Angela Raiola, better known as "Big Ang," is the breakout star of VH1's latest hit reality show "Mob Wives" (Sundays, 8 p.m. on VH1).
Big Ang is the niece of the late Salvatore "Sally Dogs" Lombardi of the notorious Genovese crime family. The born-and-bred Brooklynite is a single mom of two, the owner Staten Island's Drunken Monkey and she's certainly a celebrity in the "Mob Wives" world.
"If you live in Staten Island, Brooklyn, Jersey, really in the tri-state area, you know who Big Ang is. Big Ang is like the godmother of all of us. She has the wisdom," fellow "Mob Wives" star Drita D'Avanzo says in a recent Season 2 episode. "And who doesn't love somebody who talks like that?"
Clearly, viewers agree. The reality star with a voice that makes Kathleen Turner sound like a soprano, lips that would make Angelina Jolie jealous and a mole that puts Cindy Crawford's to shame has recently been a tattoo inspiration: "Mob Wives" fans are starting to get her image inked on their bodies.
On Jan. 21, a Philadelphia-based tattoo artist named Leena got Big Ang's image tattooed on her back, which the reality star tweeted to her fans.
The Ang fan tweeted at a friend, "everytime I see her she makes me smile& happy &laugh."
In December 2011, Big Ang tweeted a photo of a fan who walked into the Drunken Monkey with a bit of a more flattering image of the "Mob Wives" favorite.