Last night was an Italian affair with the cast and crew of Mob Mentality celebrated the pre-launch of the series at Legend’s Bar & Grill located in Brooklyn’s Marine Park.
Mob Mentality is kinda like The Sopranos for the new generation. The storyline of the series centers on Carmine “Car” Ponte Jr. (played by rising star Jack Spiegs), the son of a reputed mobster who sets out to rebuild his life after getting released from prison. However, a series of events derail his plans, thrusting him into a life of crime.
Hosted by Michael Lewis, who plays “Crazy Gio” on the show, the pre-launch party was also a crowdfunding event to fund the rest of the mob project, directed by native New Yorker Isis Djata, a law school graduate who was inspired to write the intense crime drama in 2013 as she recovered from a near-death experience with a drunk driver who hit her head-on three months before she graduated from law school. Years later, Djata invested $40,000 from her personal savings to begin filming the pilot episode of this gripping crime drama. In October 2018, she parted ways from her six-figure director position in the non-profit sector to become a full-time filmmaker.
Aside from the major media and beautiful people, in attendance was Mob Mentality’s leading man Speigs, along with Mike Taverna (Anthony Sorentino), Darius Jackson (Chauncey Black), Hamm Mukasa (Dro Wilson), the lovely Gianna Sciortino (Isabella Giganti), cinematographer Victor O’Frank and Djata, herself with guest appearances from Phoenix Media Group CEO Chris Phoenix, BET’s Hustle In Brooklyn’s Jesse Brown along with a shake-the-house performance from Bravo’s First Family of Hip Hop’s LeA Robinson and a brief Q&A with the cast & crew moderated by Black Enterprise Magazine’s Selena Hill.
Guests dined on small bites catered by Seraphin’s (who has a Caprese salad to die for) as the drinks kept on pouring from the Legend’s Bar staff. The attendees also got a taste of the new trailer for the upcoming series, which Djata announced about the show’s “Let’s Make A Mob Show” crowdfunding campaign, starting early April. The goal is to raise $50,000 to finish filming the pilot episode.
Super special thanks to Ms. Penny Saintil from Music Speaks Power PR, Bartenura Wines, Reebok, Milton Saul of Disarrono, Monster Energy, Perrier, Clinque, Seraphin’s Catering, Cuba Original Parfum and Laurent Altieri, who sponsored 10 real Italian leather bags which totaled amount $5000 in retail price.
Wanna find out more of Mob Mentality? Check out the Mob Mentality website and be sure to follow @mobmentalityseries on Instagram and see how you can help on making this show a major success.
