Surprise! 'Real Housewife' of NJ a Former Criminal Coke Whore

Damn, this one sure had a lot of work done on her face. Meet Danielle Staub, formerly known as Beverly Merrill.

IF you thought the women on the "Real Housewives of New Jersey" were as hardcore as can be, you may soon be in for a bigger surprise.

In the weeks ahead, the show is apparently going to expose some blockbuster revelations about one of the cast members, Danielle Staub.

Staub has hinted on the show that she has some secrets. And now they seem to have been revealed in a out-of-print book about the life of a petty criminal and police informant.

The show's producers have not yet said what those revelations are. But the book, "Cop Without a Badge" contains some radioactive information.

It tells the story of ex-con and government informer Kevin Maher and his gal pal, Beverly Merrill -- who, in a mug shot in the book, bears a striking resemblance to Staub. According to the book, Merrill is described as a man-hungry hellion, who is busted with her boyfriend and winds up as a stripper.

Merrill becomes tangled up with Maher after her former boyfriend kidnaps a kid in a drug deal gone bad. Maher arranges a deal for Merrill, five years probation in exchange for pleading guilty to extortion, according to the book.

Merrill later marries Maher, but it doesn't last.

Afterward, according to the book, she changes her name to Danielle and takes a job as a stripper at the Satin Dolls club, the North Jersey club that subbed for The Bada Bing in "The Sopranos," A search by The Post indicated that a Beverly Merrill is connected to Staub though public records.

More here.

Danielle Staub's mugshot from 1986, when she went by the name Beverly Merrill, stripped in Jersey and was, according to the book, "a coke whore." The novel tells the story of Kevin Maher, a con man turned FBI informant who left his wife and son for Danielle/Beverly.

Bev is introduced in the book like so: "She was brunette. Long, perfectly shaped legs poked out of her leather hot pants just as provocatively as her bra-less breasts strained against her low-cut blouse."

Kevin and the bra-less wonder have "explosive sex" despite the fact that he feels Danielle/Beverly "has no morals." That, along with the fact she's not "mother material" leads Kevin to eventually leave her in the dust. And by "in the dust" I mean "on the pole" at a strip club called Shakers in Carlstadt, NJ.