Maniscalco

For nearly two years, authorities say, an Oakwood man posed as a cop -- wearing a realistic-looking NYPD uniform replete with sergeant's insignia, sporting a police badge and outfitting his mock police car with tinted windows and flashing lights.

Duped neighbors said they loaned him money and considered him a friend, believing him when he said he'd nabbed prowlers trying to steal things from their homes and ignoring the inconsistent details in his story that did not add up.

However, the jig was up for James Maniscalco when he was arrested Monday by real cops after a neighbor he had tried to intimidate while impersonating a law officer came forward, according to authorities.

"He's like that movie, 'Catch Me If You Can.' A con artist, so smooth he could talk a cat out of a tree," said Anthony Alanti, a neighbor who said he was tricked by Maniscalco's falsehoods. "If you looked at that car -- he had a badge and the shirt -- you would have believed him too."

Sometime last year between Sept. 1 and Nov. 30, investigators with the NYPD's Internal Affairs Bureau say that Maniscalco, 36, followed Michael Ciancimino to the driveway of his Merkel Place home in Oakwood.

Ciancimino lives about a tenth of a mile from the Riga Street residence of Maniscalco's 35-year-old girlfriend.

A bald Maniscalco -- standing 5 feet, 8 inches and weighing 185 pounds -- emerged from his gray 2003 Chevrolet Impala in "a threatening manor, dressed in a dark blue shirt with NYPD patches on both shoulders, and a gold colored shield displayed on the outside of said shirt," according to court papers

"If you don't slow down, I'll have to take action. You will find yourself in trouble," Maniscalco told Ciancimino, papers state.

Prosecutors have charged Maniscalco with two counts of second-degree criminal impersonation and one count of second-degree harassment.

However, the investigation into Maniscalco is ongoing, according to the district attorney's office.

Should more victims come forward, it's possible additional charges will be brought.

He was released on his own recognizance after an arraignment yesterday in Criminal Court.

Maniscalco's attorney, Richard Barrett, declined to comment on the matter, saying only, "It was blown out of proportion," and said he expects the case to be resolved during the Oct. 22 court date.

If convicted of impersonating an officer, a misdemeanor, Maniscalco could face up to a year in prison.

His girlfriend has not been implicated in the scam. There was no answer last night at her home, where Maniscalco often parked his look-alike cop car.

According to Alanti, relationships in the neighborhood began to fray as folks slowly started to catch on to Maniscalco's lies: His ostensible years with the NYPD kept changing and he didn't know simple police codes.

Soon, anonymous phone calls making false claims were placed to city agencies and neighbors were pitted against one another.

Neighbors said that one resident threw a party for Maniscalco after he said he was being sent to fight in Iraq. However, Maniscalco never shipped out and suspicions arose as to whether he'd ever enlisted in the military.

"I gave him money, fed him, let him store his motorcycle and WaveRunner here and he was nothing more than a backstabber," said another miffed man, who wished to remain anonymous.

A few residents said Maniscalco even had the gall to flash his badge while patronizing neighborhood delis, receiving coffee and snacks for free from fooled clerks who thought they were extending a courtesy to a real cop.

The accused man's family strongly denied the charges during an interview last night at their Adelaide Avenue home, where Maniscalco's Impala was parked.

"It was nothing more than a neighbor dispute," said Maniscalco's older brother, Joe, 41, claiming that the incident happened in April. "He was dressed in his security uniform, from where he works, and the guy thought he was a cop."

As the man defended his brother, Maniscalco's mother, Pauline, 62, smoked cigarettes and cried while sitting in a chair on her doorstep.

The older Maniscalco said that Ciancimino apparently had been speeding through the neighborhood, and since cops from the 122nd Precinct hadn't showed yet, his brother decided he would talk to him.

"He never said he was a cop. The guy just assumed that," he said. "Any lights in his car are used for work purposes. And, as far as any pictures, those are from Halloween."

Maniscalco's brother added that neighbors "on a witch hunt" went so far as to call city agencies on Maniscalco's girlfriend, resulting in visits from the Administration for Children's Services.

"These things are not true," said Mrs. Maniscalco, holding up her son's workshirt and explaining the differences between his attire and police officer's uniform. "It's embarrassing. My son didn't do anything to deserve this."

At this point, police and prosecutors do not believe Maniscalco is connected to the recent spate of push-in robberies by men posing as police and muscling their way into Staten Island residences.

