‘RHONJ’ Alum Dina Manzo’s Ex-Husband Sentenced to 7 Years in Prison for Hiring Mobster to Attack Her Boyfriend | Dina Manzo, Real Housewives of New Jersey | Just Jared: Celebrity News and Gossip
Dina Manzo‘s ex-husband is going to prison.
On Tuesday (October 15), Thomas Manzo, the ex-husband of the 52-year-old former Real Housewives of New Jersey star, was sentenced to seven years in prison after he hired a mobster to beat up Dina‘s boyfriend, now husband, Dave Cantin, in exchange for a free, lavish wedding reception.
Keep reading to find out more…According to CBS News, prosecutors said that in 2015, Thomas, 59, hired John Perna, who they said was a soldier in the Lucchese crime family, to attack Dave in a exchange for a free wedding reception at the Manzo family-owned The Brownstone catering hall in Paterson, New Jersey.
Dave was attacked in July 2015 and the wedding reception took place a month later in August.
Four years after the attack, official said that Thomas concealed and falsified documents related to the Perna wedding in response to a grand jury subpoena.
Earlier this year in June, Thomas was found guilty of conspiracy, falsifying and concealing documents, and committing a violent crime in aid of racketeering activity.
In addition to his 84-month prison sentence, the judge also sentenced Thomas to three years of supervised release and ordered him immediately remanded.
“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 shared in a new 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.”
In December 2020, John Perna pleaded guilty to committing a violent crime in aid of racketeering and was sentenced to 2 and a half years in prison. He was released in August 2023.
Dina, who now goes by Dina Cantin, separated from Thomas in October 2012 and their divorce was finalized in February 2016.
She and Dave moved from New Jersey to Malibu, California, where they still reside, in 2015. They married in June 2017.
Find out what other former Real Housewives of New Jersey stars have been up to since leaving the show.
