16 March 5th-March 11th, 2026 phoenixnewtimes.com PHOENIX NEW TIMES | NEWS | FEATURE | FOOD & DRINK | ARTS & CULTURE | MUSIC | CONCERTS | CANNABIS | Times that the comments were directed at Fuqua. New Times reached out to Fuqua’s representatives but has not received a response. Last August, Castaneda says, she witnessed Gravano attempt to strangle his son, Gerard. Her complaint says she was also aware of — but didn’t necessarily witness — other violent outbursts from Gravano, including an instance of him pointing a gun at someone in the Debra’s Way offices. Castaneda also witnessed Gravano display the gun around the office, she told New Times. About a year ago, Castaneda told Gravano that she needed to temporarily work from home due to a “medical crisis” involving her young adult son. She claims that Debra’s Way didn’t pay her after that, despite the fact that she “continued to successfully perform all required job duties.” The lawsuit says Gravano became “increasingly agitated and unstable” due to her absence. He began sending Castaneda expletive-filled text messages and angry phone calls. (These do not appear to be among the many text messages Castaneda shared with New Times.) Then Gravano would switch to “sexually propositioning her and asking her to meet him for a candlelit dinner and let him ‘fuck’ her,” according to the complaint. A little more than a week after Castaneda began working from home, Gravano fired her over text and said he’d “crush” her if she came forward with allegations against him, according to the lawsuit. Castaneda shared a screenshot of that text with New Times. Soon after, per the complaint, Gravano and his son began defaming Castaneda around the office, telling at least three employees that Castaneda was a “hooker” who “extorts men for money.” The lawsuit claims that at least one employee repeated those comments to someone in the enter- tainment industry. In June 2024, the lawsuit says, Gravano also told another employee that he wanted to “shoot” Castaneda. A month later, he allegedly told an employee that “he became sexually aroused by the idea of strangling Ms. Castaneda to death.” Though Castaneda’s complaint said Gravano still tried to lure her back into his employ, the former mobster allegedly continued to make threatening comments about her. In September, she claims, Gravano approached one of her family members and stated that he was surprised she was “coming after” him. He added that “he thought she would be more concerned about the safety of herself and her son, implying that Ms. Castaneda and her son could be in danger if she pursues legal action against him,” the lawsuit says. “I was terrified because I knew he had a gun,” Castaneda told New Times. She added: “He’s definitely capable of that.” In August, before Gravano’s alleged threatening comment to one of her rela- tives, Castaneda reported the forced kisses, death threats and firearm possession to the Phoenix Police Department. Around the same time, another woman who’d worked for Debra’s Way Productions reported Gravano to Phoenix police for a “pattern of sexual harassment against her,” according to an incident report that Castaneda shared with New Times. The employee accused Gravano and his son of pressuring her to have sex with them and said Gravano also exposed himself to her and tried to kiss her. New Times contacted the second employee about her allegations, but she declined to discuss them for this story. However, text messages shared by Castaneda with New Times show them discussing their experiences with Gravano in detail. “Hey, your sister said you wanted to text or chat about what happened at Sammy’s…” says one July 2025 text from Castaneda to the other woman. “Are you okay?” It’s not clear how police handled those complaints. New Times requested the full reports from the department in November but has yet to receive them. Castaneda says police declined to recommend criminal charges against Gravano four months after she filed her report. Phoenix police have not responded to an inquiry about the investigation. In April of last year, Castaneda sent a demand letter to Gravano and Debra’s Way. In the letter, which she provided to New Times, she demanded more than $1,000 in back pay, to be transferred to the employ of Kapital Entertainment and to be ensured of her $5,000-per-episode fee for the scripted series. She later sent a similar letter to Kapital Entertainment. The letters produced no resolution. So Castaneda sued. She’s claiming assault, defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress and the violation of several state and federal labor laws. She’s seeking several forms of damages, including more than $29,000 in unpaid overtime. Meanwhile, the show about Gravano’s life appears to have stalled. In an email to New Times, Kapital Entertainment CEO Aaron Kaplan said FX passed on the project last year after receiving the script. “It is no longer an active television project,” he wrote. However, Scott Greenberg, the manager for Fuqua and Winter, told New Times earlier this month that the series is still “in development.” Have information about this story? 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