If You're Gonna Be In The Pizza Business, You Need To Take Care Of Your Dough

By Chuck Sudo in Food on Jun 16, 2008 5:10PM

Leona's and its sister restaurant Hop Haus is not going away anytime soon, but three former employees might. Deborah Mort and her sons, Louis Mort and Christopher Morris, are being sued by majority owner Leon Toia for allegedly bilking the company of $1.3 million.

The alleged theft, which Toia claims in the suit happened between December 2002 and March of this year, includes the brothers stole cash from Leona's; Deborah Mort took checkbooks from Toia's home and car. Toia claims the money was used to pay off credit card debts and pay a mortgage on an apartment building the Morts owned in the city. Toia is looking for three times the amount allegedly stolen from him through the RICO Act.

Bad news, indeed. However, it begs the question: how many checkbooks does one have to lose before the streetwise radar kicks in and you start asking questions? This theft went on for over five years.