Long Island used-car dealer Mike DeLucia knows how to move his merchandise.
And now that he’s a reality TV personality, it’s his checkered past from which he’s trying to move on.
DeLucia (known to friends as “Mikey D”) served three years in federal prison on racketeering charges before establishing a used car dealership in Amityville.
It was the combination of the two that got him a starring role on the new Discovery series, “Carfellas.”
He’s not ashamed of his past — it’s part of the show’s gimmick and is disclosed in the opening montage. But he’s finding that, as the show gains more viewers, people are more interested in his TV persona than his checkered past.
“I don’t really put it out there. The people that know me know,” he says. “I was convicted of racketeering and spent three years in federal prison — but I changed in prison.
“I did my time and went to college [behind bars] and took all kinds of courses and made the best of it,” he explains.
“You know what’s funny? No one comments on my history,” he says, laughing.
“I don’t know if they’re afraid, or what. They think it might be a sore subject.”
Maybe no one’s asking about his history, but DeLucia says he’s noticed a definite uptick in business and interest in his car lot, Broadway Motors, since “Carfellas” premiered in August.
“People are asking for autographs and wanna take pictures with us,” he says.
“These are not small-ticket items,” he says of his cars. “It’s not like we’re selling cigars or sausages, but we’ve definitely increased our foot traffic — and we have sold a few cars.”
Unlike some other reality-show headliners, who complain about heavy editing distorting their true personalities, DeLucia says that what you see is what you get on “Carfellas.”
And that includes the bickering and bantering among DeLucia, and longtime pals Mario Visone and Tommie Romola, who also work on the lot and are on the show, too.
“This is us. This how we are. We’re not playing to the cameras,” he says.
“Mario went to school with my kid brother, and I’ve known Tommie 20-something years,” he says. “There’s a lot of chemistry between us. We can break each other’s balls, but we won’t let anyone else get between us.”
DeLucia says he got involved in “Carfellas” through a friend, who knew some people at Leftfield Productions — the same company that makes the hit series “Pawn Stars.”
It was not an easy sell. Two pilots were shot before Discovery picked up the series.
It was a show waiting for TV trends to catch up.
But once “Mob Wives” and “I Married a Mobster” hit, the timing seemed right for a show about three knock-around guys trying to sell used cars.
Does DeLucia have a problem with naming the show “Carfellas” — after the big-screen mobster flick, “GoodFellas”?
“Not at all,” he says. “Marketing is marketing, and that’s what [Discovery] is doing. I think it’s a great name.”