Joe Bruno's Mobsters - Six Volume Set

by Bruno, Joe

  April 23, 2012

  As was reported by Jerry Capeci in his April, 19, 2012 Gangland internet column, Hector “Junior” Pagan may indeed have to testify in court, because one of the men he ratted on, Nicky Santora, has refused to take a plea deal and Santora’s case is scheduled to go to trial on May 7. This puts a monkey wrench into the government's desire not to have Pagan testify at any trials, and has pissed off Pagan to no end.

  As I reported in my April 18 column, the reason the government wants no part of Pagan on the witness stand is because his disgusting performance on the VH1 television show Mob Wives has made him a hated man by the millions of viewers who watch the show. This truism will make it difficult, if not nearly impossible, for the government to find 12 jurors who would take anything Pagan says on the witness stand at face value.

  According to Gangland, Pagan has sent letters to estranged family members, saying if he didn’t turn rat, he was facing 50 years in prison. He also complained, “Why don’t these guys take a plea deal?”

  Well, five out of the six defendants did take a plea, including his former father-in-law, Anthony Graziano, and Vincent (Vinny TV) Badalamenti. But Santora, as of this moment, has turned thumbs down on a plea which would have given him less than two years behind bars. If convicted, Santora can get more than 10 years in prison.

  It will be interesting to see if Santora sticks to his guns, even if only to aggravate the government, which willingly got into bed with a piece-of-garbage like Pagan; not to mention piss off Pagan himself, who doesn’t want to stare down his former pals from the witness stand.

  Responses to “Jerry Capeci’s ‘Gangland’ Says Junior May Still Have to Testify in Court and Junior Doesn’t Like It One Bit.”

  Sha - What a low-life rat!!!

  Rob - Rat!!!!!!

  Jos - Most of them rat when faced with long sentences. The Cosa Nostra should do like the Russians - kill the entire family of a rat !!! That will stop most scumbag rats.

  Lee - "Disgusting!!!"

  Pat - "JUNK BOX...........SNEAK.........."

  Mic - He’s going to end up deader than a f*****g doornail. Whether you’re mob or not, you should never snitch on anyone.

  Bel - I couldn’t imagine going through that. It’s the worst betrayal EVER!!! Disgrace!!!

  Jen - Junior’s a wannabe. Always was. He never loved Renee much. All he cared about was being in “the life.” I’m not sure why he did this. What a piece of s**t this guy is!

  Mik - Junior’s not even a Guinea.

  For - Mob Wives has made Junior a hated man by the millions of viewers who watch the show. With his reputation, I'm sure he has found at least one woman by now who doesn't hate him. I think that makes him a dog and a rat.

  Jye - I saw a Boston mob figure - a hit man - who turned witness for the government on his crime buddies. He said he doesn't consider himself a rat/snitch. Here's why - He said snitches tell on people in private behind people's backs, but a witness for the government isn't a snitch because he's doing it in front of the people. I wonder if this rat is still alive.

  JB - This Boston guy has a convoluted or self-serving definition of a rat. A rat is a person who snitches on someone else; to the government; to his own mother - whatever. He's still a rat.

  Jye - What's the real deal with what will happen to AJ? If AJ wasn't the grandson of a Mafia boss would he get whacked because of what his pops did?

  JB - No. AJ has nothing to do what his father did. As far as the mob is concerned, he’s a civilian. Plus, he’s Anthony Graziano’s grandson. Nobody will touch him.

  Kim - Junior needs to stay in jail for 50 years. He has ruined his son’s life!!!!!!!!!!

  How in hell can you turn on the man who was your father-in-law for so many years. Renee needs to go on and forget that AJ’s father is alive.

  Jennifer Graziano Says She Should Have Known Hector “Junior” Pagan Was a Rat

  May 11, 2012

  Jennifer Graziano, the creator of the VH1 television show Mob Wives had her “Duh” moment in her recent interview with the New York Post. Jennifer G. told the Post she should have known her ex-brother-in-law Hector “Junior” Pagan was a rat, when he seemed overly interested in appearing on her show.

  Before the second season of Mob Wives, when Jennifer G. asked Pagan if he really wanted to be on the show, he eagerly said yes.

