A well-known Italian grifter, popularly known as the “King of the Con,” was recently arrested, dressed as a Franciscan priest, for attempting to fraudulently obtain a loan by presenting a driver’s license stolen from a prelate who is currently serving as a papal ambassador in Africa.
Stefano Ramunni, 61, was taken into custody along with another man who accompanied him to a post office near the Vatican to try to get the loan. (The Italian post office offers small personal loans, ranging from $3,200 to $63,000, to anyone with a bank account.)
According to media reports, Ramunni presented himself at a postal service branch near the Vatican, on Rome’s Via Anastasia II, and asked to be issued a loan.
He identified himself as Giuseppe Laterza, a Vatican official. (Laterza, 54, is currently the Apostolic Nuncio to the Central African Republic.)
Ramunni’s companion, Francesco Albanese, reportedly is a 40-year-old with a previous arrest for impersonating a member of Italy’s carabinieri, or military police. Continue reading