Ever Wonder How Greensboro's Elites Get Their Money?

Take Ray Essa, for example, the man who is said to be the owner of Café Pasta +Grille.Did you know Ray's brother is none other than Joe Essa a managing partner of Wolfgang Puck group, a nationwide restaurant franchise seller of Wolfgang Puck Bistros, Wolfgang Puck Expresses and Wolfgang Puck Cultural Center Cafes. Wolfgang Puck Worldwide also licenses Chef Puck's name for a variety of consumer goods including kitchen wares, cookbooks and food products.

From brother Ray's profile at the Wolfgang Puck group website:

" He also founded and operated two successful restaurants, Assaggio in West Hartford, Conn. and Café Pasta in Greensboro, N.C. "

That's rather interesting as back when Joey Essa first made the scene in Greensboro he was rather well known as a local cocaine dealer. So much so that he spent time in North Carolina's Central Prison for possession of over 400 grams of cocaine before having his sentence reduced after rolling over on a list of other well known Greensboro residents that included the now deceased, Charles B Erwin, then owner of Ham's Restaurants. 400 grams is almost a pound and Joey had over 400 grams. I heard it was a kilo which is 1000 grams or 2.2 pounds.

As to who Mr Erwin had to roll over on to avoid prosecution I"m not saying.... yet.


Am I making Greensboro's elites nervous.  Don't worry I will.

Joey also made a trip to New York under custody of the United States Marshalls service where he talked up a storm about other drug dealers he knew.

Now I'm not saying that Ray Essa is or was a drug dealer, he was just a kid back then. We've all got a few black sheep in our families. But older brother Joey was a well known Greensboro drug dealer and brother Joey isn't the least bit shy about taking the credit as having founded Café Pasta. And don't you find it interesting that Café Pasta was founded in 1984, the year before Joe Essa was sent to prison? Damn, if only Joey could have gone just a little bit longer without getting caught.... As a matter of fact, according to the NC Secretary of State, brother Joey is still the owner of Café Pasta. 

And you wonder how they got their successful Greensboro businesses off the ground. But when you consider Greensboro's unfriendly business climate maybe the drug dealers are the only ones with a chance of success? Maybe we shouldn't blame them.

Rocco Scarfone, Joey Essa, Charles Erwin and Joey Medaloni, how many more?

Of course, many are wondering why Scarfone isn't locked away for good? Some think It's because he's a Confidental Informant for the Feds. (PDF file) Who knows, perhaps they're right.