  “It’ll ruin you on the street,” Jennifer G. told Pagan.

  “No,” Pagan replied. “I don’t care about that anymore. I want to be in it.” (the FBI wanted Pagan to be in it too; wired for sound, of course.)

  “I should have known then that something was wrong,” Jennifer told the Post.

  No spit, Sherlock.

  A street guy like Pagan, with a record as long as a giraffe’s neck, insists on being on a national TV show, and nobody smelled a rat? The FBI must have thrown a huge party when they discovered Pagan would not only be on the show, but would be an integral part of the show, with his continuing soap opera concerning his ex-wife, Renee Graziano, Jennifer’s sister.

  Will they get back together?

  Will they not get back together?

  Who the flip cares??

  To make the situation all the more disgusting, after Jennifer and Renee’s father, Anthony Graziano, was arrested based on tapes Pagan secretly made for the FBI while talking to Graziano about committing the crime of usury, the Graziano sisters never entertained the thought of cancelling the show.

  Jennifer G. said after her father was arrested, “VH1 called me right away and asked me if I wanted to shut it down — meaning stop filming. I told them, ‘No, keep going.’ I would never shut down.”

  Jennifer G. also said her sister, Renee, was also “full speed ahead” as far as continuing the show.

  Of course, we all know that “money makes the blind man see.” But there isn’t enough money in the entire world for me, and all the folks I know, to allow millions of people an inside look at our family’s miseries.

  The Graziano sisters should be ashamed of themselves. But I don’t think they have the word “shame” in their vocabulary; unless they are talking about other people. In fact, that’s all the show Mob Wives is about; cartoonish women yakking about other people, and not in a very nice way.

  The bad news is that there will be a Season Three of Mob Wives. The good news is that nobody has to watch it.

  Except maybe, of course, the FBI.

  Responses to: “Jennifer Graziano Says She Should Have Known Hector “Junior” Pagan Was a Rat”

  Joh - We need positive images of Italians in the media.

  And - I love that show. Sorry... keep going girls!!!

  Ela - I must say I love the drama. However, as they say "the sins of the father.”

  Jen - I totally agree.

  And - I am just hoping that all of Drita's anger management sessions help me. I am also very blessed to have a wonderful extended Italian family; they always show me nothing but love.

  Ric – Finally, tonight is the season finale. But now there is a new Mob Wives Chicago on the horizon!

  Ela - FYI - If the anger management doesn't work, may I suggest one capsule of St. John's Wort per day? Works for me!

  Jos - High Maintenance!!! Wouldn't you say!!!

  Jus - Yep, I hate that show.

  Zig – Damn, she (Renee G.) is beautiful.

  Ela - They are all kinds of rough looking; hard as nails. And as far as their speech, f****** fuhgeddaboudit!

  The sad part is, if you take these women out of that environment, it would probably be a 180-degree difference. They are robbing themselves of the opportunity to be "real" individuals for a lot of glitz (and pain). I can see how they hide behind the speech to fit in.

  Now, I like Big Ang - and to me she personifies someone who has lived a life in the lifestyle. Enough said.

  Mic - If Mob Wives goes to Season Three please get rid of Karen. Agh!!! She makes me sick; always acting like a hard-ass. She’s all mouth like her daddy!!!


  Sar - It's better than Jersey Shore, at least. Then again, that's just my opinion.

  Seriously, it's just entertainment in this day and age. It's not deep; it's women who are trying to make money by putting their lives out there for the rest of the world to see, same as so many others. If they choose to portray themselves as this or that, that's them.

  Personally, the only one I genuinely like is Drita D'avanzo. She just seems like one of those girls that would've been hanging out with one of my older cousins back in the ‘90s and she would've been chilling with them and me, all of us.

  Karen Gravano, however fake it is, just brings petty drama with her. She is very childish and ignorant whether it's staged or not, but that's the driving force behind the show itself.

  Love it or hate it, the Real Housewives franchise is a whole lot worse. Trust me.

  JB – Thanks, Sar. I just marked down Real Housewives as another TV program not to watch.

