ALTAMONT — A social media spat has spilled over into the courtroom as Jackie Silvestri-Edwards, former owner of Farmhouse Tap + Tavern and founder of the locally-popular 518 Foodies site, is suing the owners of the Taste of Italy restaurant in Latham for defamation, disparagement, and assault. 

The affair has only gotten messier and more online since the lawsuit was filed on Tuesday, Jan. 21, as 518 Foodies placed its Facebook group on pause, preventing new members from joining and stopping current ones from posting, while also having to respond to accusations of targeting its own group members and shaking down restaurant clients. 

On Tuesday, 518 Foodies found itself responding to a post made by group member Toni Michaelee in a different local restaurant Facebook group. 

In her Jan. 20 post, Michaelee said she felt “compelled to share a deeply troubling experience” she had with Silvestri-Edwards, which made Michaelee look “more closely at the group.” She asserted that she discerned a pattern: “certain restaurants frequently receive negative posts, and the same people often comment on them.”

518 Foodies, online, denied Michaelee’s allegations. Silvestri-Edwards referred the Enterprise’s request for comment to her lawyer, who could not immediately be reached.

 The online masses, meanwhile, are eating up the drama as multiple Foodies-related posts have received upwards of 500 comments, deeming the situation meme-worthy, with Albany County Legislator Andrew Joyce announcing his intent to introduce “a local law that will give future naming rights for the county-owned MVP Arena for whoever emerges victorious from “the “blood feud.” 

Silvestri-Edwards’s legal complaint, which begins with a high-minded quote from George Washington about truth, though one often misattributed to Winston Churchill about a lie getting halfway around the world before the truth get its pants on would be more apt, includes other assertions like, “518 Foodies is prominently known as the Capitol Region’s number one (1) source for restaurant reviews and news,” and, “To say 518 Foodies is a prospering business enterprise would be an understatement,” was filed Tuesday against Frank and Alyssa Cappello and ”prays” for the court to award her $450,000 in damages.

The Hilltown resident alleges in court papers that Frank Cappello made multiple false and defamatory statements about her on social media, causing significant harm to her reputation and business. For this, Silvestri-Edwards is seeking $200,000 in damages and an injunction to prevent further defamatory statements. 

She also claimed Frank Cappello made false statements about 518 Foodies marketing services, labeling them a scam, which she claims caused the business to lose revenue. For this, Silvestri-Edwards is seeking $200,000 in damages and an injunction similar to the first. 

Silvestri-Edwards’ third accusation is that Alyssa Cappello made threatening phone calls, which caused her to fear imminent harm and led to an order of protection being issued. For causing this emotional distress, Silvestri-Edwards is seeking $50,000 in punitive damages.  

The Cappellos did not respond to an Enterprise interview request.

The suit stems from an anonymous negative review of Taste of Italy posted on the 518 Foodies Facebook page in mid-November. 

In that Nov. 16 post, the 518 Foodies group member wrote, “This is how tase [sic] of Italy conducts business when a respectful honest review is said to them. Not only did I get this response but prior to this they posted screenshot of where I work on the post!”

The group member wrote the Capellos “clearly ... want me to be scared of them... little boy complex needs to threaten a women [sic] to feel like a man! They also said my pictures were fake and that they would never serve me this but guess what it’s not! Like why would I go out of my way to create a fake cannoli??”

The court filing states Alyssa Capello quickly called Silvestri-Edwards and threatened her to remove the post. 

In the Nov. 16 call, which Silvestri-Edwards recorded, Alyssa Capello said, “Jackie, I swear to God you’re going to be fu***** sorry, I’m going to fu***** rip your fucking hair out. You need to delete it now. I swear to go on my kids I’m going to fu** you up Jackie. Delete it now. You don’t want this. Ok, because I do give a fu** ok, and I’ll take a fu***** assault charge for you ok. Because you think your fu***** cute, you think your fu***** God, you wanna control shit, you’re fu***** weird. Delete it now!”

The following day, Frank Cappello in a series of Facebook live videos and posts made several false and defamatory statements about Silvestri-Edwards and 518 Foodies, the complaint alleges, including that she was a failed business owner, had filed for bankruptcy, been late on rent, and ripped off clients. 

On Nov. 18, Frank Cappello took to Facebook to add jet fuel to his already-incendiary comments, claiming that he’d “spend thousands to shut [Silvestri-Edwards] down,” and that “today i paid a private investigator and got a lot of information about her and her failed business and money she borrowed and i will get everything together and unlike her trash site with a bunch of low life’s and there some good people in her site i will mail a copy to every restaurant in the 518 and a copy of her rules and let’s see when i am done how many restaurants will be part of that page…” 

He concluded that, “unlike her i am not jealous of anyone and would never try to hurt a small business.”

Because as “a direct and proximate cause of Frank Capello foregoing actions,” Silvestri-Edwards claims “518 Foodies lost approximately 33 percent of its business revenue.”