“Real Housewives of New Jersey" star Dina Manzo's ex-husband gets 7 years for hiring mobster to assault her boyfriend

Thomas Manzo exchanged the assault for a lavish wedding reception for the attacker.

You know, sometimes New Jersey gets a real bad rap. And well, sometimes, that rap is wholly deserved.

Case in point, Thomas Manzo. The ex-husband of The Real Housewives of New Jersey's Dina Manzo was sentenced to seven years in prison for the most New Jersey crime one could think of: he hired a purported member of the mob to beat up his ex's then-boyfriend/now-husband in exchange for throwing the attacker a lavish wedding reception.

Thomas Manzo was convicted of one count of committing a violent crime in aid of racketeering, one count of conspiracy to commit a violent crime in aid of racketeering, and one count of falsifying and concealing documents related to a federal investigation.

According to a press release from Jersey's U.S. Attorney's Office, Manzo hired John Perna, a "soldier in the Lucchese Crime Family," to assault Dina's boyfriend in the spring of 2015. Manzo, a co-owner of The Brownstone, a catering hall in Paterson, NJ, paid for the assault with a free wedding reception.

Perna completed his end of the bargain on July 18, 2015, and joyfully tied the knot in August 2015 at The Brownstone, attended by some 330 people, many of whom belonged to the Lucchese Crime Family. Four years later, in response to a grand jury subpoena, Manzo concealed and falsified documents related to the wedding.

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Perna, the assailant, 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. Manzo, however, will have to serve three years of supervised release in addition to his 84 months in prison.

Lawyers for Thomas Manzo did not immediately respond to Entertainment Weekly's request for comment.

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“Whether you’re actually in the Mafia or not, hiring the mob to assault someone because of your marital problems is abhorrent," U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said in a statement. "Covering up the role you played only makes it worse. 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.”

Dina Manzo, now Dina Cantin, was a cast member of RHONJ for the first two seasons, returning as a guest in season 4, and a full-fledged Housewife in season 6. She separated from Thomas Manzo in 2012 and their divorce was finalized in 2016. The following year she married entrepreneur and philanthropist David Cantin, despite interference from the Lucchese Crime Family.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.