The Boston Licensing Board voted to suspend the liquor license for Monica’s Trattoria, effectively shutting down the North End restaurant until management is officially transferred from its current owner, who is facing an attempted murder charge.
Board Chair Kathleen Joyce said the panel was within its purview to suspend the restaurant’s liquor license, based on the owner Patrick Mendoza’s failure to appear at an informational hearing held last Thursday to assess his “character and fitness” as the manager of record and licensee.
Mendoza, 54, is facing charges in connection with a shooting that occurred at a North End bakery on July 12, and allegedly evaded police for more than a week before he was arrested at a Cape Cod treatment facility last Friday.
“We need to know as a regulatory body at any given time who is in charge of a licensed premises,” Joyce said at a Tuesday board meeting, later adding, “I have serious concerns about the person who’s still listed as the manager of record and 100% owner.”
Joyce stated that while the board received the change of license and manager applications last Friday from the restaurant’s attorney, it did not have sufficient time to review the documents.
Further, she said the board must hold a formal hearing to assess the character and fitness of the requested manager of record, Amanda McQueen, a six-year employee who has been working as assistant manager.
Until that time, Joyce made a motion that the restaurant’s license be suspended, for lack of an approved manager of record, which received unanimous assent from her fellow board members.
William Ferullo, the restaurant’s longtime attorney, took issue with the ruling, stating that it would leave Mendoza’s wife and four children without a source of income, and put Monica’s 25 employees out of work.
Along with a new manager of record, Ferullo said the family had also been seeking a change of licensee, to Mendoza’s wife and son.
Mendoza has resigned his positions in the corporation to his wife and son as well, Ferullo said. Documents with the Secretary of State’s Office now list Elise, Matthew, and Frank Mendoza as President, Secretary and Treasurer respectively, of the restaurant.
The plan is for his family members to take over ownership of the restaurant, Ferullo said. He added that Monica’s Trattoria has been running effectively during Mendoza’s absence, under McQueen, Mendoza’s wife and his two brothers, both of whom are licensed managers with the city.
Ferullo argued that it’s common for managers of record to be absent during the week, whether it be for sickness, regular days off, or vacations, and for an assistant manager to be in charge during that time.
He urged the board to quickly schedule a hearing to assess McQueen’s character and fitness as the new manager of record, saying that, “We don’t have to put people out of work.”
“You know what the situation in the industry is,” Ferullo said. “Once people leave, it’s very difficult to get them back, and you potentially endanger a long-term family business as a result of waiting for scheduling of the hearing.”
Board members took exception to these comments, with Liam Curran stating that the reasons for Mendoza’s absence have not been sickness or vacation, which would be within the board’s discretion to excuse on any given evening.
“Since we haven’t approved the new manager of record, I would feel that the business should not be operating,” Curran said.
Another board member, Keeana Saxon, added, “This is a very heavily regulated industry and you simply must have a manager of record. You have to cross the t’s and you have to dot the i’s. If we start allowing these types of exceptions, then we really do cause a slippery slope.”
Mendoza was arraigned last Friday on charges of assault to murder, assault with a dangerous weapon and multiple firearms violations. He is scheduled to appear at a dangerousness hearing Wednesday at the Central Division of Boston Municipal Court, according to the Suffolk District Attorney’s office.
Prosecutors said Mendoza fired a gun three times at a man outside Modern Pastry, a popular bakery located in a pedestrian-heavy area on Hanover Street, at around 11 p.m. on July 12.
The man was able to escape injury by diving behind a parked vehicle. Mendoza fled the area on his bicycle and was wanted by police for more than a week, until he was arrested at a rehab facility on the Cape last Friday, authorities said.
Court documents suggest that the shooting was part of a long-standing feud between the two men. Mendoza and the victim, Rocco Giovanello, 60, have known each other for roughly 20 years.