  Renee Graziano – The Height of Arrogance

  May 12, 2012

  If anyone had any reservations that Renee Graziano is not appearing on VH1’s Mob Wives just for the cash, the remarks she made to the Hollywood Reporter should remove all doubts.

  In an interview given to the Hollywood Reporter, Renee said, “Actually this might sound a little cocky, but I’m glad it’s playing out in national headlines because people know this is real. You get a lot of remarks that this is staged. Listen, if I could get the government or anybody behind the scenes to get them to pinch 127 people, and get my ex-husband into a snitch, we would be gazillionaires and everyone would want us!”

  Glad this has played out in national headlines??

  She must be kidding.

  Who in their right mind would want their dirty laundry aired out in public? Your ex-husband, Hector “Junior” Pagan, also a co-star on Mob Wives, becomes a rat, and then he gets wired up by the Feds to entrap your father, Anthony Graziano, and several other alleged mob figures, into saying things that will put them all in prison.

  And Renee is glad all this has happened, just so the show can get higher ratings??

  It’s interesting what Renee said when the Hollywood Reporter asked her if she was going to court when her father appears before the judge.

  “No, I’m not going down to court,” Renee said. “Every time I’ve been to court there’s been too much attention. I don’t think it’d be good for the other families. My father is fine with me and who I am, but the other families - it’s not necessary.”

  If it were my father, just to get a glimpse of him in court, I’d run a 100-yard gauntlet on coals of fire. But Renee is afraid she will have to meet the angry glares of the family members of the men who were also arrested because of her ex-husband Pagan’s treachery. So, Renee shamelessly avoids going to court to support her father, because she might get angry stares, or an angry word or two; and not another dime for her appearance.

  What a creep.

  I guarantee you - if the television cameras were allowed in court, Renee would be there with bells on, just to film a neat segment of Mob Wives, complete with uncontrollable crying by Renee, of course. We’ve seen already, Renee’s real good at hysterical wailing. In fact, that’s probably her most favorable trait.

  Then, already pitching Season Three of Mob Wives, Renee said to the Hollywood Reporter, “If everyone thinks this is all I have they are sadly mistaken. That came - that blindsided all of us. No one was expecting that, but this will not affect my story line and I have a lot more than Junior in my life.”

  Quite frankly lady, who the flip cares about you and your miserable life, or the lives of the other contemptible creatures on your show?

  What kind of intelligent person could care for one second what these highly unlikable women do from one minute to the next, or from one season to the next?

  Mob Wives is a horribly disgusting TV program, highlighting shameless women; women who let the world know their intimate thoughts and difficulties for a few measly bucks.

  As for me, I’d rather watch reruns of Leave it to Beaver.

  Responses to: “Renee Graziano – The Height of Arrogance”

  And - LOL...TRUE.... I LOVE BIG ANG THE MOST. SHE IS VERY CALM AND COOL. THANKS, I NEEDED A LAUGH....

  Ger – RENEE, I LOVE YOU!!!!!!! DITTO BIG ANG IS A TRIP.....SHE ACTS LIKE A PETITE LITTLE WOMAN.

  JB - Ger, you need glasses. Big Ang looks like the Incredible Hulk in drag.

  And - SHE (BIG ANG) IS GETTING HER OWN SHOW...WHOOP - WHOOP!!

  And - OH JB, YOU’RE ROUGH...

  JB - I thought I was paying Big Ang a compliment by saying she looks like the Incredible Hulk in drag.

  I could have said “Mike Tyson in drag.”

  And - SADLY OR NOT SHE LOOKS BETTER THAN I DO!

  JB - And, I don't believe that for a second. Renee's mouth wide open, like it always is, looks like the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel. Or is it the Holland Tunnel?

  Mat - I concur with your article.

  Ern - I did not see it (the show Mob Wives). I refuse to watch stupidity and you just described the portrait of that fact. It’s pure stupidity on the part of the writers.

  And - LOL...TRUE.... I LOVE BIG ANG THE MOST. SHE IS VERY CALM AND COOL .THANKS, I NEEDED A LAUGH!

  Joh -You can drive a New York Post truck through her (Renee’s) mouth...

  And - Nice!

