"Dagobert" made about 30 vain attempts to extract ransom money from Germany's largest retail chain, Karstadt, after placing homemade bombs in at least five of its stores.
The extortionist, whose real name is Arno Funke, borrowed his nickname from the Disney character Scrooge McDuck, known in German as Dagobert.
"I was at the end of my tether and wanted to commit suicide, so I thought of blackmailing a department store to change my life," Funke, 44, an unemployed sign painter from Berlin, told the court.
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