Daughter of 'Sammy the Bull' set to make small screen debut in controversial mob reality show
The daugther of legendary Gambino turncoat Salvatore (Sammy Bull) Gravano stars in a new mob reality show - and that's not sitting well with relatives of her dad's victims.
Karen Gravano has started shooting for "Mob Wives," set to possibly air next year on VH1.
In one scene, she receives a well-timed prison phone call from her father, who is serving 20-years for Ecstasy trafficking, a preview copy obtained by the Daily News shows.
Gravano, 38, is one of five women tracked on the show - the other four in the preview video are actual wives; she's the only daughter.
Relatives of her 65-year-old murderous father's 19 victims say she should keep her mouth shut - and her face off TV.
"She grew up a little spoiled brat on blood money," said Jackie Colucci, whose slain brother Joseph was Salvatore Gravano's first victim in 1970.
"She should be ashamed that her father is a murderer and a drug dealer. I would be ashamed and crawling in a hole and staying out of the limelight.
"We're the victims. My brother's kids grew up without a father."
Karen Gravano's connection to the show is all part of an effort to reinvent herself. The self-proclaimed "aesthetician and makeup artist" hopes to open a beauty business.
Gravano said her dad's notorious past is his past - not hers.
"As far as the situation with my father, for the last 20 years I've always had that attention so it's nothing new," she said. "I'm trying to get out of that shadow."
"I'm sure it's going to be a good show," she said of the VH1 project, which is largely set in Brooklyn and on Staten Island
In one scene, she gets a call from Sammy Bull and gushes over a drawing he made of her daughter.
"Mommy showed me the picture you drew of (Sammy's granddaughter), it's beautiful!" the mob princess chirps.
Gravano also describes what it was like when she learned her dad broke his mob oath and agreed to testify against mob boss John Gotti.
"When he told me he was going to cooperate, it was devastating. . . . Finding all this out didn't matter because he's my father," she said on the video excerpt.
It should matter, the family of her dad's victims say. Capitalizing on the Gravano name trivializes the destruction he wrought as a gangster, they say.
"Doesn't she realize the aftermath of her father's actions? She has put him on a pedestal and they want to keep making money off Sammy," the relative said. "She's feeding off him."
"Mob Wives" is being produced by Jennifer Graziano, the daughter of Bonanno capo Anthony (T.G.) Graziano.
Her sister, Renee Graziano, praises Karen Gravano in one scene.
"Karen has got a huge set of b----, yes, she does," Graziano says.
A spokesman for "Mob Wives" declined to comment, insisting the show's cast is not set and "real production doesn't start until after the holidays."
Meanwhile, Sammy Bull may be starring in another drama if he is called to testify at next month's trial of longtime Gambino associate Joe Watts.
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http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010...l#ixzz18rFJGrKsThis is bizarre, some people will go to any lengths to make a buck. I wonder if Graziano is close with his daughter, and how he feels about her making a show about a rats family.
