The Real Housewives of New Jersey is a series on Bravo that is no stranger to family fallout. The moment Melissa Gorga joined the series as a cast member, her sister-in-law Teresa Giudice decided this was an infringement on her territory. Joe Gorga defending his wife further irritated his sister, who felt that sibling loyalty should come before the ties of marriage. Teresa and Melissa never being able to see their way to being friends had lasting consequences on the series, as the lines in the sand grew so deep that they eventually brought down the whole franchise.
But Teresa wasn't the first cast member whose family drama spilled onto the series. One of the original cast members, Dina Manzo, had her family drama follow her even after leaving the series in an attempt to avoid the fallout. Messy Housewives antics have always gone a little deeper in New Jersey, but Dina's final moments on the series only signaled further family drama to follow.
Dina Manzo's Family Ties to 'RHONJ' Run Deep
Dina and her sister Caroline Manzo were original cast members on RHONJ. Their sister-in-law Jacqueline Laurita was also a cast member, with Dina and Caroline's brother Chris Laurita making occasional appearances. Caroline infamously quipped in the first season: "Let me tell you something about my family. We're thick as thieves, and we protect each other 'til the end." In a recent podcast appearance, Teresa referenced the way the Manzo and Laurita family stuck together to put a united front on for the camera, even if they were fighting behind the scenes. She said the relationship between her and her brother on the series "was terrible," compared to the way that the Manzos never spoke ill of each other, even when they weren't speaking to each other off-camera.
In Season 1 there were discussions about the rumors surrounding the Manzo family having connections to organized crime. Dina and Caroline married brothers Thomas "Tommy" Manzo and Albert Manzo. Dina was married to Tommy during her tenure on the series, but the couple divorced in 2016. Tommy and Albert's father, Albert "Tiny" Manzo was the owner of "The Brownstone," a popular New Jersey catering venue, which would later be used as a filming location for The Sopranos. The tragic circumstances surrounding Tiny's death reinforced rumors that he had connections to organized crime, since his body was discovered in the trunk of his Lincoln Continental with bullet wounds in the chest, and the murder was never solved. The rumors that these connections to organized crime were not wholly in the past seemed confirmed by what happened to Dina once she divorced Tommy and moved on with another man.
Dina's Finale Moments on 'RHONJ' Signaled Family Fallout
The Season 1 villain of RHONJ was, without question, Danielle Staub. When the ladies in the group began to gossip about Danielle's sordid past, which was brought up in the form of a book that had been written about her, during the finale, Danielle wanted Dina to admit that it was her that brought the book up on camera. When pressure was applied, Caroline went into big sister mode and decided to step in and claim she was the one who had brought up the book on camera. Jacqueline felt caught in the middle, since Danielle had been speaking to her about how hurt she felt by Dina's gossip, and she sympathized. When Jacqueline heard Dina deny being involved with the book, she confronted her sister-in-law about having Caroline take the blame for her. Dina called Jacqueline "two-faced" for not allowing the sisters to spin the narrative however they wanted, which showed the kind of blind loyalty that was expected from the Manzo sisters in their relationships on camera, which ultimately signaled the issues that would affect the sisters once Dina left the series.
Once Dina left the series, she separated from Thomas Manzo in 2012, and they divorced in 2016. She met a new man named Dave Cantin, who she married in 2017. In 2020, Cantin was assaulted outside a strip mall in Passaic County, and it was later proved that Dina's ex-husband had hired John Perna, who U.S. Attorney Phillip R. Sellinger named as a member of the Lucchese crime family, to commit the assault, in exchange for a wedding reception at The Brownstone. Even worse, once the arrest was made, Dina's sister Caroline wrote a character reference for Thomas's defense at trial. The loyalty owed to the Manzos got between the two sisters, just as this expectation of blind loyalty broke up Dina and Jacqueline's friendship when she spoke the truth about Dina gossiping about Danielle in the finale of Season 1 on RHONJ.
