In street fight between beloved pizza man and mob associate, something doesn't sit right with locals
The police say that pizza maestro Mark Iacono also had a knife when he was repeatedly stabbed on busy Smith St. on Friday afternoon.
Longtime residents of Carroll Gardens are universally certain that in the unlikely event the 43-year-old Iacono really was armed, it could have only been for self-defense.
"I never heard of him getting in a fight, even when we were in school," said Faried Assad, who went to Public School 58 with him. "He's very quiet, a loving person, a loving father. A really nice guy."
Nobody who has met Benny Geritano could be much surprised that he allegedly stabbed Iacono and nearly took his life. The wounds that Geritano suffered to his hands were widely assumed to be the result of the bloody knife slipping in his grip.
Now the police are saying that at least some of those wounds were inflicted by Iacono.
For Iacono to get arrested is truly shocking, for this is somebody who proved that the truly big guy in the neighborhood is not the made man but the making man.
And, while making his spectacularly authentic pizzas, Iacono has been helping to keep Brooklyn still Brooklyn and New York still New York in an age of fast food and chain stores and gentrification.
After the proprietor of Louie's candy store at 575 Henry St. died several years ago, another part of Carroll Gardens seemed in danger of becoming an outpost of the generic gentry.
A savior then appeared in the person of a neighborhood guy who had loved the candy store since he was a kid. Mark Iacono persuaded Louie's son to let him open a pizzeria there. Iacono called it Lucali, in honor of Louie and his daughter, Cali.
Prior to then, Iacono had been a master marble mason. He now took to making pizza, drawing on tradition and craft with dough and sauce and cheese as he had with stone.
The result was deemed the best pizza in New York. Celebrities began to flock there, along with every kind of person in the neighborhood.
"Beyoncé is just as pretty in person as she is on television," says 75-year-old Paul DeFonces, who has lived across the street for 50 years and eats with his son at Lucali every Friday and Saturday.
In his success, Iacono did not automatically shun childhood friends who had strayed onto another course in life. He hired 41-year-old organized crime associate Dominick (Black Dom) Dionisio as a prep cook, turning an almost-made man into a making man.
"Regardless of his past, he's like my family," Iacono said.
Other mob associates from the neighborhood include the presently incarcerated 31-year-old Anthony Mascuzzio Jr., reputed to be a bank burglar, all-purpose thief and loanshark. He is said to use his nutsy half brother, Geritano, as a human pit bull.
Whether the dispute between Geritano and Iacono was personal or just business is not clear. Police wonder if Geritano was trying to collect on a loan. Neighborhood people wonder if Geritano was jealous of the making man who made it so big.
One report that rings true to the people of the neighborhood is that Iacono was trying to make peace and calm Geritano down before bloodshed erupted.
Meanwhile, folks of all ages and backgrounds, from Beyoncé to DeFonces, from Jay-Z to Black Dom, hope Iacono will soon be able to take down the sign in the window at 575 Henry St.:
"Lucali will be Closed Today. Sorry for the inconvenience.
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/04/17/2011-04-17_its_a_made_man_vs_a_making_man.html#ixzz1JnijDjlY
Longtime residents of Carroll Gardens are universally certain that in the unlikely event the 43-year-old Iacono really was armed, it could have only been for self-defense.
"I never heard of him getting in a fight, even when we were in school," said Faried Assad, who went to Public School 58 with him. "He's very quiet, a loving person, a loving father. A really nice guy."
Nobody who has met Benny Geritano could be much surprised that he allegedly stabbed Iacono and nearly took his life. The wounds that Geritano suffered to his hands were widely assumed to be the result of the bloody knife slipping in his grip.
Now the police are saying that at least some of those wounds were inflicted by Iacono.
For Iacono to get arrested is truly shocking, for this is somebody who proved that the truly big guy in the neighborhood is not the made man but the making man.
And, while making his spectacularly authentic pizzas, Iacono has been helping to keep Brooklyn still Brooklyn and New York still New York in an age of fast food and chain stores and gentrification.
After the proprietor of Louie's candy store at 575 Henry St. died several years ago, another part of Carroll Gardens seemed in danger of becoming an outpost of the generic gentry.
A savior then appeared in the person of a neighborhood guy who had loved the candy store since he was a kid. Mark Iacono persuaded Louie's son to let him open a pizzeria there. Iacono called it Lucali, in honor of Louie and his daughter, Cali.
Prior to then, Iacono had been a master marble mason. He now took to making pizza, drawing on tradition and craft with dough and sauce and cheese as he had with stone.
The result was deemed the best pizza in New York. Celebrities began to flock there, along with every kind of person in the neighborhood.
"Beyoncé is just as pretty in person as she is on television," says 75-year-old Paul DeFonces, who has lived across the street for 50 years and eats with his son at Lucali every Friday and Saturday.
In his success, Iacono did not automatically shun childhood friends who had strayed onto another course in life. He hired 41-year-old organized crime associate Dominick (Black Dom) Dionisio as a prep cook, turning an almost-made man into a making man.
"Regardless of his past, he's like my family," Iacono said.
Other mob associates from the neighborhood include the presently incarcerated 31-year-old Anthony Mascuzzio Jr., reputed to be a bank burglar, all-purpose thief and loanshark. He is said to use his nutsy half brother, Geritano, as a human pit bull.
Whether the dispute between Geritano and Iacono was personal or just business is not clear. Police wonder if Geritano was trying to collect on a loan. Neighborhood people wonder if Geritano was jealous of the making man who made it so big.
One report that rings true to the people of the neighborhood is that Iacono was trying to make peace and calm Geritano down before bloodshed erupted.
Meanwhile, folks of all ages and backgrounds, from Beyoncé to DeFonces, from Jay-Z to Black Dom, hope Iacono will soon be able to take down the sign in the window at 575 Henry St.:
"Lucali will be Closed Today. Sorry for the inconvenience.
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/04/17/2011-04-17_its_a_made_man_vs_a_making_man.html#ixzz1JnijDjlY
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