Joey Vento R.I.P.

Joey Vento R.I.P. — Joey Vento, the owner of Geno’s Steaks in South Philadelphia and a Tea Party supporter, died yesterday, Aug. 23, at his Shamong, N. J., home of a heart attack. He was 71.

Mr. Vento opened Geno’s Steaks at 9th Street and Passyunk Avenue in 1966 and began what became a nationally famous competition with the long-established Pat’s King of Steaks across the street.

Mr. Vento became a political figure when Mumia Abu Jamal, who murdered Philadelphia police officer Danny Faulkner n 1981,  became a pet cause of the mindless yet fashion-conscience leftist establishment that tried to convince the world that Jamal was a innocent victim of a police frame. Mr. Vento helped keep the memory of Officer Faulkner alive and helped keep the focus on the overwhelming evidence of Jamal’s guilt.

Mr. Vento became a national figure after placing a sign in his window saying “This is America: When ordering please speak English” which prompted a discrimination complaint from the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations in 2006.

Unlike most business owners, Mr. Vento stood up to the bullies and the Commission caved two years later with a finding that the restaurant was not in violation of the city’s laws.

An irony rarely mentioned is that Geno’s is adjacent to a Mexican restaurant that is covered in signs in the Spanish language.

Mr. Vento became active in the Tea Party movement and produced popular radio advertisements criticizing  Sen. Arlen Specter and non-enforcement of immigration laws.

“Joey was a great supporter of our Tea Party group and the Tea Party movement,” said Teri Adams, president of the Independence Hall Tea Party Association. “He was the most beloved conservative figure regionally and was well known and well respected nationally. We lost a one-of-kind hero who told it like it was and leaves a tremendous void. He was such a good man. Our hearts are broken!”

Mr. Vento practically died on the job. He had gone to the restaurant  yesterday morning as he normally did and phoned in a bread order from his home at 6 p.m. He told his wife, Eileen, he wasn’t feeling well then went to lie down in the bedroom, where he was found.

Mr. Vento is also survived by a son, Geno, for whom the restaurant is named.

 Joey Vento R.I.P.