Pepperoni, sausage, or cocaine?

These were allegedly among the options at West End Pizza, a shoe-box-sized pizzeria that authorities say doubled as a carry-out cocaine-sales operation just blocks from the TD Banknorth Garden. Amid the cheese, flour, and toppings behind the counter, authorities say, the employees stashed numerous tiny bags of cocaine for sale.

Beginning in November, State Police conducted a sting operation on the nondescript restaurant, setting up a series of undercover cocaine buys. Police said the pizza place served as both an outlet for sales of small amounts of cocaine and a conduit to the owner's house in Revere, where larger amounts could be procured.

On Thursday, police arrested the owner, Domenic DiCenso, 34, and two employees and uncovered a small arsenal of weapons in DiCenso's home, including machine guns and a silencer.

The bust had faint echoes of the so-called Pizza Connection case in New York City in the mid-1980s, when Mafia families used pizza parlors as fronts for heroin smuggling, resulting in one of the largest organized crime prosecutions in US history.

Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said authorities were examining the possibility of a wider conspiracy in the West End Pizza case.

"Whether or not it's affiliated with any sort of organized crime, a syndicate, or ring has to be developed through further investigation, if at all," Conley said.

DiCenso pleaded not guilty yesterday to a host of drug and weapons charges in Chelsea District Court. Police said the raid at his house on Thursday netted 1.5 kilograms of cocaine, enough for 53 single-ounce sales, stashed in a can filled with coffee grounds, two machine guns, three handguns, and a thick wad of cash.

"The idea that a kilogram of cocaine would be contained inside a coffee can suggests he's not a low-level drug dealer, but a sophisticated high-level drug dealer," said Assistant District Attorney Dean Mazzone. Mazzone said coffee is used to mask the scent of cocaine from drug-sniffing dogs.

A judge set DiCenso's bail at $1 million. His next court date was scheduled for April 25.

DiCenso's lawyer, Jerry Falbo, said his client is innocent.

"There is no evidence that the defendant participated in any of the exchanges," Falbo said. "The defendant never made an exchange or sell of any drugs to any State Police officer."

Two of DiCenso's employees - Jose I. Rivera, 33, of Cambridge and Aldo E. Saravia, 30, of East Boston - both pleaded not guilty yesterday in Boston Municipal Court to multiple charges of distributing cocaine.

The tiny West End Pizza storefront had just enough room for an oven, refrigerator, and a counter with five stools. In November, the controlled buys began and continued through last month, police said.