An Italian mobster has opened an organised crime-themed restaurant

What do you do if you've just got out of prison from living a life of crime? Whatever you might do, you'd probably not want to make a big deal about your previous convictions. It's usually a less than brilliant idea to walk around proclaiming that you're a gangster. It usually ends up in you getting into even more trouble (you'd think, at least...). That's a message that doesn't seem to have got through to Salvatore Buzzi, however, as he's decided to embrace his mobster past in restaurant form!

Buzzi's Burgers has just recently opened in a suburb of Rome, Italy, and was inspired by the convicted mobster's most recent spell behind bars. According to a news report about the new restaurant in Corriere Della Sera, the restaurant fully revels in its owners deeply controversial past. The menu has sandwiches named after the organized crime dramas Gomorrah and Suburra, as well as hot dogs, burgers and salads named after various bosses and members of the Banda della Magliana organisation. Even the way things are priced at Buzzi's Burgers are reflective of his mobster past! "In this club everyone pays, friends, relatives and acquaintances," Buzzi told Corriere Della Sera, "But prosecutors pay double, and judges pay triple." If you're on the opposite side of the law from Mr. Buzzi, it's probably not a good idea to go and eat at his restaurant...

As you'd expect, not everyone sees the funny side of Buzzi's latest operation. One of those people who isn't very happy with it is Luigi Ciotti, a priest who founded the anti-Mafia organisation Libera. Calling Buzzi's Burgers "vulgar, offensive [and] unacceptable," he compared it to the controversial Spanish chain La Mafia se Sienta a la Mesa (The Mafia sits at the table) which has been trading since 2000. "The fact that such an initiative can now be implemented in our country is a matter of deep concern," said Ciotti. "Since eradicating an evil is too tiring and calls into question wider power structures, it is normalized, it is pretended that it is less serious than it is by associating it with consumer goods such as food."

Is it a good idea for a man from a life of crime to open up a restaurant that glorifies his criminal past in that way? Maybe not. It certainly gets people talking, though. Time will tell whether Buzzi's Burgers becomes a Mafia-themed success or ends up landing its controversial owner back in hot water...