‘Mob Wives’ is an insult to Italian-Americans and the residents of Staten Island, where the show is filmed, a local leader says! Do you agree?
VH1′s new hit reality series Mob Wives — which focuses on the lives of Cosa Nostra-related women Renee Graziano, Karen Gravano, Drita D’avanzo and Carla Facciolo — is riling up the Italian-American community of Staten Island. “I’ve seen it — It’s disgraceful,” Staten Island’s borough president, James Molinaro, tells HollywoodLife.com exclusively. “It paints Staten Island and Italian-Americans in a bad light.”
“It’s detrimental because people will think this is what Staten Island is made of,” he says. “I’m Italian — and this is bad for our doctors, our lawyers, the people who came from Italy to build their lives.”
James can’t believe that so many people actually tune in to watch the show. “It’s beyond me that people would watch this garbage,” he says. “There’s no story or function. It’s just a bunch of people standing around cursing. It’s like watching a bunch of juveniles standing on a corner cursing. I could go to any rap song and get the same thing.”
So what about the cast of Jersey Shore — do Snooki and DJ Pauly D misrepresent the Italian community? “At least Jersey Shore is taking place in Jersey,” says James. “This is taking place in Staten Island. The whole idea of it I find offensive. Not only as an Italian, but as a Staten Islander, I’m offended.”
“How can you be proud of this?” he asks. “If it was in the movies, I wouldn’t pay 25 cents to see it.”
“It’s definitely not a true reflection of Italians or the true people that live on Staten Island that go to work each day and live here,” he adds.
BFFs — do you agree with James that Mob Wives misrepresents the Italian community? Share your outrage or support for this new show with us now!
More Mob Wives Stories:
View Comment
James Jackson
Posted at 8:07 PM on April 24, 2012
Italians is just shaved Arabs without they turbans and beards.
PAB
Posted at 1:16 PM on March 16, 2012
It shouldn’t matter if the Italian Americans are being negatively represented in Staten Island or NJ. If you are proud of being an Italian American, then you are proud of being an Italian American… and if it bothers you that the Italian Americans are being misrepresented…then it should include ALL Italian Americans…not just the ones in Staten Island. If Mob Wives offends you, then Jersey Shore should as well… Actually… Pauly D and Drita D’vanzo are actually friends! So that should tell you something!
tina
Posted at 12:59 PM on March 26, 2012
Im an Italian-American and Im not offended. No one is forcing you watch Mob Wives, and there are Italian-Americans all over the United States, not just on Staten Island. Get over it. there are good and bad in every nationality. Iam very proud to be Italian-American.
Diela
Posted at 1:23 AM on March 8, 2012
Its so sad to see how envious many of you are, Italians are European and are not “light skinned black people” “Arabs” “hispanics” Etc I really feel bad for whoever is writing this anti-italian crap because i know deep down inside you want to be Italian FYI Im not Italian but Im not a hater behind a keyboard bashing Europeans who have the best food, cars & Religion.
Wallace
Posted at 1:11 PM on March 9, 2012
Italians have the best cars? That’s a new one.
The best religion? First of all, there is no such thing as an exclusively Italian religion; all I can figure is you’re so ignorant you think the Roman Catholic Church is a specifically and/or exclusively Italian religion, which of course it is not. On any event, the only thing the Roman Catholic Church ranks number one in is in molesting children. Italy, like most European countries and unlike the intellectually unsophisticated USA, has largely moved beyond religion. You know nothing about Italy.
Maybe you’re just very young; certainly the claim that people who tease Italians must secretly wish they’re Italian sounds very grammar school. Believe it or not, some people really do dislike Italians without secretly sighing they were one. Do the many Italians who hate Irish people or blacks secretly wish they were Irish or black? I doubt it, just as I doubt you aren’t Italian (methinks you doth protest of much).
Sure, some weirdos wish they were ethnicities they aren’t, and some weirdos even wish some ethnicities were things other than they are (like blacks who like to think Italians are part negroid and Hispanics who like to think of Italians as ‘Hispanics’). Italians aren’t Hispanic, but they are Latin. So are the French and even some Swiss. They aren’t “Latinos” however, which is a politically charged neologism that doesn’t really exist outside the US, where it refers to Latin Americans, especially Latin Americans of mixed race (mestizos y mulattos).
Many Sicilians certainly have substantial Arab ancestry. Arabs ruled Sicily for about the same amount of time the US has been in existence and Arab was once he official language of Sicily. The Sicilian dialect is heavily mixed with Arab words, as is the culture and their gene pool. Of course, Sicilians are also heavily mixed with Greeks and Normans; Sicily is ‘Italian’ in name only.
Diela
Posted at 12:36 AM on March 24, 2012
Wallace I really think you are right, in your price range Italians don’t have the best cars, please don’t take this as a personal attack, but I guess you haven’t ever heard of Ferrari or Lamborghini? I think you have a problem reading, I never said Italians had an exclusive religion, I simply stated they have the best Religion- Catholicism. Its unfrotunate that you write long paragraphs based on disinformation, I suggest you get some counseling and heal insecure one. I think your hate towards Italians stems from pure envy and it makes you look lame. I suggest You get a life and stop going to wikipedia for your disinformation.
