What do you think about the show so far? Now if you don't like mob wives, are still watching it? What did you guys think of the phone scene between Lee D'Avanzo and Drita Phone convo-http://www.vh1.com/video/misc/645620/im-not-waiting.jhtml

"You should be waiting around you stupid bitch." Here's some info about Lee D'Avanzo from Wiki "December 6 - The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York indicted members of the New Springville Boys gang from Staten Island, which prosecutors alleged was a mob farmteam for the Bonanno and Colombo crime families. The crew was charged with burglarizing over 30 night-deposit boxes at banks across the country, netting $240,000, committing push-in robberies, loan sharking and money laundering. They were also charged with hijacking a truckload of marijuana worth over $1 million, and selling drugs in their neighborhood. Members included leader Lee D'Avanzo, Ned Bilali, Robert Catanese,Randy (Randy The Jew) Gordon, Francis Costanzo, William "Big Billy" Fauci, Joseph "Fat Joe" Gambino, and Edward Shamah".

It's sort of hard to blame Lee for that little outburst, especially since she's living in his mansion and enjoying the good life at his expense. Then she's out partying, wiggling those big fat titties around and who knows what else she's been doing. I'd be worried if I was Lee.

that was an awesome scene, not many times i have heard a convo include so many curses very few

I loved the scene, andg thought she deserved it. Graziano's ex husband must be of Spanish blood, and not Puerto Rican.

Hector Pagan . Yeah he used to work for TG for many years and was among the guys arrested in that big sweep back in January. Does anyone know what his current situation is? He's not in jail, that I know.

That Renee Graziano is such a phony its ridiculous.She was saying so cocky like I love going to restaraunts where they say ''can i get you this Mrs.Graziano anyting you need'',she loved it,but then on these upcoming shows they show scenes where she's saying''I can't take this any more the prisons the this the that''ahhhhhh poor Renee it's so tough out there,I feel so bad for you.If your going to brag when the good times roll you better suck it up during the tough times.No pity parties for poor renee,maybe something else will fall off the truck and everthing thing will be ok.

I cry for Renee every night. It kills me to see her in pain.

i wonder how many of these broads really stay faithful when there husband is doing a long bid

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5fbd7GX0mM

I wonder how many of these broads really stay faithful when there husband is doing a long bid

They probably dont and it serves the husband right.
What goes around comes around

Wow I don't think I could agree with you less gary. These girls live in the big houses and spend the money provided by there husbands the least they cud do is keep there legs shut while there man is inside. If they wanna divorce that's fine but if they stay married they shud stay faithful

The thing is in that life a guy can be free and easy one day and then doing a 10 year stretch the next day.
She isnt gonna keep her legs shut for 10 years.
Mob guys do it all the time so their women are bound to pay them back in kind (Henry Hill's wife did)

Well if that's true then Lee better start being nice to his wife. If drita starts openning her legs something tells me there will b a line of guys who wanna get in there

Now, I don't know if this is true but rumor has it Drita's bedroom smells like fish.

I must admit, especially being from Staten Island, I have found it hard not to sneak a peak. Call it train wreck curiosity? Having said that, I must say, I think the show is in very poor taste. There are some great mob movies and I loved The Sopranos and have a sort of guilty pleasure interest in the mob, but I don't think they're cool or glamorous, and I really resent the spectacle of these ugly, foul mouthed, aging guidettes obtaining a sort of celebrity status and potentially some serious pocket change simply because they were either born to or (worse) chose to marry criminal low lifes. Take Lee D'Avanzo, the 'New Springville Boy' bank robber. I mean, come on; bank robbery? That's not very glamorous. You have to be pretty desperate to rob a bank (twice) and get caught (twice). the funny thing is, I remember those New Springville Boys robbing the bank in the Staten Island Mall back around 1990 or so. They were just one of several quasi 'gangs' of guides, some of whom were the children of or otherwise connected to mobsters (others being "The Sheldon Boys"' "The Wanderers"', "The Stallions" and even "Jr. Stallions"). That punk thug Chris Ludwigsen (aka 'Paciello') who became a big club owner in South Beach Miami was a New Springville Boy also.

