Pizza guy's 'killer'
B’klyn manhunt
This is the man suspected of gunning down the co-owner of legendary Brooklyn pizzeria L&B Spumoni Gardens.
The NYPD released video Tuesday of the alleged killer coolly strolling down a quiet, tree-lined street near victim Louis Barbati’s home in Dyker Heights just before the slaying. The suspect wore a dark, hooded sweat shirt, lighter-colored shorts and dark shoes. Police described him as a white man in his 30s with short dark hair.
The FBI has offered to help the NYPD with the puzzling case, and the department readily accepted, sources said. “They don’t know who did it yet,” a law-enforcement source said. “This case will take some time. [But] someone will talk sooner than later. They always do.”
Sources have said the killer was caught on camera getting in and out of his car near Barbati’s home, smoking cigarettes and talking on his cellphone before the businessman arrived. The suspect was seen fleeing just after the deadly assault.
The 61-year-old restaurateur was carrying $15,000 in cash and a loaf of Italian bread Thursday night when he was ambushed by the gunman after he returned from work to his house on 12th Avenue. As Barbati climbed the flight of stone steps leading to his back door, the suspect shot him five times in the back, arm and leg before fleeing without the money, according to lawenforcement sources. Barbati’s restaurant was tied to a 2009 Mafia extortion plot in which Colombo crime-family associate Frank Guerra, who is related by marriage to a coowner of the pizzeria, was accused of threatening a Staten Island pizza-shop owner for allegedly stealing a pie recipe. But cops say they believe Barbati’s slaying was not mob-related and instead just a robbery gone awry. Barbati was laid to rest Tuesday morning after a closed-casket funeral service at a Brooklyn church. The solemn service was attended by about 200 friends and family members inside St. Ephrems Church in Dyker Heights and included a car emblazoned with flowers that spelled out “Uncle” and “Spumoni Gardens.”