Gotcha! 'One-armed Vietnam vet' exposed using TWO arms to count the cash he scammed from sympathetic NY motorists
With his battered combat fatigues and apparently missing his left arm, Robert McMahon looks every inch the wounded Vietnam vet.
But just minutes later he is exposed as a callous fake - one who has not lost any limbs - playing on the sympathy of New Yorkers to scam them into giving him cash.
These images taken on a New York street show McMahon after he has untucked his sleeve and exposed his left arm once more so that he can count his wads of cash.
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Robert McMahon presents a pitiable figure in his battered combat gear and missing his left arm as he begs motorists for money
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Exposed: But just minutes later McMahon is caught on camera using two arms to count his cash after a successful day of scamming
Each day he hides it in his jacket then folds up the sleeve before guilt-tripping motorists in New York into giving him money.
Acquaintances say he has been doing the ‘arm scam’ for years, but has been playing on Americans’ patriotism in some form or another since at least 1987.
Years ago he was seen sitting in a wheelchair on the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel with his leg tucked up to make it look like it was blown off.
Since then his leg has reappeared - but McMahon has ‘lost’ his left arm.
In his latest rouse he claims to have served with the Marines' 2nd Division and fought in Vietnam in 1972 and '73, which he has written on the back of his jacket along with his supposed nickname, ‘Rambo’.
Reporters from the New York Post observed him hobbling over to drivers at red lights with a paper cup and a sign which read: ‘Vietnam vet’.
Many willingly gave notes but those who refused were met with ***** and expletives.
A reporter posing as a passer-by asked how he lost his limb - he winced in mock pain and said: ‘I don't like to talk about it.’
Just after 5pm McMahon finished for the day and was seen walking a few blocks away from where he had been ‘begging’, before pulling his arm out and counting the bundle of cash.
When he realised his photograph was being taken, McMahon tried to put his arm behind his back before screaming at the photographer: ‘I'll put a bullet in the back of your head’.
None of his claims appear to check out and military Corps and Veterans Administration officials have been unable to find any record of him.
According to police and prosecutors, however, McMahon is a menace with 20 offences to his name, many of which are for ‘fraudulent accosting’, or conning people on the street.
McMahon is known to Robert Gainey, a real Vietnam vet who did two tours as an explosives expert.
‘He's been doing the fake-arm thing for at least 20 years,’ he said.
‘He's crazy as a bat. Everyone around here knows about it.’
Gainey, 68, added that nothing McMahon has said to him over the years has convinced him he was a real soldier.
‘Us guys who are still around, we can spot each other right away,’ he said.
‘We've talked about the war. And he's said things to me that you can read in a book or see in the movies. He didn't say anything to convince me he was really there.’
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McMahon - his 'army nickname' and unit written on the back of his battered vest, his empty sleeve hanging limply at his side - begs for money from passing motorists. His left arm is actually tucked up inside his combat uniform
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