Some sad news today. Romero Morales, a bartender at DeMarco's Pizzeria (a kinda-sorta offshoot of legendary Di Fara) was shot and killed last night for unknown reasons by a gunman. The shooter ran from DeMarco's and was chased by two auxiliary policemen—Nicholas Pekearo and Yevgeniy Marshalik—, who were then shot and killed by the gunman. The shooter, in turn, was shot and killed by cops arriving on the scene moments later. The New York Times says: It was unclear last night what lay behind the first shooting at the pizzeria, DeMarco’s at 146 Macdougal Street. The police said the... More

Somethin' don't smell right: COLUMBUS, IND. — A sheriff's deputy sniffed out two men suspected of robbing a pizza delivery woman when he caught a whiff of pepperoni and sausage pizza at their home. Smell of pizza leads deputy to suspects [forbes.com]... More

A former New Hampshire corrections officer, just hours after being indicted on charges of raping inmates he was in charge of guarding, violates his parole by delivering pizza to a prison: "Pretty stupid, huh?" said [bail enforcement agent Lance] Wilkinson. "I told him, 'If Jesus Christ told me to deliver those pizzas, I would have said no.' " Pizza proves indicted guard's downfall [New Hampshire Union Leader]... More

As you might know, I've been on jury duty. That ended yesterday around 4:30 p.m. when we came to a verdict (guilty on four of the six counts). While we argued in the jury room, I recalled a quote attributed to Otto von Bismarck: "Those who love sausage and obey the law should not watch either being made." Which in turn led me to think, "Mmmm ... sausage," and then to "Mmmm ... sausage on pizza." But the quote (and the week's legal proceedings) spurred me to deeper reflection on both the law and sausage—specifically: "How hard would it be... More

What started with a car theft turned into an escape and resulting chase that ended with the male fugitive being caught hiding out in a woman's restroom by an officer who received a ride from a pizza deliveryman. Chase involving pizza deliveryman ends in ladies' room [7online.com]... More

Opposition legislators grilled Canadian Immigration Minister Joe Volpe [left] in Parliament on Tuesday after learning that he had spent C$138 on a pizza dinner for two and charged it to his expense account.... "I have heard of extra toppings, but this is ridiculous. When the most expensive item on the menu is C$34, how did he manage to spend C$138 for two people at a pizzeria?" asked Conservative Member of Parliament Rahim Jaffer. BELMONT [Mich.] — While workers at a former Belmont pizza parlor delivered hot pepperoni pies, federal authorities say the business owner shipped pounds of marijuana, cocaine and... More

Pizza can bring great joy, as evidenced by the poems in our Pizza Haiku Contest. But there is also a dark side to pizza—muggings and murders of delivery drivers, pizzerias as fronts for drug operations, etc. And now, in New York City, it seems like cops are looking at a pizza deliveryman as a suspect in the "Spider Man Rapist" case. The heinous perp in these assaults has been climbing down fire escapes into open windows, assualting women, and then using some sort of wire system to lower himself down to the ground. The deliveryman cops are investigating, Eugenio Aguilar,... More

Slice has a bulletin board forum dedicated to pizza. It's called The Pizza Peel. I've got mixed feelings about the continued usefulness of this site feature, but every now and then, something pops up on it that catches my eye. Like this message from a TV producer. I thought I'd highlight it here on the main part of the site: I’m looking for passionate pizza chefs for a Discovery Times Channel series called '15 Films About Pizza'. I need a pizza chef that believes the Chicago deep dish is the one and only- and a New Yorker that believes the... More

Halloween night's Larry King Live featured an interview with Ted Rowlands of KTVU and Laura Ingle of KFI radio, who were in the courtroom for day three of alleged wife-and-baby-killer Scott Peterson's preliminary hearing. (Nancy Grace was guest host; Mr. King was out scaring trick-or-treators.) Grace: Well, let me ask Ted Rowlands a question, speaking of his urgency, his concern—yes, it may have wiped out his mind what he was fishing with, but am I correct? Was it in the testimony today, Ted Rowlands, that when he got home, saw his wife's vehicle, the pocketbook, the keys, the wallet, and... More