A community was in mourning after a Seaford couple who had run the A & A Italian Deli & Pizza in Bethpage for decades were fatally stabbed, allegedly by their son, on Thursday, Dec. 4.’
“For more than 30 years, Tony and Angela devoted their lives to serving all of us. Straight from Italy, they built their deli with love, humility, and pure dedication. They never overcharged, never complained, and never treated anyone as just a customer. To them, we were all family,” wrote Courtni Speicher, who organized a GoFundMe page.
The GoFundMe page on behalf of Angela Pulisciano, 62, and Antonio Dambrosio, 70, has raised over $78,000, with over 1,000 people donating in the wake of the couple’s death.
Funeral services were held for Pulisciano and Dambrosio at Saint James R. C. Church in Seaford, and the couple was then buried at St. Charles Cemetery in Farmingdale on Friday, Dec. 12.
Visitations were held on the two days before the funeral at Frederick J. Chapey & Sons in Bethpage as well.
Speicher called the couple kind and hardworking in the post as well.
Hanna Akbik, who wrote on the couple’s online tribute wall that they were born and raised in Bethpage, said that coming to the deli was one of their earliest and happiest childhood memories.
“They made every customer feel welcome, and that’s why their loss has had such a huge impact on all of us, it’s because of the way that they made us feel,” they wrote.
Dana and Joe Molloy wrote that they had visited the store for decades, even stopping by when in town after they moved away from Bethpage.
“We loved their food, and their kindness,” they wrote.
Nassau County Police had responded to A & A Italian Deli & Pizza, located at 4240 Hicksville Road, on Dec. 4, and found Pulisciano and Dambrosio with stab wounds to their throats. Both were pronounced dead that day.
Vito Dambrosio, the couple’s son, was found at the scene, and after a conversation with officers, he was handcuffed, later being charged with murder, according to police.
Many people visited the deli in the immediate aftermath of the incident, bringing flowers and messages to the outside of the storefront.
