Burr Ridge Mishandled Restaurant's Liquor License: Ex-Official

BURR RIDGE, IL — Former Burr Ridge Trustee Zach Mottl has long alleged his rival, Mayor Gary Grasso, and his allies cut breaks for a prominent businessman that others would not receive.

Last month, Mottl submitted a 126-page complaint, complete with exhibits, to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Chicago.

Grasso denies that the village gave Capri Ristorante owner Filippo "Gigi" Rovito any special treatment. He said Burr Ridge has followed a state law that includes a rehabilitation process for those with criminal records to become liquor license holders.

Grasso was mayor from 2005 to 2012, when he was elected to the DuPage County Board. He took the helm again in 2019 after defeating Mottl in the election.

In 2008, Capri Ristorante was cited by the village on a charge of pouring alcohol after 1 a.m., with Rovito failing to make sure the restaurant was vacated by customers after closing time. The restaurant also was cited on a charge of allowing Rovito, a convicted felon, to manage the restaurant and failing to disclose the fact that he was a felon.

Under Illinois law, the mayor is the liquor commissioner, presiding over hearings on liquor license violations. After the hearing for Capri, Grasso levied $2,000 in fines. As part of his order, Grasso allowed Rovito to serve as manager for up to seven more days — until another person filled in the proper paperwork to be manager.

After that, Rovito was allowed to continue as "non-manager host," which meant he could do the same job without the official title, Mottl said in his complaint. The village's agreement with Capri was silent on how long Rovito had been operating illegally as manager and why he failed to disclose his felony status on Capri's application, Mottl said.

The agreement, though, did state how Rovito could rehabilitate himself to become manager. A rehabilitation hearing was held in March 2011. To handle the case, Grasso appointed Al Paveza, a longtime village trustee.

As part of the rehabilitation, Rovito was required to provide character witnesses. According to the village's instructions, the witnesses should be willing to testify that Rovito is worthy of public trust and give specific examples of what he has done to rehabilitate himself.

Rovito's attorney submitted form affidavits from four people supporting Rovito. They were identical. Mottl said it was "hard to imagine that all four (people) would have the exact same personal examples in support of Gigi's rehabilitation."

"It appears instead that all four individuals may not have the full story and are misinformed about Gigi’s criminal background, including his convictions, because each affidavit merely acknowledges that Gigi was convicted of criminal sexual assault and possession of illegal drugs, but Gigi was actually convicted of manufacturing, delivery and possession of a controlled substance — heroin — not merely possession," Mottl said.

He continued, "There’s a big difference between a conviction for mere possession of a controlled substance as opposed to a conviction for manufacturing, delivery, and possession."

The affidavits state that Rovito has "managed Capri well as the restaurant is very successful and is frequently operating at or near capacity."

Mottl said the affidavits essentially admit that Rovito was in violation of Grasso's 2008 decision prohibiting Rovito from serving as manager until he was rehabilitated.

"This alone should have been enough to deny the request for rehabilitation," Mottl said.

Yet Grasso and the village attorney, who both attended the meeting, said nothing and did not note the violation, Mottl said.

"It's troubling that both the Village Attorney and Mayor Grasso (both with 30+ years of experience as lawyers) failed to point out the fatal flaws in the affidavits tendered to support Gigi's request for rehabilitation," Mottl said.

Paveza allowed Rovito to become the manager.

In 2013, the village approved a liquor license with Rovito as owner. His brother had transferred his interest.

Three months afterward, a police officer found Capri's door open after hours and seven people inside, including Rovito. The restaurant was given a warning.

A few weeks later, officers conducted another check and found two customers at the bar after hours. Rovito was sitting at the bar. A citation was issued.

Mottl quoted Paveza's decision on allowing Rovito to become manager: "Petitioner is hereby required to remain free of any serious violations relative to Capri Ristorante or further misconduct as a condition of remaining eligible to lawfully occupy this position, manager and liquor license holder."

Asked about the 2011 hearing, Paveza said the village approached it as a "touchy situation."

"The police chief really checked it out," Paveza said in an interview. "We figured out there was a problem. We wanted to make sure everything was above board."

He noted a court reporter was present and that a transcript should be available. While Mottl acknowledged the reporter was there, he said no transcript is available at the village.

In an email to Patch, Grasso said he informed Rovito in 2008 that he could not manage Capri Ristorante because of his past.

"I was not aware that there was a state Rehabilitation statute," Grasso said. "When Gigi’s counsel brought it forward — in 2011 — and asked for a Rehabilitation hearing, I thought it prudent to let our senior trustee (and maybe he was also Mayor Pro Tem then) Al Paveza hear it because I had already taken a position on Gigi’s ineligibility to manage Capri. I also had dined at Capri often and had come to know him."

He said the police chief testified at the hearing and said the restaurant had no serious violations since it opened.

"The village counsel provided advice on the procedural and substantive requirements for rehabilitation and wrote the decision based on all the evidence that counsel produced at the hearing," Grasso said.

According to Burr Ridge police, Rovito is a convicted felon with multiple convictions. Court records show the victim of the 17-year-old Rovito's 1991 sex crime was a 14-year-old girl. He was released from prison in 2002 after about five years, according to a 2013 memo from Police Chief John Madden.

Rovito has not returned numerous messages for comment over the last year.

Recently, village trustees complained about a large number of public records requests coming from one resident. It was apparent they were referring to Mottl, who lost his re-election to Grasso-aligned candidates last April.

Mottl said the public records were, in part, to expose how the village handled liquor license issues involving Capri Ristorante.

Mottl's complaint covers other subjects involving the village. He also submitted complaints to the Illinois Attorney General's Office, the DuPage County State's Attorney's Office and the PACE bus service's inspector general.