Wherever we look these days, it feels like housewives are getting into trouble. They’re either catching COVID-19 or divorcing their lawyer husbands to allegedly hide embezzled funds to sustain their glamorous lifestyle or their ex-husband paid a mobster to beat up their new husband, which is precisely what happened to ex-RHONJ housewife Dina Manzo. On Thursday, the New York Times reported that alleged member of the Lucchese crime family, John Perna, pleaded guilty to participating in a violent attack on Manzo’s new husband, Dave Cantin, outside a strip mall in Passaic County, NJ, this May, to get a discount on his upcoming nuptials. The Sopranos could never.
The assault was allegedly orchestrated by Dina Manzo’s ex-husband, Thomas Manzo, who promised Perna a major discount on a lavish wedding ceremony held at the Brownstone — which RHONJ fans know as the historic locale that hosted the Posche fashion show — if Perna beat the living daylights out of his ex’s new beau. Perna followed through, and a 330-person wedding was held in June of 2015. Thomas Manzo has pleaded not guilty to all charges, which include assault and falsifying and concealing records related to the investigation, and will stand trial in April. This goes to show you can take the girl away from the Real Housewives drama, but you can’t take the Real Housewives drama away from the girl.