MANHATTAN, N.Y. (PIX11) – The owner and manager of well-known New York City pizza shop Grimaldi’s stole wages from at least seven workers, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced Thursday.
Owner Anthony Piscina, 63, and manager Frank Santora, 71, now face charges for allegedly stealing at least $20,000 in wages from workers at Grimaldi’s Sixth Avenue location in Manhattan, authorities said.
The owner and manager were paying workers well under minimum wage - one busboy was promised just $10 per hour and was never even paid, Bragg said. They would give employees paychecks that bounced, pay small sums over apps and make appointments to settle wages but never show up, Bragg said.
Both men were charged with scheming to defraud and failing to pay wages in accordance with labor law, according to Bragg.
Bragg announced the charges Thursday standing in front of text messages sent from Grimaldi's workers pleading for their payment.
"I sure need money to pay my rent please," one text read.
Photos show texts sent from employees at Grimaldi's asking for their pay, according to District Attorney Alvin Bragg. (PIX11 News) "[These are] wages that they were entitled to for doing honest days' work," Bragg said. “In text messages to the defendants, the victims made it devastatingly clear how desperately they needed these funds."
Prosecutors don't think the "scheme" stops at these seven workers. Bragg on Thursday solicited any workers who believe they were cheated at Grimaldi's to contact the unit at 646-712-0298.
A worker in 2014 accused Grimaldi’s of cheating them out of over $5,400 in wages, according to a wage theft monitor provided by Documented.
A Grimaldi’s pizzeria in Brooklyn tied to a slew of Grimaldi’s locations across the country has also been accused of wage theft totaling $59,463 from seven workers, according to the wage theft monitor.
The Manhattan location has also bumped against city authorities for outstanding tax bills ranging from $14,445 to $35,660 at a time, New York Eater reported. The debt briefly shuttered the Sixth Avenue shop in 2018 owing over $117,000, Eater reported.
A study by Documented and ProPublica found that from 2017 to 2021, over $203 million in wages had been stolen from about 127,000 New York workers.
This is a developing story. Refresh this page for updates.
Emily Rahhal is a digital reporter from Los Angeles who has covered local news for years. She has been with PIX11 since 2024. See more of her work here and follow her on Twitter.
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