REALITY BITES

‘Real Housewives’ Star Posts Cryptic Note After Ex Husband Is Jailed

Dina Manzo took to Instagram as her ex-husband was sentenced for hiring a mobster to beat her then-boyfriend.

The ex-husband of Real Housewives of New Jersey star Dina Manzo was hit with a seven-year prison sentence Tuesday after hiring a mobster, known as a “made man” within an Italian-American Mafia crime family, to attack her boyfriend. On top of his prison sentence, Thomas Manzo will also have to serve three years supervised release, according to the Associated Press. The 59-year-old was convicted in June by a federal jury of of conspiracy, falsifying and concealing documents, and committing a violent crime in aid of racketeering activity. Thomas Manzo hired John Perna to beat his ex-wife’s boyfriend in July 2015. Perna eventually carried out the attack with a “slap jack” in a strip mall, according to WKXW, and agreed to the attack under terms that Manzo pay for his lavish wedding reception, which was held the month after the attack. Perna later pleaded guilty in December 2020 to committing a violent crime in aid of racketeering activity and was handed down a 2-and-a-half year sentence. He was released in August 2023. “Because at the end of the day, the right people fight for you,” Dina posted to her Instagram Story on Tuesday, quoting from writer Bianca Sparacino. The post, however, came with no context. “The right people show up. The right people care, not only when life is convenient, but when it is difficult and messy and it aches all over.”