The owners of Manco and Manco Pizza, an Ocean City Boardwalk mainstay, were arrested Thursday, April 3 on federal tax evasion charges.
According to the US Attorney’s Office, Mary, 53, and Charles Bangle, 54, were arrested in their Somers Point home by IRS-Criminal Investigation special agents on an indictment charging the couple with multiple counts of tax evasion and other offenses.
They face a 30-count indictment charging them with one count of conspiracy to evade income taxes, five counts of income tax evasion for 2007 through 2011, and one count of making false statements to the IRS.
Charles Bangle is also charged with 23 counts of structuring financial transactions to avoid reporting requirements.
The couple owns three Manco and Manco locations on the Ocean City Boardwalk and Manco and Manco, Too in Somers Point.
The pizza shops have been an Ocean City landmark for decades, and often see lines across the boardwalk on the first sunny day each spring.
The shops were known as Mack and Manco’s from a long-dissolved partnership with the owner of Mack’s Pizza in Wildwood, but the name was finally changed to remove Mack in 2011.
According to the indictment, Mack and Manco was a strictly cash business that generated more than $4.5 million a year in revenue, primarily during the summer.
Before buying out the business from in July 2011, Mary Bangle, the daughter of Kay and Frank Manco, was an employee of the business, responsible for handling cash and payroll. Charles Bangle was also employed there as a manager in charge of day-to-day operations.
The indictment alleges that from about 2007 to 2011, the Bangles knowingly and intentionally committed tax fraud by concealing income by depositing cash skimmed from the business into their personal TD Bank joint checking account. It further alleges that they used the money to pay for personal expenditures and that they concealed $981,000 in income from the Internal Revenue Service.
The Bangles claimed the deposits into their personal checking account were from cash salary earned at the pizza business, the US Attorney’s Office states.
The indictment is seeking Charles Bangle pay $340,000 to the United States.
The Bangles are expected to appear in Camden federal court before Judge Mary Ann Donio at approximately 2 p.m. Thursday. Charles Bangle will be represented by Vincent Sarubbi of Haddonfield. Mary Bangle’s attorney was listed as “to be determined.”
Mr. Sarubbi, in a statement released Thursday evening, said that arrests came as a shock to the Bangles.
“For nearly two years, Mr. Bangle, through counsel, has cooperated with the government’s investigation into alleged violations of tax law. For that reason, today’s arrests came as a shock,” the statement reads. “Mr. and Mrs. Bangle intend to vigorously defend themselves in court against these charges. They look forward to presenting defenses at the appropriate judicial proceedings and to the opportunity to have their side of the story heard. In keeping with court rules, we are withholding further comment at this time.”
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jason M. Richardson and Matthew T. Smith of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Camden, as well as Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter W. Gaeta of the office’s Asset Forfeiture Unit.
Each of the 30 counts of the indictment carries a maximum potential penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.