The Manhattan serial bank robber who used a stylish assortment of hats as a disguise is an out-of-work junkie who constantly needed money to get his drug fix, The Post has learned.
Joseph DiBenedetto, 34, of Staten Island, was captured by police Tuesday after he botched a bank job on the Upper West Side and tried to flee on a city bus, police said.
Under police questioning, DiBenedetto confessed that he robbed nine banks to feed his heroin habit and wore creative headgear, including fedoras, Yankee caps and even a bike helmet – to hide his face from security cameras, law enforcement sources said.
The quirky thief, who is single with no children, also admitted that he has no real home and typically crashes on friend’s couches, sources said.
He was charged with the thefts and was awaiting arraignment Wednesday in Manhattan Federal Court.
In Tuesday’s failed heist, DiBenedetto passed a note to a teller and demanded cash at the Popular Community Bank on West 96th Street and Columbus Avenue, police sources said.
A worker at the bank set off an alarm, spooking the 34-year-old bandit, who bolted without any cash and hopped on a bus, sources said.
Officers Lisa Mendoza and Sarah Frankel from the 24th Precinct chased DiBenedetto down on a crosstown M96 bus heading east and arrested him, police sources said.
Earlier in the day, before he tried to hit up Popular, DiBenedetto had walked into a HSBC Bank on West 95th Street and Amsterdam Avenue wearing a black-and-white cap.
But a teller recognized him because he had robbed the same bank in June, so he fled, cops said.
DiBenedetto is accused of targeting at least nine New York City-based banks, including three without hats, and swiping a total of $20,000 between March and August, according to police.
Neighbors cheered the bandit’s arrest, saying he should quit bank jobs — and get a real one.
“Thank God they got him. Throw him in jail. He should find a job. I work 9-to-5, everybody should,” said Benny Hoti, 27, who works near Popular Community Bank.
DiBenedetto allegedly attempted to and actually robbed mainly HSBC and Santander banks in neighborhoods including the West Village, Midtown, Murray Hill and the Upper East Side in the past five months.
The banks include: Santander Bank at 250 Lexington Ave. in March; Santander Bank at 711 Third Ave. in May; Santander Bank at 250 Lexington Ave. in May; HSBC Bank at 354 Sixth Ave. in May; HSBC bank at 2025 Broadway in June; a HSBC Bank located at 721 Amsterdam Ave. in June; a HSBC Bank located at 45 E. 89 Street in July; an HSBC Bank at 1165 Third Ave. in July and an HSBC bank at 45 E. 89 St. in August.