Goodfellas Gives In

After months of picketing and protest outside his front door, Goodfellas owner Gennaro Iannocone agreed to fork over thousands of dollars in back wages to four workers.

Representatives of the New Haven Workers Association have been demonstrating against Cafe Goodfellas since December. They’ve been protesting at the State Street mobster-themed restaurant on behalf of four former employees, who have chosen to remain anonymous.

The organization claims the workers were owed a total of $23,000 in unpaid overtime wages. Iannacone acknowledged payroll errors but said he’d remedied them.

The activist efforts resulted in an investigation by the state Department of Labor. But before that investigation could be completed, Iannocone decided to pay the workers.

They collected their checks this past Tuesday, said Megan Fountain of the New Haven Workers Association. She said she was notified by the state Labor Department the previous Friday that Iannacone had agreed to pay the wages. He dropped the checks off on Monday to the department and the workers picked them up on Tuesday, Fountain said.

The checks were for over $18,000, Fountain said. That’s the $23,000 minus about 20 percent in taxes, she said.

Iannacone said the total was closer to $14,000 after taxes.

The workers are feeling ​“excellent,” Fountain said. ​“It was a long campaign, but they’re feeling very happy that the public action worked. They’re glad they stuck it out for the long haul and didn’t settle for less than they deserved.”

Fountain said she thinks Iannacone decided to pay as a result of a demonstration the previous Wednesday, at which New Haven Workers Association announced it would be picketing his restaurant every Friday. ​“Better to pay out than face more public criticism,” she said,

“I just wanted it behind me,” Iannacone said on Friday. ​“I’m trying to run a restaurant.”

Iannacone said he had nothing else to add. ​“I just want it to go away. And I want everybody to be happy.”