How to steal a Rolex
Naples, Italy— Here’s something you didn’t know. It takes two men to steal a new model Rolex, while the older ones can be snatched by a single person. That’s the sort of gem our research nets, if we don’t piss off the mafiosi by pointing a camera into their faces (while they’re looking). Their rottweilers look like overstuffed pups, but you know there’s a reason the dogs are kept close, and you know the animals’ allegiance is backed by ferocious power, flesh-shredding choppers, and bone-crunching jaws.
Nice doggy!
I wonder if Rolex is aware that it doubled labor requirements in the hostile acquisitions market? Still, everyone wears a Rolex in this neighborhood. The children of thieves wear them. “They don’t have one euro in their pocket,” we’re told, “but they wear a Rolex.”
The manpower numbers come straight from an expert: one of the three major Rolex thieves in the capital city of Rolex theft. “AS” [can't use real names, sorry], our source today, is currently at large; but his two buddies are in jail, arrested by our guide and host, Officer DC, of Naples’ Falchi Squad, the tough undercover cops who fight power with power.
So it’s a strange sort of respect and cooperation and turning a blind eye when DC knocks on the big steel door in the heart of Quartieri Spagnoli, Naples’ no-go zone if you’re not mafia (or police). A peek-a-boo slot opens and words are exchanged. “No video,” Officer DC says to me, drawing a big square around his face. I take it to mean that I can film, but not faces.
This is part 1 of 5. Next
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Other posts:
- How to steal a Rolex, Part 2 of 5
- How to steal a Rolex, Part 5 of 5
- How to steal a Rolex, Part 4 of 5
- How to steal a Rolex, Part 3 of 5
[...] read more | digg story [...]
09 Jun 2008 at 5:12 am
[...] read more | digg story [...]
09 Jun 2008 at 5:14 am
[...] form of thievery in Naples is Rolex theft. It happens to any non-mafia member who dares to flash the easily identifiable status symbol in the [...]
08 Feb 2009 at 3:11 pm
[...] This is part 4 of 5. Next Back to beginning [...]
29 Apr 2009 at 11:47 am
[...] This is part 2 of 5. Next Back to beginning. [...]
29 Apr 2009 at 11:49 am
[...] world, and certainly not something that I would experiment with. The only thieves who are able to lift Rolexes are in Naples, Italy (then and now), and their technique is most certainly not appropriate for [...]
19 Mar 2010 at 1:14 pm