Meet the Cuomos: ‘Machiavellian bare-knuckle brawling back-stabbers’

This week, the Cuomo family took another hit.

In a blockbuster story published Monday, the New York Times reported that Madeline Cuomo, the fourth of Mario and Matilda Cuomo’s five children, was behind coordinated online attacks lobbed at her brother Andrew’s accusers, smearing them as “bimbos.”

The damning report reviewed over 4,000 emails, texts and voice memos between Madeline and leaders of pro-Cuomo group We Decide New York, Inc., which was mostly made up of older women who stood fervently behind the former governor, who resigned in disgrace in August 2021 after a rash of women accused him of sexual harassment.

To those who know the Cuomos, it was all in character. “They’re really bare-knuckled brawlers from Queens,” a source told The Post.

Madeline, 58, denied her big brother was involved in the unsavory operation to smear his accusers, but in many messages to the group, she was explicit about his knowledge and approval.

“I just hung up w A again and he wants you both to know how much he appreciates ALL your hard work,” Madeline, an attorney, wrote last September.

Days later, she added, “He’s seeing everything.” In another message she said: “Good Morning Just spoke and he thinks a distraction could be helpful today.”

But when she was exposed by The Times, she changed her tune, and said: “I acted on my own with the women of WDNY without his involvement in any way.”

Her brother, through a spokesman, denied knowing about his sister’s efforts. The spokesman said he “does not personally have nor does he follow social media” and that he was”not directly or indirectly involved in these online efforts.”

The smear campaign and the shifting stories were little surprise to those who know the Cuomos best.

“Andrew is the ultimate puppet master — he’s honestly Machiavellian and his siblings and everyone in his orbit are his puppets,” a different source told The Post. (The ex-governor’s spokesman told The Post: “That’s a tabloid-y trope that smacks of an anti-Italian stereotype — you can quote me rolling my eyes at that.”)

The revelation of the smear campaign was not only explosive, but a rare public window into the no-holds-barred inner workings of the political dynasty—and the ethical lines the siblings were willing to cross to keep their family legacy intact and to try to regain a hold on the switches of power.

Madeline’s maneuvering mirrored efforts of Chris, the youngest sibling, who was fired from his job at CNN in December, 2021 after it was revealed that he was heavily involved with his brother’s defense when the harassment scandal threatened Andrew’s political fortunes.

“When one of them is in trouble, they all band together, but otherwise they’re always stabbing each other in the back,” said a family insider.

“They were taught from an early age to be competitive, they were pitted against each other. It’s like that age old thing, no-one can hurt your family but you.”

Madeline, sources said, was even more concerned with the family’s legacy than her two sisters and two brothers. 

“The family legacy is a bigger deal to [Madeline]. There’s a desire to be there for Andrew Cuomo and Chris that sometimes is not appropriate or tempered,” a source, who requested anonymity told The Post.

Quite how vicious the campaign Madeline orchestrated was clear in the tweets she egged on.

In one tweet from September 2022, We Decided member Anna Vavare targeted Charlotte Bennett, an accuser who had sued Cuomo a day earlier.

“Your life will be dissected like a frog in a HS science class,” it read, accompanied by a picture of Bennett dancing in lingerie. Madeline even instructed the women to cheer on her younger brother, former CNN personality Chris Cuomo; both the Cuomo brothers had been vocal supporters of the MeToo movement.

Many insiders who spoke to The Post said their “sharp elbows,” ambition and complicated blood bond was forged a generation earlier, by the now 91-year-old matriarch, Matilda, nee Raffa, and their late father, former Gov. Mario Cuomo, whose political ascension framed the family dynamic.

One called both parents “strict and competitive.”

Mario was raised in South Jamaica, Queens, where his parents Andrea Cuomo and Immacolata nee Giordano, who came from the Salerno province of Italy, ran a grocery store. A gifted athlete, Mario first found his ticket out on the baseball diamond.

He played at St. John’s University in Queens and signed a minor league contract. But his career was cut short by an injury and he went back to St. John’s and married Matilda, who then supported the family as a teacher while he earned his law degree.

