Swastika Painted on Sign of Route 10 Kosher Deli

A swastika was found painted on the marquee sign for Plaza West Deli Sunday afternoon, Parsippany Police said.

The establishment has been known for years as a restaurant offering kosher specialties on Route 10.

Police said Officer Paul Levi responded after receiving a report of graffiti on a business sign. Upon arrival, Levi reported seeing an orange swastika painted on the Plaza West sign, which is about 15 feet back from Route 10 West. 

The crime is being investigated as a bias crime, Police Chief Anthony DeZenzo said.

The swastika was on the west side of the sign, facing away from oncoming traffic, police said. 

The symbol, employed in Nazi Germany in the 1940s and seen by many as being anti-Semitic or hateful toward Jewish people, was scrubbed off of the sign, although bits of the orange paint is still visible.

The Plaza West Deli is going out of the kosher deli business. The restaurant is in the process of renovating to become Rick's Bistro and Deli, an Italian-American delicatessen that will not offer kosher food.

Chief DeZenzo told Patch that the police department's bias investigator is looking into the incident. Officers from the Morris County Sheriff's Criminal Investigative Division assisted in the initial stages of the probe, police said.

The Plaza West's owner could not immediately be reached for comment on Monday.

Anyone with information regarding the incident should contact Parsippany Police at 973-263-4300.