Ray Liotta spun pizza pies in New Jersey long before ‘Goodfellas’

Years earlier than Ray Liotta landed meaty roles in “Area of Desires” and “Goodfellas,” the charismatic actor was rolling in dough at a pizzeria in Cranford, NJ.

Liotta was boyhood friends with Vincent Preziosi, Jr., whose mother, Ronnie, now 93, and pop, Vincent Sr., began Pizza Home/Pizza Chef in Newark within the Fifties earlier than relocating the enterprise to Cranford in 1970.

Liotta labored on the pizzeria throughout his excessive summer time holidays from 1971 to 1973. “We have been making $3.50 an hour again then,” Preziosi Jr. recalled.

“Ray was an excellent employee. … He used to point out earlier than me. He was a pizzamaker. He was glorious at tossing the pie, making the circle larger.”

Along with his ice blue eyes and broad smile, Liotta was a field workplace draw even again then.

“The pizzeria opened at at 10 a.m., however there have been at all times 5 or 6 ladies lined up exterior the shop about 40 minutes earlier,” Preziosi Jr. stated. ” I used to be like, ‘Who eats pizza that early?’ It wasn’t laborious to determine. The ladies have been coming to see Ray.”

Preziosi Jr. thought-about the actor, who died Thursday on the age of 67, an expensive buddy who by no means forgot the place he got here from.

“Ray was an especially loyal, beneficiant, humorous, accountable man. I used to be tremendous shocked once I heard he handed,” Preziosi Jr. instructed The Put up from his house in Orlando, Fla.

About 5 years in the past, Liotta despatched the Preziosi household — at present co-owned by Ronnie and daughter, Gina, 59 — an autographed photograph that reads, “I miss one of the best pizza on the East Coast!” The framed photograph proudly hangs on a wall of Pizza Home/Pizza Chef, which like Liotta’s work, attracts rave opinions for its thin-crust and margherita pies.

The 2 Jersey Boys adopted the identical path by means of faculty, attending the College of Miami, the place they have been roommates for a 12 months. They made the drive to Miami in Liotta’s circa-1969 orange Mercury.

It was at school that Liotta majored in drama — “he hated math and science” — earlier than shifting to the Huge Apple, stated Preziosi Jr., now a chiropractor.

Along with Preziosi Jr., that inside circle included Gene Laguna, an insurance coverage firm proprietor; Jules Geltzeiler, a urologist; Freddy Silverman, a former safety trade knowledgeable, and Gary Hecker, who turned a Beverly Hills legal professional.

Liotta would say, “We’re all Jersey Guys,” and to that, the group, when collectively, “dropped their share of ‘F-bombs,’” Preziosi Jr. stated.