He’s taking a slice out of crime.
Heroic pizzeria owner Louie Suljovic saved the day twice last week — first against a box cutter-wielding goon looking for a slice, then by stopping a reckless driver from speeding away after a crash outside his Queens shop.
The back-to-back serving of street justice began late April 1 — nearly four years to the day after Suljovic and his dad were viciously stabbed several times while trying to thwart a robbery.
Despite Suljovic’s past run-in at the wrong end of a hooligan’s knife, he unhesitatingly burst into action when an unhinged 34-year-old man burst into Louie’s Pizzeria in Elmhurst brandishing a blade, police said
“I had to deescalate the situation,” Suljovic told The Post. “He got very nasty, told us to give him an ‘F-ing slice,’ and was very aggressive toward my customers — so I gave him a slice.”
Suljovic’s quick thinking eased the situation and sent the alleged maniac, Jose Guadfebles, on his way — at least for a short while.
The maniac soon returned looking for trouble, but Suljovic didn’t give him any chance to start cutting.
“Once I saw him reaching for the knife, I grabbed him,” said Suljovic, a military vet who has run the Baxter Avenue shop with his 73-year-old father, Cazim, since 2009.
“I had a full house, and I wanted to protect the people here.”
Concerned for his customers’ safety, Suljovic and his employees cornered and fought Guadfebles until officers from the NYPD’s 110th Precinct arrived.
“We got into a scuffle, I ripped the knife out of his jacket and got it out of the way,” Suljovic said. “We were tussling, holding him down, and the glass door cracked.”
Cops confiscated the box cutter and booked Guadfebles on charges of criminal mischief and menacing, officials said.
Just three days after thwarting off the knife attack, Suljovic stopped an alleged drunken driver from fleeing the scene of a hit-and-run crash right outside his shop.
While the driver was halted at a stoplight Saturday night, Suljovic opened the driver’s door, removed the keys and held the individual until police arrived, video shows.
“I love my neighborhood,” Suljovic told The Post shortly after. “I’m here to protect my customers and my people in my neighborhood.”
Suljovic’s bravery quickly drew kudos in a video posted the next morning by John Forgash, founder and executive director of Queens Together, a nonprofit supporting the borough’s restaurant community.
The video recounting the tense run-in with the knife-wielding creep, and encouraging locals to visit the pizzeria, racked up more than 20,000 views.
“An alert should go out through the police or another network to business owners, warning them to be vigilant, letting them know about recent crimes against businesses in the area,” Forgash said.
“It shouldn’t be too difficult to have something similar to an Amber Alert system to help business owners be aware of what’s happening.”
In an ironic twist, Suljovic was being interviewed by a television crew when Guadfebles, a Queens resident, returned to the pizzeria.
Suljovic chased him away, and Guadfebles was arrested again Friday.
“I was like, ‘Wait a second, that’s him, he’s back,’” Suljovic said. “You can’t make this stuff up.”
Guadfebles has since been released from jail without bail after he pleaded not guilty to charges, court records how.
The recent incident was eerily similar to the March 26, 2022, episode in which Suljovic and his father suffered multiple stab wounds as they came to the aid of an elderly woman who was robbed, stabbed and thrown to the ground outside their shop.
The stabbing left the father and son each with a collapsed lung, but they recovered and quickly returned to slinging pizzas.
Suljovic said things aren’t improving in the area around Elmhurst’s Dunningham Triangle, where Louie’s is well known for its grandma and chicken and tomato slices.
“Things have gotten worse,” Suljovic told The Post.
“It’s not good when people are arrested and immediately released. The punk (who stabbed us) was arrested a week prior. If he was in jail, none of that would have happened. How many other incidents wouldn’t have happened?”
James McMenamin, the vice president of the Newtown Civic Association, the Elmhurst History and Cemeteries Preservation Society, and the Elmhurst Memorial League, said the neighborhood has seen a decline in safety.
“The quality of life in the vicinity has gotten progressively worse. Transients linger daily, drinking and urinating. Beggars enter businesses. Emotionally disturbed people roaming about are the norm,” said McMenamin, 58, a lifelong Elmhurst resident.
“Anyone with eyes can witness constant petty theft, all while local elected officials peddle their pro-crime policies, fixate on open streets, bike lanes, and the rights of the so-called oppressed.”
Although Suljovic told The Post “nobody feels safe” in the neighborhood, he won’t give up on New York.
“I’m a part of my community, what am I going to do? Leave everybody behind?” Suljovic said. “I didn’t run in 2022, and I’m not running now.”
— Additional reporting by Matt Troutman