That’s a lot of dough.
The owner and manager of Grimaldi’s pizzeria in Manhattan allegedly pocketed $20,000 in wages owed to seven workers — then brazenly bragged about getting away with it when confronted by one of the employees, prosecutors said Thursday.
Frank Santora, 71, the proprietor or the famous pizza shop’s Flatiron location, and manager Anthony Piscina, 63, allegedly carried out the racket between August 2017 and August 2023, stiffing pizza makers, busboys and salad preppers, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said at a press conference.
The pie-making pair allegedly underpaid employees, lied about payments, sent bounced paychecks, convinced them to work through partial payments via apps, set “appointments” to pay and never showed up and failed “to pay wages altogether,” according to Bragg.
Prosecutors said employees sent several text messages to the bosses asking for payment. One of the distraught workers pleaded for their pay after a death in their family.
“Good morning, what happened to the payment? Please I have an emergency, my grandmother died. I need my money please,” the employee begged Piscina.
When one worker tried to get a piece of the pie and threatened them with legal action, the brick oven bosses allegedly replied: “I’ve got three complaints on me. The state is not gonna do a thing.”
Another worker was told he was hired for $10 an hour — less than Empire State’s minimum wage. He was then scammed out of $8,000 in wages, Bragg said.
The scheme came to light after workers made several complaints against the pizzeria to Bragg’s office.
Piscina and Santora were charged in Manhattan Supreme Court and indicted on scheme to defraud and failure to pay wages in accordance with the labor law. They pleaded not guilty.
“Again and again, we see companies taking advantage of our most vulnerable populations, including low income and undocumented workers and abusing power balances to align their pockets” Bragg said.
Piscina and Santora’s lawyer, Gerard Marrone, said the charges against his clients “took them by surprise.”
“The indictment alleges schemes of defraud and not paying wages, but goes back from August of 2017 and my clients only owned Grimaldi’s from 2019…I think there are some discrepancies here,” said Marrone.
“If they in fact owe employees money, they’ll pay them back. It’s not a big deal. I mean, these owners are good guys. They take care of their employees,” the attorney said.
