New York business owner arrested in Staten Island drug raid

Ben Mitchell and Nicole Johnson

4 mins ago

STATEN ISLAND, NY (PIX11) — A restaurant owner who advocated for drug addicts and donated money to help them avoid prison has been arrested and charged with drug trafficking.

Police say Ettore Mazzei, a well-known philanthropist who owns Chez Vous Catering and Edgewater Hall on Staten Island, is allegedly the mastermind of a drug operation running out of his own restaurant.

Mazzei was charged with 61 counts. Police also arrested nearly 20 other people who allegedly worked for Mazzei.

Although Mazzei was honored for helping drug addicts recover, police said it was just a front for his schemes. He allegedly supplied addicts with drugs and, in some cases, persuaded them to pay off their drug debts by working off them.

According to the prosecutor’s office, the defendants sold 20 grams of heroin, 461 grams of cocaine and 140 Suboxone strips to undercover investigators over a fourteen-month period starting in March 2023.

Officials say Mazzei is also linked to several overdose deaths on Staten Island.

According to prosecutors, there have also been recent incidents of violence in and around Mazzei’s Stapleton property, including two shootings and an armed home invasion.