(say it ain’t so!)

Psychic-to-the-stars Azra Shafi-Scagliarini has been the subject of heated complaints in this space previously, but nothing on the level of the following correspondence that arrived minutes ago.

Please be advised that I cannot vouch for the veracity of any of the below claims, but do keep in mind that if any of them are true, a) at least The Captain practices safe sex and b) …wow, Vanessa Minnillo doing blow in public! Take that TMZ!

To whom it may concern,

There was an article that was written about Azra Shafi-Schelierini on April 2, 2007 in the New Yorker Magazine by Greoggry Grey about her being the spiritual adviser to the New York Yankees had me laughing. Please read the whole article so you see what I am talking about.

I have had the unfortunate experience of knowing Azra for about 10 years now. I own a little Mom And Pop BBQ restaurant in Vernon, CT, Little Mark™s Big BBQ, which she has frequently been going before she moved to New Jersey and got a divorce from her husband. She is nothing but a co-artist. She tell big tales of who she knows and is a big time name dropper to try to get her way. She gets these insecure athletes and celebrities clamoring for her to try to part them of their money. When she was pregnant with her son she used to come to my restaurant and get the Beef Rib Dinner. This is how I met her. I did not see her for about 5 years and one day she popped in to my restaurant and started telling tales of how she knows Jason Giambi. Giambi at the time was my favorite ball player before I found out a lot of things about him which include steroids and drug use. These are qualities in people I do not admire.

I being star struck being a life long Yankee fan started chatting with her at the table. She would come to my place just about every time the Yankees played Boston at Fenway because she had to drive by the exit all the time. She then the next year when the Red Sox were getting their World Series rings on opening day asked me if I would deliver some food to Fenway for some of the players. I obliged her. She took about 6 months to pay me which I wrote off as just the Yankees taking their time paying their invoices. Most big corporations do take up to 90 days to pay some bills. Finally I got her to pay. It was only like $500. She then would come to the restaurant from time to time or call me. On September 19, 2005 she asked me to deliver food to Yankee Stadium. I obliged. the order was for $1629.70. I got the food delivered there and I gave her the invoice. She said she would get me the check that day but after she got the food she disapeared. She called me back on September 22, 2005 and asked me to deliver more food. This time it totaled $7025.15. That to me was a big order so I specifically told he that I needed to get paid for both parties that day. That was over a weeks worth of food for me. When I got the food there the people from the club house were horrified with the amount of food she had brought. Non the less they took it. When I asked her where the money was she said she had to get it from Jason (Giambi). She once again disappeared.

I called her that night because I was still in the City. She told me to meet her at the W on 49th and Lexington so I did. She showed up and soon after Derek Jeter, Harold Reynolds and Tino Martinez showed up also so I thought I am definitely going to get paid now. She started asking me if I could go get Derek (Jeter) condoms because he wanted to take one of the cocktail waitresses into the bathroom. Then she started acting real frantic and said that was Jason (Giambi) on the phone and If I knew a doctor in New York that I could get pain killers for him or if I had any. I told her no that I was neither into that or that I knew anyone that was. At that point I brought up getting paid again and she said she would be right back with the payment and never came back. At that point the season was just about over. I continually kept calling her and it was the same thing, it is in the mail. Nothing.

When the season was over I called her and she told me Jason (Giambi) was in rehab in Vegas and I would have to wait till he got out to get payment. Nothing. Now at this point another year has passed. She changed her number and there was no way of me getting a hold of her. Then the next season I went to a game and there she was front and center behind home plate. I confronted her and she said she was amazed I did not get paid yet. She said she would get it for me as soon as possible. Same old thing the run around till the season came to a close. I ran into her in New York at the W again and there she was living it up. She gave me some sob story of how her apartment got broken into by her ex-boyfriend and he stole everything she had. I later spoke to her ex-boyfriend and he said it was all an insurance scam on her part. That night she was with Vanessa Minelo and they all went to Club Stereo. They were all Drinking and doing Cocaine so I left. That is not my scene. She that night got arrested for DUI. She called me and asked if I could come and bail her out of jail. At this point I was already in Connecticut. I then once again started asking to get paid. She kept giving me a sob story of her trying to get custody of there son, getting a new Fed Id number for her business, saying she sent it to the wrong address, and anything else you could think of. At this point now it is June 07. I am getting impatient so I called the New York Yankees clubhouse and spoke to Robbie Cuccuza who is in charge there. He remembered me delivering the food and said that she is in no way affiliated with the Yankees just some of the “insecure players that need her around” and that she was also a thorn in their side. He told me if I was smart to stay away from her that she is a con artist and had done this to many other people. He told me after I told him my story that he would talk to the front office to try to get her banned from the stadium because they have had so many problems with her in the past and he would do everything he could for me to help me get my money. He then handed the phone off to me to other people who work for the Yankees and they all told me the same thing that she is a fraud and a con artist and the only reason she is even allowed into the stadium is because some of the players want her there.

I am now in the process of taking her to court to collect my money. It is sad that there are people like her out in the world. The saddest is that these guys who are ever so talented need someone like her and that a renound magazine such as the New Yorker would even publish an article about this person without doing specific research about her.

If you feel as though you want to contact me to speak further about this my name is George Giotsas, (860) XXX-XXXX.

Thank you for your time.