The owner and regional manager of a publicly acclaimed pizzeria in New York City have been accused of rolling out some extra dough for themselves at the expense of their employee’s wages being diminished.
Anthony Piscina, the owner and manager of Grimaldi’s Pizzeria, along with Frank Santora, the manager of the Flatiron location on Sixth Avenue between 20th and 21st street, were recently charged with failure to pay wages and scheming to defraud, as reported by District Attorney Alvin Bragg on Tuesday.
According to DA Bragg, Piscina, 63, and Santora, 71, allegedly stole more than $20,000 in salaries from workers.
“Again and again, we allege, the owner and manager of Grimaldi’s lied to their workers, underpaid them, and exploited them, ultimately taking more than $20,000 of their hard-earned wages,” Bragg stated. “In text messages to the defendants, the victims made it devastatingly clear how desperately they needed these funds.”
From Aug. 2017 to Aug. 2023, the owner and manager were taking significant portions of their employee’s pay, reportedly stealing wages from at least seven pizza makers, salad preppers, busboys, and dishwashers.
These workers were strung along by Piscina and Santora, who would send them partial payments through money transferring apps, and make falsified appointments to settle the owed wages but never show up to the meetings, according to court documents.
Eventually, the DA’s office began investigating after their Worker Protection Unit received various complaints of wage theft regarding Grimaldi’s.
Throughout the duration of the scheme, Piscina and Santora would reportedly give workers paychecks that later bounced, or failed to pay them wages completely, as cited by court records.
For weeks, the employees repeatedly sent texts to both Piscina and Santora requesting their pay, to which the owner and manager would respond by agreeing to finally pay them. However, they never actually fulfilled this promise, according to prosecutors.
Some employees were reportedly paid far below New York’s minimum wage requirement, as one busboy was promised he would get paid $10 an hour (the minimum is $15), and then never received any money from Grimaldi’s at all.
Piscina has denied all allegations so far, claiming that the accusation “is a complete lie, oh my God.”
Piscina and Santora were released on their own recognizance, and are scheduled to return to court in May. If convicted, they could face up to a year in prison.
DA Bragg said he believes there may be more workers whose wages were stolen, and urges them to call or message the office’s Worker Protection Unit at (646) 712-0298.
