Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Food

Carnegie Deli Heiress and ‘Smoked Meat Shyster’ Shlep to Splitsville

The Carnegie Deli heiress and her “shyster of smoked meat” hubby have agreed to shlep to Splitsville.

It’s not exactly a kiss-and-make-up ending, but Carnegie Deli owner Marian Levine and estranged husband Sanford have reached a settlement that will keep their acrimonious divorce from heading to trial, the New York Daily News reports.

Financial terms of the settlement were not disclosed. The News reported that “the settlement covers both the divorce and a separate lawsuit in which Marian Levine accuses her estranged husband and his mistress, Penkae Siricharoen, of stealing from the Carnegie empire.”

The colorful breakup – Sanford Levine, Carnegie’s manager, was cheating with a waitress – is only the tip of a raft of marital problems as tall as one of the restaurant’s famed sandwiches..

The deli operated virtually without interruption since it opened in 1937. Marian Levine’s father bought it in 1976. The sandwich spot was shut down after authorities discovered an illegal gas line. It remains closed, though a spokesperson told the News the deli may reopen in September.

Then, as the Forward reported last month, a judge scolded Sanford Levine as the “shyster of smoked meat” for trying to get Marian jailed for refusing to pay alimony.

Sanford Levine’s not finished with court, though. He’s scheduled to take the stand this week to prove he wasn’t behind the gas-hookup snafu, according to the News.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.