Meet Michael Sam's Boyfriend

A big congratulations is in order for football player Michael Sam, who announced his engagement on Friday to long-time partner Vito Cammisano. When 25-year-old Sam was drafted to the St. Louis Rams, he and Cammisano shared an infamous kiss — Sam was an openly gay player in a league that has often been criticized for its internalized homophobia — and the emotional televised moment was not only a celebration for the two of them, but a landmark moment in the NFL. While we've learned a lot about Sam, you may not know quite as much about Cammisano. Who is Vito Cammisano besides Sam's super handsome fiancé?

Cammisano is not a fellow football player. In fact, the Italian fiancé of Sam is from a mob family in the midwest. That's right — a midwestern mob family. I wonder if they control tractor sales instead of trash collection? Cammisano's father and grandfather were notorious mobsters. He's the grandson of William "Willie the Rat" Cammisano and the son of Gerlamo "Jerry" Cammisano. Willie the Rat's nickname comes from gruesome but pretty obvious roots. He apparently "killed people and stuck them in the sewers so the rats could eat them." Not so great! His son, Vito's dad, continued on the family business and was one of the baddest mafiosi in Kansas, even being jailed for an illegal gambling ring.

But Vito Cammisano is nothing like the baddie generations before him; though he's generally mum on the topic of his family history, Radar notes that the "handsome former University of Missouri swimmer has no history of illegal activity himself." Michael Sam's fiancé swam at Mizzou, which is where the two met and started dating. He was also openly gay while in college, just another feat of courage and strength from Cammisano. The two got engaged in Rome, where they have been vacationing together.

Michael Sam is now a free agent in the NFL, and though some think his sexual orientation was the reason he was cut from the Rams (Sam was also subsequently cut from the Dallas Cowboys' practice squad), Sam said in an OWN special that he doesn't regret anything.

Image: Getty Images