The ex-husband of a woman who appeared in “The Real Housewives of New Jersey” was convicted of planning a “vicious” attack on the woman’s now-husband, federal prosecutors said Tuesday, June 4.
Thomas Manzo, 59, whose former wife Dina Manzo appeared in the Bravo reality television show, hired a mob soldier from the Lucchese Crime Family to carry out the 2015 attack on Dina Manzo’s new boyfriend at the time, prosecutors said.
Payment for the attack was a free wedding reception at a business Thomas Manzo owned, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey said in a statement.
Thomas Manzo was convicted by a jury Tuesday of one count of committing a violent crime in aid of racketeering activity, one count of conspiracy to commit a violent crime in aid of racketeering resulting in serious bodily injury, and one count of falsifying and concealing documents related to a federal investigation.
His attorney did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment Tuesday night.
“Thomas Manzo hired a soldier in the Lucchese Crime Family to carry out a vicious assault on his ex-wife’s then-boyfriend, causing the victim to suffer significant injuries,” U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said in a statement.
Thomas Manzo was charged in 2020. The alleged mob soldier who carried out the attack, John Perna, pleaded guilty in December of that year and in 2021 was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison.
Perna and another member of his crew attacked Dina Manzo’s then-boyfriend outside a Passaic County strip mall on July 18, 2015, authorities have said. Dina Manzo and the boyfriend later married.
Perna was armed with a “slapjack” weapon in the attack on the man, officials said. The plan orchestrated by Thomas Manzo was to leave the victim with injuries that would leave a permanent facial scar, prosecutors said in Perna’s indictment.
As payment, Thomas Manzo held a free wedding reception for Perna at the restaurant that Thomas Manzo owned, according to prosecutors.
Thomas Manzo faces a maximum of 20 years each on two of the counts, and a maximum of three years in prison on the conspiracy count, the U.S. attorney’s office said. Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 15.
Dina Manzo appeared as a main cast member in “The Real Housewives of New Jersey” in Seasons One and Two, which ran in 2009 and 2010, and also in Season Six in 2014.
This story was first published on NBCNews.com.