The grand reopening of iconic Italian eatery Babbo erupted in chaos when a giant, inflatable rat stationed outside got stabbed \u2014 sparking an NYPD raid of the posh restaurant as cops searched in vain for the perpetrator, The Post has learned.<\/p>\n
\u201cScabby the Rat\u201d \u2014 the towering mascot long used by unions to protest businesses that don\u2019t use organized labor \u2014 was brought to crash the Greenwich Village hotspot on Monday night by Unite Here Local 25 to protest the new owner\u2019s worker policies.<\/p>\n
\u201cScabby the Rat\u201d was knifed in his right thigh, causing him to deflate. Obtained by the NY Post<\/p>\n
That was while the restaurant\u2019s new owner, celebrity restaurateur Stephen Starr<\/a>, was inside welcoming guests to celebrate his revival of the legendary pasta destination, which shuttered years ago after its founder Mario Batali got mired in sexual misconduct allegations in 2017<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI got there around 6:45, unpacked the rat and inflated it,\u201d Mike Haack, a senior researcher at the union, told The Post. \u201cVery quickly, someone came out from the restaurant from \u2018corporate\u2019 and said, \u2018You aren\u2019t allowed to do this.\u2019<\/p>\n Mario Batali New York Post<\/p>\n \u201cI said, \u2018Yes, I\u00a0am,’\u201d Haack continued. \u201cHe\u00a0said he\u2019d call the police, and I assumed he did.\u201d<\/p>\n Just moments later, while Haack said he was looking in the other direction, he heard a \u2018hissing sound\u201d and observed a second man who had just emerged from the restaurant wearing a dark suit \u2014 similar to what the wait staff were wearing.<\/p>\n \u201cAs I turned, he\u2019s walking and he is holding a knife \u2014 a little paring knife,\u201d Haack said. \u201cThen the man holding the knife immediately walks back into the restaurant.\u201d<\/p>\n Then Haack said he turned to his rat and saw where the hissing sound was coming from: a fresh, 8-inch gaping hole on its right thigh.<\/p>\n \u201cThe man who approached me is still outside and some others\u00a0and they kind of chuckle, acknowledging what just happened,\u201d Haack said. \u201cI\u2019m sure they at least found it funny.\u201d<\/p>\n Haack called 911. Within five minutes, up to 10 NYPD officer arrived at the restaurant\u2019s Waverly Place address in squad cars with their lights and sirens blaring.<\/p>\n Babbo reopened this week after years of being shuttered. Getty Images<\/p>\n While diners noshed on $76 osso buco and $100 lasagna in the two-story eatery, Haack and a posse of officers marched through the dining rooms looking for the man with the knife.<\/p>\n Management initially tried to stop the union organizer from entering.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHe can\u2019t come in,\u201d a manager told NYPD. But the officers insisted on it because Haack was the only witness who could identify the man with the knife, he told The Post.<\/p>\n The rat\u2019s alleged assailant escaped and likely slipped into the kitchen \u2014 which was the only space the officers didn\u2019t search, according to Haack.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, \u201cScabby\u201d was slowly deflating outside and Haack was concerned about \u201cleaving him alone on the sidewalk\u201d for the 15 minutes it took to search for the suspect.<\/p>\n As he and the NYPD left the building, one of the officers asked Babbo management for CCTV security footage, according to Haack.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cScabby the Rat\u201d as seen before his injury. Facebook\/DC Restaurant Workers Rising<\/p>\n \u201cHe was told that it was company policy only to turn it over if it was subpoenaed,\u201d according to Haack.<\/p>\n Neither Starr Restaurants, which runs Babbo, nor the NYPD responded to requests for comment. <\/p>\n It\u2019s not clear whether \u201cScabby,\u201d which cost $7,000, can be repaired, a union spokesman said. It\u2019s been a decade since Local 25\u2019s rat has been punctured, he added.<\/p>\n Monday was supposed to be the eatery\u2019s shining moment in the Big Apple as it reopened under Starr \u2013 who bought Babbo from Batali\u2019s business partner Joe Bastianich<\/a>.<\/p>\n