Big Ang Death: Two ‘Mob Wives’ Stars Urged To Avoid Funeral Because Of Their Fathers

Big Ang, the lovable star of VH1’s Mob Wives, will be buried on Monday, but it looks like two of her co-stars won’t be in attendance. E! Online reports that Brittany Fogarty and Karen Gravano have been urged not to attend Big Ang’s funeral.

It has nothing to do with them and everything to do with their fathers. An alleged insider source told E! News that Karen Gravano and Brittany Fogarty have been asked to stay away from the funeral because of their fathers’ previous cooperation with the police.

According to E!, the source did not mention who gave them the information, and Big Ang’s publicist has not given any comment on this claim.

“It’s just years of history between the fathers,” the source continued. “It’s a shame but they understand to a point. No one wants to have conflict at a funeral.”

Big Ang, real name Angela Raiola, was the niece of Salvatore Lombardi, a member of the Genovese crime family.

As E! Online reports, Brittany Fogarty is the daughter of John Fogarty. He spent time in witness protection and prison, where he and Karen Gravano’s father became close.

Karen Gravano’s father, Salvatore Gravano aka Sammy The Bull, was once the right hand man for notorious New York mobster John Gotti. Sammy The Bull later started working with authorities and helped take down his boss.

Karen and one of her other Mob Wives co-stars, Carla Facciolo recalled being with Ang during her last moments on earth in an interview with E! News.

“Even yesterday, when we were at the hospital, she was basically taking her last breath, she was beautiful. Her eyelashes. And she had lip gloss on. Her head was shaved, but it fit her,” Gravano said. “She was gonna go out with grace and she did”

“When we first walked in the room, we didn’t know her head was gonna be shaved. So when we first seen her, we were like, ‘Ang, your eyelashes are so long,’ she was like, ‘I know, right?,'” Facciolo added. “She was just happy about that.”

As E! reports, Carla Facciolo and another Mob Wive co-star Renee Graziano attended one of the visitation services for Big Ang on Saturday and shared a picture of them sharing drinks with two other friends.

“If Big Ang taught me anything, it was to be thankful for my lifelong girlfriends,” Graziano wrote. “And as you can see, I’m happy to be reminiscing about our time with Ang.”

Big Ang died last week after a battle with Stage 4 lung and brain cancer. She was 55 years old. Her funeral will be held on Monday, according to numerous media reports.

Big Ang’s final interview with Dr. Oz was a tear-jerker: https://t.co/0Rvs4kxlNH pic.twitter.com/ChZmwaVt5w

— Us Weekly (@usweekly) February 21, 2016

According to People Magazine, an interview with Ang and Dr Oz aired just two days before her death. Raiola and Oz talked about lots of topics, including how she discovered she had cancer. Oz, reflecting on the interview, told People that he believed she knew her life was coming to an end.

“She was scared. Which is always a sign that … people know more about their bodies than any test will tell you,” says Oz of the well-loved reality star. “What the patient tells you is more accurate than what you can guess. She had been beaten down over the last year.”

As People Magazine notes, Ang, who had been a smoker for years, quit after doctors discovered a tumor in her throat last year. A couple of surgeries later, she and her family thought she was in the clear. However, they later learned that she had stage 4 brain and lung cancer.

“When that happens, emotionally, the up and down, it tires you out. The exhaustion took a toll on her,” Oz said in his interview with People.

“The third cancer had metastasized to the brain and the adrenal gland. That’s a much worse scenario. They put her on aggressive chemo, which failed. In the setting of that, she came on [the show] to get people to appreciate that this dumb cigarette addiction she picked up as a young woman, she wanted people to see the anguish in her face, as she was clear about the fact that cigarettes killed her.”

[Photo by Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images]