By Della Hasselle
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — Federal agents are looking for a restaurant-swindling con man with a hunger for fraud, the New York Post reported.
An unidentified man mailed letters to Manhattan restaurants all over town claiming that a waiter spilled coffee on his clothing then demanding reimbursement for its dry cleaning, according to the paper.
The suspect, who used the alias James Maffia, asked for a total of $38.50 from upscale restaurants located everywhere from the Upper East Side to the Meat Packing District, sources told the Post.
The itemized dry cleaning bill, which detailed the cleaning of a suit, silk shirt and silk tie, was photocopied with an East Village return address that wound up being a post office box at a UPS store, the Post reported.
The name may be fake, but the dry-cleaning establishment is real. The
photocopied receipt came from M.B. Fashions Valet, a store near Tudor
City, proprietor Frank Becer admitted to the Post.
"I keep telling them, 'Don't pay! It's a scam!"
Giuseppe Bruno, 52, owner of Sistina, a restaurant on East 81st Street and Second Avenue, was going to send the suspect the dough he demanded. However, Bruno held off after visiting his brother and fellow restaurant owner Cosimo Bruno. Cosimo, who owns Carvaggio on East 74th Street and Madison Avenue, received the same suspicious letter.
