Well-known Staten Island entrepreneur Ettore Mazzei busted in drug ring sting

Ettore Mazzei, a self-promoting Staten Island restaurateur, music producer and self-help author was arrested early Wednesday for running a drug ring, police sources said.

Just two years ago, Mazzei, 61, received an outstanding leadership award from the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce.

Cops nabbed the entrepreneur near Vanderbilt Ave. and Targee St. in Stapleton about 3:45 a.m. after a grand jury indicted him on a slew of drug sale charges, as well as for grand larceny, identity theft and criminal possession of a forged instrument, police sources confirmed.

Besides being a restaurateur, Mazzei runs an online and print magazine called This Way on Bay and self-published a book, “It’s Your Right to be Fit, Sexed, and Happy, So Claim It”.

Mazzei also runs his own music production companies Hanz On Music and Dock Street Records. He helped produce an album with Wu Tang Clan member Method Man called “The Meth Lab.”

Mazzei is one of 21 people swept up in a massive criminal indictment regarding drug sales in the borough, a police source said. His sister Melissa Mazzei was also busted as part of the sting, along with Mazzei’s girlfriend, Tatiana Rodriguez. Mazzei is accused of being the ringleader of the group, police sources said.

Mazzei owns Chez Vous, a catering and celebration hall in the Staten Island landmark Edgewater Hall on Bay St., which is down the block from his home.

Police searches were being conducted at three locations on Bay Street Wednesday, including Edgewater Hall, Mazzei’s home and a restaurant called The Richmond.

Police came out of Mazzei’s home holding small baggies of a white substance and evidence boxes.

In his book, which is available as a free download from his website, Mazzei holds forth on topics including tantric sex, the benefits of a raw food diet, whether vaccines cause autism and the “masculine essence”.

“I’ve made the mistake in my past relationships of encouraging my lover to have a career that will afford us a good life,” he writes. “What I realize now is that for me that was nonsense. My girl does not have to have a career. I am the breadwinner and when I’m not being that, I must get in [sic] together. This is the case for me because I have a masculine essence.”

He also devotes an entire chapter to addiction.

“The fact is that some people will never handle their addictions in this lifetime,” he says. “Many die sad lives, addicted. I know good people with strong wills that are getting their a– kicked with their addictions.”

In 2022, Mazzei was honored by the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce with the Louis R. Miller Business Leadership Award for his three decades as a local businessman and community leader and for revitalizing downtown Staten Island with his catering hall and several other buildings along Bay St. that he renovated.

“Passionate about the North Shore, Mazzei has played an integral role in the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce’s economic revitalization work in Downtown Staten Island by donating space at Edgewater Hall to host meetings and regularly participates in clean-up and beautification events,” the chamber said of Mazzei.

During his interview for the Louis R. Miller award, Mazzei said he would continue to help Staten Island whenever he could.

“I’m not going anywhere,” he said. “I’m going to stay here until the end.”

On May 14, he and his son were both arrested on misdemeanor assault charges for allegedly attacking a tenant on one of his Staten Island properties three days earlier, according to court records. He was released without bail on that charge.

His arraignment on the drug indictment was pending in Staten Island Criminal Court Wednesday.

With Ellen Moynihan