Kidnap plots, drugs raids & loaded guns in the house – the real gritty lives of mob wives not shown on TV’s Griselda
What goes on beneath the surface is intriguing
WITH their designer dresses, perfectly manicured nails and salon-styled hair, on the surface the life of a gangster’s moll appears extraordinarily luxurious.
Which could explain why the ‘mob wife’ trend has really blown up on TikTok with fashion fans clamouring to copy the aesthetic made famous by shows such as The Sopranos.
But beneath all that lies a very gritty reality, and as new Netflix drama about ‘Cocaine Queen’ Griselda Blanco – played by Sofia Vergara – shows, life in a criminal family is far from glam.
As ‘Queenpin’ in a billion dollar Columbian cocaine smuggling ring, in real life Blanco was no stranger to ordering assassinations on anyone who looked at her the wrong way.
Before being jailed for drug charges, she was thought to be responsible for the deaths of up to 250 people.
While Griselda – who was assassinated aged 69 – was a ruthless gangster herself, typically and traditionally gang members and leaders have been men.
Here, we take a closer look at the ‘real mob wives’ once reportedly associated with some of the world’s biggest criminal families, and the gritty reality of living ‘The Life’ that comes with a gang…
Loyalty and love
Model and actress Marissa Jade starred in TV reality series Mob Wives alongside ex-boyfriend Oz, real name Jamie Lansburg, who she met through cast mate, Renee Graziano.
According to reports, Oz served multiple stints in prison, had been arrested for drugs offences on several occasions, and was previously on parole after a four-year prison sentence.
While you’d be forgiven for thinking that would make a relationship tricky, single mum Marissa Jade previously said Oz’s stint in prison actually made her more attracted to him.
She said: “Oz took his bid like a man.
“He kept his mouth shut and stayed loyal – that’s what I love about him.”
The pair split in 2016, with Marissa going on to star in Celebrity Big Brother and she was later linked to Calum Best.
Now, she regularly posts updates to her 117k Instagram followers, posting glam pics wearing designer clobber by the likes of Jimmy Choo, Dolce and Gabbana and Dior.
‘Colombo crime connections’
Drita D’Avanzo also starred in Mob Wives, and was known on the show for her explosive temper.
She has herself had a few brushes with the law over the years.
According to she was previously arrested in 2016 after allegedly punching another woman and fleeing the scene.
In 2019 mum-of-two Drita and her husband Lee were accused of dealing drugs after police raided their home, but the charges were later dropped against Drita.
A year later, Lee was in prison after pleading guilty to keeping two loaded guns at their Staten Island home.
He had a previous 2009 conviction too, for trying to break into a local bank vault using high-speed drills, and in total has six criminal convictions, including four felonies.
On her bio page for the reality show, Drita was described as the wife of Lee, “who federal prosecutors allege is the leader of a Bonanno and Colombo crime family farm team.”
Alleged ‘kidnap’ plot
Granddaughter of famous Bonnano mobster Benjamin ‘Lefty Guns’ Ruggiero, mum-of-five Ramona Rizzo was actually born into the Mafia life.
In fact, her grandfather was actually played by Al Pacino in 1997 film, Donnie Brasco.
She was planning a lavish wedding with 500 guests when her then-fiancé Joseph ‘Joe Boy’ Sclafani was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2013, after pleading guilty to distributing cocaine.
In 2013, reported Ramona was linked to an alleged kidnap and robbery plot, with the alleged victim claiming she threatened she would “kill you and I’ll kill your family!”
Devastating betrayal by ‘rat’ ex husband
Renee Graziano was also born into the mafia, as the daughter of late Anthony Graziano, who was the infamous Bonanno crime family consigliere.
She went on to also marry mobster Hector Pagan, who she later divorced, after he committed what many in the mafia world would deem to be one of the biggest acts of betrayal.
The gangster later become an FBI informant and wore a wire to record incriminating conversations with his father-in-law in order to save his own skin.
Speaking of her devastation over her ex husband’s betrayal, Renee reportedly told the Post: “They’re in “The Life” with you one day, and then co-operating the next.”
When Renee found out her father had been arrested, she apparently collapsed and had to be taken to hospital, and
Last year, Pagan was released on parole after being sentenced to 11 years in jail for murder in 2014, and Renee moved to Florida and away from New York for a fresh start.
Renee also spoke to the US Sun after she last year, after years abusing prescription medications finally took their toll.
‘Princess’ misconceptions
Victoria Gotti’s dad was mob boss John Gotti, and she married Carmine “The Bull” Agnello, despite her father’s disapproval.
The pair had three sons together, but divorced in 2002, after Agnello was charged with racketeering and arson and sentenced to nine years in prison.
In 2019 Victoria’s life was made into a Lifetime biopic, called Victoria Gotti: My Father’s Daughter.
Speaking to , she said: “There are so many misconceptions of me [including] I was raised rich, that I’m a princess — I love that one.
“We grew up very, very poor. We were very young. We were in downtown Brooklyn. We had nothing, but we didn’t care. We were loved, my siblings and I. We were a very close-knit family.”
“The preconceived notions about my life that I’d like to change or make people more aware of — correct — is that I think the whole aura that life was just so easy and I was this princess my whole life — it was anything but that,” She added, to .
