Mob Daughter: The Mafia, Sammy "The Bull" Gravano, and Me!

Karen Gravano · Lisa Pulitzer

Feb 2012 · Sold by St. Martin's Press

About this ebook

From Karen Gravano, a star of the hit VH1 reality show Mob Wives, comes a revealing memoir of a mafia childhood, where love and family come hand-in-hand with murder and betrayal.

Karen Gravano is the daughter of Sammy "the Bull" Gravano, once one of the mafia's most feared hit men. With nineteen confessed murders, the former Gambino Crime Family underboss—and John Gotti's right-hand man—is the highest ranking gangster ever to turn State's evidence and testify against members of his high-profile crime family.

But to Karen, Sammy Gravano was a sometimes elusive but always loving father figure. He was ever-present at the head of the dinner table. He made a living running a construction firm and several nightclubs. He stayed out late, and sometimes he didn't come home at all. He hosted "secret" meetings at their house, and had countless whispered conversations with "business associates." By the age of twelve, Karen knew he was a gangster. And as she grew up, while her peers worried about clothes and schoolwork, she was coming face-to-face with crime and murder. Gravano was nineteen years old when her father turned his back on the mob and cooperated with the Feds. The fabric of her family was ripped apart, and they were instantly rejected by the communities they grew up in.

This is the story of a daughter's struggle to reconcile the image of her loving father with that of a murdering Mafioso, and how, in healing the rift between the two, she was able to forge a new life.

Ratings and reviews

I was really disapointed at some points I couldnt even keep my eyes open !!! If you intrested in the MOB world,watch it on the history channel,biography things like that. It was very un intresting.Some parts were amusing to see how privledged the daughter of a murderer lived as a teenager,how vain & self centered this woman is .Her Fathers a Rat & shes nothing but a self absorbed woman ..Dont buy it take a few $$ and donate it to a crime victims fund

I really enjoyed this book and if you watch Mob wives and seen how crazy they can be than this book will take you back. Didnt think she was going to tell it all but she did. I hope one day her fathers gets out with good health so they can spend some over due time together. Loved it so much i didnt want to put it down still wishing there was so more to read, , its a must have :-) thank you karen for sharing your story :-)

I COULDN'T WAIT TO READ IT.....I WAS NOT DISAPPOINTED. I would recommend to others like me that can't get enough of mob/Mafia related material. Should have been proofread a little better but still a good /easy read. I also hope that you & Drita can mend things..I hate to see you 2 fighting ...maybe find a neutral public place (without Ramona or anyone else around). I am a huge fan of the show & book .. can't wait to see what's next. You go girl!!

About the author

KAREN GRAVANO was born in Brooklyn, New York. She is a star of the VH1 Reality TV show Mob Wives, about the day-to-day struggles family members are faced with after a loved one is sent to prison. She is also producing a movie based on her family's story and developing a scripted television series about her wild days living in New York City. Outside of the entertainment business, Karen is putting her experience as an esthetician and her love for skin care into developing her own line of products.
LISA PULITZER is a former correspondent for The New York Times. She is the author of more than a dozen non-fiction titles, including New York Times bestseller Stolen Innocence (with Elissa Wall) and Portrait of a Monster: Joran van der Sloot, a Murder in Peru, and the Natalee Holloway Mystery (with Cole Thompson.)