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Con Kid

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Sabatino's methods are simple, though they usually require a bit of advance work. Say he's targeting a hotel. The first thing he does is write a letter to a major company such as Disney or Polygram. The response invariably comes back on the company's letterhead and is signed by a company official. A few days before checking in, he'll fax the hotel's front desk with a letter from the official at the company announcing that James Sabatino will be staying at the hotel and that the company will be paying all his charges. Usually it's no more complicated than that, though Sabatino is willing to put in extra work when necessary.

"He'll call a company and say he'd like to speak to the comptroller," explains Max. "Then he'll ask to be directed to the comptroller's comptroller, then to the comptroller's comptroller's comptroller. Finally he'll go, 'Gee, I'm doing the budget. I've got the first four numbers of the budget code [the numbers he needs to bill a hotel room to the company] and I'm having trouble getting the last four numbers.' He gets information from whoever he talks to, and from that they wind up with a problem."

The hotel rooms and airplane seats are almost always booked in his real name; it's one of his calling cards. The entertainment industry is also a common thread running through most of his cons. When he was arrested in Boca Raton on the outstanding warrant for stealing pagers, he gave his occupation as the president of Soundstorm, his own (defunct) music label. He once charged $6000 worth of gifts at Tiffany & Co. in New York City to BMG Entertainment, a recording-industry giant. He brags that he's tight with rappers Lil' Kim, Lil' Cease, and others in the Jr. M.A.F.I.A., a rap coalition sponsored by Biggie Smalls, the late rap superstar. Sabatino has boasted of attending the 1995 Grammy Awards with Smalls.

"He's a flashy, flamboyant wannabe in the music industry," Max continues. "He has his own labels. He can go up to a guy like Puff Daddy and bullshit him for two hours, and Puff wouldn't know the difference. He doesn't understand why he's not the next agent for Michael Jackson. The hotels and the limousines, the champagne are all part of his image. He has to have that."

Sabatino often took his hotels and limos and liquor in Atlanta, a capital in the rap music industry. He always stayed first class, and for free, even after getting caught. In May 1994 he conned the Nikko hotel for rooms by posing as a Coca-Cola executive. After a few days he was discovered and arrested. After his father posted the $5000 bail, Jimmy immediately moved his posse to the Hilton hotel across the street. A week later he jumped to the Renaissance hotel. The same detective arrested him every time. Atlanta police sources say Coca-Cola officials still intend to press charges.

These weren't always victimless crimes. While in one of those Atlanta hotels, he told a representative of SkyTel Communications that he was a Warner Bros. executive and that he was contracting out all of the giant entertainment company's beeper business. The salesman rushed over 75 beepers worth $18,750. A second order of 130 more beepers was on the way when the fraud was discovered. The SkyTel salesman was fired on the spot, according to Max, who is familiar with the case.

When Sabatino checked out of Miami's federal detention center after serving his two years for the Super Bowl caper, he successfully transferred his ten-year probation from South Florida to New York. One day after the transfer, New York City police arrested him when he couldn't pay the nearly $55,000 tab he'd run up at his welcome-home bash at the Marriott Marquis hotel in Times Square. Out on bail from that predicament, he took off for London (in violation of the terms of his probation), and checked into the posh Four Seasons.

He set up those accommodations in the usual way. According to sworn witness statements on file with British law-enforcement authorities, the hotel received a call on December 1, 1998(Erratum), from an American claiming to be Mike Andrews, chairman of Paramount Pictures. Andrews said a James Sabatino would be staying at the hotel from January 15 through January 19. Sabatino was to be afforded a suite and a full accounting, meaning that Paramount would pay for every service he used and everything he bought. The hotel balked at first, noting that they usually deal with Paramount's British division. "Andrews" called back to complain. After he filled out a credit application sent via fax, the reservation was accepted.

During the course of his four-day stay in the luxurious Park Suite, Sabatino inquired at the hotel shop about a Rolex watch worth approximately $40,000. He told a clerk he was working with Sony Recording Studios in London, preparing for a movie being made with Wesley Snipes and Sylvester Stallone. Sabatino asked about a diamond bracelet to go with the watch, an accessory that jacked up the price to more than $100,000. Two days later he called the gift store to say he'd take the watch and also a second platinum Rolex they had in stock. He tried to charge the purchase to his room, but the hotel refused. Thinking quickly on his feet, he said a colleague would be arriving from Paramount in two days with a company credit card and that he would pay for the watches then. Without settling the hotel bill, he took off for Japan.

"On Tuesday morning I received a phone call from Jean Forest, who is director of marketing at Four Seasons in Tokyo," recounted Kristien Deleersnijder in a sworn statement. Deleersnijder is sales and marketing director at the Four Seasons in London. "The text was, 'Do I know a James Sabatino?' I said, 'Yes, of Paramount Pictures.' She said, "'No, of Sony Music.'"

In Tokyo Sabatino had apparently presented two credit cards to the hotel clerk, that were both rejected by the hotel's computer. As a possible explanation for the rejection, Sabatino showed her the envelopes from two first-class airline tickets to Tokyo, which probably pushed his credit cards over their spending limits. The tickets, though, were in the name of "Phillips." When contacted by the hotel, Sony Music in Tokyo claimed not to know Sabatino.

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