Lola
Posted at 7:39 PM on April 20, 2012
Stupid some hispanics come from Spain and are white with light hair and green or blue eyes. Inform yourself before commenting
Joe
Posted at 12:26 PM on April 23, 2012
You don’t need to have green or blue eyes or light hair to be white, which is what your comment implies. In fact, since light hair and eye color are recessive, the vary majority of whites in fact have dark hair and eyes, not just southern Europeans.
As for Spaniads, the United States is the only country in the world that regards Spaniards as ‘oppressed people of color’. It’s ridiculous; Spain had the larger colonial empire of any nation in Europe and enslaved more blacks than any other country in Europe. They are essentially the creators of white racism. It’s a profound absurdity that in today’s hypersensitive politically correct US, nervous, pale white liberals feel the need to mollycoddle and pander to anyone who doesn’t look like an Englishman. It’s really, stupid. They think they’re do ‘progressive’ but what they advocate is essentially just a left wing version of Nordicism.
Diela
Posted at 12:51 AM on March 8, 2012
You clearly are delusional & have no knowledge on Albanian History. Drita is Muslim and her family prior to converting to Islam was Catholic. Albanians were not ever Jews.
GetAClue
Posted at 11:42 PM on February 25, 2012
Drita’s family are Albanian Muslims who at one time before the Turks converted them were Jews. The person who alleged all the Albanians were Christian prior to converting to Islam was wrong. Selmani comes from the name Solomon. This is more common throughout the world than most of you are willing to acknowledge as you lambast each other with what religion/ethnicity you are and who is better or worse. So it just goes to show as one of the posters said earlier there is no “pure race” anymore and if you look far enough there is probably a Black, Jewish, Hispanic etc ancestor hiding in all of your proverbial closets…
none ya
Posted at 11:10 PM on February 21, 2012
This is not mob wife’s! It is my man/dad/granddad goes to prison!Well,I have had my family members go to prison my whole LIFE!Let’s call it what it is.. PRISON LIFE!! By the way,
who is a WIFE on the show??? I see the daughters of the mob,but no wife!GET OVER IT!!!!
Angelo
Posted at 11:52 PM on February 3, 2012
Being Italian is a honor …. I love my nationality and what it’s all about… Just because they cast some morons on a couple of shows, doaent justify what where all about….
joey
Posted at 4:18 PM on February 4, 2012
Your nationality is American, you pea brain. Your ancestors’ nationality was Italian. Italian is your ethnicity, not your nationality.
GetAClue
Posted at 11:43 PM on February 25, 2012
AMEN!
Anna Maria
Posted at 4:30 PM on January 23, 2012
The whole show is an abomination !!!
when you look up the word SKANK in the dictionary , you see all these women . Their fathers, grandfathers & family members are were they belong IN JAIL.
The humiliate every hard working college educated Italian.
Hakim Jackson
Posted at 10:12 PM on June 20, 2011
Damn, Auntie T! You is sho UFC shallow for feeling “proud to be Italian” after watching a reality TV show about the ex wives and ex girl friends and children of mob has beens (Gravano and Graziano) and mob wannabees (Lee D’Avanzo and Joe Ferragammo).
Carla’s ex is not a mobster, he’s a pump and dump stock scammer. Lee D’Avanzo is a 42 year old recidivist bank robber. His only connection to the grease ball mob is his dead dad who was a gay mobster killed in a gunfight with the cops (Lewis D’Avanzo – a second cousinm of Rudolph Giuliani, BTW!).
Karen Gravano’s daughter is black. Her dad is a Negro killer named David Seabrook. Sammy must be THRILLED about that.
Drita is Albanian, which means she is most likely Muslim (most Albanians are).
Renee’s father was never a well known gangster. He was the ‘consigliere, (aka ‘advisor’) for the ‘Bonanno crime family’, which was actually thrown out of the mob in the 80s because they were so lame (they made FBI agent Joe Pistone – aka “Donnie Brasco” – a made man).
Drita is so gross! Lee must have inherited some of his dad’s gay genes to be attracted to such a masculine women.
stephanie
Posted at 9:55 PM on June 27, 2011
umm most albanians are not muslim do your research sweetheart !!
Tobias
Posted at 7:59 AM on July 2, 2011
Stephanie:
Google “Albania” and “Muslim”; most Albanians ARE Muslim.
mariella
Posted at 12:30 AM on July 7, 2011
stupid Stephanie Yes most albanians like 97% ARE MUSLIM~so i’m sure drita is hmmmmmm hence the anger management problem ~ so sad but true~she should be ashamed of herself, maybe she should stick with the muslims THEY SHOULD ALL KILL EACH OTHER!
Samira
Posted at 1:25 PM on July 7, 2011
‘Hence the anger management’..are you saying muslims have anger management problems.
