Yes Mindy, There Was A Russian Ninja Terrorizing Italy

I was having dinner last night with Mindy Does Minneapolis, and afterwards we went to see my cousin's band The Million play at the Turf Club. At one point, I mentioned that Italian police had recently captured a Russian ninja who had been going around robbing people. Despite her worthy facade of acceptance, I had a feeling she thought I was B.S.'ing her. Not so, true believers! You can read more about the ninja here, here, and here, or you can just Google "Russian, Italy, ninja" and get a ton of articles. To learn more, I also sent an e-mail to AskANinja@gmail, I'll let you know if I get a reponse.

Igor Vaclavic, a 32-year-old former Russian soldier from the Russian army, had apparently spent the last couple weeks roaming the northeastern Italian countryside and robbing farmers while dressed as a ninja. Armed with a bow and knife, along with nightvision goggles and a head torch he had been holding up farmers and demanding cash.

His reign of terror came to an end on Monday, when he broke into a farmhouse and after being startled by the farmer (Giovanni Zampieri) who accidentally discharged his rifle, fled the scene using the most ancient of ninja tools - the bicycle. "The fellow took fright and ran away, slipping on the broken glass from the door, then hopped on a bicycle and went hell-for-leather through the cornfields, riding his bike as if it were a horse." Police soon arrived and tracked him down to an abandoned farmhouse where he was arrested.

Apparently Mr. Vaclavic's ninja disguise had been inspired by his childhood idol, Robin Hood. I guess nobody had the heart to tell him that Robin Hood was not a ninja, nor did he generally steal from farmers.