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Limbo-Loving 9/11 Shyster to Dance His Way Behind Bars

September 11 con man Mario Mastellone, who was caught on camera doing the limbo after claiming to have a WTC-related debilitating back injury, will soon be spending his nights bending over the other way. A judge sentenced him to two and a half years in prison today for cheating the 9/11 victims’ fund out of $1.1 million. The 41-year-old was working as a contract painter in the north tower of the World Trade Center when the building collapsed on September 11, 2001.

According to the New York Daily News, he told officials of the September 11 Victims’ Compensation Fund he’d been permanently disabled by a back injury. A month later, surveillance cameras caught him carrying gallons of paint and heaving them into the back of his minivan. At a 2002 wedding reception, he was caught on tape ducking under a limbo pole and doing the hustle. He also threatened to fight his son’s bus driver during an argument in 2004. And a video surveillance camera across from his New Jersey home caught him shoveling snow off his silver Mercedes and red Cooper Mini (just how many cars does this dude have?) after a 2005 snowstorm. “I am a victim,” Mastellone told reporters outside of court. Asked if he had any regrets, he replied: “None.”

He should have a lot of regrets, not the least of them his dance-floor skills. Please enjoy the above video in which he attempts to grind all up on it with some woman at the reception, while wearing a hat evidently on loan from the Lucky Charms guy. —Noelle Hancock

Sept. 11 Injury Faker Caught On Tape [NYP]
World Trade Center painter in limbo video sentenced for Sept. 11 fraud [NYDN]

Limbo-Loving 9/11 Shyster to Dance His Way Behind Bars