She didn't imagine she'd get the part, didn't aspire to be a Mafia wife.

One went to Edie Falco, who played the Mafia wife.

What most people don't appreciate, though, is how difficult it was to research the role of a Mafia wife.

"All you need is the fingernails," she said of assuming the identity of the Mafia wife.

This is a streamlined way for the author to give these Mafia wives compelling inner lives and earn their husbands' awe.

Fifty, even 20 years ago, in the era depicted by the classic Godfather movies, Mafia wives and daughters were to be neither seen nor heard.

How could anyone, even a hardened Mafia wife, be immune to the little blond charmer from Texas?

Divorce for a Mafia wife is not an option, and few wives - particularly at the top echelons - have a professional life outside the family.

Mafia wives might prove the trickiest to coach.

Now she's a role model for restless, hard-bitten Mafia wives in North Jersey.