CELONA ON GATTO, GUNS & NICOLINIS
THE new boss of Surfers Paradise restaurant institution Nicolinis has opened up about ties to underworld identity Mick Gatto and a police probe into a security firm he ran.
Toni Celona, who stood down as CEO of TCB Elite Security Melbourne when Victorian police last year launched a probe into “alleged compliance issues”, is managing Nicolinis after his family bought it in December.
The Italian eatery is one of the Glitter Strip’s longest running restaurants with a 40-plus year history as colourful as Mr Celona.
Mr Celona this week revealed his family’s Nicolinis takeover, saying he always liked the name and corner site on Surfers Paradise Boulevard.
In a relaxed chat, Mr Celona happily answered questions about TCB doing work for Mr Gatto, his 25 years in the security industry and the ongoing probe into TCB Melbourne.
He said he continued to run TCB’s Gold Coast operation and had retained his firearms licences despite the interstate investigation.
“With the inquiry, and what’s happened there, that’s why I came back to the (restaurant) industry. We are good at it, love people,” he said.
A Victorian police Licensing and Regulation Division (LRD) investigation into TCB Elite Security Melbourne started late last year with a police raid in October, The Age newspaper reported.
The probe was into a range of “alleged compliance issues at TCB Elite Security (Melbourne)”.
Mr Celona said he had to be careful about what he said on the investigation but believed it was sparked by industry competitors who “wanted our contracts - 1000 per cent”.
“We will wait for justice to take its course.”
Asked about Mr Gatto, he acknowledged providing an armed guard in uniform protecting money and property at the wedding of his daughter.
“Is that not what an armed guard is supposed to do? I provided a service and got paid.”
He pointed out Anthony Swords, a debt collector who runs Gatto Corporate Solutions, was “like my son”.
Mr Celona referred to a media report noting his firm had put in CCTV and alarms at a NSW gentleman’s club
linked to an accused drug trafficker: “It’s not illegal to do work for people. I don’t care what they do for a living as long as I do the right thing.
“Knowing people is not illegal,” he said.
“We know people in the business we are in, we have to. We are stopping people coming in. I worked a lifetime to be respected by both sides. I gave respect and I got respect.
“Everyone knows quite clearly we are straight shooters,” he said.
Mr Celona said his firm had worked for major banks, an American Embassy, farms in NSW to protect machinery and escorted for big sums of money.
“We carried large sums of money for 30 years without a blemish.”
Nicolinis is not his family’s first foray into the Coast restaurant game - he opened a La Porchetta in central Surfers Paradise in 1997 before selling it in 2005.
Mr Celona, who has Sicilian ancestry, said he had changed Nicolinis menu and made it more family friendly, with a special two-course lunch and bottle of wine for two for $45.
Gold Coast Italian couple the Ceccatos, who have a food supply business, revived Nicolinis mid-2017 after longtime owner and mate Jack Ulliana departed due to illhealth.
A popular haunt for developers and dealmakers in its heyday, John Ceccato said yesterday he was happy to sell to the Celona family.
“Toni really wanted it and wouldn’t take no for an answer,” Mr Ceccato said.
“Toni is a very nice fellow but you maybe if you look at him you get a bit scared. He has the tattoos and wears a gold chain. But we have been supplying him for 20 years, we’re friends.”