LOCKPORT, Ill. – In the dead of night, five masked suspects poured out of a black SUV, shattered a window, and tore through Villa Nova Pizza in a brazen smash-and-grab that left cash registers and video gaming machines in ruins – all in under three minutes.
Surveillance video captured the early Thursday attack around 2:05 a.m. at the popular spot on North State Street in this southwest Chicago suburb. The group, dressed head-to-toe in black with gloves and masks, forced their way inside, smashed equipment, and fled before police arrived. It was the second break-in at the family-run restaurant in less than two years.
Co-owner Dominique Surillo called the damage heartbreaking. “It was really hard to watch this not only the first time, but the second time; it was a lot more damage done. It’s just terrible,” Surillo said. Fellow co-owner John Ramos voiced the frustration of hardworking business owners: “They want to take the easy route – quick, fast, easy money when all of us are out here working just trying to make ends meet.”
Police say the raid appears linked to a wave of similar overnight burglaries targeting gaming machines across the south suburbs, including spots in Frankfort and Monee. No arrests have been announced.
This is the reality facing small business owners in the Chicago area. Viral footage of the attack quickly spread online, with critics framing it as just another ordinary night under the shadow of the city. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has long faced heat for downplaying youth-driven chaos in the past, once describing destructive “teen takeovers” and related disorder as young people who “sometimes make silly decisions.”
While city officials point to declines in certain violent crime categories and recent low homicide totals, property crimes and these brazen smash-and-grabs keep hitting working families.
Businesses keep getting hit. Families keep paying the price. And the message to anyone dreaming of running a neighborhood pizzeria is clear: in today’s environment, you can’t even own a simple pizza place in the Chicago area anymore thanks to the dystopian levels of crime.
Lockport police and neighboring departments continue investigating the connected burglaries. The total losses remain under review as the Surillo and Ramos family picks up the pieces yet again.
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