Italian Police Stick It to Would-Be Gladiator

An aspiring Italian actor who poses for tourists as a sword-toting gladiator outside Rome’s Colosseum could face up to three years in jail for bearing illegal arms, police said.

Franco Magni, 29, and a handful of other men in feathered helmets, studded breastplates and Roman sandals charge tourists to take their picture in front of the ruins of the amphitheater where gladiators fought 2,000 years ago.

But unlike his colleagues, who use plastic or wooden weapons, Magni had armed himself with a real sword and was arrested.