SLICE OF DEATH: To be a pizza-deliveryman is to be a target, and more in harm's way than a cop

IN ONE WEEK last month, three of Jimmy Zergani's pizza-delivery workers were robbed on the same Germantown block.

One had just dropped off a pizza and returned to his car to find two armed men waiting in his back seat.

That's nothing new. Almost 20 years ago, Zergani's brother-in-law was killed while making a pizza delivery.

Looking at his 11-year-old son, Reza, Zergani, owner of Golden Crust Pizza, in Mount Airy, said there was no way that he'd allow the boy to make deliveries when he was of age.

"Absolutely not," he said. "Too dangerous."

When people think of dangerous jobs, they often think of police or firefighting. They don't think of the people who bring their takeout.

But, according to 2008 data provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the death rate for those employed as drivers/salesworkers/truck drivers - the category that includes pizza-delivery workers - is 22.8 per 100,000.

By comparison, the combined rate for firefighters and police/sheriff's patrol officers is 22.5.

Of course, that's not to say that more pizza-delivery workers are killed in the line of duty than police officers. The data category that includes pizza-delivery workers also includes taxicab operators and long-distance truck drivers, who are more likely to be in automobile accidents. Those who deliver other kinds of food take risks, too, since their jobs frequently put them behind the wheel.

But there is more danger in being a delivery person than the average person might believe. Since 2006, four pizza-deliverymen have been killed on the job in Philadelphia, including two in January.

From 2005 through March 9, 163 delivery people have reported being robbed on the job. One was the victim of an aggravated assault.

"Anytime you're out there and you have cash as part of your job, you have to use caution and be aware of your surroundings," said Lt. Frank Vanore, spokesman for the Philadelphia Police Department.

District captains speak to local business owners about basic safety precautions such as verifying call-back numbers and avoiding dark alleys and streets, and seemingly abandoned homes, he said. In the case of a robbery, "many times, the deliveries are setup deliveries," Vanore said.

That's what happened in the two deliveryman slayings this year.

On Jan. 10, Jaime Orozco, 60, suffered a heart attack after being robbed outside a vacant house in West Oak Lane. Four teenagers were arrested and charged with third-degree murder. Police said the teens used a cell phone to place an order; they took Orozco's $40, ate the pizza he'd carried, and stole his car.

"He was one of the nicest drivers we had," said Robert Ruvio, owner of Ed's Pizza, where Orozco had worked for almost three years. "He was a hard worker, here to work, and he just wanted to go home to Colombia at the end of this year."

On Jan. 20, Kouakou Jacques, 36, was shot in the chest while making a delivery in Mantua. The order had come from a pay phone and directed the driver to an occupied home, but the residents there said they hadn't ordered any pizza. Police speculated that the gunman hid in an abandoned house next door.

Jacques worked at Accu Pizza, in West Philadelphia. Crime victims' advocate Greg Bucceroni has reached out to the employees there.

"With Accu Pizza, a lot of people are really scared and confused," Bucceroni said. "They're hurting right now. Imagine how it is: You work with people every day and then one goes out to lunch, 'I'll be right back,' and they're killed. You're in a state of shock."

Even in placid Mount Airy, the job isn't safe. Golden Crust's Zergani, whose shop is on Germantown Avenue near Mount Airy Avenue, said his deliverymen are robbed on an average of once a month.

"Most of the time, they take the money and they go, or they just hit them on the head," he said.

As a safety precaution, orders called into Golden Crust must come from a land line. No cell phones allowed.

Sometimes, Golden Crust drivers pair up before going to a location. And that one Germantown block where there were three robberies in one week? It's no longer getting served. Post-It notes in the store remind order-takers of that fact.

"I'm sure there are lots of nice people on that block, but . . . " Zergani left the thought unfinished, but it was clear what he meant: It was not worth taking the risk.

A delivery person can also be in danger in the most familiar of places.

In 2006, Michael Orlando, 43, was shot while trying to deliver a pizza on Stevens Street, in Northeast Philadelphia. Orlando was a longtime Oxford Circle resident.

"Look at Mike - he's in his own freaking neighborhood," said Rich Addario, a close friend of Orlando's. "He grew up two blocks away. They didn't even get the freakin' 60 bucks out of his pocket, the chumps."

Addario said one of his close friends also delivers pizzas for the same reason Orlando did: "He does it to get a couple extra bucks because he's raising his grandkids."

This friend is normally the type of person who wouldn't even look at a gun, Addario said. Now he has a permit to carry one, and he's always armed when he's making deliveries.

Still, Addario worries.

"I call him all the time, around dinner time, to check on him," Addario said. "He's running up the steps and knocking at the door and I'm on the phone with him."

Ruvio, owner of Ed's Pizza, where Orozco worked, used to be a deliveryman. He was held up a few times, but he gave up the money and escaped without harm.

Every year, he said, a few of his deliverymen are robbed. This year, even his store on Ogontz Avenue was held up by two men with pistols.

Ruvio pays his delivery people $8 an hour plus another $.65 per delivery. On a good night, a driver can clear about $100 with tips, Ruvio said. The store's delivery area includes parts of North Philadelphia, West Oak Lane and Germantown.

"In this area, it's hard," Ruvio said. "If we were in a different area, we could pay less," Ruvio said. "We pay them well and they stay with the job."

Zergani, owner of Golden Crust Pizza, said two delivery people quit after recent robberies. Another delivery person at work the night Zergani's brother-in-law was killed in 1991 left that same night and never came back.

"I haven't seen him since that night," Zergani said.

Orozco's son-in-law still works at Ed's Pizza. Julian Castillo, 28, hails from the same small town in Colombia, where his wife and child still live. He speaks fondly of his late father-in-law, an electrical engineer who came to the U.S. in 2005 to earn money to pay off a debt.

"I can't believe Jaime's dead," he said. "He was my father-in-law and, at the same time, a friend. He showed me the way around America. He was very good to me."

Castillo said it's easy for him to stay on the job because he's behind the grill. He has no desire to do door-to-door deliveries.

"This country is good," Castillo said, "but it's dangerous in the streets."