(CNN) — Usually it’s the tourists behaving badly in Italy, but this time three men accused of crimes outside the Colosseum are locals. The men have been arrested on suspicion of extortion after dressing up as gladiators and centurions and demanding money from tourists for their self-styled “imperial selfies” — which they had asked the tourists to take.
Rome’s Polizia di Stato police force announced the news on its Facebook page, stating that during August and September, they received a “number of complaints from foreign tourists who had had up to 500 euros ($516) extorted from them.”
“The modus operandi was identical,” they wrote. Men dressed as gladiators or centurions would allegedly invite their tourist victims to take an “imperial selfie” with them outside the Colosseum, and then demand money. Sometimes “violence and threats” were used.
One Italian tourist was asked for 40 euros; when he said no, two of the suspects surrounded him, threatened to beat him up, and allegedly extorted 150 euros from them.
