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Having spent portions of three decades in prison, Louis Verdi Sr. certainly believes in redemption. With his days as an organized crime associate behind him, the 63-year-old is striving to make amends to his family and has begun his emotional task before millions of eyes.
He and his kin recently completed exploring acceptance and forgiveness as the stars of “In the Big House,” a reality show on Logo, a seven-year-old channel that crafts programs particularly for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.
“When I was in the mob, I couldn’t show too many emotions or people would see me as weak,” the former ally of Mafioso Angelo Bruno said Tuesday from California, where he and son Louis Verdi Jr. were to visit the patriarch’s mother, Laura Verdi. “This show lets me be Lou.”
The jovial figure, a resident of Ninth and Dickinson streets, has made the Golden State a second abode for chunks of this year, as he, ex-wife Dotsie DAgostino, Louis Verdi Jr., daughter Michel Verdi Krymis and son-in-law Jay Krymis united for eight episodes. Verdi Krymis and her husband have run Fubar, a gay bar, for 13 years and attracted the attention of producers eager to chronicle their situation. Learning of the clan’s structure and Louis Verdi Sr.’s past, they proposed lumping elements for a closer look at familial interaction. For “Big Lou,” the setup meant addressing his son’s sexuality.
“Learning he is gay bothered me at first,” Louis Verdi Sr. said. “I cried but I know he’s happy so I’m just trying to adapt.”
He has company in trying to understand the relatives’ complexity. His 32-year-old son, who lives with his sister and brother-in-law in Los Angeles and helps to operate their West Hollywood establishment, has gone most of his life minus paternal input and admitted lacking his father affected his youth though it had not hampered his adulthood.
“I didn’t care either way,” he said of choosing between coming to know his sire and maintaining distance. “However, I decided I’m at a point where I need to explore whatever’s there.”
While he and his mother seemed leery, Verdi Krymis fostered no reservations.
“I thought it was a great opportunity and said ‘Let’s do it,’” the 39-year-old proprietor and self-confessed risktaker said.
Though she confessed having one’s life played out before audiences could cause confusing emotions, she noted interacting with her father has bred no strife, as he often saw her as she matured.
“I never hold on to any anger or hurt anyway,” she said. “On the show I come across as brazen and bossy, which I am, but I’ve been fine with everything and acted as the glue in my family.”
If Verdi Krymis is truly the adhesive, DAgnostino is the container from which her confidence flows. Because of her former partner’s transgressions, she played the single-parent role while residing in Cherry Hill, N.J., doing her best to keep the aforementioned offspring and daughter Toni Verdi Engelhard committed to crafting fruitful lives. Though a television role might seem glamorous, DAgostino revealed it can have numerous snares.
“It is very hard to do a reality show,” the 50-something matriarch said. “I often cried because of the layered interaction.”
Many tears stemmed from attempting to bond with Louis Verdi Sr., with whom she shared a tumultuous relationship. However, as filming, which occurred mostly in April through June ahead of the July 23 premiere, progressed, she noticed that even outrageous barriers could meet their match.
“We’re straight shooters in this family, and we’re working on healing bit by bit,” she said. “I’ve found inner peace.”
Because of his often over-the-top personality, Louis Verdi Sr. has seemed like the show’s central character, he said, and though his background gives the show its title and an interesting angle, he feels he acts as a conduit for a larger message.
“Missed opportunities hurt,” he said. “Our show touches on that and deals with basic life. It addresses what’s inside people and what bothers them.”
Louis Verdi Sr., originally of the 1300 block of South 32nd Street and a product of South Philadelphia High School, 2101 S. Broad St., became involved with the underworld in the early 1970s, though he said his participation never involved violence.
“That’s what I hate about today’s mob shows,” he said. “They only show the violence. It can be a part of the package but wasn’t for us.”
Despite that claim, an assassin’s bullet killed Bruno March 21, ’80, by which time Louis Verdi Sr. was running a restaurant for “The Gentle Don.” An ’83 raid deemed the site a location for illegal gambling and loan sharking, and his arrest and other confinements eventually caused him to ditch his connections, though his managerial time, regardless of its legitimacy, led Logo to entrust him with a position at Fubar.
“With the mob I played so many roles anyway, so it was like I was acting all along,” he said. “People make you change but with this show I can kid around. People tell me I’m so funny I should be a stand-up comedian. I tell them I have a bad back so they’d have to settle for a sit-down comic.”
The hearty individual lost his third wife, Mary Capell, to brain and lung cancer in January 2010 and knew that as his age increases, chances to express love for his children would wither and leave him with more heartache. “In the Big House” has reduced some of the pain and has inspired him to cherish moments with his namesake.
“My son and I are so close today, and I just wish I had been able to do this 20 years ago,” he said. “But I’m happy I’m doing this for my children and Dotsie, despite our differences.”
“People say we have so many similarities,” his son added. “His absence never made me bitter, and I guess I used apathy as my defense mechanism. Now I see my father as like a friend.”
Louis Verdi Jr., whose relationship with Joseph Capponi has won his patriarch’s approval, said the show has taught him to be true to himself to obtain happiness. The family hopes its genuine portrayal of emotions will win it a second season, but Verdi Krymis and DAgostino, whose relationship also has grown, sense all will go well within their circle.
“We’re resilient,” the former said.
“I’ve been happy to have this time with my family documented,” DAgostino added. “We’re playing ourselves. How lucky are we?”
Visit logotv.com.
Contact Staff Writer Joseph Myers at jmyers@southphillyreview.com or ext. 124.
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