Neighbors said that Maniscalco sometimes pulled his impersonation stunts with an accomplice, who also dressed in an NYPD blue uniform, but authorities had no immediate information on that matter.

Advance records show that this incident isn't the first time Maniscalco pretended to be the police.

In 1993, he stuck a handgun in a man's face and threatened to kill him following a fight.

Maniscalco, then 20, was charged with criminal possession of a weapon, menacing and impersonating a police officer, police reported.

His head hit the street, knocking him unconscious, and he spent a couple of days comatose in St. Vincent's Medical Center, now Richmond University Medical Center, West Brighton.

For years, everyone in the Staten Island neighborhood thought James Maniscalco was an NYPD cop.

He bragged of his police powers, wore a uniform with real department patches and outfitted his 2003 Impala with lights to look like an undercover car.

But James Maniscalco was not a cop.

And it wasn’t until he actually pulled one of his neighbors over for speeding about a year ago that his web of lies came apart - and he was busted this week for impersonating an officer, police sources said.

Maniscalco’s fatal mistake was not studying the police manual harder. When he was confronted by a real police sergeant with the Internal Affairs Bureau, he was asked one of the most basic questions for any cop: What is the police code for lunch?

When he didn’t know that it was 10-63, the jig was up.

“I told my friends I was a cop,” Maniscalco, 36, allegedly told detectives after he was arrested. “My neighbors asked and I told them I was a cop. It snowballed and they thought I could do things for them.”

Before his alleged charade was revealed, Maniscalco was one of the most popular residents along Adelaide Avenue in Oakwood.

He told all his neighbors that he was an NYPD officer, and wore a blue uniform that had a realistic-looking gold shield and familiar patches, sources said.

His car was also made to look like an unmarked cop vehicle, with lights that he would occasionally turn on to make it seem like he was responding to a call.

He took the impersonation to the extreme sometime this past fall when he spotted a neighbor speeding down a residential street, authorities said.

Maniscalco flipped on his lights and pursued the man to his home. When the man stopped, Maniscalco followed him into his back yard, gave him a lecture and threatened to write him a ticket.

“If you don’t slow down, I’ll have to take action and you will find yourself in trouble,” he allegedly said.

After that, nothing much happened until Maniscalco started telling neighbors that he was also a solider about to head off to Iraq. Neighbors were so supportive, they threw him a going-away party.

When Maniscalco never went away, some people started to get suspicious. The man he allegedly tried to pull over contacted an Internal Affairs sergeant who also lived nearby, and conveyed his suspicions.

That led to the cop’s quiz of Maniscalco. He was arrested Monday and let off on his own recognizance Tuesday.

His lawyer said that he is a private security guard, and did nothing wrong.

“I think it was a neighbor dispute from a year ago,” said attorney Richard Barrett. “It mushroomed and got blown out of proportion.”

jamie.schram@nypost.com

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He also claims on his myspace page that he is in the National Guard, which is a lie. Here is a copy of his blog:

1999-2008 I will always love u......I miss u and the kids.

I just dont understand how one day we are holding hands and then the next we are apart.... we were together for 10 years and I gave her all my love to her and her kids, but she stopped loving me and went back to her ex, so for all the holidays that just went by, I was by my self, while she was with him, U know love is so great at times and it can be the death of u.....so now all is left for me is 2 broken hearts because the love that is missing for her kids as well as for her, I sometimes pray just pray and cry to GOD please all I wanted is to just hear her voice and that I would give my soul for her kiss, but that will never happen, well my heart is dead and I do not want to ever fall in love again.....because i do not want to feel that pain ever again...so I will walk alone.....and when its my turn to go to War...I am going the sooner the better.....I have nothing left here anymore, she was my family, but now its gone. just can't take the pain anymore..and I hate being alone, and I never thought that we would ever be apart but here I am......life is funny. some might say wow he is so sexy and he looks strong,, well if u look into my eyes I am really hurting and I have a dead heart ........ so I will be leaving, I told my staff sgt, that I want to go front lines in afgan..war. so I have less then 2 months before I leave. I just want to tell u guys how much I care that u are my friends. thank u and God bless....

Maniscalco, James

NYPD nabs counterfeit cop on Staten Island

Posted by dbalsamin September 10, 2008 03:33AM