Author: William

‘Real Housewives’ star Dina Manzo’s ex-husband looks to throw out charges he hired mobster to beat up her boyfriend

He’s asking the court to fuggedaboutit.

The ex-husband of “Real Housewives of New Jersey” star Dina Manzo is looking to throw out a years-old racketeering case that accused him of hiring a Mafioso to rough up Manzo’s new beau.

Attorneys for Garden State restaurateur Tommy Manzo have asked a federal judge to dismiss the case against him because they say he’s been denied the “speedy trial” afforded to him by law.

The case centers on a 2020 indictment that says Manzo cut a deal with a Lucchese crime family soldier to rough up his ex-wife’s then-boyfriend, David Cantin, in a North Jersey parking lot five years earlier.

His alleged accomplice — reputed mafioso John Perna of Cedar Grove, New Jersey — has already served time behind bars for the “Sopranos”-style beatdown, Manzo’s attorneys say their client should be cleared because the court’s glacial pace has violated the federal Speedy Trial Act of 1974.

“The last day that Mr. Manzo could have been brought to trial on the Indictment in compliance with the [law] was December 10, 2022,” attorneys Marc Agnifilo and Zach Intrater wrote in a Jan. 19 federal court filing.

“But no effective continuance was signed until nearly eleven months later,” they continued. “There is no question that there has been a violation of the [Speedy Trial Act] in this case … the indictment against Mr. Manzo must be dismissed.”

Dina Manzo with her then-husband, Tommy Manzo. Manzo’s attorneys are trying to get his federal racketeering indictment dismissed.

In a Friday afternoon statement, Intrater added that Manzo is “a respected businessman who looks forward to these charges being dismissed so that he can get back to his family and the work that he loves.”

The US Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey declined to comment Friday.

Manzo’s request is the latest salvo in a lengthy court battle that’s thrust one of New Jersey’s most infamous families into the spotlight yet again — for all the wrong reasons.

Slapjacks and dirty deals

Manzo, 58, of Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, married Dina in an over-the-top 2005 wedding chronicled on the VH1 reality series “My Big Fabulous Wedding.

But the couple split in 2012 over his alleged infidelity, “Real Housewives of New Jersey” star Kim DePaola told The Post in 2020 — though they wouldn’t officially divorce until 2016.

Federal prosecutors say Manzo got angry when Dina began seeing Cantin, an entrepreneur.

He allegedly hired Perna, reputedly a made man with the Lucchese crime family, to bust him up with a slapjack in front of a Passaic County strip mall, according to federal court documents.

In return, Manzo allegedly promised Perna a deeply-discounted wedding reception at The Brownstone, the well-known catering hall in Paterson, New Jersey, that his family had owned for decades.

At first, everything went according to plan, prosecutors claimed.

Dina Manzo, a reality TV star who rose to fame on “Real Housewives of New Jersey,” married Manzo in 2005. But the doomed marriage has led to a slew of legal cases. Getty Images
Dina Manzo is now married to Dave Cantin. @dina

Perna grabbed a member of his crew and worked Cantin over on July 18, 2015, court documents said.

About a month later, The Brownstone hosted an opulent, 330-guest wedding for Perna’s family that was attended by a number of other crime family capos.

But of course, the feds eventually ruined it.

They arrested and indicted both men in the summer of 2020. A year later, Perna pleaded guilty to a charge of committing a violent crime in aid of racketeering activity and was sent to the slammer for nearly three years.

And Manzo, although free on bail, has languished with a federal albatross around his neck even as he runs his restaurant, which has long been a hangout for North Jersey politicos and bigwigs of all stripes.

The family business

Manzo’s father, Albert “Tiny” Manzo, bought The Brownstone from its original owners, the Clune family, back in the late 1970s, according to a history written by Rita Clune.

The Manzo family’s ties to the Brownstone date back to the 1970s. Christopher Sadowski

The Clunes had bought the “desolate, burned out” building just after World War II, she wrote. They turned it into a bar, then a banquet hall before selling to the 400-pound Tiny — whose nickname was steeped in irony — in the late 1970s.

An alleged mob enforcer, he’d once run for city mayor on a law-and-order platform whose main plank was bringing back public hangings at Passaic County Jail.

