The Shady Side Of The Manzo Family

Reality TV fans who watch any episode in the "Real Housewives" franchise seeking conflict between the cast are rarely disappointed. Whether the wealthy, well-coifed, and surgically enhanced castmates are milling about by a pool or noshing at a posh restaurant, those seismic waves can intensify into a full-blown battle once someone throws down a verbal gauntlet. Naturally, the clashes come in all forms: Backstabbing, trash talk, heavily bleeped exchanges, and even fisticuffs dominate the proceedings with alarming regularity in each franchise, separately set in places that include Beverly Hills, Orange County, Atlanta, and New York. 

In 2009, cable channel Bravo amped up the suspense by rolling out "The Real Housewives of New Jersey" that featured two players, Caroline Manzo and her sister Dina, bearing some reportedly suspicious ties to the underworld. Caroline had married restaurateur Albert Manzo III, while Dina got hitched to Albert's brother Tommy. Both men were members of the Manzo family, long suspected of having ties to the mob, a twist that producers of the series didn't exactly make public knowledge. But then, they didn't have to, as legacy and tabloid media had that base already covered, starting in 1983 with the grisly discovery of Albert and Tommy's father, whose body was riddled with bullets. 

Both couples frequently denied any racketeering connections, but as subsequent events would demonstrate, such an alleged link would be difficult to keep under the radar. If anything, those incidents may have helped "Real Housewives of New Jersey" become a guilty pleasure in more ways than one.

During the first season of "Real Housewives of New Jersey," viewers consistently brought up Caroline Manzo's alleged mob ties. After all, the husbands of Caroline and sister-in-law Dina were both sons of Albert "Tiny" Manzo, dubbed "the biggest enforcer in New Jersey," largely due to his 350-lb. body. In 1983, "Tiny" was found dead in the trunk of his Lincoln Continental. Speculation surfaced that it was revenge for "Tiny" skimming a Staten Island casino run by the Gambino family, one of the most feared crime organizations in the country at the time. Former state trooper Mike Russell wrote in his book "Undercover Cop: How I Brought Down the Real-life Sopranos" that he believed Tiny was killed by Joe Zarra, who ran a casino Manzo tried to shake down.

Either way, Caroline would have none of it. "To this day, 26 years later, the family does not know the whys or hows of that event," she told The Daily Beast in 2017. "The real crime here is the assumptions that are made against this family." Her husband Albert echoed those sentiments three years later. "My father was no gangster," he said to the New York Post. "He was a wonderful, hardworking man. He was never accused of anything else pertaining to being a gangster. The shame of it is that our family were the victims of a murder which was never solved, and it was spun as a mob hit."

Caroline Manzo's husband, Albert Manzo, has made sporadic appearances on reality TV shows like "Real Housewives of New Jersey" and the short-lived "Manzoed With Children," but he's also known for running the Paterson, New Jersey-based restaurant The Brownstone, familiar to viewers as a frequent location shoot for the HBO series "The Sopranos." Manzo also drew a $7,500 annual salary as a Commissioner at the North Jersey District Water Supply, until former Governor Chris Christie took him to task for falsifying his residence on government forms. On those documents, Manzo stated he lived at The Brownstone, even though he had a palatial, 5,600-square foot abode in nearby Franklin Lakes, a place regularly showcased on "RHONJ." "Do you really believe he's sleeping on a cot at the Brownstone in Paterson?" Christie once asked (per Intelligencer), even though Manzo claimed he had an apartment located in the same complex as the restaurant.

It still mystified Christie why Manzo would use the restaurant address on forms, and he suspended him, alleging he had violated public trust by not listing his Franklin Lakes residence. After several days of in-fighting between Manzo and Christie, the restaurateur decided to resign a few weeks before his term was up. "The board was going to hire a lawyer to defend itself and I didn't want that," Manzo said (per Bravo). "I feel like it's turned into a circus and I love the commission too much to put them through that."

It should be noted that although Caroline and Dina Manzo married into a family allegedly tied to organized crime, neither has been arrested for any wrongdoings, which can't be said about "RHONJ" co-star Teresa Giudice and her husband Joe. In 2015, both were nailed for multiple cases of fraud, resulting in an 11-month jail sentence for Teresa and deportation to Italy for Joe after spending three years in the slammer. Teresa had long suspected that Caroline ratted her out to the FBI after she prophesized something bad was going to happen to the Giudices. "How could she predict that?" said Teresa on "Watch What Happens Live" long after her release from jail. "Could she have anything to do with what happened to Joe and I? Is she a rat?" That was after Teresa took a shot at Caroline suggesting that she led a dishonest life.

It's an accusation Caroline denied, when she recalled the situation on the Page Six podcast "Virtual Reali-tea" in May 2023. "You can believe whatever you like about me," Caroline said. "I know I never did — I could never do that. But if blaming me makes you feel better, OK, then your reality. It's not going to change my day." Caroline did state during the interview that she knew who called the feds on the couple, but won't reveal her source. Why? Probably because she doesn't think she's a rat.

