Omertà doesn’t mean anything to these former mob households.
In “Families of the Mafia,” a new docuseries premiering Thursday at 9 p.m. on MTV, four Staten Island broads formerly associated with La Cosa Nostra attempt to stop their children from making the same mistakes they did.
Cameras followed the wiseguys over two years, which will air over six episodes.
The cast includes Karen Gravano, the daughter of Salvatore “Sammy the Bull” Gravano, a former underboss in the Gambino crime family who helped take down the Teflon Don, John Gotti. Sammy pleaded guilty to running a 50-person ecstasy ring and served over 17 years in prison. He was released early in September 2017.
Daughter Karen is no stranger to sharing her story. She was a staple on the VH1 show “Mob Wives,” which ran from 2011 to 2016. Last year, she and her daughter Karina Seabrook were featured in the short-lived MTV show “Made in Staten Island,” which had a similar premise and cast of characters.
Get to know each of the reformed familias here.
The Gravano Family
Karen Gravano deals with life on Staten Island raising her daughter, Karina, 20, clouded by the shadow of her family’s reputation. Many locals consider her father to be a “rat” for working with the feds and turning on “the life,” their way of saying the mob.
After raising Karina in Arizona, where her family was based for years, Karen moved back to Staten Island when Karina was 14. She now runs a Mafia-themed pizza shop in New Jersey, “La Pizza Nostra,” with her cousin.
The episode kicks off shortly after Sammy is released from prison, when Karen and Karina travel back to Arizona, where Sammy lives under supervised custody. Although her parents are divorced, Karen’s mom lives out West, too. Unsure of who is still holding grudges against them in New York, Karen’s family urges her to leave New York to be with them where it’s safer.
Sammy, who has thus far shied away from Karen’s reality TV projects, says in the show that he feels his daughter and granddaughter are in danger.
“There’s so much you don’t know,” he tells them on camera. “In New York, there could be problems for you. If there’s a problem, call me.”
The O’Toole Family
Mom Jessica Clare was born and bred on Staten Island. Her ex-husband, Billy O’Toole, was involved with the Irish mafia and spent their marriage in and out of jail. O’Toole’s father was Wild Bill, a mob hitman.
Together they have three kids, Matthew, 25, and twins Taylor and Joe, 23.
“They’ve gone down the wrong path,” Jessica says in the episode. “I’ve always been the one at the jail, I’ve always been the one answering that middle-of-the-night phone call.” Taylor was charged with assault and robbery, which she did time for in Rikers.
Both Taylor and Joe were featured in “Made in Staten Island.”
“Joe’s getting in trouble and Joe’s getting into fights, Taylor’s getting arrested,” Jessica tells her ex, urging him to be more present in their lives.
The Augustine Family
Lisa Augustine and Karen Gravano grew up together. Although Lisa wasn’t part of “the life,” she was surrounded by it on Staten Island.
“I’m just an intellectual thot trying to make it in the world. A boss-ass bitch who loves thyself, and likes to spread positivity,” says Lisa’s daughter, Dennie.
Dennie was also featured on “Made in Staten Island.”
“The Mafia was admired and glorified, those were people you didn’t mess with,” says Lisa. She didn’t want her children growing up on the streets, being tempted with danger the same way she was growing up.
The LaRocca Family
Mom Gina LaRocca went to prison for selling drugs to people in the Mafia. “I have been arrested three times and I spent eight months in Rikers,” the Brooklynite says. Now reformed, she’s raising her youngest children.
Her oldest, Christian (who goes by CP and was also in “Made in Staten Island”), had a different childhood than his siblings. After his mom was locked up when he was 5, he went to live with his dad, Christian Patterson, who then also went to jail. Now, he’s living with his uncle Anthony and aunt Trish on Staten Island to give him a better life.
CP was charged with attempted murder and assault and faced up to 25 years in prison, “for playing a minor role in a major f–king crime,” he says: An 18-year-old was stabbed multiple times at a house party. The judge let CP off and he’s doing three years probation.
Gina thinks he should be far away from Staten Island, where trouble is lurking around every corner. She wants him to live with her. But Trish and Anthony aren’t so sure of her parenting skills: They think he needs a stable household and support more than anything.