Knowing first hand how utterly stupid, thuggish, racist, and uninteresting these 'big shot'
mobsters really are really brings home the fact that movies are one thing but in real life these guys are typically really stupid and evil, not people to be "oohed" and "ached"
at like movie stars or something. At the end of the day they're just guidos with guns,
and if you look at their rap sheets their crimes (e.g. bank robbery) are pretty much white trash sort of crimes. I also wouldn't call D'Avanzo's house a 'mansion', it's a pretty ordinary middle class south shore Staten Island home, and based on his predilection for robbing banks, he apparently wasn't keeping up with the payments. [Real estate on S.I. is ridiculously over priced, by way; crappy, 2 bedroom condos duplexes there typically go for about half a million. No wonder all the guidos are moving to Jersey.]

the barber said:
"Well if that's true then Lee better start being nice to his wife. If drita starts openning her legs something tells me there will b a line of guys who wanna get in there"

Huh? That women is disgusting and talks like a longshoremen. Any guys in that line would have to be at least a little bit gay to be attracted to that broad. The only one that is somewhat attractive is Carla, but she talks like a truck driver also. Karen Gravano is actually the most well spoken and intelligent of them, probably because she spent ten years in Arizona. Renee could probably play linebacker for the Giants.

Also, like all reality TV shows, this one appears heavily scripted. Drita Is no brain surgeon, but I can't believe she's so dumb and/or inept that she doesn't know how much time her husband was sentenced to. She didn't go to the trial? Read new coverage of the trial? Look at the NYS inmate website? Any 6 year old in Alaska could google it in a few seconds. Plus, the call was obviously not spontaneous. Both sides of the conversation were being recorded for the show and they knew it. They were putting on a show. Also, half the grocery items Lee was requesting were perishable; there's no place to store (much less prepare) that stuff in a prison cell. They were trying to suggest to the naive audience that bank robber Lee has a Goodfellas type kitchen in his cell like in the movie (that was a movie, folks). In real life they'd be lucky to have a bunk trunk filled with Snickers, Ramen noodles and honey buns.

I've often said that both extreme ideas of all mobsters being millionaires swimming in money and all mobsters being brokesters living hand to mouth is false. They're are certainly both on each side of the spectrum but, generally speaking, most mobsters are more or less middle-class.

Compared to most houses, Drita's house is big and it's definitely close to being a mansion. Calling it a mini mansion may be the correct way to describe it.

Are you sure you're not talking about Renee's house?

Yes.

Drita is hot and alot of guys wud like to tap that If yur sole reason for not wanting to bang her is cause of her dirsty mouth then maybe you are gay. And FYI some guys like girls who talk like that. Also as someone who has actually grown up around alot of wiseguys they are not all morons or thugs. some are actually quite intelligent but just decide to use there smarts for crimnal reasons. Mchael Franzese was in med school before becoming a gangster and jerry anguilo was in law school. Another boston mobster graduated from boston college . So mayb u shud get your facts straight before you start categorizing people. how would you like it if i sad all doctors are cock suckers? Just cause that my opinon does not mean its true

thebarber:
You're the one who needs to get your facts straight. Franseze was never in medical school; he doesn't even have a bachelors degree. He was enrolled in a pre-med undergraduate program at Hofstra (which is not a very prestigious or selective school) but dropped out.

Jerry Angiulo had ambitions of going to law school as a kid but never went.

Sure, not all mobsters are stupid but most are and they're certainly all morally bankrupt, which is not a good thing. Again, movies are one thing, real life is another. Don't get so caught up in the glamour of the movie; in real life these guys are thugs (again, not a good thing to be - though it is often interesting).

Finally, I'm really not interested in a flame war here, but I seem to recall that members of this board are required to be civil towards one another or else be subject to dismissal. A word to the wise, you know?

i am not forming my opinoins on gangsters from movies or tv. I have lived in bostons north end all my life and have met and know many wiseguys includng my uncle who has done time for mob related charges. I know that most of them are nice people in there day to day life. Alot of them believe in a certin set of italian values that i doubt you would understand if your last name is smith.

with that being said i dont want to have a such a useless arguement but be sure of this i knew more about wiseguys and mob life by junior high then you will ever know

Boston? LOL. I grew up in Staten Island. Boston might as well be Kansas compared to Staten Island. I literally grew up surrounded by these guys. I'm not some kid whose seen too many mob movies. To say killers are nice guys is pretty foolish in my opinion. I'm sorry, but if your earlier comments about Franseze going to medical school (wrong) and Angiulo going to law school (wrong again) are any indication, you really aren't very well informed about the mob. I'm really trying to be as nice as possible here but you're making it hard.

