{{Short description|American chef, author and television personality}} {{Infobox chef | name = David Ruggerio | image = David_Ruggerio.jpg | alt = | birth_name = Sabatino Antonino Gambino | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=y|1962|06|26}} | birth_place = Brooklyn, New York, USA | education = | spouse = | website = {{URL|davidruggerio.com/}} | style = French, Italian }}
'''David Ruggerio''' (born '''Sabatino Antonino Gambino'''; June 26, 1962, in Brooklyn, USA) is an American chef, author, and television personality. Son of Saverio Erasmo Gambino and Constance Lazzarino, he became famous in the food world during the 1990s. Ruggerio honed his culinary skills in France at several of the country's leading restaurants, among them, the Hôtel Le Negresco with {{ill|Jacques Maximin|fr}}; Moulin de Mougins with Roger Vergé; L'Auberge du Pont de Collonges with Paul Bocuse and Les Prés d'Eugénie with Michel Guérard.
==Biography== David Ruggerio was born on June 26, 1962, as Sabatino Antonino Gambino, son of Saverio Erasmo Gambino, a Sicilian-born<ref name="mashed/1395233">{{cite web |last1=Cahill |first1=Mary K. |title=Unmasking Chef David Ruggerio's Mafia Past |url=https://www.mashed.com/1395233/chef-david-ruggerio-mafia/ |website=Mashed.com |access-date=9 December 2025 |date=18 September 2023}}</ref> cousin of Carlo Gambino.<ref name="vanityfair/mob-chef">{{cite news |last1=Sherman |first1=Gabriel |title=“I'll Let the Chips Fall Where They May”: The Life and Confessions of Mob Chef David Ruggerio |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2022/03/the-life-and-confessions-of-mob-chef-david-ruggerio |access-date=9 December 2025 |work=vanityfair.com |date=24 March 2022}}</ref>
His rise to fame began as the chef at the legendary New York eatery, La Caravelle at age twenty-five.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/03/02/arts/restaurants-105390.html|title=Restaurants by Bryan Miller|work=The New York Times|date=2 March 1990 |access-date=2018-11-27|last1=Miller |first1=Bryan }}</ref> At the same time, Ruggerio was a part of the crew of Gambino capo Carmine Lombardozzi, known as the "King of Wall Street" for his stock pump and dump schemes. Lombardozzi had a rule that all his crew had to take legitimate day jobs to deter suspicion from law enforcement, which led to Ruggerio taking a job in the kitchen at La Caravelle, then one of the top French restaurants in the city.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2022/03/the-life-and-confessions-of-mob-chef-david-ruggerio|title = "I'll Let the Chips Fall Where They May": The Life and Confessions of Mob Chef David Ruggerio|website = Vanity Fair|date = 24 March 2022}}</ref>
He went on to take command of Pierre Cardin's New York outpost of Maxim's de Paris<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/01/10/arts/restaurants-993992.html|title=Restaurants by Bryan Miller|work=The New York Times|date=10 January 1992 |access-date=2018-11-27|last1=Miller |first1=Bryan }}</ref> where he garnered three stars from the New York Times. He then took his talents to the iconic Park Avenue restaurant, Le Chantilly.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/02/12/arts/restaurants-648493.html|title=Restaurants by Bryan Miller|work=The New York Times|date=12 February 1993 |access-date=2018-11-27|last1=Miller |first1=Bryan }}</ref> Here he gained national acclaim by again receiving three stars from the New York Times and being lauded over in an article by legendary writer Gael Greene entitled "Miracle on 57th Street".<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DBoAAAAAMBAJ&q=NY+Magazine+gael+greene+Le+Chantilly+miracle+on+57th+Street&pg=PA54|title=The Insatiable Critic/Gael Greene: Le Chantilly miracle on 57th Street|work=New York|date=15 February 1993|access-date=2018-11-27}}</ref>
In a 2022 Vanity Fair interview, Ruggerio claimed that from an early age, he was an active member of the Gambino crime family, taking part in various crimes such as extortion, loan-sharking, truck hijacking, bookmaking, heroin dealing, and murder. Ruggerio said that in March 1978, he helped Onorato torture and murder a 56-year-old Genovese and Colombo associate named Pasquale 'Paddy Mac' Macchirole at a tire repair garage in Yonkers, New York. They left Macchirole's corpse in a car trunk in Brooklyn. Contemporary reporting confirms that police found Macchirole's body in March 1978.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2022/03/the-life-and-confessions-of-mob-chef-david-ruggerio|title = "I'll Let the Chips Fall Where They May": The Life and Confessions of Mob Chef David Ruggerio|website = Vanity Fair|date = 24 March 2022}}</ref> "The body of a reputed organized-crime figure, once accused of extorting money from a prominent Queens nightclub owner who was later murdered, was found stuffed in the trunk of a rented car early yesterday in the Canarsie section of Brooklyn." March 24, 1978 NYT.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/03/24/archives/three-men-linked-to-mobs-found-slain-in-brooklyn-police-press-hunt.html|title = Three Men Linked to Mobs Found Slain in Brooklyn|newspaper = The New York Times|date = 24 March 1978|last1 = Buder|first1 = Leonard}}</ref>
==Media personality==
Ruggerio starred in a PBS cooking series entitled, "Little Italy with David Ruggerio."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/09/24/dining/bits-and-bytes.html|title=Bits and Bytes by Eric Asimov|work=The New York Times|date=24 September 1997 |access-date=2018-11-27|last1=Asimov |first1=Eric }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1997-10-15-9710150130-story.html|title=Lights! Camera! Action! (And some cooking too)|work=Chicago Tribune|access-date=2018-11-27}}</ref> He later went on to star in his own series on Food Network entitled, "Ruggerio to Go."
