What’s so funny—or appetizing—about a T-shirt featuring an alleged serial killer bragging about your pizza? That’s the question some New Yorkers are asking when they see employees wearing garb featuring murder suspect Rex Heuermann at Pizza on the Point in Breezy Point, part of the borough of Queens, New York.
But others are plenty amused, the New York Post reports.
First a reminder: Police last year charged Heuermann with the murders of four women, in part based on a discarded pizza box containing some leftover crust. Authorities already suspected Heuermann of killing the women but needed a DNA sample to link him to a male hair found on victim Megan Waterman’s body. They had Heuermann under surveillance when he threw a pizza box into a trash can in Manhattan. After retrieving the box, investigators swabbed a piece of crust for DNA testing and later said they found the match they were looking for.
Related: What are your pizzeria’s pain points? Get solutions from our experts at PMQ’s Pizza Power Forum September 4-5 in Atlanta
Heuermann now faces charges in the deaths of a total of six women over a period of three decades. That investigation is still ongoing.
Lately, some Pizza on the Point employees have been wearing Rex Heuermann T-shirts at the restaurant, according to the New York Post. The shirts depict Heuermann’s face, with a series of three word balloons that read:
“The Pizza Is Amazing!!
…But Make Sure You
Finish the Crust!”
The quotes are attributed to “Rex Heuermann, Gilgo Pizza Connoisseur.” (The remains of some of the murdered women were found in the Gilgo Beach area in Long Island.)
The New York Post said a Pizza on the Point owner, who was not identified by name, came up with the idea for the T-shirt. It quotes Stefano Ballato, a chef at the pizzeria, as saying the owner “has a very good sense of humor. He had [the T-shirts] printed by his friends. He was born and raised here on Breezy Point.”
Tom McGoorty, Mike Strong, Pat Hayden and Michael Fiore opened Pizza on the Point in late October 2022, according to the Rockaway Times. The pizzeria serves New York-style, Detroit-style and grandma pies.
Ballato said Pizza on the Point has been giving the T-shirts away to its regulars but might start selling them as demand grows. The shirts aren’t currently featured on the pizzeria’s website or social media pages.
The Post says some New Yorkers have complained that the T-shirts are in bad taste, although it’s unclear whether those people are Pizza on the Point customers. “That’s dark,” Breezy Point retiree Paul Fallon told the publication. “That’s beyond dark. That’s tasteless, and tasteless is not a good thing for a pizza parlor.” Another customer, identified as Samantha K, is quoted as saying, “It might be funny for some people, but it’s really inappropriate. They should definitely take his picture off. That is some dark, dark humor.”
But the Post said “many customers” interviewed for the story “get the dark humor.” One is quoted as saying, “I think it’s hilarious. I really like the way the shirt was laid out. Now that I know, I’m definitely going to eat the crust.” Another told the Post, “It’s funny. It’s a little dark. Dark humor, but definitely New York humor.”
Offensive or witty, the T-shirts have generated publicity for Pizza on the Point through the New York Post article. But it’s the sort of edgy—and risky—marketing that likely wouldn’t go over well in most American communities. Ballato said Breezy Point folks tend to be more “relaxed,” adding, “If you go to Manhattan, you can’t make nobody happy. Always someone finds a problem, a way not to be happy. They don’t appreciate nothing funny. Not here, no worry in the world. They’re all good here.”
