Panama Cannons: gangsters gone good, part 2 of 6
byPanama City, Panama—Too much laundry was hung too neatly on a wire line stretched across the broken schoolyard. This boy can’t be that industrious,…
Panama City, Panama—Too much laundry was hung too neatly on a wire line stretched across the broken schoolyard. This boy can’t be that industrious,…
Panama City, Panama—Angel Sanchez is trying to stay clean. Neither crack nor speed produces the high he craves. At 23, Angel is trying to…
Were you waiting with bated breath for the promised pictures of the Russian ice cream seller and the stolen credit cards she retrieved from…
Over the years we minimized our equipment as we acquired smaller and smaller cameras of broadcast quality. With lighter equipment we became more maneuverable,…
City of Hugs and Thugs. Naples, Italy— At the next stop, two more suspects pushed on beside me. The bus remained crowded all the…
City of Hugs and Thugs. Naples, Italy— We left Angelo and wandered around the corner, through the fish and produce market for a while….
City of Hugs and Thugs. Naples, Italy— Bob and I estimate that we saw 50 to 60 pickpockets in two hours on the trams…
City of Hugs and Thugs. Naples, Italy— Friday morning we had a friend take pictures of Bob and me getting onto crowded trams. A…
…continuing the story Tourists and thieves: a collision course ROME POLICE OFFICER CELINI remembered us from previous visits and greeted us warmly. Without asking,…
Turkey Vultures—We’re off duty in Istanbul, so we roam around the Grand Bazaar, buy a shawl, buy a cd, seize photo opportunities. We go…
Bob and I began our field research on street thievery in 1993, when we quit our steady jobs in Las Vegas to combine freelancing…
Yoshi Sugohara stood stoic and penniless in a phone booth, using our phone card. He called a number given him by the Rome police,…
Yannick Laclau wrote about Barcelona, a city that Bob and I love. But Yannick’s news was a sad consequence of the ostrich hiding its…
Pockets and purses and those who pick them. I’ve posted two new pages: Pocketology 101 and Purseology 101. I’m thinking of adding video to…
I remember when I used to hunt for wild mushrooms in the Santa Cruz Mountains. I’d find nothing the first hour or so. But…
Naples, Italy— After lunch, Mario must leave us and we four are left to stumble through the dangerous quarter accompanied only by pidgin. Officer…
Naples, Italy—Mario is not only intelligently fluent in English and Italian–he is interested in the conversation. He excavates the essence when Officer DC expounds…
Naples, Italy— For most of this day, we’ve been accompanied by Mario, a friend and fabulous translator. Born in Italy, educated in Australia, now…
Naples, Italy— We’re introduced to AS, tattooed and be-dogged, in front of his female family members. Women of several generations sit in plastic chairs…
Rolex theft Naples, Italy— Here’s something you didn’t know about Rolex theft. It takes two men to steal a new model Rolex, while the…
High and Dry on the Streets of Elsewhere Chapter One, part-g, Travel Advisory— Barcelona, a fusion of passion and creativity, chaos and order, where…
High and Dry on the Streets of Elsewhere Chapter One, part-f, Travel Advisory — One man loses his wallet. It’s a small crime, a…
High and Dry on the Streets of Elsewhere Chapter One, part-e, Travel Advisory — A somber crowd was gathered outside the police station. While…
Every single summer day, one hundred tourists will be pickpocketed near the Coliseum in Rome; another hundred will be hit near the Spanish Steps,…
High and Dry on the Streets of Elsewhere Chapter One, part-c, Travel Advisory Bob and I hit the ground and I squinted at the…