"Real Housewives of New Jersey"

stars Joe and Teresa Giudice's plea deal circumvented what was expected to be a juicy trial, but

today's sentencing hearing

before U.S. federal court Judge Esther Salas turned up a number of interesting revelations of the couple's long-running legal and personal troubles:

1. When discussing Joe's criminal history, assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Romankow described an incident from 1992 in which Joe smashed a woman's head into a mailbox. (Feinstein later said Joe denies the claim.)

2. Joe's lawyer Miles Feinstein told the court that Joe appears to have a drinking problem (okay, maybe his 2010 DUI was a clue) and would benefit from a residential alcohol treatment program. (The judge recommended he get help in prison.) Feinstein also blamed Bravo for making alcohol so available to the network's personalities. "He doesn't have to drink it," Salas shot back.

3. Among the items not declared in the couple's financial disclosure report to probation officers: three ATVs, a 2006 Ford F-50 pickup, a 1997 Chevy Corvette, a backhoe and cement mixers. They listed the value of the contents of their home at $25,000, yet they have an insurance policy for $1 million on the contents. The judge estimated that they failed to declare $75,680 worth of possessions. The couple declared the value of Teresa's Milania hair care line at $0. Teresa failed to declare her designer clothes, handbags and shoes.

4. Among the reasons mentioned by the couple's attorneys for why the financial disclosure forms were filled with omissions and inconsistencies: Their accountant was really busy, they didn't think used clothing had any notable value, and Joe was really broken up by the sudden death of his father in June.

5. Feinstein described for the judge the death of Joe's father from the massive heart attack, saying Joe found his father on the ground near the chicken coop, and that Joe did everything he could, but Frank died in his arms.

6. Filomena Giudice, Joe's mother, blames herself for never having Joe, whom she bought to America when he was 1, naturalized as a U.S. citizen, Feinstein says. He also says that Joe didn't know he wasn't an American citizen until legal proceedings — but he doesn't say which proceedings.

7. Feinstein says he's witnessed Joe crying about "how he ruined everything, how he had (Teresa) sign documents, how he had destroyed" his family and their pursuit of the American dream.

8. Teresa Giudice's lawyer Henry Klingeman, in arguing for probation, talks about how fragile Teresa's financial situation is. "Real Housewives of New Jersey" has a shelf life, he said, and in a few years, she'll be living "in God knows what house" with her husband possibly deported, with four children, "no career to rely upon, no skills to rely upon, no income, no savings."

9. A report prepared by Teresa's legal team claimed that the four children would have to be split up among friends and family or possibly go into foster care if the couple were sentenced to concurrent prison terms. Salas also mentioned that it appears to be Teresa, and not her brother Joe Gorga, who shoulders the most responsibility for their ailing parents.

10. While we never heard the bulk of evidence against the couple because of the plea deal, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Romankow offered up this: The couple never disclosed the $1,250 a month in rent they received from their Lincoln Park rental home, and Teresa denied in bankruptcy proceedings that they had any rental properties. But Teresa endorsed the checks from her tenants and deposited them in her TG Fabulicious bank account. The memo line on the checks said "rent."

For a complete timeline of the Giudices' activities, click here.

Vicki Hyman may be reached at vhyman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @vickihy. Find NJ.com/Entertainment on Facebook.