'Hitler's' Nazi salutes rile Argentine WC fans in New York "Hell's Kitchen " bar

New York, July 5: A New York bar packed with Argentine fans watching the World Cup quarterfinal between Argentina and Germany were shocked when a man walked in dressed up as former German dictator Adolf Hitler.

The man, Steve Staso, wore a taped-on moustache, a Nazi-like outfit and a swastika armband at Cafe Andalucia on Ninth Avenue.

The 55-year-old gave off Nazi salutes as he watched Germany beat Argentina 4-0.

His actions left some fans inside the cafe fuming, with one of them saying: 'Why are you doing this?' and he said it was funny."

"I said, 'Is genocide funny? Is history funny?' And he just, like, turned around and went to the other side of the bar. He realized something was wrong," The New York Post quoted the fan, as saying.

Another fan at the bar said that Staso was shouting "Deutschland!" and "Heil Hitler!"

"I told him to remove it. He said, 'It's America. I can do what I want'. I said, 'I am Jewish, and I find it offensive'," the fan said.

Later in the day, Staso defended his decision to dress up like Hitler, and said: "You don't tell people in Hell's Kitchen what to do. The point is to have fun. You can't have fun anymore?"

"I stayed the whole game. I didn't take off the costume on principal. I ordered a beer in German," he added.