Stamford Pizza Shop Owner Sentenced For Tax Evasion

STAMFORD, CT — A Trumbull resident who owns pizzerias in Stamford and Greenwich was sentenced to prison Tuesday for a federal tax offense.

Steven Cioffi, 35, was sentenced to 30 days in prison followed by one year of supervised release.

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Cioffi owned 50 percent of Nepperhan Restaurants Group, Inc., doing business as ReNapoli Pizza in Old Greenwich and Pinocchio Pizza in Pound Ridge, New York, according to Acting U.S. Attorney for Connecticut Leonard Boyle. He also owned 25 percent of Odell Pizza, Inc., doing business as Amore Cucina & Bar in Stamford, Boyle said.

Cioffi's business partner, Bruno DiFabio, owned the other interests in these entities and other pizzerias, Boyle said.

Cioffi and DiFabio admitted to removing cash from the restaurants' cash registers and not depositing it into the restaurants' bank account.

The businesses' bookkeeper and accountant used the bank records to determine business gross receipts, according to Boyle, When cash was removed from the register and not deposited into the business bank account, the cash would not be reported to the Internal Revenue Service, Boyle said.

Cioffi and DiFabio also knew that certain employees were paid in cash, and that a certain number of the employees were paid either partially or entirely "off the books," Boyle said.

"By paying various expenses in cash and 'off the books', Cioffi, DiFabio and others facilitated the manipulation of net income reported to the IRS and the underpayment of withholding taxes to the IRS," Boyle said in a news release.

Boyle said Cioffi's actions resulted in the loss of more than $122,000 in income taxes and employment taxes to the IRS for the 2013-2015 tax years. He was ordered to make full restitution.

Cioffi previously pleaded guilty in September 2018 to one count of aiding and assisting in the filing of a false tax return. He is currently released on a $40,000 bond and ordered to report to prison on Aug. 2.

DiFabio pleaded guilty in October 2018 to one count of conspiracy to file false income tax returns and payroll tax returns. When he pleaded guilty, he agreed that the tax loss attributable to his conduct in the scheme was $816,954, Boyle said.

Idalecia Lopes Santos, the businesses' bookkeeper, pleaded guilty in June 2019 to one count of tax evasion and James Guerra, the businesses' accountant, pleaded guilty in January to one count of willful failure to collect and pay over withholding taxes, Boyle said.

Lopes Santos was sentenced to three years of probation in March, and DiFabio and Guerra are awaiting sentencing, Boyle said.