‘REAL Housewives of New Jersey” lightning rod Danielle Staub has a much more sordid past than she’s copped to on Bravo’s hit reality show.
Staub, 46, has only admitted to an arrest and to changing her name — after she was exposed in “Cop Without a Badge,” a 1995 book about her ex-husband that featured prominently on the show.
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But according to explosive federal court records posted yesterday on thesmokinggun.com, she was far more deeply involved in a kidnapping plot, a $24,000 drug deal gone bad and an “escort service” than she admitted to on the show.
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Danielle has always said her criminal record — which dates back to 1986 — were the mistakes of youth.
But the details of the charges against her outlined on official papers are substantial.
Staub, then known as Beverly Ann Merrill — but using the alias Angela Minelli — was arrested along with Daniel Aguilar, whom she met while working for an escort service, according to the reports.
Staub was a courier for Aguilar, who distributed narcotics for a Colombian drug family, the papers say, including delivering a kilo of coke to a young customer when she was ripped off by masked gunmen.
Her boyfriend, out $24,000 for the kilo, blamed the customer for the loss and, after kidnapping the kid, tried to extort the money from the boy’s father.
Danielle was eventually sentenced to five years’ probation (Aguilar got 15 years in the slammer) and was ordered into a drug treatment program, according to papers filed in US District Court in Miami.
Meanwhile, the bad blood between Danielle and the four other “Housewives” — Dina Manzo, Caroline Manzo, Teresa Giudice and Jacqueline Laurita — has gotten worse since the show ended last week.
According to Us Weekly:
* New mom Jacqueline, who was Danielle’s only ally on the show, is now no longer talking to Staub.
“I’ve learned my family was right about her after all,” Jacqueline told US, though she won’t say what she learned.
“She has not seen the baby, nor will I ever allow her to,” she says.
* Dina and Caroline’s dislike for Danielle pre-dates the show. Why? Because Danielle refused to chip in her portion — said to be $750 — to pay a lawyer, hired by Caroline, to negotiate the women’s “Housewives” contract.
Danielle says she refused to pay because she negotiated her own contract for the show.
“She was like, ‘You are not taking money from my children, you are not taking food out of my children’s mouths,’ ” said Dina.
* Danielle confirms a sex tape of her and ex-boyfriend Steve Zalewski exists. “I’ve been told by my attorney not to discuss that,” she says — right before discussing it. “But I can tell you one thing: It is unauthorized, and it was taken with his cellphone.”
* Dina is having her implants removed, after talking about how much her husband loved the “buhbies” on the show.