Reputed mafioso John Perna has already served time for the beatdown. New Jersey AG

But the mobster’s fortunes eventually turned sour, and authorities found his naked body tied up in the trunk of his Lincoln Continental outside a Hillside, New Jersey supermarket in August 1983, with four bullet wounds cutting through his torso.

He and Gambino family soldier Peter A. Campisi had reportedly skimmed money from a mobbed-up casino on Staten Island — although rumors abound to this day about what actually led to his gangland execution.

His sons, Tommy and his brother Albert, have run the restaurant in the years since his death.

Other legal troubles

Of course, even if Manzo were to beat the federal rap, that doesn’t mean his problems are over.

He’s also embroiled in another court case involving his “Real Housewives of New Jersey” ex — this one stemming from charges that he and another man busted into Dina and Dave Cantin’s home in Holmdel, New Jersey, and beat them in 2017.

The Cantins — who married in June of that year — told cops that two men broke into their townhouse and attacked them as they walked in around 11 p.m. on May 13, according to NJ.com.

They hit Cantin with a bat and punched Dina several times, tied them up with zip ties and made off with cash and jewelry — including a new engagement ring.

During the attack, “an Italian guy with a North Jersey accent” told the pair: “This is what happens when you f–k with people from Paterson,” according to the affidavit.

Manzo and another man, James Mainello of Bayonne, were charged with robbery, burglary and aggravated assault for the crime.

But little information is available about the case, which has moved at a similarly slow pace and remains frozen until Manzo’s federal charges are resolved.

Christopher Adams, Manzo’s attorney for the state charges, did not respond to multiple inquiries requesting comment.

The Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office said the next hearing is April 29, but declined to comment further.

That’s about two weeks after the April 16 jury selection for his federal case, meaning the North Jersey legend’s legal battles could soon be coming to a close — for better or worse.

This article was originally posted here

‘Priceless’ painting stolen by NJ politician and mobsters returned 55 years later: ‘What a history it’s had’

They didn’t fugeddaboutit.

A “priceless” painting stolen by a New Jersey politician and Mafia members over 50 years ago has been returned to its owner.

The artwork, which was taken in 1969 with the help of former New Jersey state Sen. Anthony Imperiale and mobsters, was given back to Dr. Francis Wood, 96, of Newark, whose father originally bought the piece, on Jan. 11.

Police said a trio of burglars, all involved in organized crime, tried to break into Francis’ parents’ home in 1969 in an attempt to steal a coin collection, but were thwarted by a burglar alarm.

When cops and Imperiale, then a member of the Newark City Council, responded to the scene, an employee at the house told the council member about the “priceless” painting, titled “The Schoolmistress.”

The work, which depicts a teacher sitting at a table surrounded by students, dates back to 1784 and was created by artist John Opie, whose paintings have sold at auction houses such as Sotheby’s and Christie’s, one for almost $1 million.

A painting taken in 1969 with the help of a member of the New Jersey Senate and mobsters was given back to Dr. Francis Wood of Newark, whose father bought the piece. AP

A month later, Imperiale, who died in 1999, allegedly ordered the original three burglars — Gerald Festa, Gerald Donnerstag and Austin Costiglione — to retrieve the artwork, which Wood’s father purchased in the 1930s for $7,500, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.

Imperiale’s plan was leaked by Festa six years later, in the 1975 trial of an accomplice.

Festa said Imperiale ordered him, Donnerstag and Costiglione to commit the crime. He also testified that Imperiale — who was elected to the New Jersey Assembly in 1971 and the state senate in 1973 and also ran for mayor of Newark in 1974 —had the painting, but the politician was never charged.

Artist John Opie painted “The Schoolmistress,” which dates back to 1784 and depicts a teacher sitting at a table surrounded by students. AP

The piece then wound up in St. George, Utah, after a resident bought a house in Florida in 1989 from Joseph Covello Sr. — a mobster linked to the Gambino family — and the painting was included as part of the sale, according to the FBI.

When the man died in 2020, an accounting firm liquidating the property had the painting appraised and it was determined to be the stolen one.

New Jersey State Sen. Anthony Imperiale, who died in 1999, allegedly ordered burglars involved in organized crime to take the artwork for the Woods’ home. ASSOCIATED PRESS

“This piece of art, what a history it’s had,” FBI Special Agent Gary France, who worked on the case, said.

