The mafia didn't beat up Harry Reid, says Nevada man who started rumor

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) didn't suffer facial fractures at the hands of some mob goons, according to a man who claims to have concocted that tall tale.

Larry Pfeifer, a 50-year-old from Las Vegas, tells the Las Vegas Sun that after seeing a conservative site question Reid's version of events — the senator said he sustained the injuries in a freak workout accident — he wanted to ensnare some gullible sites with an unfounded rumor of his own. Sure enough, the plan worked.

Pfeifer said he was surprised how rapidly the story spread considering he spiced it with blatantly false details. And he expressed remorse for bringing prolonged scrutiny to Reid's injuries.

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"I would really like to apologize to Harry Reid and his brother," Pfeifer told the Sun. "What I did was [expletive] up."