Former restaurant owner will serve time
A litany on charity did not persuade a federal judge Friday to spare the former owner of the Primadonna Restaurant in McKees Rocks from a stretch in prison for failing to pay $112,400 in federal taxes.
"In many respects, he's an exemplary man," U.S. District Judge Terrence McVerry said moments before sentencing Joseph Costanzo Jr., 51, of McKees Rocks, to five months in prison. "But he stands before the court guilty of a crime."
McVerry gave Costanzo the lightest sentence possible under the sentencing guidelines. After he serves five months in prison, Costanzo will be under house arrest for five months. He also must serve two years of supervised release following his release from prison. The judge didn't impose a fine.
More than 20 people had written to McVerry urging leniency. McVerry said he had to follow federal sentencing guidelines that require a prison term for Costanzo. The judge could have sentenced Costanzo to up to 16 months in prison and fined him $30,000.
Costanzo made an impassioned plea, telling McVerry that his wife, Donna, often told him: "Joe, you want to feed the world, but how about feeding your family first."
He said that he fed the homeless and helped the down and out -- once offering to replace the $1,500 engagement ring that had been taken from a quadriplegic in a robbery.
"By law, I am a tax evader," Costanzo said. "But your honor, I am more of a bad bookkeeper than I am a tax evader."
Costanzo once was the subject of favorable headlines. He built his neighborhood establishment into a regional attraction and ran unsuccessfully for Allegheny County commissioner in 1995.
Yesterday, he told McVerry his misdeeds and the federal investigation caused his family pain, ruined his business and affected his health, worsening his diabetes and hypertension.
Costanzo said his legal bills forced him to sell the restaurant -- where he said he had slept in a booth more than he had slept in his own bed.
"My name was synonymous with the restaurant," he told McVerry. "I loved it down there. It was my life, your honor. When I had to give up the restaurant, it was torture."
Costanzo pleaded guilty in October to one count of tax evasion for the year 1998, but accepted responsibility for failing to report income from 1996 through 2000.
Costanzo said he could have jammed the federal courthouse with more than 5,000 supporters, but chose to come only with his wife.
In an interview after his sentencing, Costanzo said he hopes to open a coffee shop when he gets out of prison.
"I just want a paycheck," he said. "And that's hard for a felon to get."
