L & B Spumoni Gardens Recipe Reason Behind Mob Beatdown?
We’ve heard about the pizza connection, but this is ridiculous…
According to the Daily News, a mafia-related feud was sparked in part by the delicious slices at one our favorite pizzerias, the New Zealand-renowned L & B Spumoni gardens.
The News reported this morning that alleged Colombo crime family member Francis Guerra, age 45, who stands accused of two murders, was also charged with ordering the beating of Eugene Lombardo outside of his Staten Island pizza parlor, the Square.
The reason? Apparently, Guerra thought Lombardo’s slices tasted a little too much like those at L & B’s, which is owned by Guerra’s in laws.
Lombardo’s sons had previously worked at Spumoni Gardens and according to FBI agents, this fact had not escaped Guerra’s mind.
From the News:
“That was considered disrespectful to Frank Guerra’s wife’s family,” FBI agent Scott Curtis testified in Brooklyn Federal Court.
Lombardo acknowledged to a private investigator working for Guerra that the owners of L&B “weren’t happy” about the situation.
“It’s like Burger King and McDonald’s, they’re right next to each other,” Lombardo told the investigator on a tape recording played in court. “Leave it to the Italians to f— something up.”
When asked about the incident by reporters yesterday, Lombardo denied being assaulted by reputed Colombo associate Frank ‘Frankie Notch’ Ianacci.
In a phone interview with the Daily News, Lombardo expanded on what he claims never happened.
“Nobody laid a hand on me,” he said. “If they did, they better have a gun.”
Lombardo, 59, continued, “This is no secret recipe. There’s no patents on pizza. Why are we even having a conversation about pizza? We had an earthquake today. Why don’t you ask me about that?”
