Someone opened fire outside a famed Court Street Italian eatery known for its alleged ties to the Mafia early on the morning of Feb. 25, according to authorities, who are investigating the incident.
The lout pumped three bullets into the facade of Marco Polo Ristorante, its co-owner said, but the shots did not faze staff of the red-sauce staple, which welcomed patrons to its dining room later that day.
“Just three shots hit the window, two ricocheted off the ground,” said Marco Chirico. “Not a lot of damage at all.”
Cops, however, found 10 shells across the street from the eatery, where they said the nogoodnik fired from around 6 am, along with several bullet fragments. And Marco Polo seemed to be the gunman’s only target, according to a police spokesman.
“No other establishments were fired upon,” said Sergeant Jones.
But Chirico — whose father, Joseph Chirico, pleaded guilty in 2008 to laundering money for the notorious Gambino family decades after he opened the neighborhood institution between Union and President streets in 1983 — said rumors alleging the Mafia was involved in the incident are a bunch of bolognese, because the bullets also hit a parked car and Carroll Gardens is not new to crime or gunfire.
“None of that’s true,” he said. “It had nothing to do with us. A couple shootings happened around this neighborhood, and big robberies where people got shot.”
The investigation is ongoing, according to authorities, who said they have yet to determine a motive or make any arrests, and that they suspect a man wearing a black hooded jacket may have fired the bullets.
