UNMASKED? Romano (Photo: Mike Oates)
Radar has learned that NYPD detectives recently questioned New York Post photographer Ron Romano of Staten Island in connection with the Ninja burglaries which have besieged that tropical paradise this year (and caught the attention of media far from the home of the Wu Tang Clan).

Romano is laughing about it now, but the rest of the Staten Island press corps promise to never let him live it down, he says. "You know how they've never caught me?" Romano has been joking to friends. "I walk the electric high lines on my way out of my victims' houses, and the cops never bother to look up!" With a more serious tone, he adds, "They're grasping at straws."

According to the fancy-footed photog, it was his nimbleness that caught the attention of the police. They told him they're in possession of a videotape of him walking a tightrope in his backyard while using a bow and arrow. (Radar has seen the high-wire routine with our own eyes at his backyard barbecues, and it's a stunning display!) Police told Romano he's one of their top three suspects. But no one who knows him believes Romano needs the money bad enough to burgle S.I. homes. In addition to his full-time freelance gig at the Post, he shoots a lot of Sweet 16s and weddings—he's not hurting.

Could the questioning have anything to do with Romano filing a false arrest lawsuit against the department this year after they locked him up for taking pics (from a public street) of police responding to an emotionally disturbed person? Romano says he's close to settling the case and should be in an even sweeter financial spot.