Deli Owner Accused of Having Cocaine, Marijuana for Sale

By all accounts, Nick’s Deli has done a booming lunch business during the many years it has been open in downtown Seal Beach.

But according to state authorities, Dominic (Nick) Zampino was serving more than pastrami and pepperoni; he was serving coke, the kind that goes in your nose.

State and city narcotics investigators went to Zampino’s delicatessen in the 200 block of Main Street on Wednesday morning and arrested him on suspicion of possessing cocaine for sale, marijuana for sale and and concentrated cannabis.

Zampino was not a big-league drug dealer, according to Benny Rincon, supervisor of the state Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement in Los Angeles.

“We found about an ounce of cocaine at his shop and when we searched his house in Long Beach, we found a little bit more. We’re not talking about anything major. He’s mixing his legitimate business with a cocaine business. Our intelligence says he’s been doing it since 1984, in small quantities.”

One of Zampino’s regular lunch customers, who asked not to be identified, said: “He does a hell of a business in there. Everybody goes there. The food is great. He’s an extremely nice guy. No one would say that Nick is a bad person.”