Operations

Grimaldi's Pizzeria owner, manager charged with failing to pay employees

March 26, 2024

The owner of storied New York-based Grimaldi's Pizzeria, Anthony Piscina, and Frank Santora, the manager of the Flatiron location, have been charged with failure to pay wages and scheming to defraud employees, according to an NBC New York report.

District Attorney Alvin Bragg said last week the two took portions of wages from at least seven employees. When employees tried to collect their wages, Santora and Piscina strung them along, agreeing to pay at meetings but never showing up, giving them checks that bounced or simply failed to pay them at all, court documents say. Other employees were paid below the minimum wage of $15 per hour.

"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 told the news outlet. "In text messages to the defendants, the victims made it devastatingly clear how desperately they needed these funds."

Bragg believes there are other victims as well.

Grimaldi's Pizzeria is not affiliated with the Scottsdale, Arizona-based Coal Brick Oven Pizzeria Inc., a separate and distinct licensee that owns and operates 44 Grimaldi's Pizzeria locations across the country, including the iconic Brooklyn Bridge location. Coal Brick Oven Pizzeria Inc. does not own or operate the Manhattan restaurant and is not affiliated with it, Anthony Piscina or Frank Santora.