Roxanne 
OG and former Real Housewives of New Jersey star Jacqueline Laurita is speaking out on her experience on the Real Housewives.
Jacqueline spoke with us at AllAboutTRH podcast and agreed to answer listener questions as far as her experience on the show. Jacqueline was on the Real Housewives for seven seasons. The show followed Jacqueline Laurita’s struggle to conceive, her complicated relationship with her sister-in-laws, her friendships and the dynamic between her and her teenage daughter.
When speaking to Jacqueline Laurita, we asked Jacqueline her thoughts on her sister-in-law Caroline Manzo and friend Dolores Catania decision to write a letter in support of Dina’s ex-husband Tommy Manzo who at the time was awaiting trial for hiring a hitman with mob ties attack his ex-wife Dina’s husband current Dave Cantin. Tommy Manzo was later found guilty over assault of attacking Dina Cantin’s husband Dave.
North Jersey had reported,
“The Franklin Lakes resident and owner of The Brownstone banquet hall in Paterson had been on trial for the past two and a half weeks for directing an alleged mafia member to assault the then boyfriend of his former wife, “Real Housewives of New Jersey” star, Dina Cantin.
The suspected mob member, John Perna, was given a free wedding reception at The Brownstone in 2015. Perna pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 30 months in prison. He was released in August 2023, according to federal records.”
Jacqueline Laurita pointed out she is happy that the truth finally came out, and justice would be served and said the whole thing was so “disturbing and scary,” adding, “as far as Caroline and Dolores go, I mean, I have no idea what those letters said or if they even existed. I’m so out of the loop with that. But I did hear from the grapevine that they were character witnesses for Tommy. I know at the time, Caroline and Dolores were close with Tommy and not so much Dina. And they hadn’t been in contact, with Dina in a really long time. And Tommy is Caroline’s husband’s brother. So I could imagine that it put her in an awkward position. And I don’t think either one of them truly believe that Tommy would be capable of this. I think they thought it came from someone else. Um, maybe her ex is family. I mean, her Dina’s husband’s family.”
Jacqueline added that she had not spoken to Dolores or Caroline about it but said she was sure Tommy “Tommy maybe asked them, which he also put them in an uncomfortable situation.” Jacqueline Laurita did say that she would have opted to stay out of it if she were Caroline.
When news broke out that Caroline had written a character letter in support of Tommy Manzo, Caroline’s son Albie Manzo came to her defense saying, “This is why I respect my mother so much. She made a choice that she knew going in was going to be extraordinarily unpopular — that could’ve been easily twisted into something that it isn’t — but she made it anyway because she felt it was the right thing to do,” Albie said on the podcast.
“Put yourself in my mother’s shoes,” Albie asked. “Knowing full well this is going to happen, do you know how much you got to believe in what you’re doing, knowing this is going to be the blowback? That’s why I admire my mother and the courage she had, doing what she did.” Albie explained, “My mother wrote a letter based on the character of my uncle as we know him. The facts as we’ve seen them, as we know him in his life. It’s about one thing: Is he a threat to society? The answer is no. We believe the answer is no.
37 comments
Make excuses all you want, Caroline is 100% wrong for supporting Tommy. Just keep your mouth shut and let others support him. If my sister did that, I would never speak to her again either.
Dina must have been crushed that her sister did this. At the very least, Caroline should have been quiet and stayed out of it. What a horrible thing to do.
My horrible sister became best friends with the girl that my other sister’s boyfriend cheated on her with. She even made her the Goddaughter of her child. Some people are just evil.
Jacqueline Laurita Go Sit down somewhere. Your 15 mins of fame were up a long time ago.
Surely there was someone else, a close friend or another family member that could have written a character letter. I just know that was some soul damaging behavior between sisters and he still went to jail. Caroline is "thick as thieves" with her in-laws.
They hold all the money. She's not loyal, but she's not dumb either.
Families do that, especially if their loved one has never been a criminal before.
Families support their loved ones that were tied up and beaten. And believe me, he was not innocent before this.
All I know about is this incident. What more do you know?
The Brownstone may do well, but not that well. That is all I’m going to say.
If you have proof of what you are implying – put it out there.
He’s Italian and from Jersey. As an Italian from Brooklyn, that is all I need to know. Why do you care? Are you his lawyer?
So that’s your proof?
Answer my question and I will answer yours. Side note: you sound like a fool trolling a complete stranger.
Right back atcha, on all counts.
I’ll answer your questions. No, I am not his lawyer and I care because I hate your slurring of Italians. Now throw done some proof or stfu.
I’m italian dummy. And make me.
So am I – and I don’t insult YOU like you just attempted to insult me.
It wasn’t an attempt
But it still failed.
In a world when someone violently assaults your little sister , you chose to defend the man that did it . Sickening . And Dolo ? What the actual F ? Whether you speak to dina anymore or not / that is disturbing . But then again Caro and Dolo still buddied up the Gorga ‘s after their mistreatment of Teresa .
As I have mentioned before, Caroline was caught between a rock & a hard place.
Meh, ?.
She should have stayed the f out of it., in my opinion. Yeah that’s her husband brother. But that’s her sister!
I think it was pretty f’ed up that she wrote a letter.
There is a pecking order and blood is thicker than water. Would Caroline's husband have written a character letter for her sister against his own brother? Nope.
That’s why I say , she should have stayed the f out of it.
Exactly.
I thought that until I knew what really happened to Dina and her husband . She could have chose to not defend that , and maybe comforted her sister and thanked God she was still alive
Dina must have been terrified when that happened to her.
Funny how Jacqueline is talking a lot about something she knows nothing about. She states she doesn't know what was written or if any letters were written, and yet this site makes it an article…ridiculous! Would someone please stop giving this woman the 5 mins she's so desperate for.
Exactly she knows nothing, so no story here.
My opinion. She should have never tried to answer these questions. She should have just said I know absolutely nothing about this, and I can’t speak on it .
Agree
It came out awhile ago as in “ reported” that those two have written character statements .
Writing a letter in support of the man who had my sister tied up and beaten. Wow. There is no coming back from that one.
I hear ya. Unfortunately, my previous response regarding this was deleted as was my comment in another thread here. Lol. ? Maybe this one won’t get anyone’s panties in a bunch…?
Really??? I had that happen to me once and it was flagged as spam. Given some of the really horrible comments and name calling that goes on here by some posters, I'm surprised your comment would be removed. ?
Oh, I’m not. It’s ridiculous how petty people can be regarding views outside of a certain narrative. Low IQ culture at its finest. <— I meant that as a compliment, censors. I love the stupid! ?? Stupid people make the rest of us look smarter ?! This comment is SO getting censored. Lol ?