The scene played out in the Brooklyn federal courthouse — but was dramatic enough for a TV reality show.
“Mob Wives’’ star Renee Graziano broke down crying yesterday as she spoke about her ex-husband leaving the Bonanno crime family to become a government informant against her own father.
The impromptu drama took place after she watched her wiseguy dad led out of court by US Marshals and whisked off to a detention center to await trial on racketeering charges.
Her ex-husband, Hector Pagan, turned rat last summer as Graziano was filming her VH1 reality TV series.
At the time, Graziano and Pagan were discussing a reconciliation and she had no clue he was poised to betray her family.
While the series was still filming, Pagan secretly switched sides, strapped on a hidden “wire” recorder, and taped Graziano’s father as part of an undercover Drug Enforcement Administration probe.
That’s when the uncertainties of mob life suddenly became very up close and personal, Graziano told The Post.
“They’re in ‘The Life’ with you one day, and then cooperating the next,” Graziano said as she wiped away tears.
Because of the turncoat’s betrayal, her 71-year-old dad, Anthony “TG” Graziano, was charged with a slew of mob crimes.
Graziano and Pagan, who is in the witness-protection program, have a 17-year-old son who, she believes, was very upset by all that happened.
“My son is taking this very hard. He loves his father,” Graziano said.
And as far as Graziano is concerned, “I won’t forgive [Pagan] for what he did to my son.”
His acts, she said, amount to an “immense betrayal,’’ she said.
Graziano swore that if she had learned that Pagan had become a DEA rat, she would have tipped off her dad.
“I would have told my father — 100 percent,” Graziano said.
Doing so would likely have been tantamount to signing Pagan’s death warrant — given that the New York mob has a long history of murdering government informants.
Despite the unexpected turn in her life, the cameras are still grinding.
She said the series has been empowering to women who live in the male-dominated world of the American Mafia.
“This is not about the men,’’ she said. “It’s about what women go through.’’