Ritzy Eat & Cheat

Submitted by admin on Thu, 07/20/2006 - 23:00

Ritzy Eat & Cheat
by Laura Italiano and Braden Keil
New York Post

July 21, 2006 -- Call it fraud à la carte. The No. 2 man for the restaurant empire Cipriani's - a felon with alleged ties to organized crime - has been indicted on charges he stole more than $1.6 million in a health-insurance scam.

Manhattan DA Robert Morgenthau said Dennis Pappas, 59, collected on three lucrative personal health-insurance policies by lying that his longstanding heart problems prevented him from working. Meanwhile, he allegedly was spending the last six years rising up the ranks of the Cipriani luxury eateries.

He also illegally collected more than $90,000 in Social Security disability, prosecutors said - even while serving 46 months in a federal prison in the late '90s for an extortion and pension-fraud scam involving the Colombo crime family.

But before Pappas could be arraigned in Manhattan Supreme Court yesterday on charges that carry up to 25 years prison, he collapsed to the floor with heart pains.

He remained hospitalized last night at New York Downtown Hospital.

"Because of a blockage in his coronary arteries and anxiety over the events of today, he passed out," said his lawyer, Steven Cohen.

Pappas - whose boss, Giuseppe Cipriani, insists his No. 2 is innocent - currently holds the title of vice president of Cipriani, USA.

The divorced father of two has earned a total of $891,855 since he was hired at Cipriani in 2000, prosecutors said. His pay of around $350,000 a year includes use of a $5,750-a-month pad on West 26th Street and a Hummer.

While working, he collected $1 million from Custom Disability Solutions, $290,000 from Cigna Life Insurance, and $180,000 from MetLife Insurance, the district attorney charges.

Pappas was arrested in 1996 on racketeering charges after feds charged that he was a mob financial adviser and money launderer.

He pleaded guilty in 1998 to stealing more than a million dollars from various companies by posing as a pension-fund adviser. Colombo boss Victor Orena was an unindicted co-conspirator in the case, and Pappas admitted stealing the money for the Colombos.

Pappas was released in 2000. Authorities declined to say yesterday if they are investigating his alleged mob links now. But turncoats have told the FBI that Pappas had dealings with the Gambinos in relation to the Ciprianis.

In testimony during the recent John "Junior" Gotti racketeering trial, mob turncoat Michael "Mikey Scars" DiLeonardo said Cipriani himself gave the Gambinos more than $100,000 in hopes their knee-breakers would quell a labor problem at the Rainbow Room.

Cohen said his client denies any current mob connections. Giuseppe Cipriani, reached in Moscow, said, "He is not guilty, and he will be vindicated.

"Everybody deserves a second chance," he explained of hiring Pappas. "He is very talented, and he paid his dues . . . "I hope this doesn't kill Dennis."