HollywoodLife.com spoke to Renee right before her father Anthony Graziano and the head of the Bonanno crime family headed to federal court to accept a plea deal and she says it just proves the ‘Mob Wives’ is real!

Renee Graziano‘s life hasn’t just been playing out on her VH1 reality show Mob Wives, it’s making national headlines. HollywoodLife.com had Renee in our NYC studios just hours before Vincent Badalamenti the head of the Bonanno crime family, her father Anthony Graziano, and other mob associates were to plead guilty to racketeering. All of this because Renee’s ex-husband Hector Pagan wore a wire and ratted on everyone!

“Actually this might sound a little cocky but I’m glad it’s playing out in national headlines,” Renee tells HollywoodLife.com. “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!”

The recent episodes of Mob Wives show Renee learning her father is going to jail and then more recently that her ex-husband is responsible for ratting to the feds.

“From what I understand there are six men on the case and they all plead guilty on the case,” she says. “They’ve all taken a global plea which means you recognize it, you take it, there’s more time involved. The guidelines the feds go by is some point system which I don’t understand. What I do understand is you go on visits, you send money, and you love the person that is behind the wall. I don’t get involved in the legal stuff.”

Renee’s father Anthony is expected to get a sentence of three years, after having just served eight years for tax evasion, racketeering, and conspiracy to commit murder .

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

But Renee does want to reassure fans that this won’t affect the plot of Mob Wives season three.

“If everyone thinks this is all I have they are sadly mistaken,” she says. “That came, that blindsided all of us, no one was expecting that …this will not affect my story line and I have a lot more than Junior in my life.”

— Chloe Melas

More Mob Wives News

1. ‘Mob Wives’ Star Renee Graziano: I Will Never Speak To My Ex-Husband EXCLUSIVE interview!
2. ‘Mob Wives’ Star Renee Graziano Wants To Join ‘Dancing With The Stars’
3. Renee Graziano: I Forgive My Ex-Husband For Betraying My Father

Renee Graziano is having a difficult season on VH1′s Mob Wives – and it got even worse on the March 25 episode. Renee’s husband, who she has been working to reconcile her damaged decade-long relationship with, was arrested.

“He got charged with armed robbery and brandishing a weapon,” she said about her husband Junior Pagan. “ It’s a seven-year charge.” Junior was already facing charges after last season’s federal mob bust of 127 mobsters — the biggest in New York’s history.

To add fuel to the fire, Renee’s father, Anthony “T.G.” Graziano, 71, was also arrested! Another fragile relationship, Renee is currently not on speaking terms with her dad. She revealed on the show that she thinks her dad would kick her out if she were to show up at his house unexpectedly.

Renee added that her father doesn’t agree with some of the decisions she’s made, saying “You gotta grow up sometime.”

– Jasmine Berry

More Mob Wives:

1. ‘Mob Wives’ Recap: Will Carla Facciolo Go To Drita D’avanzo Or Ramona Rizzo’s Halloween Party?
2. ‘Mob Wives’ Preview: Renee Graziano Cusses Out Her Ex-Husband
3. ‘Mob Wives’ Recap: Drita D’avanzo ‘Is On A Mission To Stay Away From D-bags’

Renee’s dad tells her, ‘You made your bed. Now sleep in it’ — and cut off contact!

How do Cosa Nostra members feel about their daughters and wives participating in VH1′s new hit show, Mob Wives? For star Renee Graziano — the fact that she let a TV crew film her life didn’t settle too well with her father Anthony Graziano, onetime consigliere of the Bonanno crime family,  who’s behind bars at a federal penitentiary.

“He has no reaction because we don’t speak, not now, not after I made the decision to do the show,” Renee tells HollywoodLife.com exclusively. “He said to me, ‘You made your bed. Now sleep in it.’ My father doesn’t agree with anyone putting their life on [TV].”

For Renee, going on the show wasn’t about her father — or the fact that he didn’t approve of her choice.

“I think I needed to develop my own identity outside of my family life — out of the lifestyle,” Renee explains to us. “I was also pretty tired of people judging me upon a lifestyle — not realizing that I’m a woman, I’m a mom, I go through hardships. No sympathy — that’s not something that I want from anyone. It was my way of really planting my feet and making a change in my life.”

For the rest of Renee’s friends and family — “My family supports me,” says Renee. And, “more than three-quarters of the people are supporting me fully. For the most part, friends … they are very proud of me.”

“My father doesn’t agree with my decision,” adds Renee. But, “my father will always love me. He will always protect me. He’s my dad.”

- Lindsey DiMattina

More Mob Wives Stories:

1. ‘Mob Wives’ Recap: Renee Graziano’s Husband & Father Are Arrested
2. Karen Gravano On Mob Wives To Clear Her Name!
3. Drita D’avanzo Takes Kids To See Daddy In Prison!

Renee Graziano is, by all appearances, the most daunting of the fearsome assemblage of women that make up the cast of Mob Wives. It comes as somewhat of a surprise then that Renee, by all accounts, has stayed on the right side of the law her entire life. This is not however the case for her father, Anthony Graziano, and her ex-husband, Junior.

Renee’s father Anthony was a high ranking member of La Cosa Nostra according to the Federal Government and is currently serving time in North carolina. In March of 2002, Anthony was indicted for charges including bookmaking, murder of a rival gangster, and conspiracy to commit murder in New York. That same month he was indicted in Florida on charges including illegal gambling and investment fraud. he was sentenced to eleven years in Florida, nine in new York and is serving two sentences concurrently, slated to be released in early 2012.

Renee’s ex-husband Junior meanwhile was arrested in January of 2011 in the largest mafia bust in New York City history, bringing in 125 suspects. The exact charge is unknown but will likely be revealed as the show was filming at the time of his arrest.

The business woman in Renee has luckily seen the bright side of this all — she’s started a greeting card company called Jail Mail.
GET MORE ON ‘MOB WIVES!’

1. MEET THE WOMEN OF ‘MOB WIVES!’
2. ‘MOB WIVES’ RECAP — THESE LADIES ARE CRAZY!

What do you do when your notorious last name defines who you? Well for the cast of VH1′s new reality series Mob Wives, name, heritage and status are everything — especially on Staten Island! For stars Renee Graziano, Karen Gravano, Drita D’avanzo and Carla Facciolo allegiance to your mob family spells life or death!

Meet the cast of Mob Wives:

Renee Graziano: Daughter of Anthony Graziano, reputed consigliere of the Bonanno crime family. Renee is divorced from another alleged gangster named Junior. She’s trying to get away from the life of the streets so that she can raise her son AJ in a decent fashion, but is hard pressed because the mob is all that she has ever known.

Karen Gravano: Daughter of Sammy “The Bull” Gravano, former Gambino family underboss and federal informant — one of the men primarily responsible for bringing down the late Gambino boss John Gotti. Karen moved to Arizona with her family when they entered the witness protection program, but she’s returning to Staten Island to face her past. Will she be able to live down her father’s traitorous ways?

Drita D’avanzo: Married to Lee D’avanzo, rumored to be a leader among the new generation of the Bonanno and Colombo families. Lee is in prison for armed bank robbery. Drita is trying to figure out if she’s going to keep her family together or run, so that she can raise her two young daughters far away from the dangers of her husband’s business. Carmela Soprano anyone?

Carla Facciolo: Thought she married a man who made his money as a stockbroker, but then Carla’s husband Joey Ferragamo was arrested in a boiler-room scam. With Joey behind bars, Carla tells her young children that daddy’s away at work!

- Lindsey DiMattina