'He Could've Run For Mayor:' Former Colleague, Friend Shares Memories Of LI Deli Owner After Fatal Stabbing

BETHPAGE, NY — Family, friends, and the community have felt the heavy loss of Seaford couple Angela Pulisciano, 62, and Antonio (Tony) Dambrosio, 70, who were killed on Dec. 4 in their Long Island deli. Their son has been arrested and accused of brutally stabbing them, police said.

The couple owned A & A Italian Deli & Pizza located in Bethpage. Their Long Island customers and community members have shared in mourning — and Mike Pinto, 53, of Jackson Heights, said the Long Island community isn't alone: Jackson Heights feels it, too.

Pinto said he worked with Tony for many years at Rocco's Brick Oven Pizzeria in East Elmhurst before Tony moved to Long Island with his family.

"I go back with Tony a lifetime," Pinto said. "Tony was one of the most genuinely beloved people. He was a staple of the community, our Jackson Heights community. I'm hearing stories about how he was the same way in Bethpage and Seaford. It was exactly that way here in this community in Queens. Everyone knew and loved him. He was here for about 24 years."

Pinto explained that Rocco's was a family business, just as A & A Deli has always been. Rocco's, owned by Rocco, who has since passed, was an Italian pizzeria and was run by the family, all from Italy.

"I grew up hanging out in Rocco's," he said. "I would hang out there as a kid with my friends, and our parents would know we were safe there, as long as Tony was there. They'd say, 'as long as Tony's there, you're good to stay out.' He watched out for us."

Tony was the manager until he left in the late 90s, and Pinto took over the position. Although the shop closed a few years ago, and Tony hadn't worked there for two decades, Pinto reminisced on the memories as though it were yesterday, and he was a kid shoveling pizza into his mouth.

"As a kid, about 10 years old, Tony would give me a free slice of pizza if I swept the floors or made pizza boxes," he said. "I was there almost every day at 10 years old. By the time I was 12, Tony was teaching me how to use the phones, and by the time I was 15, he let me work behind the counter. By 17, I was doing deliveries when I had my car. Both my brother and I worked there. He mentored us."

Pinto said he went to college in Florida, and his first semester back, he asked Tony if he had any work hours for him, anything at all.

"Tony asked, 'How about open to close, seven days a week?'' Pinto said.

He continued working the summers he was home from college, and credits almost everything he knows about business and cooking to Tony.

"Many people don't know this, but Tony actually went to culinary school in Switzerland," he said. "He taught me how to cook the way he learned to cook. He taught me the proper techniques they taught in culinary school. People ask me, 'Where did you learn how to cook?' and I answer, 'Tony taught me everything.' Tony trusted me. He taught me everything. We had a similar work ethic."

Pinto felt like he fit right in at Rocco's; it was a special place with memories and tradition rooted in its walls.

"The best part for me was at the end of the night," he said. "Tony would buy a gallon of wine and a pack of cigarettes, and would cook a meal every night for the staff, maybe five or six of us. It was a gourmet meal not on the menu, a different cuisine. The gallon of wine was for all of us. The two cigarettes were for him. So I had a gourmet meal every night of the week, cooked just for us. It was an old-fashioned, tight-knit family."

On Tony's generosity, Pinto said he would always give free Italian ices to the kids.

"All the kids loved him," he said. "Kids would hang out and play video games in the back."

He added that Tony was a genuine, warm-hearted person.

"Tony had a heart of gold," he said. "He truly cared. If he cooked something and he didn't make it perfectly, he wouldn't serve it. He treated customers like family. He remembered their names just like I did, which I learned from him. He knew everybody's name. When the phone rang, he knew the name and what they wanted to order. He could've run for mayor."

After Tony moved to Long Island and Pinto became the manager of Rocco's, they still stayed connected.

"He would send his kid, who was older by then, to come over if he needed something," Pinto said. "One time, their dough machine was down on Long Island, and he needed to make pizza, so he called me up and said his oldest son was coming in to make the dough in Rocco's for the week, and he brought it back to Long Island."

Pinto reminisced on one memory, where the tables turned, and he was the one serving Tony; it was a full-circle moment.

"A few years ago, everyone got together for a funeral, and we were back in Queens at Rocco's," he began. "Tony went up to the bar for some espressos for him and Angela, but the bartender was busy. I jumped behind the bar and made the drinks. His niece even joked, 'Look at that, the protege is now serving the boss.' Tony knew me since I was in a baby carriage, and there I was, about 50 years later, manager of the place, taking care of him and serving him for a change. It was a special moment."

Pinto said Tony would always say he didn't need anybody else, except his family.

"'I have my wife and my five kids, and that's all I need,'" Pinto recounted. "The business and his family were his life."

A GoFundMe that has been launched has so far raised more than $78,000 from 1,300 donors.

Visitation will be held at Frederick J. Chapey & Sons on Wednesday and Thursday at 20 Hicksville Road in Bethpage. The hours are as follows:

Thursday, Dec. 11, from 2 to 5 p.m., and from 7 to 9 p.m.

A funeral mass will follow on Friday, Dec. 12, at 10:30 a.m. at St. James Roman Catholic Church, located at 80 Hicksville Road in Seaford.

Interment will take place at St. Charles Cemetery located at 2015 Wellwood Ave. in Farmingdale.