Surveillance Images Reveal Suspect in Mob-Linked Restaurant Shooting

Who fired a gun at the mobbed-up Marco Polo restaurant in Brooklyn early one February morning? The guy wearing the fedora hat and waist-length coat, below, of course....

Mob-linked restaurant shooter
Suspect: he allegedly shot at Brooklyn eatery.

That's what the NYPD said when they released surveillance footage of the suspect who fired several lead-filled shells into the eatery on Court St. and Union St. in Carroll Gardens at about 6 a.m. on Feb. 25.

He's white, about 6-foot-2 tall and thin, and was wearing a dark jacket and light pants.



A nearby surveillance camera filmed him that morning as he walked toward the restaurant near the time of the shooting, police sources told the Daily News.

Cops weren't alerted to the shooting until three hours after the fact.

As noted at the time, co-owner Marco Chricio told The New York Post that the restaurant "was caught in the crossfire between battling gangs from neighboring Gowanus and Red Hook housing projects."

Not so fast... The cops disputed that assessment, noting that the restaurant itself was targeted. There's surveillance footage from a neighboring business that seems to bolster that claim.

Ten shell casings were discovered across the street in front of the Body Elite gym, which captured via its surveillance system footage of a lone hooded man creeping around on the street at 6 a.m., when the shots were fired.

Owner Joseph Chirico, 73, pleaded guilty to laundering money for the Gambino crime family in 2008, but dodged prison thanks to character references from former Brooklyn borough presidents Howard Golden and Marty Markowitz, both of whom had once accepted campaign donations from the mobbed-up restaurateur, the Post reported.

One neighbor to the restaurant took the violence in stride, saying the food is "phenomenal."

Several bullet fragments were found inside the restaurant, cops said. No neighboring businesses were hit, leading investigators to believe the restaurant was targeted.

Reached by phone, restaurant workers have repeatedly declined to talk about the incident to reporters.

In 2008, restaurant owner Joseph (Marco Polo) Chirico, a reputed Gambino soldier, was busted in a sweeping mob indictment. He was accused of passing $1,500 in tribute money from a mob associate to another Gambino soldier, but he wound up with a slap on the wrist — six months of house arrest for money laundering and permission to spend 10 hours a day at his restaurant. Then-Borough President Marty Markowitz and his predecessor, Howard Golden, wrote letters of support on his behalf.

In 2014, Borough Hall celebrated him for using his connections in Italy to help bring an exhibition of medieval texts from the life of St. Francis of Assisi to Brooklyn.

Cops ask anyone with information about the gunman to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.



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