Lexi Ioannou reacted to Dolores Catania‘s character letter for her stepfather, Tommy Manzo, during an interview with Gia Giudice on Monday.
Months after Tommy was found guilty of hiring an alleged mobster to attack Dina Manzo‘s now-husband, Dave Cantin, in 2015, and after he pleaded guilty to stalking and harassing the couple, the 29-year-old Real Housewives of New Jersey alum recalled how their family and friends betrayed them and abandoned them in a time of need as they protected Tommy, who was also accused of being involved in a 2017 attack against Dina and Dave.
“There were character witness letters submitted to the judge on behalf of Tommy to help kind of persuade the judge’s opinion of him. There was, like, [tons] of character letters from Mayors of New Jersey, police officers, my family members, my mom’s friends … Dolores wrote one,” Lexi revealed on the May 26 episode of Casual Chaos. “They’re not friends anymore, but they were like best friends. Me and [Dolores’ daughter] Gabby were best friends growing up.”
According to Lexi, Dolores’ letter, and the letters of other family members, including Caroline Manzo, 63, led to “layers of pain” for both herself and mom Dina, 53.
“I don’t think he was making anybody do anything. It’s what people really believed. I think a lot of people believe differently now that there’s a guilty verdict. [But] there’s still certainly a lot of people that believe in him and believe he’s innocent,” she noted.
Although Caroline aligned with Tommy years after his split from Dina, Lexi lived with her and her family, including her cousins, Albie Manzo, 39, Lauren Manzo, 37, and Chris Manzo, 36, for some time after the breakup.
“My mom and I lived with Caroline when my parents got divorced. They were basically my siblings. I’m an only child. So it was definitely a massive loss to lose those relationships in the crossfire of what happened with our moms. It was hard,” she shared. “I was living with them from ages four to seven. Lauren was there when I shaved my legs for the first time. She dropped me off at a boy’s house for the first time for my first kiss. Albie and Christopher were my brothers, my protectors, and now we’re complete strangers.”
While Lexi lost touch with her cousins for years, she contacted them after Tommy was sentenced to seven years in prison in hopes of reclaiming items she left at his home after she and her mom were “forcibly” removed from the residence.
“It was really difficult for me to extend myself and ask for help, but I was that desperate,” she explained.
After pointing out that she had been silent for 10 years before releasing her “Don’t Poke the Bear” article, in which she accused Caroline of a “staggering betrayal,” Lexi said she reached out to the Manzos for help finding connections to the house.
“I’m sure if you asked them, they did everything to their best ability, but if you ask me, it wasn’t nearly enough,” she revealed. “They disappointed me again.”
Lexi said that although they did tell her about a garage sale, they didn’t initially want to do much more.
“Lauren texted me … ‘There’s a garage sale. I heard some of your things are there.’ I was like, ‘Are you gonna go?’ And she’s like, ‘I’m gonna send some of my friends,’ And I called her. I was like, ‘No, you’re gonna go and you’re gonna now,’ because at that point the sale was almost over,” Lexi explained.
