Mobster trades assault for a wedding discount: That’s SO Jersey (Opinion)

An unfolding real-life Jersey drama comes to an end.

Reputed Lucchese crime family member John Perna was sentenced a couple of days ago with 2 1/2 years in federal prison for carrying out an assault on former "Real Housewives of New Jersey" star Dina Manzo’s then boyfriend back in 2015.

The reality franchise has become so boring that what happens off the screen is much more interesting than what happens on.

Case in point: Teresa Giudice vacations with her new boyfriend. The newspapers cover it and people eat it up. Her sister-in-law, Melissa Gorga, buys a new waterfront home in New Jersey. We gotta see the inside! That’s the stuff we’re really interested in because that’s ACTUALLY the reality.

Everyone knows that reality shows are so far from reality. They spice them up with scripted nonsense all the time. I mean, after all, how many times can you watch somebody flip a table over? And how many catfights between housewives with augmented cheeks, butts and boobs can we possibly bear?

For the uninitiated, John Perna is a reputed mobster with ties to the Lucchese crime family who, with a member of his crew, assaulted Dina Manzo’s then-boyfriend and now husband, Dave Cantin.

But that’s not the fun part of the story. The fun part is that shortly after, Perna held a wedding reception for 330 guests at Dina’s ex, Thomas Manzo's Brownstone Restaurant in Paterson, for what was said to have been a discounted price.

So, the story goes, Manzo gave Perna a deal for his wedding venue in exchange for assaulting his ex’s new beau. Forget the "Real Housewives of New Jersey." THAT’s Jersey reality at its finest.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Judi Franco. Any opinions expressed are Judi Franco’s own.