South End restaurant owner serves up justice to burglar

BOSTON — A Boston restaurant owner served up a cold dish of justice to a man police say had no business in the community.

Joseph Marcus, the managing partner at Lobstah on a Roll in the South End was bringing his business' trash barrels from the street back into the alley when he bumped into a man he says was trying to break into the back of the building.

“He says, 'What the f*** are you looking at?' [and] I said, 'What the f*** are you looking at?'" said Marcus. “It didn’t dawn on me that he had something on him, which turns out that he did."

South End restaurant manager helps catch career criminal South End restaurant manager helps catch career criminal

Marcus says he thinks the man was trying to use a knife to pry open the basement door in the back of the building.

"He was trying to get this open from the deadbolt," said Marcus.

If he had been successful, Marcus says the burglar would've been one step closer to the residents who live in the apartments upstairs.

"This gives anybody that goes in there access to every apartment that’s above there, and there’s 90 percent women here," said Marcus.

Marcus then chased the man down the street, all the while speaking to police on the phone.

While he didn't catch up to the suspect, about a half hour later and a half mile away, police had him surrounded.

"I was hoping I was going to find him in the alley and I was going to scream for the police," said Marcus. "They asked me, "Is that him>' [and] I said, '100 percent.'"

Investigators credit Marcus' detailed description of the suspect for the swift capture.

According to police, the suspect, identified as 35-year-old Joseph Conforto of Medford, is a career criminal who was wanted on outstanding warrants out of Suffolk Superior Court, Roxbury District Court and Somerville District Court on charges of breaking and entering, assault and battery, unarmed robbery and larceny.

"This could’ve been a lot worse than just breaking and entering," said Marcus. "I believe in unity, I believe in the neighborhood, somebody's got to draw a line in the sand."

This time around, Conforto is being charged with attempted breaking and entering, trespassing and providing a false name to law enforcement.

He's expected to be arraigned on those charges in Roxbury District Court sometime this week. However, for the time being, he is being guarded in an area hospital, but police have not disclosed why.

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