was laid to rest Tuesday morning after a closed-casket funeral service at a local church.
The solemn service for Louis Barbati was attended by about 200 friends and family members inside St. Ephrems Church in Dyker Heights — and included a flower car emblazoned with words “Uncle” and “Spumoni Gardens.”
A cousin spoke on behalf of the family while Barbati’s wife and children sat quietly in the front row near the mahogany casket, which was draped in a white cloth with a purple cross on it. Written across the top of it was “Louis W Barbati 1955 to 2016.”
Following the hour-long ceremony, family members carried the casket out of the church and put it inside a hearse, which drove off to deliver Barbati to his final resting place.
The 61-year-old restaurateur was carrying $15,000 in cash and a loaf of Italian bread on Thursday night when he was ambushed by a gunman after he returned from work to his home on 12th Avenue in Dyker Heights.
As he climbed a flight of stone steps leading to a back door, the suspect shot him five times in the back, arm and leg, before fleeing without the money, law-enforcement sources said.
Barbati’s wife told cops she heard Barbati scream her name and found him lying in a pool of blood outside their home.
She also told investigators that Barbati came home with a large sum of money about six times a year.
