The Mob Wives - Is it real?

I've started watching a program called the Mob Wives, and I think I'm somewhere in season two.

The reality show follows the lives of 6 Staten Island mob wives, whose "wise guy" husbands or fathers are all imprisoned or under investigation.

The show was started by the sister of Renee Graziano.
So far I love the outfits and ostentatious looks of characters like Big Ang (who is surgically enhanced to astounding degrees).
The wives support each other, but there's constant drama and even physical altercations.

In the latest episode loud-mouthed drama queen Renee is having a nervous meltdown, when her divorced husband and lover suddenly handed himself into custody, and her father was arrested.
Rumors started that her man was a "rat" (or a snitch) who wore a wire and was responsible for her father's arrest.
A rat is something all the mob wives frown upon, so her social position might be ruined if the rumors are true.
According to the mob morality one should go to jail like a man, and not make deals with law enforcement to take down anybody else.

Apparently the mafia regard all the women as "rats", since they are talking about the lifestyle on television.
Former victims of the women's fathers and husbands are also unhappy about the show.

Can this be reality?
Is it all staged?
Although we don't see any crimes, they do talk about current crime investigations.

I find these women so compelling that it's difficult to think of them as low-lifes, or the family of killers.
Any thoughts on the show?

en.wikipedia.org...

It's probably half scripted like most reality shows.

Have you checked out MOB WIVES CHICAGO? *rubs fingers together*

Originally posted by SpearMint
It's probably half scripted like most reality shows.

I think "half-scripted" is an accurate assessment. A lot of the dramas in these "reality" shows are set-ups. I'm sure there are conferences among the producers and the wives in order to shape and solidify the direction they want to go.

Not saying the people are fake--just that it's... you know... TV, after all....

reply to post by halfoldman


Do you really think that they would confess about crimes "live" on TV?
Woah.. Some bad news.. That bread that you are eating right now, that with "JUS LIKE GRAMMAS BREAD!".. It is not done like ol' grammy would have done..


Really, do you believe in the SH*T they put on TV? Do you think that those "reality"-shows show the reality? Is this a spoon?

Thanks for the responses so far!

It's probably mixed between scripted and reality.

I think there are some seriously dramatic moments that do not look fake at all, such as the physical rumbles, or Renee's meltdown in the kitchen when she hears her father being arrested by the feds on the phone.

I do wonder about the morality of all this.
This lifestyle is treated as normal (although it clearly isn't), but the characters are as classic as anything from a Hollywood movie about the mafia.

I think this beats the Kardashians as far as characters and fashion goes, and at least it's honest.
It doesn't pretend to be good or moral behind all the ostentatiousness.

I think these people need money when they start these shows, and that's understandable when the bread-winners are usually in prison or going to prison.
I'm not sure that anything is really divulged - that's where some artifice probably comes in.
I do wonder if Junior was really a rat, and whether that wouldn't endanger him in real life.
So I'm a bit skeptical here.

Here's a trailer for season 2 of The Mob Wives, for those who might be unfamiliar with the show.

The story lines are real. They are related to people in the mafia, or associated with.

Junior really did wear a wire and got her father arrested. I'm sure you can google the court documents and all. He is supposed to be in witness protection now.

The ex-husband of “Mob Wives” star Renee Graziano may have to answer for a Mafia murder carried out just months before he assumed a featured role in the show, sources told The Post

Hector Pagan, then a Bonanno crime family associate, took part in the robbery-murder of James Donovan, a Luchese family associate, in the Gravesend section of Brooklyn in July 2010, according to sources and official documents.

Roughly a year later — while the VH1 reality series was still taping — Pagan secretly became a DEA informant and taped wiseguys.

On Friday, attorneys Ronald Fischetti and Eric Franz wrote to Brooklyn federal prosecutors, asking for information about Pagan’s role in the murder.
.

www.nypost.com...

reply to post by RealSpoke

Thanks for that information.
Very interesting.

Wow, it's more "real" than I thought.

One conspiracy could be that the mafia is coming out of the closet and spreading their values via entertainment, although there's always been movies about the mob and celebrity mobsters.