Banditos raided the beloved Manhattan Avenue Mexican restaurant Papacitos early on June 21 and escaped with a safe loaded with $10,000.
The burglars scurried through backyards and scuttled over fences to reach the back door of the Greenpoint guacamole den sometime between 2 am and 9:55 am.
The door might have been unlocked, according to cops.
Once inside, the crooks ransacked the eatery in search of the 250-pound safe, which contained cash that would have gone towards payroll and taxes.
“They maliciously messed up the back of the store and caused a lot damage,” said restaurateur Cody Utzman, the man also behind the recently opened futuristic bodega Brooklyn Standard.
“Taxes are due soon, so it’s going to hurt a little, but we’ll be OK.”
After the break-in, Utzman revealed to Gothamist, a Web site, that he plans to expand Papacitos into an adjoining eatery and he insisted that the recent burglary won’t stand in the way of those plans.
The thieves lugged the safe out the door and likely escaped to Huron Street, police reports indicated. No one was in the restaurant at the time.
