Three brothers are suing a fourth brother over control of an inherited Westchester restaurant enterprise, claiming they have been shut out of operations.
Alex, Martin and Vito Racanelli accused John Racanelli of fraud, in a complaint filed on Jan. 12 in Westchester Supreme Court.
John has refused to produce financial records, the complaint states, therefore the Estate of Rose Racanelli, their mother, has been “forced to seek judicial intervention to protect its interests, compel transparency, and recover diverted assets.”
Pizza & Brew on Central Park Avenue, Greenburgh, is the flagship of the family restaurant business.
Pizza & Brew was founded in 1971 by Martino Racanelli and his brothers. He and his partners went on to operate 20 restaurants in the metropolitan region, according to an obituary that was published when Martino died in 2011.
Martino’s wife, Rose, died in 2024.
She owned 71% of Pizza & Brew, according to a court record and she bequeathed her interest to her sons: 41% to John, of Manhattan; 12% to Alex, of Pleasantville; and 9% each to Martin, of Monroe and Vito, of Brewster. The holders of the remaining 29% interest are not identified in the lawsuit.
Other restaurants named in the lawsuit include Casa Fuego at Ridge Hill in Yonkers, Honey Pizza at the Cross County Center in Yonkers, Public Pizza at Ridge Hill, and Via Forno, Scarsdale.
All four brothers are co-executors of the Estate of Rose Racanelli. Alex, Martin and Vito are suing John, on behalf of the estate.
John, according to the complaint, controls the restaurants and has obstructed access to financial records.
He has diverted hundreds of thousands of dollars to finance restaurants in which the estate has no ownership interest, according to the lawsuit, misappropriated about $872,000 in Covid-19 relief funds, comingled estate funds, and failed to maintain separate records for each business entity.
His brothers claim that the Estate of Rose Racanelli is owed about $1.4 million.
Alex, Martin and Vito accused John of breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, and unjust enrichment. They are asking the court to compel John and various restaurants to provide a complete accounting of their operations. They are seeking unspecified compensatory damages, punitive damages and restitution for the estate.
Defense attorney Mitchell J. Baker did not reply to a message asking for John Racanelli’s side of the story.
