During the upcoming episode of MTV’s Families of the Mafia docuseries, some of the cast members get together to celebrate Lisa Augustine’s daughter, Dennie’s, graduation. “Dennie and I got very close when I moved from Arizona to Staten Island,” Karen Gravano’s daughter, Karina, explains, in HollywoodLife’s EXCLUSIVE preview of the episode. “She’s very easy to get along with and I just knew that she was someone who was going to be in my life for a very long time.” Karen adds, “She took Karina under her wing and sort of showed her the ropes.”
Throughout the party, Karen catches up with Lisa. The ladies grew up in the same friend circle, and spend some time sharing stories of the past with their daughters. “When we were younger, I had my friend group and she had her friend group,” Karen explains. “And two girls had a fight. It just escalated. Lisa got involved because it was her best friend, and in the fight, Ramona bit her leg!” Despite some of their differences in the past, though, the ladies are able to laugh about it now.
At the end of the night, they come together, and the conversation gets a bit heavy. “When a parent goes to prison, there’s a void,” Karen says. “My daughter’s father went to prison, so I’m like…I have to be the man. I had to go to work every day. Karina almost felt like I left her for a period of time, but I never left her. I was just trying to do what was best for her.”
Families of the Mafia is a six-part docuseries about family members of some of the most notorious mobsters. The series follows the families as they try to make better lives for their kids and decide whether they want to break free of their family’s legacies…or embrace them. Episodes two and three will be airing on MTV on April 16.