'Legendary' Con Artist Accused of New Scam ... From Prison

Authorities say Jimmy Sabatino conned stores out of luxury goods over the phone
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 2, 2017 1:10 PM CDT
'Legendary' Con Artist Accused of New Scam ... From Prison
"Legendary" con artist Jimmy Sabatino pleaded guilty Friday to running a lucrative scam from his cell at a federal facility in Miami.   (Mugshot)

Prison appears to be doing nothing to change serial con man Jimmy Sabatino. The Miami Herald reports the "legendary" con artist pleaded guilty Friday to running a lucrative scam out of his cell at a federal facility in Florida. Authorities say Sabatino bought cellphones from corrections officers then used them to call luxury stores. Posing as an executive from Sony or RocNation, Sabatino allegedly convinced the stores' owners to loan out watches, jewelry, and more for use in music videos. Authorities say Sabatino then had associates fence the items at pawn shops. One jewelry store in New York says Sabatino scammed them out of $700,000 worth of jewelry. Authorities say Sabatino sent part of his profits from the con to an associate of the Gambino crime family.

Sabatino has already spent half of his 40 years locked up and faces another 20 years in prison on these new charges. He's currently being kept alone in a special housing unit in an attempt to stop him from conning people. It's the same reason the Justice Department is imposing a gag order that only allows Sabatino to talk to his family and attorney. In past scams, Sabatino scored hundreds of free Super Bowl tickets and racked up unpaid bills worth hundreds of thousands of dollars at resorts. He once secured his return to the US by calling the FBI from a prison cell in England and threatening to kill Bill Clinton. While serving prison time following that incident, Sabatino defrauded Nextel of $3 million. (More weird crimes stories.)

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