The thegentlemen ransomware group listed Ritz Safety on its data leak site on 2026-09-07. Country: US Sector: Manufacturing Domains named: ritzsafety.com, zoominfo.com Claim as published on the leak site: ritzsafety.com zoominfo.com/c/ritz-safety-llc/82166398 Ritz Safety Americas largest privately-held PPE & safety equipment distributors — founded in 1983 in Pompano Beach, Florida by Emily Ritz and her son Peter Merkl, selling work boots and gloves from a truck, now HQ'd in Dayton, Ohio with ~220–250 employees and 17–18 locations nationwide. Hidden twist: in 2006 the family's uniform-rental empire Van Dyne Crotty was sold to Cintas — but the brothers Dan and Bob Crotty kept Ritz Safety out of the deal and built it into a roll-up consolidator: 9 acquisitions (2015–2022), 5,000+ customers monthly, access to 200,000+ SKUs, private-label lines, equipment rental/repair, custom embroidery and free on-site safety training. Revenue: $100–150M (2025: +12% = +$20M growth, best Q2 in the company's 42-year history), 100% family-owned (Crotty family), no PE. Bottom line: a family dynasty that lost its parent empire to Cintas but turned the "leftover" safety distributor into a new national powerhouse