The Lavish Lifestyle of the Manco & Manco Owners, Revealed in Court Docs

One of the dangers of asking a judge to seal a document in a court case is that then everyone will know that you wanted it sealed, thereby increasing the interest in a financial document that might otherwise seem wonky and dull. This is the problem that the owners of Jersey Shore mainstay Manco & Manco Pizza recently encountered in federal court.

It has been just over a year since Manco & Manco Pizza owners Charles and Mary Bangle were arrested, charged by the United States Attorney in New Jersey with orchestrating a scheme to bilk the IRS out of nearly $1 million. There were some 30 counts of tax evasion and other charges against them.

The Bangles pleaded not guilty and were quickly released from prison, with the couple surrendering their passports and Charles Bangle giving up twelve handguns, two shotguns and two rifles. The case has slowly been winding its way through the federal court system, and it was continued earlier this year after being designated as a “complex” case. And there was nary a peep from anyone about it.

But then in April, the Bangles’ attorneys filed a joint motion to suppress statements allegedly made to the IRS, another to produce grand jury transcripts, and, finally, one to dismiss the case entirely. As the judge was mulling over that decision, a request was also made by the Bangles to seal the joint motions and all of the documents associated with them, a request that the judge has yet to rule upon.

There are a lot of dull and wonky documents in there, totaling hundreds of pages in all, but there are some interesting tidbits that illustrate how the people behind Manco & Manco live — or lived, rather. These are all figures taken from a government document that is part of the filing, and they reflect what the Bangles spent their allegedly hidden income on, according to the feds:

• $40,000 for country club fees
• $9,000 for custom clothing in Chicago and Philadelphia
• $76,000 for tuition and tutoring for a daughter
• $70,000 on cars
• and a whopping $770,000 in credit card charges, which included, among other things, luxury watches and jewelry, fees for resorts spas, and thousands in frequent wine deliveries from California. The credit card charges also included trips to Paris, Las Vegas and Hawaii.

Must be nice. Until it isn’t.

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