The ex-husband of former “Real Housewives of New Jersey” personality Dina Cantin, previously Dina Manzo, will serve seven years in prison for hiring a mobster to assault the TV star’s then-boyfriend, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey announced Tuesday.
Thomas Manzo, who was married to the podcast host from 2005 to 2016, was sentenced for hiring and then assisting a reputed mobster to assault Dave Cantin, the TV star’s now-husband, in 2015. Manzo, 59, was also sentenced to three years of supervised release in addition to his prison sentence.
Manzo was convicted in June of conspiracy, falsifying and concealing documents, and committing a violent crime in aid of racketeering activity. A legal representative for Manzo did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment Wednesday.
“Whether you’re actually in the Mafia or not, hiring the mob to assault someone because of your marital problems is abhorrent. Covering up the role you played only makes it worse,” U.S. Atty. Philip R. Sellinger said in the announcement. “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.”
Prosecutors, during a nearly three-week trial earlier this year, alleged that Manzo had hired John Perna of the Lucchese crime family to carry out the July 2015 assault on Dave Cantin in exchange for a free wedding reception. The attack, prosecutors said, left Cantin with significant injuries.
A month after the assault, Perna held an extravagant reception for about 330 attendees at Manzo’s Brownstone Restaurant. While under federal investigation, Manzo concealed and falsified documents relating to the wedding, prosecutors argued. Perna pleaded guilty to the assault in December 2020 and was sentenced to two and a half years in prison. He was released in August 2023.
Dina Cantin, 52, was an on-and-off “RHONJ” cast member since the series’ premiere in 2009 but left the reality TV series amid her move to the West Coast. She and Manzo separated in 2012 and finalized their divorce in 2016.
In June 2017, Dina and Dave Cantin tied the knot. A representative for Dina Cantin did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment Wednesday, but the TV star shared an optimistic quote from writer Bianca Sparacino to her Instagram amid her ex-husband’s sentencing.
“Because at the end of the day, the right people fight for you. The right people show up,” the since-expired Instagram story read. “The right people care, not only when life is convenient, but when it is difficult and messy and aches all over.”
Times staff writer Angie Orellana Hernandez and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
