Hundreds of mourners turned out to a Brooklyn church Monday to pay respects to mob wives star Big Ang, who died last week after a yearlong battle with stage 4 brain and lung cancer.
Family, friends and fans paid respects and said last rites for the 55-year-old, whose real name is Angela Raiola, at a funeral Mass at the Basilica of Regina Pacis in Dyker Heights at 9:30 a.m. She was set to be buried at a cemetery on Staten Island later on Monday.
Raiola died early on Thursday at a hospital in Brooklyn. The mother of two and grandmother of six had undergone several surgeries since she was diagnosed last March with throat and lung cancer.
In a tearful interview on "The Dr. Oz Show" last month, Raiola said her family was her reason to keep fighting.
"I look at my kids and my grandchildren and I know how much they need me," Raiola told Dr. Mehmet Oz, host of the syndicated TV series.
Please see below:
— Angela Raiola (@biggangVH1) February 18, 2016
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE... pic.twitter.com/xxd2p7Ftqb
The native New Yorker's hair, once long and dark, was pale and cut close-shaven in anticipation to losing it to chemo.
Raiola was the niece of the late Salvatore "Sally Dogs" Lombardi, who was a reputed captain of the Genovese crime family.
After gaining celebrity on "Mob Wives," Raiola got her own spinoff series, "Big Ang" and "Miami Monkey."
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In a message posted to Raiola's Twitter account, a social media representative asked that donations be made to St. Jude's Children's Hospital.
