This post is brought to you by ABC’s new drama Red Widow:

If there was any doubt that ladies could be fierce mobsters, one of the most notorious criminal minds of late is Lynne Strazzere, the “Bookie Mom”. Strazzere, a middle-aged soccer mom from Boston suburb Reading, was part of a major Massachusetts gambling and drug ring, the “Rossetti Criminal Organization.” The ring was penetrated by authorities in 2010, and 31 members including Strazzere were rounded up and sent to court.

Lynn Strazzere (Fox Boston)

Strazzere was a part-time bookie for the outfit, taking bets from mob clients that even included an unnamed elected official. Court records also show investigators found online betting documents in her home, along with cash stashed in a safe. She was charged with use of telephone for gambling and conspiracy, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to one year of probation.

Aside from her mob ties, Strazzere worked as a real estate agent, and has been described as a pretty typical suburban mother. A psychotherapist (who didn’t treat Strazzere) told a TV station that often people “need what seems wrong in order to feel right… It is very hard for many to understand how it makes sense that a person could live one life and live another life that seems like it’s in such contradiction, as though you’re living two opposite sides of self. But the fact is, just because you’re living one life, mother, wife, involved in your kid’s activities, job, that does not necessarily mean anything about what lurks within.”

Still, Strazzere’s attorney argued she was active in her community and was a volunteer for her childrens’ religious and athletic groups. Her husband, Guy Strazzere, is the vice president of glass repair company Giant Glass; the two of them now run a miniature golf course in Stoneham, Mass.