Bacci Pizza Owner Charged with Arson

By Margaret Lyons in News on Sep 11, 2008 4:34PM

The owner of 18 Bacci Pizza restuarants across Illinois has been charged with arson after investigators say he paid gang members to burn down a property he owned in Little Italy so he could get the insurance money. Robert Didiana got $250,000 after the building at 913 S Western Avenue was badly damaged during a fire on Christmas Eve 2000.

Didiana, 39, has been under investigation for about five years, after a "street gang member," who was arrested on federal weapons charges, offered information on "Mr. Bacci." Didiana allegedly had ties to the gang members because they all grew up together, and Didiana rented an apartment in the damaged building to one of the gang members, who investigators say Didiana eventually paid to start the fire.

...[A]n informant wore a wire for ATF during a conversation with Didiana in which the pizzeria owner allegedly incriminated himself, according to Cook County prosecutors. During the secretly recorded meeting, which took place outside the Bacci on Taylor Street, Didiana made a final cash payment of $1,000 for the arson job, the source said.

Didiana is currently out on bail. [Trib]