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Real Housewife’s Ex-Hubby Hired Mobster to Beat Up Her Boyfriend, Jury Finds

Dina Manzo’s ex-husband allegedly promised his hired gun a free wedding reception at his New Jersey event venue in exchange for the beatdown.

The ex-husband of Real Housewives of New Jersey star Dina Manzo was convicted on Tuesday of hiring an alleged mobster to beat up her new boyfriend, according to the Associated Press. Thomas Manzo now faces up to 46 years behind bars when he’s sentenced on Oct. 15. Prosecutors said that Manzo, 59, approached John Perna, a suspected “made man” in the Lucchese Crime Family, in July 2015 and promised him a free wedding reception if he carried out the beatdown. Perna attacked the boyfriend with a “slap jack” in a strip mall soon after, prosecutors said, according to WKXW. Perna’s wedding reception was held the next month at an event venue in Paterson, New Jersey owned by Manzo, according to prosecutors. Perna pleaded guilty in 2020 to committing a violent crime in aid of racketeering activity, and was released last year after carrying out a 30-month sentence. Dina Manzo’s boyfriend is now her husband, according to the AP.