Scary Hit On Pizzeria In Caldwell

Thats such a nice and friendly family style pizzeria...I'm shocked to hear this and happy that this person was rescued.

Cant help but think there is more to this story. This had nothing to do with the cash in the register. Either they wanted the guy (the owner) dead, or he (the owner) was in on it. But why go through all the trouble of burning the place down? Too much risk with fire. Now that I think about it, they just wanted the owner dead

Maybe I've been watching too much TV, but this sounds like somebody didn't pay back some gambling debts.

when something like this happens, you have to think "who gains from this?" Insurance for the wife? is it a business out? or, like Khan said, "settling a gambling debt?"

Maybe they didn't like the way he cooked the pizza?

That a few are immediately speculating that there's "more" to this than a mere robbery simply tells me, in the absence of any information so far that actually buttresses their unnecessary theorizing, that those same few grossly and foolishly underestimate the sheer rottenness of today's breed of criminals.

Doesn't Tony Soprano live up that way?

"...Then finally, when there's nothing left...when you can't borrow another buck from the bank...you bust the joint out. You light a match."

---Goodfellas (1990)

cathar. you are a criminal. you need money. you rob a pizza joint just before midnight. You can a) run out of store and hope not to get caught. or b) light the place on fire and hope not to get caught.
...there is more to this than either of us know

Tony S. lives in North Caldwell and is, for all intensive porpoises, retired. My NY skepticism says that jimmytown may be right; I agree that there are parts of this story that are not fully disclosed. We may have to wait until the "Caldwell Progress" gets onto the story, which will be on a Thursday. Not sure which Thursday (garage sale season is just opening up), but Thursday none the less.

Keep your eye on the sparrow, when the going gets narrow......

Usually thieves set things on fire when they want to cover up evidence. That's what I thought of first anyway.

Although cathar helpfully reminds us to avoid jumping to conclusions (just as he helpfully calls our attention to slow news days here on Baristanet), it would also be foolishly naive to immediately accept that this was merely a robbery, and a random one at that.

I will avoid further suppositions was I religiously scan each week's "Caldwell Progress" until we get to the bottom of this. That said, I won't be surprised if it turns out the robbery was just cover for something else, like payback, or insurance fraud.

My, but I am so cynical these days.

Conan

I feel bad for the owner, a working guy who was just trying to make ends meat. I doubt it was Tony S., though. He is such a pre-madonna he would never get his hands dirty. But without more information, it's a mute point.

"...trying to make ends meat." Actually, he was trying to make lots of dough.

But seriously, I used to go to Franco's all the time with my mom when we lived in Caldwell. What a shame it's come to this but glad the guy will be all right. Kudos to the sharp-thinking police dept. and I hope they make some arrests soon.

I believe the article in today's Star-Ledger said that Franco's was sold sometime in the last few years, so for those of you with fond childhood memories of this family-run establishment, it may no longer be in the same family (although it might be in "the" family).

"...there is more to this than either of us know" I have to agree with jimmytown on this one. I heard that the owner of Franco's walked into the tanning salon next door the day before the incident and mentioned to the owners of the Salon that 'if something ever happens to me, here is who i want to run the store...' I am eager to get to the bottom of this one.

Whatever the motivation turns out to be, he's lucky there were working sprinklers and a monitored alarm.

Again, in a world where street kids set winos on fire for laughs and a guys in Newark shoots and kills by way of "celebrating" his birthday, it's best to avoid undue speculation about this one. (Such speculation only suggests that some took watching the "Sopranos" too seriously, that they forgot just how dumb LCN members can really often be.)

This is what we have arson investigators and the very capable men and women of the ATF, after all. It also helps to remember that this is a pizzeria, something thus ostensibly run by Italians (lately South Americans of Italian ancestry throughout much of Clifton) and that the phrase for arson for profit has historically beeen "Jewish lightning."

An older Jewish man is getting ready to retire so he decides to take a trip to Florida to check it out. He's sitting on a bench, looking out on the ocean when another Jewish man, already retired and living there, sits next to him and strikes up a conversation. The talk eventually turns to work and the visitor asks the resident how he faired in his business.
"I did pretty well", he says, "I had two fires and a flood"
The visitor seems to dwell on that for a minute and then asks "so, how do you start a flood?"

Hey cathar, you're right, avoid speculation. Don't ask too many questions. Not after the fire.

After all, Pizza is a business for Italians, except in Philadelphia where it's run by Greeks.

Come to think of it our local family that runs Greek Delights, mere miles away and less than half-a-block off Bloomfield, isn't exactly Greek. I love their food dearly.

Avoid speculation, avid readers.

This is a pizzeria that I go to gladly and quite frequently. The pizza is very good and everyone there very friendly. The owner is the nicest guy. He is Albanese, about thirty years old, married and has young children. I can't cease to think about this trauma. Horrifying.

Frank, what is Albanese?

....sorry....I meant to say Albanian. (From Albania)

Is that like Elbonia?

Based on his ethnic slurs, I guess one can safely assume that Cathar is neither Italian nor Jewish, and certainly not a Jewish Italian.

Spectator, you sound exceptionally foolish and emotionally shriveled today. (And do you post under more than one name?)

"Come to think of it our local family that runs Greek Delights, mere miles away and less than half-a-block off Bloomfield, isn't exactly Greek. I love their food dearly."

But one of them was "whacked" right?

Coincidence? I don't think so.

italians don't like albanians.