Also, I don't mean to be rude here, but if you are Italian and you consider the mob an expression of Italian values most Italians would consider you a cafone. Most adult Italians would be offended by that suggestion. The mob is interesting in certain ways, some legitimate and some as a consequence of media sensationalization, but they're not role models or good people and most Italians consider it an embarrassment. A lot of people find true crime books, movies, and documentaries about serial killers or Nazis interesting also but only a disturbed individual would look up to them.

Another word to the wise: someone who really had connections would never broadcast the fact online on a website about the mob, unless they were really foolish. I don't believe for a second that you're "connected". Note, I said I grew up around these guys, and knew a lot of them growing up because in Staten Island, it's unavoidable, just as if you grew up on a Caribbean Island you couldn't avoid knowing divers. But I never claimed to be 'connected' or to admire them. People who are constantly scheming and strutting and engaged in juvenile alpha male priming like adolescents strike me as pathetic, not cool. Hey, everyone thought Ted Bundy and John Wayne Gacy were real nice guys too, you know? People who steal, beat, and kill are jerks, period. Interesting jerks, in some cases perhaps, but jerks nonetheless.

Also, "DrZacharySmith" is a screen name (it's the name of a character on an old 60s TV show). But if you really knew anything about the mob, you'd know there are plenty of associates with non-Italian names. Joe Watts (from my hometown) had the respect of a captain in the Gambino family in the 80s and 90s, for example. Not that it matters, but my real name IS Italian.

Anyway, I get the sense you're pissed off because you took my comments about "having to be a little gay" to like Drita to be an attack you. That's really not how I meant it; it was a JOKE, ya know? I think the woman is gross, even when she's not talking, but hey, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. To each his own, etc.

As I said before, I'm not interested in a flamewar here. I suggest we squash this.

Good idea.

Most wiseguys extort, rob or intimidate people in their day to day life. I don't find that very nice. So if we're gonna go by that, then yeah these guys are scumbags who deserve to be bitch slapped by miss Star Jones.


However, some of these guys have done good things for their neighborhoods and even gone out of their way to ensure the safety and well being of the less fortunate. Lucky Luciano and Wild Bill Cutolo were known to work with sick children and John Gotti seemed eager to help the sons and daughters of poor neighborhood people get into college. When somebody got sick, he paid their medical bills. So if we're gonna go by all that, then yeah, some of these guys deserve a bottle of Cristal for their positive contributions to society.

LOL- bitch slapped by Star Jones! Damn, I'm not sure even Sammy the Bull deserves that (you know, the whole cruel and unusual thing).

Well said; I appreciate the injection of humor into this thread. I think I take some of this stuff way too seriously sometimes...

Going a bit off topic here, but if I were calling the shots in that wreck they call the Colombo Family, I'd make sure not to make Lee D'avanzo until way after this show is done. It would more or less be broadcast on national television. Reason I bring this up, is logically, a guy who runs a farm team and does time without complaints is eligible. Who thinks Drita will reach celebrity status? So far, popularity can't match any of the Housewives shows or spinoffs.

I think the characterization of the New Springville Boys as a farm team for the mob involves a bit of DA office hyperbole. The New Springville Boys were the name taken by a group of teens in Staten Island back in the 80s. Initially, they were just one of several groups of teens that formed something like a self organized football league. As I've said elsewhere, they were originally just one of many (others being the Sheldon Boys, Wanderers, Stallion, etc.). They even had uniforms made (the New Springville Boys had red Jerseys, in case you were interested).

Originally, all these guys did for the most part was play football, drink beer, and fight. Half the kids in my gym growing up were New Springville Boys.

Most of these kids had no mob ties, but many did (it is Staten Island after all). In any event, the Springville Boys had more 'bad seeds' than most, and a hardcore element among them became quite involved with some of the mob families (the most famous case being Chris Ludwigsen, better known as the Miami 'club king' turned informant Chris Paciello).

But that was 20 plus years ago; the very informal 'farm team' was farmed as it were a long time ago. I doubt any such group even still employees the name New Springville Boys, but D'Avanzo's 'crew' grew out of that. It's kind of self serving of the DA and the producers of the show to suggest D'Avanzo is a mob big shot. He's a 42 year old bank robber. Most active big mob players would steer clear of a production like this. If he IS a big shot in the mob, the mob has really fallen on some lean times.