In 2016, Caroline Manzo sent out an alarming tweet out of concern for a family member who had gone missing in Hoboken, New Jersey. "Any help would be appreciated, please retweet," she posted. "This is a relative of my son-in-law." That individual was Matthew Genovese, a 24-year-old Wall Street employee and a relative of Vito Scalia, who married Caroline's daughter Lauren the year before. Two days later, police retrieved Genovese's body from the Hudson River after a detective discovered his wallet and keys on a nearby pier. Genovese was last seen at McSwiggan's Pub the previous Saturday night and told his friends he was walking home, approximately a 10-minute walk from the bar. Instead, police found his body in the river, roughly four blocks east. One bar employee recalled Genovese being lucid when he left the premises in the middle of a snowstorm. 

Police ruled out foul play. Still, Caroline Manzo took the news hard when she tweeted, "Thank you so much for sharing and prayers. Unfortunately, this story didn't end as we had hoped ...." It wasn't made clear how close Matthew was to the Genovese family, themselves no strangers to racketeering. In 2022, five members of the family were arrested for extortion and illegal gambling. One case involved the Genovese organization allegedly enticing a Bronx county clerk to collect debts from those operations.

In 2012, after seven years of marriage launched by a posh wedding documented on VH-1, Dina Manzo left her husband Tommy. "My secret ... I have been separated since October, my heart hurts but Tommy & I will always share a very special love," she tweeted to fans the following year (per HuffPost). It turned out that Tommy wasn't feeling that special love, especially when she moved on with boyfriend David Cantin. That's when he allegedly enlisted the services of John Perna, a mobster with reported connections to the Lucchese crime family, to assault Cantin. In return, Tommy promised Perna he could host a lavish wedding reception at his Brownstone restaurant at a discount. Perna confessed to his involvement in court in 2020 and was sentenced to 30 months in jail the following year.

While Dina Manzo, who married Cantin in 2016, has never spoken publicly about the incident, "RHONJ" star Kim DePaola weighed in on Tommy's motive. "I think it was a man thing," she said to the New York Post. "They want what they can't have. He didn't want Dina when she was starving for attention and was dying for his love but when she leaves him and goes off with a new, younger guy? His ego couldn't take it."

By 2016, Dina Manzo finally had her fill of New Jersey life. She divorced her husband Tommy Manzo after leaving him four years earlier, remarried and took the name of her subsequent husband David Cantin, finished her final stint in "Real Housewives of New Jersey," and moved to California. But even though Dina tried to cleanse her life of everything Manzo, one person tried to ensure that the task wouldn't be easy. In 2017, when the Cantins returned to New Jersey to witness the christening of their goddaughter Audriana Giudice, Tommy Manzo allegedly decided to take another shot at his ex and enlisted James Mainello to help with the job. 

Police later responded to a 911 call about an incident in the Cantin townhouse they still owned in Holmdel. What they found were Dina and David Cantin, both severely beaten with a baseball bat, yet still able to wriggle out of their zip-tie bonds. There was also $500 in cash and Dina's $60,000 engagement ring missing. When questioned about the attackers, police said one had a northern New Jersey accent. The suspect allegedly told the Cantins, "This is what happens when you f*** with people from Paterson" (per Page Six). Tommy Manzo was arrested in May 2021 on several charges, including assault, robbery, and racketeering, but was free on bail later that month. "This was an awful ordeal for Dina and David and hopefully it is the final step in bringing them closure of this matter," said the couple's lawyer to TMZ.

When "Real Housewives of New Jersey" debuted in 2009, Caroline Manzo let it be known to the cast that neither she nor anyone else bearing her surname was going to be pushed around. "Let me tell you something about my family," she said at the beginning of the series. "We are thick as thieves, and we protect each other to the end." By 2017, after both Caroline and Dina had exited "RHONJ," it seemed her declaration had rung hollow. Dina once commented that the two hadn't spoken to each other in years, perfect conditions to accelerate a feud after Dina's ex Tommy Manzo was arrested on assault and robbery charges. 

It percolated in 2021, during Tommy Manzo's court hearing surrounding the 2017 home invasion of Dina and David Cantin. Manzo's lawyer, Michael Critchley, produced several letters of support to get his client out of jail, including one written by Caroline, which called him "kind-hearted and caring" (per NJ). In response, Dina's assistant Luke McKibben posted to Instagram a meme of Thomas and Caroline together, captioned with "Thick as Thieves," which prompted several "RHONJ" cast members to lambaste Caroline for not supporting her sister. Breaking her silence, Dina commented on the Instagram post (per People), "I'm starting to think some just expect us to stay quiet while they continue to hurt others ... that's what gives them that 'power.'" Despite their absence from "RHONJ," it's likely the feud will keep the Manzo legacy, criminal allegations notwithstanding, going for a while longer.