You can’t resist those larger-than-life individuals. Like Angela Raiola.

I remember Angela as “Big Ang” from VH1’s “Mob Wives.”

After a difficult cancer battle, the flamboyant performer died at 55.

Angela revealed a terrible reality in her final interview before her death in 2016.

After entering reality television in 2012, Angela “Big Ang” Raiola charmed viewers with her raspy voice and loud personality.

Her big personality made her the star of “Mob Wives” for three years. “Big Ang” would make us giggle.

Angela was very kind and skilled at acknowledging others, according to her friends. Angela’s family, sons, and grandchildren were devastated by her death on February 18, 2016.

How did the “Mob Wives” star with enormous lips, a beautiful body, and husky voice become one of America’s most beloved reality television personalities? Who was the makeup artist?

Brooklyn-born Angela Joyce Raiola was born June 30, 1960. She was the niece of the late Salvatore “Sally Dogs” Lombardi, one of the “capos” or captains of the Genovese criminal family, one of the “Five Families” who rule the New York City mafia.

Four brothers and two sisters raised her.

Angela was jailed in 2001 for participating in a Brooklyn narcotics ring. She sold drugs to undercover police. The organization gave Raiola, 41, medicines to distribute “street-level”. Federal officials said she was a drug ring leader’s partner.

In May 2001, Raiola was indicted on six felony counts and the leader received a roughly 13-year sentence. In 2003, the reality star pled guilty and received three years probation.

I get asked why. I paid $3,000 in rent as a single mom. Money motivated me. I never would again. “I learned,” Angela said.

House arrest

Raiola was housed and monitored for four months. That was harsh—especially for “Big Ang.”

My friends and family visited daily. That reduced my claustrophobia. “But for someone like me who needs to be where the action is and loves to go out, being confined to one place was torture,” she said.

Angela wrote about her lifestyle and gave house arrestees advice in Bigger Is Better.

Hire a personal trainer, bring the party to you, have sleepovers, and get a tattoo to remember it.

In “Mob Wives,” Angela Raiola stays out of trouble despite her love of gorgeous criminals.

Gaining fame

In 2012, “Mob Wives” cast Staten Islander Raiola. She was an instant star on the show till 2016.

The VH1 series followed various Staten Island women. Jennifer “Jenn” Graziano, the producer, created the idea.

Critics liked the first season. Entertainment Weekly TV critic Ken Tucker wrote:

As someone who’s watched at least a few episodes of every Real Housewives franchise and feels nauseated about it, I didn’t have great hopes for Mob Wives. But this floridly witty, vicariously nasty reality television charms vulgarly.”

Other critics were unimpressed.

“Tired concept, so bad it should sleep with fishes,” the New York Daily News wrote.

However, Angela “Big Ang” Raiola was the most likable mob wife. She was the show’s most lovely, sweet, and grounded woman.

Her popularity earned her spin-offs “Big Ang” in 2012 and “Miami Monkey” in 2013.

Plastic surgery

Angela loved cosmetic surgery. After her first kid, she had her first surgery in 1985.

Angela wanted to do something about her body concerns.

“My boobs died after the baby. My waistline was prunes. 1995 was my second operation. Saline implants replaced sponges. “I had a double 36 double D when I was 14,” she stated.

During her fame, many thought she had too much cosmetic surgery. The charming Mob Wife confessed that she loved plastic surgery and changing her appearance near the end of her life.

Big Ang revealed she underwent a stomach tuck, liposuction, lip injections, and three breast surgeries. “They used sponges when I had my breasts done 27 years ago. In 1985.”

Tragic death

Angela developed neck problems in early 2015. She was hospitalized in Staten Island after feeling unwell.

Unfortunately, physicians removed a lemon-sized tumor from her neck. Later that year, doctors found another tumor in her throat. She had stage 4 lung and brain cancer.

I assumed I was cancer-free. I planned a big party. “A month later I was stage 4,” Angela said.

She appeared in “Mob Wives” despite her suffering. She “dragged herself from her deathbed” for a two-hour reunion episode on February 13, 2016.

Raiola had two children—Raquel and Anthony “A.J.” Donofrio—and six grandkids. She married Neil Murphy in 2009, but they had issues.

In 2016, Angela stated on The Dr. Oz Show that she had left her husband due to her disease.

“I felt like he never stepped up to the plate, so I was done with it,” she stated. “Too late. I prefer solitude. I prefer solitude.”

Dr. Oz conducted “Big Ang’s” final public interview. Dr. Oz revealed how the reality star felt in her final months.

“By the time she came on the show, she really wanted to get things off her chest, to say things she knew she needed to say before the end, because she had weeks to months, not months to years,” he said.

Big Ang was afraid outside the show. I think she realized the end was holding her, that she was peering over the abyss of death, a darkness we all fear, and that it was close.”

Angela came to the show to warn people about smoking, which likely killed her. When she was diagnosed, she quit smoking after 40 years.

“I think the big legacy she’s leaving us, the big reason she came on the show, was to make sure everyone knew that cigarettes had taken her life,” Dr. Oz added.

“She started young, like so many, but by the time she realized she didn’t want to smoke anymore, it was too late—at least she felt that way. She joked on the show about getting throat cancer and throwing away the carton of cigarettes as she left the hospital. “She quit cold turkey, but it was late,” he added.

“Big Ang” died quietly in a Manhattan hospital on February 18, 2016.

A statement said her immediate relatives and closest friends loved her. She liked her fans.

Celebrities, castmates, friends, and family mourned her death on social media.

Renee Graziano of “Mob Wives” posted a photo of “Big Ang” on Instagram with the caption “We will always love you.” Angela forever. You’re family #rip #withtheangels #inabetterplace. ‘RIP ANGELA… FOREVER IN MY HEART’.

Her family released devastating photographs of the “Mob Wives” star on her deathbed, supported by her loved ones.

Neil Murphy, who was at her bedside when she died, tweeted a photo of him and his wife.

”I will always love you forever please watch over the grandkids I know you will,” he added.

Angela was the kindest, most grounded “Mob Wives” woman. She accepted her mistakes and never pretended to be someone else. Her honesty made her popular. Sleep well.