It’s like a story straight out of The Sopranos. On Tuesday (June 30), Tommy Manzo — ex-husband of former Real Housewives of New Jersey star Dina Manzo — had been arrested for allegedly masterminding a hit job on her new husband David Cantin back in 2015.
One day after the federal indictment against Tommy became public, Caroline Manzo is breaking her silence on the sordid drama surrounding her sister and brother-in-law.
“We are heartbroken. This is family on both sides,” the RHONJ OG told Extra. “I want to know the truth and my allegiance will lie with the truth.”
Fans of old-school RHONJ will remember that the familial connections between the Manzo/Laurita clans run “thick as thieves.” Not only is Caroline Dina‘s oldest sister, she’s also married to Tommy‘s brother Albert Manzo. (The pair’s sister-in-law Jacqueline Laurita rounded out the original cast alongside Teresa Giudice and Danielle Staub. Jacqueline is married to Caroline and Dina’s brother, Chris Laurita.)
RELATED: Dina Manzo’s Ex-Husband Hired Hit Man To Attack Current Husband
“We don’t run from things like this, we address them,” the Manzo’d With Children star continued. “And I feel comfortable with that because we are being painted with a brush that does not reflect who we are as people.”
According to the charges against him, Tommy — who never appeared on RHONJ — hired mob hit man to carry out the attack on Dina’s husband in exchange for a heavily discounted wedding reception at The Brownstone, which he co-owns with Albert and Caroline. The indictment alleges that “many of the guests invited to the reception were members of the Lucchese Crime Family.”
RELATED: Caroline Manzo & Chris Laurita Speak Out After Dina Manzo Beaten & Burglarized
Interestingly, the Manzo and Laurita families have been shooting down rumors of being linked to organized crime since their earliest days in front of Bravo’s cameras. “You know what? Our family have been beaten up, tossed around, turned upside down, okay, saying that we have mob connections,” Caroline told Andy Cohen during the Season 1 reunion. “I take tremendous offense to that. My father-in-law was a victim of a horrific crime. He was murdered. To this day, they don’t know the hows and the whys of what happened.”
(The Manzo patriarch was executed mob-style in 1983. According to multiple reports, the suspected mob enforcer was killed after skimming a casino run by the Gambino crime family.)
RELATED: Dina Manzo Says Caroline Manzo Replaced Dolores Catania After She Backed Out Of Real Housewives Of New Jersey Season 1
“It has no relevance to the show and it’s hurtful,” Dina added at the time. However, she and Caroline haven’t spoken in years at this point. And it seems unlikely that these criminal accusations against her ex will bring the sisters any closer. Or who knows? Maybe it will! But either way, it’s doubtful we’ll be seeing either of the Manzos back on RHONJ any time soon.
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[Photo Credit: Astrid Stawiarz/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images]
