Bob Arno “Pickpocket King” National Geographic documentary

Naples panorama—view from our room at the San Francesco al Monte Hotel.
Naples panorama—view from our room at the San Francesco al Monte Hotel.

Day 1—TIME TO MAKE an announcement. Our long-dreamed of, long-worked-for project has become reality. Bob and I are making a documentary about pickpockets. The shoot starts now! We have an incredible team, and backing us is National Geographic, the fantasy of any serious documentary-maker. And we have a film director, Kun Chang, whose passion and persistence has been the engine of our project for more than four years.

Bob and I have been on our feet countless, endless days, for the past seventeen years in pursuit of pickpockets. We find, follow, and film the thieves, talk to them, and interview them. Dropping into the most fabulous locations of the world, we give short shrift to museums and monuments, and instead lurk among the tourists, preying on their prey. In the name of research, we people-watch. We’ve slowly acquired better and better video equipment, and a massive archive of crime footage.

Time to do something with it.

We’re on location now in a European city we chose for the main filming of our documentary. Over the next numerous posts, I intend to share the excitement, successes, and surprises of our journey as we dive ever deeper into the world of pickpockets. I don’t mean to be coy if I only hint of tantalizing details; certain aspects are contractually unmentionable until broadcast.

Next installment.

This is Part 1 of THE MAKING OF OUR NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC DOCUMENTARY, PICKPOCKET KING. The film is about us, Bob Arno and Bambi Vincent. We are “thiefhunters in paradise.” The paradise we chose for the story is the warm and wild city of Naples, Italy, home to the world’s best pickpockets. The documentary premieres December 2 at 8pm ET/PT on the National Geographic Channel.

—Originally posted 9/9/10 and soon thereafter password-protected at the request of the producer.

© Copyright 2008-2011 Bambi Vincent. All rights reserved.

Thiefhunter

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21 Comments

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  3. […] on the loose. In the midst of all the excitement of the premiere of our National Geographic documentary, and all the television promotion that came from it, we’ve moved. From Las Vegas to the […]

  21. CONGRATULATIONS! CAN’T WAIT TO SEE THE DOC!

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