\n<\/p>\n
\u201cTo talk to him, the nicest guy in the world,\u201d Chuck Batch,<\/strong> a fire inspector who clashed with Daibes over sprinkler systems in his buildings, told me. \u201cHe takes care of people. But what people don\u2019t get is that you\u2019re also indebted to him.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey make it sound like Daibes bailed out this crummy little factory town,\u201d Batch added. \u201cNo, he took advantage of these properties, the Gold Coast, and they allowed him to do it. I guess these other developers really knew that he basically ran the town.\u201d<\/p>\n The Posche by Kim D boutique is about a half-hour drive from Edgewater. Its fashion shows have served as the backdrop for some of the more explosive moments of Bravo\u2019s Real Housewives of New Jersey,<\/em> which, since its 2009 launch, has had its own role in reinforcing some of the ready-made ideas of its home state. In one memorable 2017 scene, cast member Teresa Giudice<\/strong> seemingly ad-libbed an acronym for Posche for the benefit of its owner, Kim DePaola<\/strong>\u2014\u201cpiece of shit cokewhore homewrecker everyday\u201d\u2014and pushed a chair to the ground to drive home the point.<\/p>\n Nadine Arslanian came to a few of Posche\u2019s shows and began seeing more of DePaola and her friends. \u201cIt\u2019s very important what kind of car they drive, very important what bag they\u2019re carrying. They\u2019re very much into the Botox and the hair being done and the makeup,\u201d DePaola said. \u201cWe\u2019re all like that, this whole crowd, the New Jersey crowd. She seemed just maybe a little bit more.\u201d They posed together at the opening of American Cut Bar & Grill in Englewood Cliffs, a nearby town where Arslanian lives, with the British bhangra and R&B singer Jay Sean<\/strong> also in attendance. Arslanian appeared in a photo with Giudice at a Kiefer Sutherland Band show in Teaneck. When DePaola held her birthday party at The Plaza one year, Arslanian was there.<\/p>\n Still, DePaola said, \u201cWe didn\u2019t get close to her.\u201d She found Arslanian somewhat distant and enigmatic, or \u201cnot a woman\u2019s woman.\u201d (DePaola is not, she has admitted, a scrupulous gossip, having told Giudice during their fight that she claimed that Giudice\u2019s husband cheated \u201cbecause I feel like it.\u201d)<\/p>\n DePaola said she primarily knew Arslanian as the girlfriend of Doug Anton,<\/strong> a locally famous attorney who specializes in entertainment and sports law, with a focus on criminal defense and trial work. \u201cSome crazy trials that people think there\u2019s no way anybody\u2019s gonna win this,\u201d as he described them in the fall, \u201cand somehow I pull it out.\u201d<\/p>\n Karen Gravano,<\/strong> an Anton client who is the daughter of former Gambino crime family underboss Sammy \u201cThe Bull\u201d Gravano<\/strong> and who was a cast member on VH1\u2019s Mob Wives,<\/em> remembered Arslanian similarly. \u201cSeemed like a nice lady,\u201d Gravano said. \u201cDidn\u2019t know much about her, other than that she was dating Doug.\u201d<\/p>\n Anton represented R. Kelly<\/strong> in the lead-up to the singer\u2019s federal sex trafficking trial in Brooklyn and said he has worked with Kid Rock<\/strong> since law school, helping the singer with a synchronization license, contracts, a divorce. He recently began working with Lil Mav,<\/strong> a Bronx hip-hop producer, and outlined their plans to release music with Lil Mabu,<\/strong> the Upper East Side rapper who graduated from the oldest private school in the country.<\/p>\n \u201cClients come in for one thing,\u201d Anton said as finished his rapid-fire rundown, \u201cand at least do another thing.\u201d<\/p>\n Anton and Arslanian met at Grissini, an Italian restaurant in Englewood Cliffs. In DePaola\u2019s telling, Arslanian walked up to Anton and gave him her number even though she was seeing someone else at the time. Anton had a different recollection. A mutual friend pointed out that she was Armenian and he was half Armenian: \u201cMaybe you could talk.\u201d<\/p>\n They began dating in 2011, and Anton said he performed some legal work for her, including getting her a restraining order against an ex-boyfriend. They found other points of connection. \u201cShe loves Louis Vuitton bags, and she likes wearing it and\u2014\u2018Look at me, everybody,\u2019\u201d Anton said. \u201cBut who doesn\u2019t like that? You know, when I would get my Zegna suit on, I\u2019m like, Yeah, bitches, I look good in this Zegna suit.\u201d<\/p>\n As Anton introduced Arslanian to his network of friends and clients, she also formed her own relationships. DePaola began receiving reports from a friend who was on a similar social schedule as Arslanian and saw her spending days at Daibes\u2019s Le Jardin.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of my friends used to bounce around, a wise guy,\u201d DePaola explained. \u201cHe bounced around a lot by himself. You know men like that, they\u2019re always in this place, that restaurant.\u201d<\/p>\n