OK, OK. Everybody just cool out. Put the pieces down, sit at the table, and
let's break bread together. For the record: The Manzo family from Real
Housewives of New Jersey does not have ties to organized crime.

Two weeks ago, we pondered a possible connection between Albert "Tiny" Manzo—the
late father-in-law of show stars Dina and Caroline—and an old charge in the
public records, against one Albert Manzo, for "interference with commerce by
threat or violence." The Manzo family's lawyer later contacted us and said that
we got the wrong Albert Manzo. For our part, we've gone back and emended our
original Manzo post to reflect that that Albert Manzo is not the one on the
show.

Caroline Manzo, the elder stateswoman of the show and the imperial wife of
Albert, Jr. who owns the Brownstone restaurant and event hall in Paterson, did
the lawyer one better and spoke to The Daily Beast recently, telling them that
any of these mafia allegations are dead wrong. That bit about Albert Manzo Sr.
being found bound, naked, and shot four times in the trunk of Lincoln
Continental? Tragic, for sure, but not mob-related:

In August of 1984 my husband and his family were victims of a horrific crime
[Tiny's murder]. To this day, 26 years later, the family does not know the whys
or the hows of that event…the real crime here is the assumptions that are made
against this family.

In the same Beast article, though, a Jersey prosecutor begs to differ. He says
of Tiny:

He was well-known in the Paterson area, and his association with organized crime
was well-known. As far as his family goes, his sons and daughters, there's no
allegations about them that we know of. But the father certainly was a player in
the scene with organized crime.

Basically, like all things (but especially those pertaining to that thing of
theirs), the truth seems murky and muddled. And, frankly, forget the Manzos. The
mob ties we really want to see explored on the show are those of Teresa, the
chateau-building young mama who pays for everything in cash and whose husband is
barely present. What's going on there, huh?

Not that we're looking for trouble or anything.