Brittany Fogarty: Model Mob Wife

By Carlos Lacayo.

25-year-old model Brittany Fogarty (Instagram | Twitter) will join the cast of Mob Wives, the popular VH1 show, which resumed airing on January 13th. After studying business at Temple University, she started to model and walked the runway for top designers and pals Michael Costello and Andre Soriano.

Brittany is the youngest cast member on the hit reality show. "I was born into a family of crime, so that's how they brought me in. I think the show was looking to pull in a younger viewership, she says, adding "youth is intimidating to the older women on the show; I'm in the prime of my life. We handle things differently and that's when a lot of clashes happen."

Unlike some of the new women on the show, Fogarty's connections to the mob are ingrained in her blood. When she was 18 months old, her family relocated from Staten Island to Pennsylvania after her parents were targeted for their involvement in organized crime. Brittany's father, John Fogarty, was arrested for drugs after getting caught with more than 100 pounds of marijuana, and her mother, Andrea Giovino, who the media has called the "real-life Carmella Soprano," was arrested for loan sharking and hit with RICO charges.  Her father cooperated with the authorities and her mother's prison sentence was spared. Brittany remembers meeting her father in a crowded visiting room in the Fairton Federal Prison and singing to him:  "I remember my father holding me and singing, 'Tomorrow'; I used to love the movie Annie," she confesses.

Brittany and her siblings grew up in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, which is miles away from Staten Island and Brooklyn, where most of the Mob Wives' cast spent their early years. When John Fogarty was released from prison, it was a shocking experience for Brittany. "I was not used to having my father around. He kind of showed up at our doorstep when I was 11 and said, 'Hey, Dad's home.' That was a little shocking for me."  Brittany is currently working on her relationship with her father and says, "The blood flowing through my veins is historically mafia." She goes on to say, "My father and Sammy 'The Bull' Gravano were very close and my mother hung out with John Gotti, so there is a strong connection with the mob."

On what we should expect to see happen this year, Brittany confided, "This season is different because in addition to myself there is another new young cast member and it throws a wrench into the season. There is going to be a lot of drama " She laughs and explains, "You might look at me and think 'oh she's this nice little sweet blonde girl' but meanwhile, I am half Irish and half Italian and they say we have the wildest tempers.  I am a nice person and will be super nice to you until you give me a reason not to be, then my crazy mob wife/daughter background comes out. My mom raised me in Pennsylvania, but at the snap of a finger that Brooklyn would come right back. People would look at me and expect me to be a dumb model, but I'm not. I am quick witted and quick with my mouth. It's going to be a good season."