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Article Courtesy of The Miami
Herald
By DAVID OVALLE
Published July 29, 2008
When Miami Beach condo owner Maximiliano DeVita
confronted an elderly neighbor for harassing his tenant, the man pulled a
revolver and fired one round, police say.
DeVita, 38, fell dead of a bullet wound to the
chest.
Orlando Alonso, 80, never called 911. He simply shut
his front door and left his victim to die, according to a police report
released Monday.
Alonso was charged with second-degree murder after
he admitted ''he became angry'' with DeVita, also the founder of a popular
chain of Argentine-Italian restaurants.
DeVita owned a unit at 7625 Harding Ave. in North
Beach, and recently rented it to a new tenant.
Alonso, who neighbors said had a history of
harassing residents, refused to allow the tenant to move in, DeVita's
friends and family said.
The new tenant called DeVita to complain. His wife,
Valeria DeVita, dropped her husband off at the apartment while delivering
food to clients Friday night.
''DeVita knocked on [Alonso's] door in order to talk
to him about harassing his tenant,'' according to a Miami Beach police
report.
Alonso, a retiree with no criminal past in Florida,
grabbed his .38 caliber revolver and answered the door.
He later told police that DeVita ``began insulting
him verbally.''
According to police, Alonso walked away, tossed the
gun on the sofa and put on a pair of shorts.
But DeVita continued insulting him, Alonso said,
making him so angry he picked the gun back up.
He squeezed off one round, according to police.
"He observed Mr. DeVita dropped to the walkway and [Alonso] shut the
front door and purposely did not call 911.''
Detectives found a blood trail leading from Alonso's
front door to where DeVita's body was found.
''He wasn't armed. He didn't have anything,'' said
DeVita's brother, Leandro DeVita, 41.
Investigators, armed with a search warrant, found
the revolver and a spent bullet casing in a garbage bin.
''He was such an innocent victim. Just a senseless
killing,'' said DeVita's friend, Bruce Mazer.
The DeVita brothers came to New Jersey from
Argentina more than 20 years ago and began working in pizzerias.
A decade ago, they came to Miami and later started a
small South Beach pizzeria called Sopranos.
After that, they opened Che Sopranos at 916 71st St.
The eatery did well enough that the brothers opened up two more locations,
one in Miami's Upper Eastside, the other in Miami Shores.
''It's always gone really well for us,'' Leandro
DeVita said.
`"We were always together. Me and him. My
brother was my soul. My soul was taken away.''
Said Mazer, a business partner and friend: "He
was someone always with a smile on his face, someone that always had
something nice to say.''
DeVita will never know his child -- his wife of four
years, Valeria DeVita, 32, is pregnant with their first child, his family
said. He was also close with his 16-year-old stepdaughter.
He is survived by mother Mirta Hernandez and father
Ricardo DeVita in Argentina, and two half-sisters there, Cathy and Sasha.
A viewing for DeVita will be held 4 to 9 p.m.
Tuesday at the Gregg L. Mason Funeral Home, 10936 NE Sixth Ave.
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