Family of abusive pizza guy now says it's looking to sell its Roslindale pizza place

The Boston Licensing Board agreed today to let the family of convicted pizza guy Stavros Papantoniadis keep food-serving licenses for his Stash's in Dorchester and Bel Ave Pizza in Roslindale now that they've written him out of the businesses and said they are planning to sell off both locations to other operators.

At a hearing Tuesday, the family's lawyers said the family was in the process of selling Stash's, at Blue Hill Avenue and Columbia Road, to the pizzeria's current manager, but that the family wanted to hold onto Bel Ave, on Belgrade Avenue.

At a meeting today, however, board members said they received correspondence from the family's lawyers that the family was now trying to sell off Bel Ave. as well. However, they made a similar assertion about that location not long after Papantoniadis was arrested, only to wind up taking over operations themselves - and changing the name from Stash's to Bel Ave.

The building itself is owned by two men who run a Newmarket Square food wholesaler that has long focused on serving the pizzeria industry, according to city assessors records.

Board members acknowledged the seriousness of the charges against Papantoniadis, who is now serving an 8 1/2-year federal prison sentence for a long running reign of terror against his immigrant workers that included beatings, threats and underpaying them.

But they said that without the licenses, the family would be unable to pay off SBA loans he had taken out for both places and might be unable to sell the places.

Aside from his conviction in the worker-abuse case, Papantoniadis still faces for allegedly defrauding the SBA on a $500,000 Covid-relief loan in 2021.

Board members added that before the sale of Stash's in Dorchester goes through, they will have some questions for prospective new owner Artan Mertiri, because he signed the pizza place's 2025 license renewal, including checking "No" next to questions about whether any owners had been convicted of violating state and federal wages laws - after Papantoniadis, still listed as an owner, had not only been convicted but sentenced.

"It gives me pause [whether] this person is adequately aware of the legalities of running a business," board member Liam Curran said. 'He's going to buy this business and they're telling us he signed [the renewal application] but he didn't know what he's signing."