  Ela - In Italy, they have bimbo stereotypes in the media, too - in real life, I think most women in Italy are very, very far from the bimbo type. Some of the most naturally beautiful women in the world - gaudier types in Rome - sleeker types in Milan – all-out sexy in Naples. Viva Italia!

  Joe - I think someone did drive a New York Post truck through her (Renee’s) mouth. Two at a time. Sideways.

  Ern - I watched that program for about three seconds and I knew that it was a disgrace to the honor and integrity of any and all Italian women. I have never in my life met an Italian woman who spoke that way - at any time. The writer must not have even known Italians for what they are - loving people. Even the Mafioso had more respect for each other than these people have on that show. The writers should be shot. That could be a great show if they only showed some honesty and truthfulness.

  Ela - Many, many years ago I went to school with the daughter of a "boss.” She was nothing like the stereotypes perpetrated by Mob Wives - a really sweet girl.

  Ter - These are the Italian-American ones. They don't know the first thing about being a true Italian American they bring SHAME......LOOK AT THEM..!!!!! The only thing they do is bring disgrace to good Italian-American people.

  Ern - Ter, your statement that "These are the Italian -American ones" is totally wrong. The characters (not the women themselves in this and other shows) would have been mothers and grandmothers in the old days.

  Being born and raised in Brooklyn in the 40's, 50's and 60's, I'll tell you, if any of my sisters or cousins spoke anything like that in front of their mothers or my mother or grandmother, I can guarantee you, they would never do it again.

  This is not the producer’s fault. He probably doesn't know any better. It is the fault of the writers who should know better. Then on top of that you place the ignorance of the producer and you have a terribly insulting show.

  Car - I love when Renee was screaming, “They can't take my Fathaa!”

  Lis - Everyone can say what they want. I agree with some of it, but how do they keep coming back? I grew up on Thompson St. - Sullivan St. We had a lot of wise guys. You just don't do that, but today it's very fashionable to put your business on the street!

  Hector “Junior” Pagan’s Appearance on the Witness Stand is Delayed

  May 13, 2012

  Some guys have all the luck.

  Hector “Junior” Pagan, the most famous rat/canary since Sammy “The Bull” Gravano, is catching a break because, according to the New York Post, Nicholas “Nicky Mouth” Santora got hit with a slew of new charges, “courtesy of an FBI informant who taped more than 70 conversa
tions with the Bonanno underboss.”

  Because of this new information provided by an un-named wired canary, Federal prosecutor Jack Dennehy has asked Judge Carol Amon to postpone Santora’s trial to give his defense attorney more time to prepare. Judge Amon has complied with the prosecutor’s request.

  This means that Pagan, the stool-pigeon ex-husband of the “Mob Wives” star Renee Graziano, won’t be taking the witness stand this week to testify against Santora, as scheduled. In fact, it could be months before the courts are graced with Pagan’s presence - if at all. Pagan’s only way out of testifying is if Santora takes a plea deal, which, considering the magnitude of the charges against him, seems highly unlikely.

  It is not clear from the New York Post article if Pagan is the new informant concerning Santora. But it’s doubtful, since, if you watched the VH1 TV show Mob Wives and have seen Pagan struggle with the English language, you know it would be extremely difficult for Pagan to hold 70 conversations with anybody, even a Cigar Store Indian.

  Pagan’s diction is more than terrible. “Mumbles” in the Dick Tracy comics speaks more lucidly.

  But hey, that’s the government’s problem, not mine.

  Responses to: “Hector ‘Junior’ Pagan’s Appearance on the Witness Stand is Delayed.”

  Jos - "Rat pig !"

  Ela - “Hope he enjoys flipping burgers in Tacoma!"

  Ber - "RATTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT"

  Peg - Ugly, vulgar, and disgusting in every sense of the word. I know many Italian women; none of them speak like the women in Mob Wives. Disgraceful.

  Fie - Cracked me up mentioning how he speaks. I constantly correct them all on Twitter; Renee is the biggest one to slaughter the English language. But then she tweets the most, too. So thankfully, I wasn't born on Staten Island.

  Jus - I f*****g hate snitching. Do the crime - do the time!

  Mob Wives Big Ang to Star in Her Own TV Show