As the skilled orator and died-in-the-wool progressive rose to the governor’s mansion, their five children were also high achievers.

Margaret, 68, is a radiologist; Andrew, 65 followed into the family business; documentary producer Maria, 61, married fashion designer Kenneth Cole in 1987; Madeline became a divorce attorney; and Chris, 53, became a boldface name in broadcasting. After his disgrace at CNN he is now an anchor on NewsNation.

“It all goes back to growing up in that household. Mario was a beloved and a well-liked governor, but I think his kids had daddy issues. Andrew always seemed to be competing with his father even after he was gone,” added the source.

Their matriarch, Matilda, was known as a champion of women’s rights and children’s advocate. She is also known to be as exacting as her politician son.

“She can be as tough as Andrew,” said a source. “But say what you want, she is a great Italian cook.”

Matilda, a political insider said, is the “top of the heap in terms of who the siblings care about the most.”

And she could be just as competitive—even when it came to the kitchen.

During Andrew’s 14-year relationship with Food Network star Sandra Lee, who was known for her “semi homemade” recipes, Matilda had withering words for Lee’s lasagna recipe.

Instead of traditional ingredients, Lee’s shortcut version used cottage cheese and tomato soup.

“You know, maybe she puts cottage cheese because he doesn’t want to put on weight, because he’s watching his diet, but that’s not the way you make a lasagna,” the former First Lady said during her son’s run for governor in 2010.

Another insider said the food fight wasn’t just a good-natured jab but revealed deeper issues between the blonde television star and the Cuomo women.

“Sandra Lee never got along with the mom and the sisters, and that was a difficult dynamic,” said the source.

Even events like women’s lunches thrown for Andrew by his sisters, mother and Lee proved tricky. 

“There was always drama about what order the names were listed,” said the source.

For their part, a source familiar with the family dynamics told The Post: “It wasn’t just family that didn’t get along with Sandra — she had a very difficult personality all around.”

As for Andrew’s dynamic with Chris, it was “exactly how it played out on those covid interviews. He likes picking on his younger brother,” said the third source.

Indeed, the shadow of Mario, who passed away on New Years Day in 2015 only an hour after his son was sworn into his second term, always loomed large.

When Andrew was governor, the hallway outside of his executive office in Manhattan was a shrine to their bruising father-son competition, which played out on basketball court.

Framed photographs of their head to head hardwood battles lined the wall; in the state’s Hall of Governors in Albany, Andrew had a towering portrait of his father installed.

He named the new Tappan Zee Bridge for his father, and drove across it with his mother in a car owned by Franklin D. Roosevelt, a member of another political dynasty.

And in a layup for amateur psychologists, Andrew, in his book, “American Crisis” even wrote about literally filling his father’s shoes.

“Since he died, when I have a special or difficult day, I wear my father’s shoes: literally!” he wrote.

“It sounds ridiculous, I know. My father wasn’t a material person and we didn’t have many objects to remember him by after his death, but he loved shoes and I wear the same size as he did. My mother gave me my pick.”

Many insiders agreed that Andrew’s lack of true friends or alliances prevented him from weathering the political scandal that ultimately led to his demise.

“How many friends, how many relationships can they go through? When does it stop?” sniffed the family insider.

His spokesman Rich Azzopardi disputed that Cuomo lacked support, and said: “There are many New Yorkers who support Governor Cuomo, believe he was railroaded, that the justice system was fundamentally corrupted, and that the credibility of the witnesses was ignored.

“He does appreciate his supporters and does believe when the facts are fully revealed, the injustice will be undeniable.”

But there is skepticism about the denial of involvement in his sister’s campaign, particularly given Andrew’s position that the accusers are not credible. One source believes Andrew knew, given his modus operandi and despite his denials.

“Was he totally unaware of what these women were doing on his behalf? Probably not. Knowing the control freak he was, he probably would have known about it,” said the third source. 

“That family micromanages stuff right into the ground.”

Additional reporting by Carl Campanile