Black Worker's Noose Claim Forces Meat Company To Cut Ties With West Village Butcher

WEST VILLAGE, NY — A meat distributor has cut ties with a famed West Village butcher after a black deliveryman claimed a store worker handed him a noose.

Joe Ottomanelli, a butcher at his family's longstanding shop Ottomanelli & Sons on Bleecker Street, was arrested in May after the delivery man reported the incident to police. He was charged with a misdemeanor harassment charge. (For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

Ottomanelli handed Victor Sheppard the rope noose and said, "Here is your gift. You can put it around your neck and pull if you want to end it all. If you are feeling stressed out. I can help you with it," according to the criminal complaint.

Sheppard worked for Mosner Family Brands at the time. On Wednesday the company announced that it had severed all ties with Ottomanelli & Sons.

Have you been a victim to or have witnessed a hate crime? Tell your story here.

"Mosner Family Brands condemns such intolerance and any form of racism and discrimination," the company's president Michael Mosner said in a statement. "This incident warranted the termination of our firm supplying its products to this butcher shop."

Mosner Family Brands, based in the Bronx, said on Wednesday that the company had initially planned to make a decision about doing business with the butcher shop after authorities had finished investigating. The company said in a statement that it decided the "appropriate course of action was to immediately cease" working with Ottomanelli during its own review of the incident.

Sheppard, 37, previously told the New York Daily News that he was too traumatized to return to work while Mosner continued doing business with Ottomanelli & Sons. Mosner representatives said on Wednesday that Sheppard had abruptly stopped showing up for work and that the company "stands ready to welcome Mr. Sheppard back to the company."

Patch was not immediately able to contact Sheppard for comment.

Ottomanelli, 58, has not denied handing Sheppard the noose. His lawyer, famed criminal defense attorney Ron Kuby, has said the incident was a bad joke, but not a crime.

The Ottomanelli company did not immediately respond to an email from Patch seeking comment.

Read Patch's previous coverage of this case:

• West Village Butcher Handed Noose To Black Deliveryman, Complaint Says
• West Village Butcher Arrested On Hate Crimes Charge, NYPD Says
• West Village Butcher Accused Of Giving Noose To Black Deliveryman Avoids Hate Crime Charge

Lead image by Ciara McCarthy / Patch.