Exclusive | NYC council candidate, radio host Frank Morano admits he was duped into helping romance scam artist get out of prison

First time caller, long time fraud.

A local radio host running for City Council admitted he was duped into helping a romance scam artist get out of prison only for the ex-con to show he was anything but reformed once he was set free.

Frank Morano, the host of 770 WABC “The Other Side of Midnight,” said in a resurfaced clip from his Jan. 6 episode that he wrote a “really good letter” to the state Parole Board to help get felon Robert Giuliano, 49, sprung from prison.

Morano, who is running in an April 29 special election for a vacant council seat on the south shore of Staten Island, said he helped out after a friend told him Giuliano — who he didn’t mention by name — “listens to him every day” and “loves the show.”

“I am persuaded that his whole incarceration was largely a misunderstanding,” the candidate told the Parole Board after a call with the con, who had been behind bars for six years.

But as soon as he was out there were “red flags,” Morano said.

“I invited him to an outing with some of my friends,” Morano said. “But then he starts messaging some of my friends. Can they each give him some money to take 30 orphans to an MMA fight,? And he’d be all over social media, traveling all over the place, taking photographs with beautiful women.”

Giuliano — who was released on June 4 of last year, according to state records — had allegedly scammed thousands of dollars from travelers by promising to book them into luxury hotels and to score hot tickets to exclusive events through his bogus company “Giuliano Group Concierge.”

He’d pocket the cash or check into the swanky hotels himself and let his victims pick up the tab, according to the accusations.

Giuliano was convicted of identity theft, falsifying business records and fraud.

Morano said the ex-con, once free, even changed his phone number several times.

As it turned out, Giuliano was arrested in Scottsdale, Arizona last December after local authorities said they got a tip about his felony warrant out of New York.

He was on the New York Department of Correction’s Most Wanted Fugitive list for forgery, grand larceny and identity theft.

The website also said Giuliano is a “multi-state” offender and is known for targeting women in romance scams. He was extradited from Arizona to New York.

“He’s arrested again. If you put his name in any of the search engines all testimonials pop up of women that were scammed by him or that he tried to scam,” he said on his show.

“You do all these bad things. You make these women fall in love with you and then you use them for money.”

Morano admitted he was duped by “flattery.”

But he vowed to never help a prisoner again after getting “duped” and “scammed” by a “professional con artist.”

Contacted by The Post Sunday, Morano claimed the clip has resurfaced as part of a “smear attack” by his opponent Griffin Fossella, the son of Borough President Vito Fossella. The two are competing to replace former Councilman Joseph Borelli, who stepped down.

“I think people will see this for what it is – a political smear attack by my flailing opponent, who refuses to even show up for the people he wants to represent,” Morano said.

“I will continue to focus on the issues that matter to the residents of the South Shore, like reducing crime and protecting the quality of life. Happy to debate this and all these issues when Griffin finally comes out of the candidate protection program.”

Morano added that he has the backing of the lion’s share of law enforcement unions.

David Catalfamo, a spokesman for Fossella, shot back.

“Morano helped spring one of New York’s Most Wanted—he belongs on Hochul’s Parole Board, not representing Staten Island,” the spokesman said.