==Legal history==
On November 3, 1998, David Ruggerio was charged with stealing $190,000 from a credit card company by falsifying credit card receipts for payment, in one case by as much as $30,000. He falsified credit card payments by inflating the gratuities left by 26 customers at his restaurant.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/11/03/nyregion/chef-of-former-le-chantilly-is-accused-of-credit-theft.html|title=Chef of Former Le Chantilly Is Accused of Credit Theft|work=The New York Times|date=3 November 1998 |access-date=2018-11-30|last1=Rohde |first1=David }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.deseretnews.com/article/660950/Chef-accused-of-cooking-up-inflated-credit-card-charges.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181007031903/https://www.deseretnews.com/article/660950/Chef-accused-of-cooking-up-inflated-credit-card-charges.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 7, 2018|title=Chef accused of cooking up inflated credit card charges|work=Deseret News|access-date=2018-11-30}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://ew.com/article/1998/11/20/monitor-292/|title=Monitor by Suna Chang|magazine=EW|access-date=2018-11-30}}</ref>
On March 12, 1999, he admitted to the charges and paid more than $100,000 in restitution to a credit card company, spent five years on probation and performed 500 hours of community service.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/03/12/nyregion/chef-admits-he-inflated-tips-in-attempt-to-steal-thousands.html|title=Chef Admits He Inflated Tips In Attempt to Steal Thousands|work=The New York Times|date=12 March 1999 |access-date=2018-11-30|last1=Rohde |first1=David }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/chef-pleads-theft-case-article-1.824850|title=Chef Pleads In Theft Case|work=New York Daily News|access-date=2018-11-30}}</ref> Due to this, Food Network debated keeping his show on the air, but eventually decided to cancel it. The network had produced dozens of episodes and spent a small fortune to market it.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.grubstreet.com/2013/09/shocking-facts-about-food-network.html|title=Bam: 8 Tasty Facts You Probably Don't Know About Food Network|work=Grub Street|access-date=2018-11-30}}</ref>
Ruggerio subsequently attempted to work in the culinary industry again.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/magazine/home/20000521mag-qa-ruggerio.html|title=The Cook, the Thief|work=The New York Times|access-date=2018-11-30}}<!-- https://web.archive.org/web/20181130202228/https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/magazine/home/20000521mag-qa-ruggerio.html --></ref>
On March 24, 2022, in a Vanity Fair article, Ruggerio claimed to have been an active member of Gambino crime family from 1977 to 2014.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2022/03/the-life-and-confessions-of-mob-chef-david-ruggerio|title = "I'll Let the Chips Fall Where They May": The Life and Confessions of Mob Chef David Ruggerio|website = Vanity Fair|date = 24 March 2022}}</ref>
==Bibliography==
*{{cite book |first1=David |last1=Ruggerio |first2=Melanie|last2=Acevedo |date=1997 |title=Little Italy Cookbook |publisher=Artisan |location=New York |isbn=1885183542 |oclc= }} *{{cite book |title=David Ruggerio's Italian Kitchen: Family Recipes from the Old Country |first1=David |last1=Ruggerio |first2=Maura |last2=McEvoy |publisher=Artisan |date=2000 |isbn=1579651151 |oclc= |url=https://archive.org/details/davidruggeriosit0000rugg |url-access=registration }} *Ruggerio, David (2019). ''[https://www.amazon.com/Wistful-Tale-Gods-Men-Monsters/dp/1684333792 David Ruggerio's A Wistful Tale of Gods, Men, and Monsters].'' Black Rose Writing. {{ISBN|9781684333790}}. *{{cite book |last1=Ruggerio |first1=David |title=Say Goodbye and Goodnight |date=2020 |publisher=Black Rose Writing |isbn= 978-1-68433-493-3 }} *{{cite book |last1=Ruggerio |first1=David |title=A Prison Without Locks |date=November 24, 2020 |publisher=Black Rose Writing |location=Texas |isbn=978-1684336203 |pages=215 |url=https://www.blackrosewriting.com/horrorsuspense/aprisonwithoutlocks?rq=david%20ruggerio |access-date=}} *{{cite book |last=Ruggerio |first=David |title=A Tomato Grows in Brooklyn |date=October 21, 2021 |publisher=Black Rose Writing |location=Texas |isbn=9781684338795 |oclc=1273670275 |pages=252 |url=https://www.blackrosewriting.com/nonfiction/atomatogrowsinbrooklyn |access-date=}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{IMDb name|2319365}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruggerio, David}} Category:Living people Category:American cookbook writers Category:American people of Italian descent Category:American restaurateurs Category:American television chefs Category:American chefs Category:Businesspeople from New York City Category:Writers from Brooklyn Category:1962 births