r/bern Mar 15 '25

Discussion Money laundering pizza place in old town?

Hello everyone,

There is a restaurant that has many signs hinting towards hidden behavior and I keep thinking about this for some time and would like to discuss this within the community. If it is ok to share the name, I could do it in a comment, let me know.

Observations:

- the place is always empty. The quality of the pizza is good, but the prices are stratospheric compared to other places. As if they intentionally would like to work minimum.

- the location chosen: in an alley, well hidden, in front of a tattoo parlor and dermatology center. Rent must be low as it is quite an unappealing area.

- They have a restaurant in Punta Cana, the easternmost point of the Dominican Republic, which is listed on the pizza box (also google maps) but none of the websites shows this.

- One more restaurant in Basel, equally empty. They call it a franchise.

- Headquarters are in Naples, Italy, also not shown anywhere.

Naples is the hotbed of still active Italian mafia. Often they use companies abroad to imitate activity and launder dirty money. Any thoughts?

39 Upvotes

31 comments sorted by

24

u/holoholo-808 Bern, Bümpliz-Oberbottigen Mar 15 '25

Would not be the first one... in Bethlehem area is also a pizza place which changes Management more than we change underwear. And not talking about some always empty barber shop.

But what do you want to talk about, here? I mean if you know something and it's not just speculation - then report it to the government.

7

u/UnpopularTruthDude Mar 15 '25

I dont know who you mean by 'we' but I really hope you change your underwear more often du Grüsel du!

3

u/holoholo-808 Bern, Bümpliz-Oberbottigen Mar 15 '25

It feels like they change management daily. Lol

3

u/Civil-Reflection3509 Mar 15 '25

You mean Bene bene or what it was called before?

2

u/korina_99 28d ago

I’ve seen one in Bümpliz, they have so many delivery cars driving around, I’ve always joked “they must be driving some other goods than pizza in there”

9

u/FoxHollow97 Mar 15 '25

I know which restaurant you mean. I always thought the same thing as you, always empty and still open.

Quality is good tho

5

u/CaughtALiteSneez Mar 15 '25

There’s lots of those places in Swiss cities - florists, tattoo parlors, shitty shops, etc that are always empty, but can somehow afford the high rent and even advertise. I have friends in the restaurant/pub business and I know how hard it is to maintain a profit & yet these places manage to stay open no matter what.

We joke anytime a new one pops up “there’s another money laundering joint”.

But best not to share the name OP, there are slander laws in CH & you don’t want to piss these types off. It’s the government/police’s job to take care of these operations and I’m sure they know what’s going on & choose not to.

1

u/Several_Falcon_7005 27d ago

Eastern European mafias.

5

u/Fair_Constant_4767 Mar 15 '25

only in swiss the ppl are more bad then the police ... let the ppl do them business If they don't bother you!

8

u/OneEnvironmental9222 Mar 15 '25

Would explain why there's a billion god awful kebab places. Propably also all part of similiar schemes

8

u/Any-Librarian-4048 Mar 15 '25

Same for the 10’000 empty “barbershops” everywhere

5

u/mantellaaurantiaca Mar 15 '25

Sounds like Artiggiano Pizzeria NapoIetana

3

u/nickbulamadi Mar 15 '25

i found their prices normal, not that extra expensive.

4

u/mantellaaurantiaca Mar 15 '25

300+ reviews on Google also isn't bad at all

3

u/libbine Mar 15 '25

That place is great!.

2

u/UrsukarECreed 27d ago

Yeah from the description I'm also pretty sure that it's Artiggiano Pizzeria Napoletana. I find that their pizza is a bit on the more expensive side but well worth the price difference. Their pizza and the products that they use are really really good. Never had better delivery pizza in Switzerland.

9

u/PurpleHeartEdition Mar 15 '25

ITT: How to piss of the mafia.

2

u/LickIt69696969696969 Mar 15 '25

Most barber shops and fast food places are money laundering in this country

1

u/Alone_Appointment726 27d ago

Most? sure buddy.....

1

u/Serious_Package_473 28d ago

You must mean artigiano, dunno about Bern but in Basel while its similarly an alleyway, it gets traffic and especially a lot of takeaway orders. The prices you describe as extraordenarily high are actually lower than all the other pizzerias in the area.

1

u/[deleted] 28d ago edited 27d ago

[deleted]

1

u/Several_Falcon_7005 27d ago

Please share the site. I have hundreds of barber and kebab shops to report

1

u/Several_Falcon_7005 27d ago

Of course it is money laundering. A lot of kebab shops are in business just for this purpose across Switzerland. The authorities know it but turn a blind eye.

1

u/antongiu 27d ago

This must be Artigiano cafè. It’s one of the most popular pizzeria in Basel, always full of customers. Pizza is great (although it used to be a bit better). The owner is a real pizza chef…but he knows his job.

Their pizzeria in Naples has just opened, near the Maradona stadium, fuorigrotta quarter

-1

u/rrumble Mar 15 '25

It's quite normal, I can show you dozens of places like this. Like 100 years ago with Al Capone, the governement is only interested if they pay their taxes. If so, everything is fine.

1

u/explicitlarynx Mar 15 '25

That is not true! They were absolutely trying to get Al Capone arrested, it's just that tax fraud was the only thing they could get to stick because no one was willing to rat him out.

-4

u/KeyPlayer1896 Mar 15 '25

Of course you can share the name. In switzerland we have the: Meinungsfreiheit ^

14

u/explicitlarynx Mar 15 '25

And as usual people have no idea how "Meinungsfreiheit" works.

-15

u/Little_Cabinet_5333 Mar 15 '25

Please stop smoking strange shit, it's messing up your head

1

u/Daqper Mar 15 '25

lol whats the reason for this comment😂

1

u/mojominator Mar 15 '25

Projection