The notorious con man who calls himself "Mr. Breeze" made a surprising offer to his judge after confessing to his latest crime.
The 41-year-old Jimmy Sabatino has been in and out of jail since he was a teenager, and is reportedly connected to the Gambino crime family. You may remember Sabatino from the 1990s, when he made international headlines by phoning in a death threat against then-President Bill Clinton while in an English prison.
Since then, Sabatino has returned to America and landed himself in jail once again. In fact, he was in prison when he began to orchestrate his latest crime. Sabatino convinced guards at Miami's Federal Detention Center to bring him cell phones, which he used to make calls to designer clothing and jewelry stores.
Sabatino convinced the stores that he was a representative for brands like Sony and Roc-A-Fella Records, and asked them to "lend" valuable items to his associates outside of prison. He claimed that they would be used in music videos, but instead they were sold on the black market.
By the time Sabatino's crimes were exposed, his scheme had already collected more than $10 million in merchandise. In a stunning move, the crook admitted to everything and pleaded guilty. He simply asked that the judge grant him one strange request in return.
To be clear, Sabatino says he has no remorse for his actions. "I don't apologize to nobody," as he put it.
In fact, he says that the government "should be embarrassed" that he could commit the crimes from his cell in the first place. But it seems like Sabatino wants to put his life of crime behind him, and the gangster has asked his judge to help him.
Sabatino will be transferred from the Miami prison to a "Supermax" facility in Colorado, and once he's there he doesn't want to interact with anybody, out of fear that he'll just commit another crime if he could. His lawyer, Joe Rosenbaum, said Sabatino made the request because "he can't control himself."
"He said he does it because it's fun," Rosenbaum explained, "because he can do it, because he beat the system." Sabatino's trial judge, Joan Lenard, has granted his unusual request.
During his time in the Supermax site, Sabatino will be kept in solitary confinement. He will not be allowed to talk, write letters, or read. He will keep his TV privileges, but otherwise he'll be alone with his thoughts for the next 20 years.
Sabatino was also ordered to pay back the businesses he defrauded. The judge has made an exception to Sabatino's request so he can still contact his two lawyers, and his stepmother. Sabatino's lawyers say he hopes the guards at the Supermax prison won't listen to any of his schemes.
What do you think of the judge's decision