FASH MOB

LEOPARD-PRINT pants and shiny bangles work well for Alicia DiMichele-Garofalo, but the South Jersey fashionista says that she won't be an accessory to the drama, catfights and probing cameras that a reality show about mob wives would bring.

DiMichele-Garofalo, 39, might fit a producer's definition of "mob wife," but the Marlton resident said that she's not pursuing a spot on a Philadelphia spinoff of the popular VH1 series "Mob Wives."

She said that the show reached out to her several times.

"I'm a mother of three kids," DiMichele-Garofalo said last week in her Cherry Hill boutique, Addiction. "I just don't want to be portrayed as something I'm not."

DiMichele-Garofalo, who grew up in Cherry Hill, said that her biggest concern is keeping the boutique she runs with her brother, Anthony DiMichele, stocked with "trendy clothes."

Travel restrictions on her bail made that tough.

"I purchase most of my merchandise in California and it was getting really hard to do everything through a computer," she said.

Last year, DiMichele-Garofalo pleaded guilty in federal court in New York City to embezzling union funds from a trucking business she ran with her husband, Edward "Tall Guy" Garofalo Jr.

Authorities described her husband, who is in prison, as an "associate" of New York's Colombo crime family. DiMichele-Garofalo hasn't been sentenced yet, but according to a recent article in the New York Daily News, she may get a term of home confinement rather than prison time.

When asked about her case, DiMichele-Garofalo said that she "leaves it up to the lawyers."

She did say that a federal judge has lifted her travel restrictions and that she and her brother plan on expanding their business with a second location in Gloucester County.

They opened the Cherry Hill boutique four years ago next to a salon in a shopping center off Route 70.

Her brother said he lets his sister buy the clothes. The shop features short leather dresses and skirts, rhinestoned hats and plenty of big scarves.

"If I picked it out, [the skirts would] probably be shorter and lower," DiMichele said with a laugh.

Producers for "Mob Wives" did not return requests for comment, but several media reports said that Philadelphia and Miami were contenders for a spinoff.

DiMichele-Garofalo's husband has an unfortunate connection to "Mob Wives." One of the stars of the show, Karen Gravano, is the daughter of infamous Gambino family underboss Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano. The Bull killed DiMichele-Garofalo's father-in-law, Edward Garofalo Sr.

DiMichele-Garofalo doesn't like to talk about it.

"I understand there's a fascination with it," she said.

DiMichele-Garofalo said that she met her husband in Atlantic City and still talks to him every day. She credits him for getting her passionate about fashion by taking her to "trendy, little boutiques" in Brooklyn when they dated.

Though she's not interested in being a character on a TV show about mob wives, DiMichele-Garofalo said that she's a businesswoman, with three sons to raise.

"If someone comes along with the right kind of deal," she said, "I'll listen."