RHONJ star Dina Manzo’s ex-husband jailed for hiring mobster to assault her boyfriend
Thomas Manzo was sentenced to seven years in prison after hiring member of Lucchese crime family to assault ex-wife’s boyfriend
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The ex-husband of Real Housewives of New Jersey alum Dina Manzo was sentenced to seven years in prison for hiring a reputed mobster to assault her then-boyfriend, David Cantin.
Thomas Manzo, 59, was sentenced on Tuesday (October 15) after being convicted in June of conspiracy, falsifying and concealing documents, and committing a violent crime in aid of racketeering activity. According to a press release issued by the US Attorney’s Office in the District of New Jersey, Manzo hired John Perna, “a soldier in the Lucchese Crime Family,” to commit the July 2015 attack, in which Cantin was beaten with a weapon.
Federal posecutors stated that Manzo, a co-owner of The Brownstone catering hall in Paterson, New Jersey, gifted Perna a free wedding reception in exchange for the assault. The Perna wedding was held in August 2015, one month after the attack. Four years later, Manzo concealed and falsified documents related to the Perna wedding in response to a grand jury subpoena, according to the press release.
“Whether you’re actually in the Mafia or not, hiring the mob to assault someone because of your marital problems is abhorrent. Covering up the role you played only makes it worse,” US Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said in a statement. “The jury’s verdict, and today’s sentence, make clear that this office will spare no resources to hold accountable anyone who commits such crimes.”
In addition to the seven-year prison sentence, Manzo will also have to serve three years of supervised release once he's freed under the sentence imposed by US District Judge Susan Wigenton. Meanwhile, Perna pleaded guilty in December 2020 to committing a violent crime in aid of racketeering activity and received a two-and-a-half-year sentence. He was freed in August 2023.
Dina Manzo, now Dina Cantin, was an original cast member on Bravo’s The Real Housewives of New Jersey. She appeared on the first two seasons of the reality show beginning in 2009. She made a brief cameo in season four, before returning as a full-time cast member for the sixth season. Dina departed the series in 2015 after relocating to California.
Dina and Thomas were married from 2007 to 2012. Their divorce was finalized in 2016.
She married David Cantin in 2017.
Additional reporting from AP