NY Post: Cirpiriani Lawsuit

Last updated: 4:15 am

May 24, 2009

It’s lunchtime at Cipriani Downtown, on West Broadway, where two charmed young men sit shoulder to shoulder in custom-tailored suits, dining on tuna carpaccio and vanilla créme meringue cake.

Maggio and Ignazio Cipriani, brothers and princes of the Cipriani restaurant kingdom, live together, play together and dine here in SoHo every day. They even speak in unison.

Where do they like to eat?

“Cipriani,” they answer.

Where do they hang out?

“Usually, Cipriani,” they agree, returning to their food.

Ever since their shady dad, Giuseppe, left New York this year following a string of financial blows, these baby-faced rookies have been handed the keys to the empire — and they’re living like kings.

Maggio, 19, and Ignazio, 21, reside in neighboring one-bedroom apartments in the Cipriani luxury condominiums at 55 Wall St. They are groomed at the building’s elegant barbershop.

They are chauffeured by private car every morning to their shared Midtown office and break for lunch at Harry Cipriani, on Fifth Avenue, where they “greet our customers and make sure everything is going well,” Maggio told The Post in the brothers’ first-ever interview.

At 4 p.m., they return home “to rest for a few hours.” When they awaken, they split up, so they can visit the family’s five dining palaces scattered across Manhattan. (Maggio recently helped Tom Hanks celebrate Pierce Brosnan’s birthday at Cipriani 42nd Street.)

And every evening they rendezvous on the swanky upstairs balcony at Cipriani Downtown to unwind.

“We are highly involved in the day-to-day operations of the business,” purrs Maggio in his thick Italian accent.

“We play soccer, and we work,” adds Ignazio, a buzz-cut blond with a beefy build. “We don’t hang out with socialites. We weren’t raised like that.”

But the boys aren’t averse to the pleasures of rich men, like their playboy father, 43, who was reportedly seen canoodling with actress Tara Reid, 33, in Cannes last week. (“Tara is a great friend of the family,” shrugs Maggio. “We’ve known her since we were very young. She thought of buying an apartment here once. She’s a very nice woman.”)

Ignazio, for his part, is dating a British woman he met in London last year, while Maggio has been seeing a Brazilian model he fell for on vacation in Uruguay in 2007.

As for their fraternal relationship, Maggio says: “We’re best friends. There’s no jealousy between each other, and we get along perfectly.”

“Fights are only with girlfriends,” adds Ignazio.

And the boys could certainly use each other’s support.

In January, Ignazio was charged with misdemeanor assault for beating up a chauffeur outside the Manhattan nightclub 1Oak, police said. The driver, Bajram Spahijoska, was treated for a broken finger and a cracked nose at a hospital.

“Ignazio was rejected from getting into the lounge, and he thought my client worked there, so he punched him,” Spahijoska’s lawyer, Marc Held, said. “The victim has not returned to work since the incident.”

Ignazio could face probation or prison time if convicted.

A family repre sentative disputed that account, and Ignazio said he could not com ment.

The boys’ youth and legal trouble have cast doubts on their ability to eventually lead Cipriani USA, a company that last year grossed a total of $130 mil lion, according to a family spokes woman.

But they’re con fident about their future, even in a recession.

“We grew up in the restaurant business,” says Ig nazio, who dropped out of Baruch College last year to work full time. “Our company has been around for four generations, which is unusual.”

Maggio has already honed a talent for making major setbacks sound like company gains, including the loss of the illustrious Rainbow Room this year.

“We had a great 10 years at the Rainbow Room, but now we’re ready to look for something else,” he says, hinting that they’re already searching for a new “landmark” venue.

Although Giuseppe remains CEO of the company and won’t be retiring anytime soon, the sons say their father has no plan to return to Manhattan in the near future. Instead, he is traveling between London, Turkey and Dubai, “exploring new business ventures.”

In New York, the brothers work alongside a team of eight management executives who oversee the company’s finance and legal departments. Giuseppe checks in daily with his children by phone.

“The core of all of our restaurants is simplicity,” says Maggio, a former model who wears loafers without socks. “That will never change, and that’s what we’re trying to bring out in the food and in the service.”

Maggio and Ignazio always knew they would join the family empire, which dates back to 1931, when their great-grandfather, also named Giuseppe, founded Harry’s Bar in Venice. The watering hole became a regular haunt of Ernest Hemingway and Truman Capote and is where the Bellini cocktail was invented.

“My grandfather put me in the kitchen making pastries when I was little because I was too short to work on the restaurant floor,” says Maggio. “I was in the pasta factory, moving cases, until I grew. But if you don’t go through all that, you can’t tell people what to do.”

The brothers grew up in Milan with their mother, Eleonora, who split from Giuseppe over 10 years ago. When Ignazio was 13, he was put to work at the cash register in Harry’s Bar during summers and on weekends. In 1985, their father moved to Manhattan to open Harry Cipriani, and seven years ago, his sons followed him.

Ignazio attended Trevor Day School and Maggio the Dwight School, both on the Upper East Side. But just as they were preparing to ascend to power, the Cipriani empire started to crumble.

In 2007, Giuseppe and his father, Arrigo, a partner in the business, pleaded guilty to evading $10 million in state and city taxes over six years.

In August, the family almost lost its liquor licenses because of the fraud. The move would have nuked the entire Cipriani empire, but the State Liquor Authority accepted a $500,000 penalty, instead.

The worst was still to come. In February, after landlord Tishman Speyer accused the Ciprianis of not paying rent, they lost their lease on the Rainbow Room atop Rockefeller Center, once the crown jewel of the dynasty.

And recently, a former chef sued the business for failing to pay overtime.

According to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, the Ciprianis still owe $4.6 million in back taxes and fines that must be paid in two installments by Dec. 15, 2010.

“We weren’t involved in the company during all that,” says Ignazio.

Maggio adds: “Our father was always very relaxed about all of it . . . There’s no reason to look back now. It’s in the past.”

The emperors-in-training say the family legacy will continue — in a fresh direction.

Last Tuesday evening, they began their nightly rounds at a brand-new Cipriani venture, Club55, a members-only cocktail bar housed on the second floor of their Wall Street condominium.

Maggio wore a custom-tailored suit with all four buttons done up, while Ignazio sported navy-blue linen complete with suspenders and a monogrammed shirt.

The boys circulated on the terrace, shaking hands and sipping Diet Coke. After a half-hour of mingling, it was time to change venues.

“We always have our dad and our grandfather supporting us and checking in, even when they’re not here,” says Ignazio, popping a hunk of Parmesan cheese into his mouth and eyeing his BlackBerry.

“Do we get bored of going to the same places every night? Never,” says Maggio. “If I was bored already, what would I do with the rest of my life?”

Additional reporting by Joshua David Stein