Lara Sophia 
Blood isn’t always thicker than water when it comes to the Manzo family.
The former Real Housewives of New Jersey family has famously feuded for years, but things have taken an ugly turn in recent years.
It’s no secret that Caroline Manzo set up her baby sister Dina Manzo with her brother-in-law, Tommy Manzo, who is the younger brother of Albert Manzo. Tommy and Dina eventually tied the knot after dating for years, but their marriage didn’t last in the long run. It’s unclear why the marriage failed, but Dina soon moved on and began dating her now-current husband, Dave Cantin.
Through all of this, Dina and Caroline’s once unbreakable bond shattered into a million irreparable pieces. The two sisters and former RHONJ co-stars have never revealed the true cause of their rift, but both have speculated the show and subsequent fame had something to do with it.
But it turns out Caroline and Dina aren’t the only Manzos who have bad blood between them.
In recent years, Tommy has been linked to two attacks involving his ex-wife and her current husband, Dave Cantin.
Tommy has accused of hiring reputed Lucchese crime family associate John Perna to beat Dave outside a strip mall in 2015.
He also was reportedly involved in the 2017 home invasion that left Dina and Dave bound, beaten, and robbed.
Tommy was arrested on May 11 and was charged with robbery, burglary, aggravated assault, criminal restraint, and stalking. A week later, Tommy was released from jail pending his trial.
In court on May 21, Tommy’s lawyer, Amy Luria, highlighted several letters written vouching for her client’s character. The letters were written by various notable figures, including the bishop of Paterson, the vice president of the New Jersey Police Benevolent Association, and Dina’s sister, Caroline.
Caroline has been surprisingly mum about the charges against her brother-in-law. In 2020, Caroline spoke to Extra TV that she was “heartbroken” over the charges after Tommy was connected to the 2015 attack on Dina’s husband Dave.
“This is family on both sides,” she said at the time. “I want to know the truth, and my allegiance will lie with the truth. We don’t run from things like this, we address them, and I feel comfortable with that because we are being painted with a brush that does not reflect who we are as people.”
Not surprisingly, RHONJ fans were NOT happy with Caroline writing a character reference for Tommy.
Reality Ashhole called out Caroline on Twitter, writing, “Caroline spent YEARS trying to deflect onto Teresa not caring about family & everyone kept listening to her as the family “expert” even though she didn’t talk to her own siblings. Now she wrote a character witness letter to help Tommy, who had Dina ATTACKED get out of jail #RHONJ.”
Dina caught wind of the tweet and liked the post.
Part two of the Real Housewives of New Jersey reunion airs on Wednesday, May 26 at 9 p.m.
Thoughts on this all? Are you surprised Caroline wrote a letter vouching for Tommy’s character? Sound off below!
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