Dina Manzo’s celebrity in the Real Housewives world cannot be overstated. An original cast member of The Real Housewives of New Jersey, Dina was the younger sister of Caroline Manzo, the matriarch of the show during her five-season reign. Dina and Caroline were married to brothers Albert and Tommy Manzo, the owner/operators of The Brownstone in Patterson, NJ, a boutique event space and catering company. Caroline’s marriage to Albert was a big storyline on the show but Dina’s marriage to Tommy was not, presumably because Tommy didn’t want to be on camera. Possible ties to the mob in the brothers’ family were whispered about off camera and hinted at on, with mysterious stories like the death of their father at the hands of an unknown gunman.
Dina left the show midway through season two, partly because she wanted to spend more time with her family, husband Tommy and their daughter Lexi, but mostly because she’d had it with Jersey villain Danielle Staub. After she left, Caroline admitted to estrangement between them, though the reason was not explored. Somewhere within that same timeframe of 2012-16, however, Dina initiated her separation and then divorce from Tommy. Caroline being such a staunch family-first person and loyal to a fault wife, fans speculated that Dina’s struggles with Tommy were the cause of the distance between the sisters.
Then, in 2015, Dina’s new boyfriend Dave Cantin, whom she married in 2017 and remains married to now, was assaulted by John Perna, a member of the Lucchese crime family. Perna pled guilty to the crime and served three years in prison, but it wasn’t until this summer that Tommy was convicted of hiring Perna for the job. In June, he was found guilty of “conspiracy, falsifying and concealing documents and committing a violent crime in aid of racketeering activity.” (Page Six) And this week he was sentenced to seven years in prison for the crime.
“Whether you’re actually in the Mafia or not, hiring the mob to assault someone because of your marital problems is abhorrent,” said US Attorney Phillip R. Sellinger. “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 has not made an official comment but has been posting up a storm on Instagram:
RHONJ is my all-time favorite reality show. I’m rewatching it from the beginning with my boyfriend right now while also watching The Sopranos for the first time, because after one episode of Dina, Caroline, and Teresa Giudice, he said, “These are Tony Soprano’s neighbors.” We were watching it last night when I saw Dina’s post and knew something had gone down. Dina no longer lives in New Jersey, but with the future of the show and its cast currently up in the air, maybe now’s a good time for a reintroduction. I thought she was still on good terms with Teresa, but I just checked, and Teresa follows her but not vice versa. Make of that what you will, but I think someone like Dina does everything very intentionally.