Christopher Emmanuel "Manny" Balestrero (1909–1998) was a double bass player who worked as a musician at the famous Stork Club, a New York City nightclub. On January 14, 1953, he was arrested in a case of mistaken identity outside his Jackson Heights home and charged with two armed robberies of a nearby insurance office. Eventually exonerated, Balestrero later sold his story, which became the basis for Alfred Hitchcock’s film The Wrong Man (1956).

Balestrero was born on September 29, 1909, in Manhattan. He was the son of Italian immigrant parents Peter and Rosa (Cereghino) Balestrero and the first of their two children. Known as “Manny” to his friends and family, he began studying violin by the age of five, later switching to double bass. A working musician, he played for many New York City clubs and radio programs of the era. He married Rose Giolito, and together the couple raised two sons, Gregory and Robert.

Following his arrest in 1953, Balestrero struggled to prove his innocence. A key point of suspicion against him was the argument that he needed money for his wife's $325 dental work. He went to his local insurance office, located at what was then the Victor Moore Arcade (now the 74th Street/Roosevelt Avenue subway stop in Jackson Heights), to borrow against his policy. He was later wrongly identified as the armed robber who had held up the office twice before.

Balestrero was defended in court by then State Senator Frank D. O’Connor, who went on to serve as president of the City Council and then on the State Supreme Court. During the trial, a juror made a remark that implied a presumption of Balestrero’s guilt in open court, resulting in a mistrial. Shortly afterward and before Balestrero's second trial began, the real thief, Charles J. Daniell, was caught in the process of robbing a delicatessen in Astoria. Daniell confessed to more than 40 robberies, including the two for which Balestrero was accused.

As a result of the ordeal, Balestrero’s wife Rose experienced a nervous breakdown which led to her spending time in a sanatorium. Following her release in 1955, Balestrero moved his family to Florida. He sued the city for false arrest, asking for $500,000 but accepting a settlement of $7,000. He sold the film rights to his story for $22,000, and the money from the film went to repaying loans for Rose's care. His wife died in 1982, and Balestrero eventually moved to a nursing home in North Carolina where he died on February 27, 1998.

The family’s ordeal was featured in a Life magazine story, where it caught the attention of Hitchcock and became the main source material for the film. Shot in many of the actual locations where the events occurred in and around Jackson Heights and Manhattan, Hitchcock’s film starred Henry Fonda and Vera Miles as Manny and Rose Balestrero.

On September 27, 2014, a ceremony was held to co-name the corner of 73rd Street and 41st Avenue, about a half block from the former Balestero family home, as Manny “The Wrong Man” Balestrero Way