Metro

Rival tarnished my name: pizza man

FOOD FIGHT: Pizza star Patsy Grimaldi says Frank Ciolli (above) tainted his brand when he bought the name.

FOOD FIGHT: Pizza star Patsy Grimaldi says Frank Ciolli (above) tainted his brand when he bought the name. (
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FOOD FIGHT: Pizza star Patsy Grimaldi (left) says Frank Ciolli (right) tainted his brand when he bought the name. (
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He says his name is mud — thanks to the man who bought it.

In a new court filing, Brooklyn pizza pioneer Patsy Grimaldi says that even if he could have his name back on his soon-to-reopen brick-oven business he wouldn’t want it — because the guy he sold it to 14 years ago ran its good reputation into the ground.

Grimaldi made the audacious claim in a response he filed to a lawsuit seeking to block him from opening a new pizzeria in his old spot at 19 Old Fulton St. He says that Frank Ciolli — who bought the Grimaldi’s Pizza name from him in 1998 — turned the name to shame by getting his business evicted by marshals, allegedly being a rent-and-tax deadbeat, and allegedly having a shady architect install an illegal coal-fired oven.

The court papers claim Ciolli has tarnished the Grimaldi’s name with “negative publicity” since buying it and cites a number of New York Post reports to back the claims.

“Ironically it’s our name that the plaintiff has ruined and we cannot use . . . our name in the business,” Grimaldi says in the Queens Supreme Court filing.

The filing also rips Ciolli for illegally installing an oven at his new location at 1 Front Street without city Buildings Department approval. The controversial architect hired to do that work, Robert Scarrano, had previously been banned from doing city business following a long history of allegedly falsifying documents.

Ciolli is seeking an injunction to prevent Grimaldi from returning to his old storefront to flip pies again under a different business name. Ciolli moved from that location to a larger space down the block last year after being evicted — having racked up more than $60,000 in back rent.

The move opened the door to Patsy’s return. He plans to call the new joint Juliana’s, after his late mother, and hopes to open later this year.

Ciolli has insisted he’s not afraid of competition and his lawsuit is over Grimaldi legally violating his “good will” by trying to move back into the business’ original location.

Ciolli’s lawyer, Matthew Tedone, declined comment.