The year was 2019. I was reading the daily news online when I discovered that the pizzaiolo, from one of my favorite Italian spots, had been arrested.
Turns out, our main protagonist in the story was wanted by the police for drug trafficking. So he had gone on the run, taking up work as a pizzaiolo at an Italian restaurant. A bit of a career pivot, if you will.
The cherry on top of the cake? The restaurant where he worked was right around the corner from the main police station. The place was even frequented by some of the officers themselves, completely unaware that a fugitive was right there behind the counter. Making their food.
But it doesn’t end there. Oh, of course not. The fugitive frequently posted photos of his culinary creations online on the restaurant’s Facebook page, despite there being an international warrant out for his arrest. He was walking around scot-free, right under everyone’s noses.
Hiding in plain sight, as the English say.
When he was finally arrested, many people protested, demanding the release of the “best pizza maker in town.” And to be fair, the pizzas really were good, to give credit where credit is due I guess…
I admit that at the time, a lot of thoughts went through my head. First of all, how organized crime can be present in the most unexpected places, which also reinforces that timeless stereotype that Italians are all “pizza, pasta, maffia.” It also made me reflect on the impact an incident like this can have on a restaurant, especially when there was no way of knowing that the person they hired had links to organised crime.
And after years of searching for at least a decent pizza, I had to start back at square one. In a country where, at the time, eating well wasn’t something you could take for granted. Luckily, things have since changed on that front.
Talk about expecting the unexpected from your fellow countrymen…
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