Court Documents Show 'Real Housewives' Star Was Involved in Kidnapping Plot, Drug Deals and Prostitution

Bravo

'Real Housewives' star Danielle Staub is NO stranger to scandal.

"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

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.

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.

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.