“It traveled all through the UK, when it was first painted, and owned by quite a few families in the UK. And then it travels overseas to the United States and is sold during the Great Depression and then stolen by the mob and recovered by the FBI decades later.

“It’s quite amazing.”

No charges have been filed by the FBI since the painting was discovered, as all of those believed to have been involved in its theft are dead, France said.

With Post wires

This article was originally posted here

Drea de Matteo is a Hollywood ‘Mob Wife’ fashion icon 25 years after ‘The Sopranos,’ still owns character’s coveted clothes

She’s still got it.

At the same time “The Sopranos” celebrates its 25th anniversary, the show’s Drea de Matteo has wound up on the mood boards of Hollywood’s hottest stylists.

The “Mob Wife Aesthetic” is fashion’s hottest trend, captivating young stars from Dua Lipa and Taylor Swift to Kylie and Kendall Jenner.

“My DMs, my f–king text messages,” were blowing up, De Matteo — who’d been recently spending time in Switzerland unaware of the trend that made the cover of The Post last week — told us. “Every single publication has wanted a phone call, a quote,” on mob wife fashion.

She legendarily played Adriana La Cerva, the long-suffering girlfriend of Michael Imperioli’s Christopher Moltisanti, on the series, and rocked a number of iconic looks on camera — some of which she kept, and had even been thinking of selling off well before the gangster moll look was in.

De Matteo considered selling off her famed tiger suit. Instagram/dreadematteo

Just back from Europe, De Matteo recalled to us that “Sopranos” costume stylist Juliet Polcsa, “brought me a box of the clothing on the last day,” she filmed the show, including an epic tiger print cat suit.

“I have what I died in,” she added of the outfits Polcsa gifted her, as well as the sexy getup she wore on the cover of Rolling Stone in 2001 as shot by famed photographer Mark Seliger.

She also has some “snakeskin pants that were pretty famous,” as well as various pieces of “trashy lingerie,” plus a ring she helped create for the show.

The star joined OnlyFans last year. DREA DE MATTEO / Instagram

Most of her “Sopranos” memorabilia, including the show’s scripts, was lost in a 2015 fire at the East Village apartment building where she lived for 22 years.

Luckily, Adriana’s hot clothes were not lost in the blaze.

“When I found it, I couldn’t believe I had it,” she told us. “A lot of my other stuff burned in a fire in New York City… I found the other stuff in my Hamptons house, all of [Adriana’s] underwear, her bras, her shoes.”

On “The Sopranos,” she famously played Adriana La Cerva. HBO

“Of course I sold some of her underwear on OnlyFans… people wanted it,” the star, 52, candidly says with a laugh.

She joined the racy social media platform last year in part to make money after her film and TV career took a hit because she refused to get vaccinated during the COVID-19 pandemic.

That was when she began thinking about auctioning off the tiger print cat suit.

The star says she also has the clothes from her final scene on the HBO hit. HBO

“The bottom line is I lost everything in the pandemic,” she says. “The respect of my peers, my agent — everybody dropped me, without even a phone call. I realized what playground I’ve been playing in.”

“I figured I’d do something for myself and my children,” she says of the potential sale. “People said, ‘you have to say it’s for a charity.’ Do I?”

It has been reported she only made $500 per episode in her first year of the HBO smash before her salary went up, and she’s said, “I didn’t spend enough time on the show to really make money.”

Drea de Matteo says her style off-screen doesn’t follow the newly popular mob wife craze. Instagram / @dreadematteo

While she’s still persona non grata in the industry, she says, because of the vaccine controversy, the stunning star’s OnlyFans account has helped put her in a less precarious financial position. “I feel proud that I stood by my convictions,” she says.

The cat suit — and the other threads — are still in her closet for now.

She’s also launching a hip new streetwear line, called ULTRAFREE, next month.

She also starred in “Sons of Anarchy.” Instagram/dreadematteo

“It’s about making freedom cool again,” the star says of the apparel line she has developed with her partner, Robbie Stabler, drummer of the band All Them Witches.

The line is inspired by ’80s style, and includes, “sweatshirts, sweatpants, big-ass logos,” she says.

Off-screen, her style isn’t exactly of the mob variety.

“I dress like a tomboy,” she says. “All of that clothing from ‘The Sopranos’ was all Juliet, and she loved dressing me. I was her doll… the sluttier the better,” she jokes of Adriana’s risque looks.

This article was originally posted here