Veni, vidi, victuals. Tommy DeVito has eaten his way back into the good graces of his biggest fans.
Every day was coming up Columbus Day in New York Giants land until this week, with DeVito stringing together a few victories and playing up his Italian roots loudly and proudly.
But then a hard rain fell on the parade. First the Giants' offense disappeared in a 24-6 loss to the New Orleans Saints this past Sunday, ending the three-game winning streak that made DeVito the most-celebrated Italian jock in the market since Mike Piazza. Then a New Jersey pizzeria put the homegrown quarterback on blast for trying to strongarm a paisan for an extra ten large. Nino Coniglio, owner of Coniglio's Old Fashioned in Morristown, went on Instagram to announce that he’d canceled DeVito’s scheduled Tuesday meet-and-greet at his joint. DeVito, who grew up in Cedar Grove, about a half-hour drive away from the pizza place, had agreed to show up and sign autographs for $10,000, but suddenly the fee had doubled.
“We are a small family run business & decided $20,000 was a bit steep for 2 hours,” Coniglio wrote.
As locals fumed about how the kid called "Tommy Cutlets" had forgotten where his pasta was sauced, DeVito went full crisis-management mode. He took the marketing responsibilities away from his agent Sean Stellato, a fabulous cartoon of a human being who’d received scads of press for his Italian heritage while promoting himself at least as hard as he hawked his client. Coniglio blamed Stellato for asking for a bigger slice of pie from the pizzeria following the Giants' last-second win on Dec. 11 over the Green Bay Packers. Then Stellato made everything worse for DeVito by claiming the player and Coniglio never had a deal to show up, only to have reporter Darren Rovell come forth with a screencap of a text from Stellato that sure seemed to show there was an agreement on $10,000 for a two-hour appearance. Maxx Lepselter, a marketer to the stars based in Hasbrouck Heights, N.J., will take over, but DeVito will keep Stellato and his fedora around to handle matters related to his Giants contract.
Class Act: Giants QB Tommy DeVito showed up on his own this afternoon and unpaid to Coniglios, the pizza shop that originally had scheduled an appearance.
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) December 19, 2023
Making sodas the old fashioned way with owner Nino Coniglio. pic.twitter.com/k8w8pK5OkG
Choosing food over feud, DeVito and his entourage showed up at Coniglio’s on Tuesday anyway to sample the regionally famous pizza and old-school fountain sodas. Lepselter was in attendance; Stellato wasn't welcome. The New York Post had photos of the QB pinching his fingers and posing with Coniglio’s infant daughter.
Seems all is forgiven. Coniglio told the Post that he was sorry for any bad press brought upon the young QB, but he still held a grudge against Stellato, who called it a "complete misunderstanding."
According to the report, DeVito will return to Coniglio's in January for a more official appearance to sign autographs. Welcome back, Patrick Madone.
