Naples: capital city of pickpockets, part 3 of 4
byCity 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— 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…
Kim Thomas, a Vegas cop, posted a telling comment on crime statistics, and criminal rehabilitation vs. incarceration. Detective Thomas is the author of Vegas:…
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…
In Orlando, Bob and I attended a four-day NABI training seminar–that’s the National Association of Bunco Investigators. Don’t you love the word bunco? More…
High and Dry on the Streets of Elsewhere Chapter One, part-e, Travel Advisory — A somber crowd was gathered outside the police station. While…
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…
High and Dry on the Streets of Elsewhere Chapter One, part-b, Travel Advisory If law enforcement can’t turn the trend, perhaps Bob and I…
“Hey! Hey! Hey! Get your fucking hand out of my pocket! You try to steal my wallet again and I’ll kill you!” The would-be…
Bob and I contend that the crimes of street thieves, so often dubbed “petty,” are not that at all. First, tally the sheer number…
“Criminals are born, not made. Delinquency is a physiological abnormality.” So said Cesare Lombroso, Italian professor of forensic medicine and psychology, in 1875. After…
Preface, part-b, Travel Advisory I tried to imagine the scenario: Kharem would slip his fingers into the pocket of some hapless tourist and we’d…
Preface, part-a, Travel Advisory If Bob’s and my first priority is putting pickpockets and con artists out of business, our second is to encourage…
Criminal limits are inside a person. How else can I explain why I cannot shoplift? I can’t steal a candy-bar from a supermarket, but…