Wise Man
Posted at 2:55 PM on October 2, 2011
Well, gee, let’s see, it was founded by a guy who conquered most of the Arabian peninsula and whose ‘companions’ went on to conquer huge swaths of Asia, all of the middle east, North Africa, and parts of Europe. Yeah, I’d say that would suggest anger management issues. I think being forced to eke out a living in such miserable desert conditions has produced, over the millennia a people hardwired for meanness. But hey, aside from all the killing and beading and stoning and religious zealotry and medieval mentality, their swell.
Lily
Posted at 2:23 PM on November 21, 2011
Most Albanians are Muslim, none of you actually know anything. Depending on the country will give you a close look at what ALBANIANS ARE! Since she is actually from Albanian a country where 20-30% are CATHOLIC, 10-20% are CHRISTIAN ORTHDOX, and the rest MUSLIM (but more than half claim to be atheist or are non-practicing MUSLIMS). Also Muslim culture does not represent ALBANIAN CULTURE. My fiancee is Albanian Muslim and I am Albanian Catholic. Our religion does not have a higher value than being Albanian. Plus a small percentage are practicing Muslims. By the Way the anger management problem is completely sad. Only 3% of Muslims are considered radical or what American overly label as terrorist.
lina
Posted at 1:41 PM on January 8, 2012
thats messed up..
kkay
Posted at 8:33 PM on January 15, 2012
Oh no, its better when your priest touches little boys… yeah i think i wanna be catholic.
Jessica
Posted at 2:40 PM on January 16, 2012
Oh well gather your facts straight dumbass. I’m Albanian and I’m Christian. Who fucking said that 97% of Albanians are Muslims?That’s a big fat lie. We were all Christians but Turkish forced us to get converted into Muslims in the 14th century. And 70something percent of Albanians are Muslims not 97, that’s insane! And ur such an ignorant racist.We live in a world that allows religion tolerance so everyone is free to chose whatever religion they like so stfu.
Joaquin MacPherdon
Posted at 4:08 PM on February 4, 2012
So they’re 70% Muslim instead of 97% – big deal. It remains true that the hideous, skanky, bottle blonde Drita is most likely Muslim.
Incidentally, there are a significant number of Albanians on Staten Island and in my experience, most ate extremely ethnocentric, tribal, mean people who don’t trust ‘outsiders’; in other words, they’re just like Italians!
Italians – the swarthy southern and Sicilian and Sardinian ones anyway – are genetically more Arab, Berber (North African) and Greek than Italian. If they were sent back in time to Rome they’d be seen as swarthy foreignors from ‘the colonies’.
Lu Chin
Posted at 4:22 PM on February 4, 2012
Well, if the Turkish Moslems forced most Albanians to become Moslem, this is yet MORE evidence of how much Islam sucks and is evil.
sarah
Posted at 4:28 AM on August 8, 2011
You seem to be quick to point out how these women aren’t true Italians. Lol, do you actually believe that being Italian is some sort of honor? Italians are so far from perfect its insane. Forget the show, look at the Italians around you. Majority of the Italians that live in the suburbs where I stay look out of place. They act ghetto and uneducated. Not every Italian is the same but enough act a certain way that let me know being Italian doesn’t make me special. So think about that next time you try to cast them off as being from a different ethnic background like Italians are so pure.
Rufus Jackson
Posted at 10:44 PM on August 16, 2011
Yowza, yowza, yowza Miss Sarah! I sho do feel yoo. Like u says, Italians is ghetto, which mean black, Italian, tom-ay-to to-may-to. You Italians be da newliest Expanics! And dos brutha on da Jersey Sho shonuff look like bruthas and sista! Italians and blacks, we same! So, sista Sarah, howza bout yoo get down wif a brutha man! Shamma Lamma Ding Dong! Gives me sum digits, yo! Even Karen Gravanazzo got herself a blackly man, and da Rene sista tote herself a Portoricanese man, and she done got her sum Fitty too yo! So get wif da program, or should I say BRO-GRAM!
Drea
Posted at 4:37 AM on February 22, 2012
That so ignorant I couldn’t understand a lotof it but the parts I could understand helps me understand why there is still so much hatred in the world. IGNORANCE.
Mixed
Posted at 10:52 PM on January 13, 2012
Racist!! Wow! Not too blatant…Sarah.
lina
Posted at 1:38 PM on January 8, 2012
most albanians are muslims but its not like they are religious. if someone came up to an albanian and asked what religion they are, they would either say muslim or christian/catholic. drita isnt gross and she isnt masculine
Jessica
Posted at 2:43 PM on January 16, 2012
Oh at least someone that speaks with the truth!I totally agree with you Lina. Drita is a gorgeous looking woman, a great mother, a great wife and a loyal friend.
nicole
Posted at 2:55 PM on February 11, 2012
@ Hakim actually Sammy was thrilled he spent 9.25 yrs in jail because he was wrking with Sammy in the ecstasy drug ring !
tatiana
Posted at 9:02 AM on April 19, 2012
All this comments are so Ignorant no race is better than another….I just laugh…its so sad