'Crazy Legs' Crowned Cannoli King

(Sept. 10) -- "Crazy Legs" Conti might not want to step on the scale tomorrow.

The 38-year-old New Yorker wolfed down 20 1/2 cannoli -- roughly 7,480 calories -- all in the name of gluttony.

Conti beat six other competitive eaters to win Little Italy's 8th Annual Cannoli Eating Competition, part of the Feast of San Gennaro.

"This is the prize I've always wanted," Conti told AOL News. "You don't win any money. But the bragging rights mean everything."

The streets of lower Manhattan, at the corner of Mott and Grand, were packed as Conti and the other contestants rammed the traditional Italian pastries down their throats. Shards of pastry shells littered the stage, and white ricotta cheese was everywhere.

A parade of chefs at the Ferrara Bakery, a Little Italy institution, brought out more than 288 cannoli as the contest began. And six minutes later, as Conti threw his arms up in victory, all that was left was a mess on the floor and several nauseous competitors.

"Many people have asked me why the public loves competitive eating more than major sports like football, baseball and tennis," said George Shea of the International Federation of Competitive Eating.

"And it's because there's no racket, no bat, no ball," said Shea. "It's just man versus food. It doesn't get any more primal than that."

Shea and his brother run the organization that promotes Nathan's Fourth of July hot dog-eating contest on Coney Island, an event that has turned wiener gladiators like Joey Chestnut and Takeru Kobayashi into world-renowned stars.

As the competition has grown, so has the prize money. Between the Krystal Burger Square Off in Chattanooga, Tenn., and the Buffalo Wing showdown (in Buffalo, of course), there is $95,000 in prize money at stake this month.

"The cannoli contest is old school. It's pure. You don't need the money," Conti said. "You compete simply for the joy of competing."

Conti, a former bouncer, works as purchasing director at New York's Penthouse Club. He was featured in the A&E documentary 'Crazy Legs Conti: Zen and the Art of Competitive Eating.'

With his long-flowing dreadlocks, he's a familiar face on the competitive eating circuit.

"I've competed here for eight years and I've always come in second or third," he said. "I know I've wanted this prize more than anyone."

Tim "Eater X" Janus tied the record last year by downing 26 cannoli. "I can't compete," he said from the sidelines. "I just had bonding work done on my teeth."