VH1 Mob Wives Alicia DiMichele and The Philly Restaurateur

In December, I referenced a story that appear on Page Six, about VH1’s Mob Wives breakout star Alicia DiMichele having an affair with a local Philly restaurateur, who
was unnamed in the article. Since that time a tipster told me the name. I wrote Alicia
to ask her about it and to meet with her to discuss how the impact of
the show on her life is going, and just about life in general. She wrote me to tell me she’d be at her store on Saturday and we arranged a time in her busy schedule. (Tomorrow check out my Philly Mag column to see what else she did on her busy Saturday.) We chatted a bit at her
East Passyunk Avenue store, Addiction,  in
South Philly, and strolled around the neighborhood. It turns out that
the story is not as salacious as Page Six would like you to believe, the
man in question is Robert Lascala, LaScala Restaurant, a family friend for the past 10 years. The Lascala kids are friends with the Garofalo children. Alycia tells me “How do you cheat on someone you’re not even with anymore. Alicia and
Edward Garofalo, Jr. have been separated for awhile now.

 During the show
you can see Alicia is not wearing her wedding ring from the very
beginning, as well as when I photographed the opening of her store,
Addiction back in June (Here) She also no longer uses the Garofalo last name. The breakup of the marriage is basically revealed in episode 2 Caught On Tape

where Alicia discuss listening to the FBI taps and
finding out that her husband was seeing his ex-girlfriend. The story
line continues into episode 3 “You Smell Delicious”, and will no doubt
become an interesting topic through out the show as a few of the other
Mob Wives knew about the dalliance.  As for Alicia, she is moving on
with her life. She has her kids to think of, she has businesses to run.
She has Addiction in Cherry Hill, NJ, South Philly and you can imagine her online store
is keeping her busy as well.

And I know why, during our stroll on East
Passyunk, we stopped every half a block by people who recognized her,
they wanted photos, autographs, or just to tell her she was their
inspiration as a strong women, and a mother, someone who was betrayed
and survived. In December Alicia’s former husband  Edward (Tall Guy) Garofalo, Jr.
was sent to jail at his Brooklyn Federal Court for 7 years, on the day
after Alicia made her debut on the VH1 reality show.

She is also waiting
for sentencing for embezzling union funds from a trucking company she
and her husband once owned. Last Monday she had a hearing for the
sentencing, but it was postponed. “The judge postponed my sentencing
because my restitution issue is not yet resolved,” Alicia shared.
“Therefore, she cannot sentence me until that part is settled. They
think maybe some time in March I’ll be sentenced, but they are not
sure.”