Ex-husband of ‘Real Housewife of New Jersey’ sentenced for stalking
Thomas Manzo, the former husband of "Real Housewives of New Jersey" star Dina Cantin, was sentenced to three years in prison for stalking charges against his ex and her new partner.
The former husband of a former Real Housewives of New Jersey star was sentenced this week to three years in prison for stalking.
Thomas Manzo, 59 of Franklin Lakes, N.J., pleaded guilty in October to two counts of stalking his ex-wife, Dina Cantin (formerly Manzo) and her now-husband David Cantin. On Wednesday, Manzo received the maximum year-and-a-half prison sentence for each count, Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago said in a statement.
It’s the latest chapter in a yearslong saga between Manzo and Dina Cantin, who claimed he was stalking, harassing, and targeting her and her new partner.
Manzo’s sentence will run concurrently with his existing seven-year federal sentence, which he received in October for organizing a mob-related assault on David Cantin in 2015. Manzo reportedly gifted the suspected mobster a free wedding reception at his restaurant for carrying out the assault and a 2017 home invasion on the couple’s townhouse a month before their wedding. In that case, Manzo admitted to having hired a mob-affiliated hit man to attack David Cantin.
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“Officers arrived on scene to discover [the couple] who had freed themselves from zip-ties after having been assaulted multiple times with a baseball bat and robbed of the couple’s new engagement ring and $500 in cash.” According to People magazine, the couple relocated to California because of the assault.
DNA evidence and initial investigation led to James Mainello’s arrest in 2019, but investigators later uncovered Manzo’s involvement. Mainello, 57, of Bayonne, pleaded guilty in May 2023 to conspiracy to commit armed robbery. He was sentenced to seven years in state prison in accordance with his plea deal, which was contingent on Manzo also pleading guilty, according to Santiago.
The case’s ties to Bravo’s Real Housewives series and the couple’s status as TV figures, along with the crimes’ brutish details, have garnered widespread attention over the years. Dina Cantin made her TV debut in 2007 when her lavish wedding to Manzo was featured on an episode of VH1′s My Fabulous Wedding. She went on to be part of the Real Housewives of New Jersey inaugural cast in 2009.