-down was, ...

The Smoking Gun website really got the goods on Big Ang of "Mob Wives," who readers of Cosa Nostra News can't seem to get enough of, judging by the numbers. So, without further ado, here is the story from The Smoking Gun (click the links to see copies of pages in the indictment, among other things):  This season’s breakout star on “Mob Wives,” VH1’s hit reality series about big-mouthed molls, is a convicted felon who was caught repeatedly selling cocaine during the course of an undercover Drug Enforcement Administration probe targeting a mob-tied drug ring operating in New York City, The Smoking Gun has learned. 

Big Ang!!!! . In a way, we are -- and we are not -- surprised by all the attention flowing Big Ang's way since the Sunday night debut of the second season of "Mob Wives."  It's sort of ironic that this woman, on the show for a mere seconds at the very end, should steal the limelight! If you enjoy 'Mob Wives,' you will most likely love 'Big Ang,' a new addition to the 'Mob Wives' Season mix. She has exactly the kind of personality you would expect from a 'mob moll,' she's warm and loving, has a great sense of humor and is a good cook.  She's generated lots of coverage across the blogosphere. Angela Raiola may abet murderers, but this Mob Wives addition is destined for stardome in the world of reality shows about women who argue with other women.