City pizzeria allegedly also served cocaine to go

Pepperoni, sausage, or cocaine?

These were allegedly among the options at West End Pizza, a shoe-box-sized pizzeria that authorities say doubled as a carry-out cocaine-sales operation just blocks from the TD Banknorth Garden. Amid the cheese, flour, and toppings behind the counter, authorities say, the employees stashed numerous tiny bags of cocaine for sale.

Beginning in November, State Police conducted a sting operation on the nondescript restaurant, setting up a series of undercover cocaine buys. Police said the pizza place served as both an outlet for sales of small amounts of cocaine and a conduit to the owner's house in Revere, where larger amounts could be procured.

On Thursday, police arrested the owner, Domenic DiCenso, 34, and two employees and uncovered a small arsenal of weapons in DiCenso's home, including machine guns and a silencer.

The bust had faint echoes of the so-called Pizza Connection case in New York City in the mid-1980s, when Mafia families used pizza parlors as fronts for heroin smuggling, resulting in one of the largest organized crime prosecutions in US history.

Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said authorities were examining the possibility of a wider conspiracy in the West End Pizza case.

"Whether or not it's affiliated with any sort of organized crime, a syndicate, or ring has to be developed through further investigation, if at all," Conley said.

DiCenso pleaded not guilty yesterday to a host of drug and weapons charges in Chelsea District Court. Police said the raid at his house on Thursday netted 1.5 kilograms of cocaine, enough for 53 single-ounce sales, stashed in a can filled with coffee grounds, two machine guns, three handguns, and a thick wad of cash.

"The idea that a kilogram of cocaine would be contained inside a coffee can suggests he's not a low-level drug dealer, but a sophisticated high-level drug dealer," said Assistant District Attorney Dean Mazzone. Mazzone said coffee is used to mask the scent of cocaine from drug-sniffing dogs.

A judge set DiCenso's bail at $1 million. His next court date was scheduled for April 25.

DiCenso's lawyer, Jerry Falbo, said his client is innocent.

"There is no evidence that the defendant participated in any of the exchanges," Falbo said. "The defendant never made an exchange or sell of any drugs to any State Police officer."

Two of DiCenso's employees -- Jose I. Rivera, 33, of Cambridge and Aldo E. Saravia, 30, of East Boston -- both pleaded not guilty yesterday in Boston Municipal Court to multiple charges of distributing cocaine.

The tiny West End Pizza storefront had just enough room for an oven, refrigerator, and a counter with five stools. In November, the controlled buys began and continued through last month, police said .

Yesterday Mazzone detailed a buy that occurred Feb. 16. An undercover State Police officer, Trooper Jean Hume, arranged a buy with a unidentified middleman, familiar to her from previous buys. She was taken to DiCenso's Revere home, where the middleman obtained one ounce of cocaine. DiCenso then accompanied the trooper back to West End Pizza, where she got another ounce.

State Police stopped DiCenso on Thursday as he drove his Mercedes G500 along American Legion Highway near his home. He had 50 grams of cocaine with him in the car, police said.

The State Police then went to his home, where they discovered a secret cache in a basement bathroom that contained the 1.5 kilos of cocaine, packed in coffee, Mazzone said. All told, the drugs found that day were worth about $150,000, police said.

In addition, State Police recovered a cache of weapons from DiCenso's home: a Tech-9 submachine gun, a 9mm Uzi submachine gun, .22-caliber derringer handgun, a .45-caliber Colt handgun, a .25-caliber handgun, and a silencer. The serial numbers on several of the guns were scratched out, a common tactic in the firearms black market to avoid police traces.

"Those machine guns that you can see had been fitted with silencers and had their serial numbers obliterated," Conley said at a late afternoon press conference. "We can only guess at their intended purposes."

As prosecutors detailed their findings in court yesterday, DiCenso hid behind a door that was slightly ajar in the courtroom.

Falbo said DiCenso grew up in the Boston area and had operated West End Pizza for nearly a decade.

"He has a business to run, and this business supports many employees," Falbo said.

According to Boston Licensing Board records, DiCenso has operated the pizza shop since 2000 and did not have any licensing violations until 2006.

Only in recent months has the pizza shop, which closes at 4 a.m., drawn the attention of authorities. The shop also apparently served a third purpose: discotheque. On Dec. 3, a Boston police officer passing by noticed a raucous party underway, with two women gyrating on the counter while several men boogied away on the restaurant floor, according to a police report.

"I could see two young women dancing on the table counter," Lieutenant Detective Eric Eversley wrote in a police report. "Several men were dancing on the floor. Music was playing from a system behind the counter with at least two speakers attached to the corners of the ceiling."

He estimated that 18 people were inside; the restaurant's legal capacity is five customers. The Licensing Board issued a warning Jan. 25, records show.

Yesterday, West End Pizza was closed, dark, and quiet, metal gates pulled down over windows. Through the glass, a copy of the police search warrant was visible on the counter, sitting next to an appointment book, a stack of compact discs, and a bottle of TUMS.

John R. Ellement of the Globe staff contributed to this report.