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Speaker 1: Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera.

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Speaker 1: It's ready. Are you welcome to Stuff You Should Know

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Speaker 1: from House Stuff Works dot Com? Hey, and welcome to

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Speaker 1: the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. This is Charles W. Chuck

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Speaker 1: Bryant whiting his whistle. Uh and uh, the stuff you

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Speaker 1: should know? This is the podcast. Yeah, it's is off

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Speaker 1: to a terrible start. Good again, that's what consecutive bad starts? Oh,

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Speaker 1: we haven't hit four yet. Yeah, what bad starts are

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Speaker 1: just shows? Okay, maybe bad starts. Yeah, shows, we're coming

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Speaker 1: up on it. You gotta be close to four fifty, right, No,

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Speaker 1: coming up on four? I think I thought we were

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Speaker 1: over that. No, not yet. No, we would mention our

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Speaker 1: four hundred show. My goal is for us to make

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Speaker 1: it the five hundred and then after that all bets

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Speaker 1: are off the out. It's exactly right, right, So, uh,

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Speaker 1: what's your I think I might know what your intro is,

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Speaker 1: but that would be a wild stab in the dark.

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Speaker 1: I'd like to hear it because I don't have an intro.

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Speaker 1: Oh really, yeah, what's my intro? Well? I got one then, Okay,

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Speaker 1: the origin of the word sidekick? Have you ever heard this.

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Speaker 1: What does that have to do with pickpockets. I'll tell

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Speaker 1: you my friend back in the old days in London,

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Speaker 1: which is uh, you know obviously Oliver Twist made pickpocketing

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Speaker 1: very famous in London. Well, yeah, his character, Uh, they

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Speaker 1: had different their own language. It was will find out

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Speaker 1: his pickpockets have their own language period, all sorts of lingo,

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Speaker 1: like multiple names for everything. Uh. And back in the day,

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Speaker 1: they each pocket had its own name. The jerve j

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Speaker 1: E r V or the hair Vey was the vest

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Speaker 1: pocket and the kick I'm sorry, the pratt was a

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Speaker 1: back pocket and the kick was a side pocket. And

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Speaker 1: the kick was the most cult spot to to pickpocket

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Speaker 1: because it was on the leg and it was always moving,

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Speaker 1: and so people soon realized that that was the safest

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Speaker 1: place to put their stuff was in the sidekick. And

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Speaker 1: so the sidekick years later becomes a term for, you know,

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Speaker 1: someone helpful and maybe protective, Tonto like Tonto. So that's sidekick. Huh,

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Speaker 1: that's that's your first interest. I believe it is. I

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Speaker 1: would have picked a better one. It's no, that's fantastic.

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Speaker 1: That one's gonna go down and stuff. You should know

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Speaker 1: lore as the sidekick, and that was my first, but

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Speaker 1: I don't know barely appropriate. Do you remember when we

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Speaker 1: used to argue about that about whether you were or not?

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Speaker 1: What do we settle on that you're not? Okay? But

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Speaker 1: I know where to originates from Oliver Twist from the Sidekick. Well,

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Speaker 1: what's funny is there's a lot of stuff that has

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Speaker 1: to do with pickpocketing, Chuck, that did originate for from

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Speaker 1: Oliver Twist. Oh really Yeah, Like you were talking about,

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Speaker 1: like pickpocketing has it's only and go you said, um,

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Speaker 1: And it's kind of storied and almost legendary, and if

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Speaker 1: you dial the clock back a few decades, like it was,

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Speaker 1: UM kind of looked upon the way that maybe today

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Speaker 1: people look upon um pirates, you know what I'm saying,

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Speaker 1: Like they're criminals, but there there's so much art to

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Speaker 1: what they're doing. Maybe like somebody who could steal a

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Speaker 1: painting from a museum that you have to at least

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Speaker 1: grudgingly respect them. Well, and we'll talk to uh, we'll

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Speaker 1: not talk to we'll talk about some people to study this. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I wish someone is here. Is that what this guy

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Speaker 1: is doing exactly? He's lifting your wallet? Um. In this

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Speaker 1: article you found from Slate that there were some experts

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Speaker 1: on you know, pickpocketing, and they they definitely think of

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Speaker 1: it as an art lost art. Specifically, I want to

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Speaker 1: mention the guy's named Bob Arnold, whose job it is

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Speaker 1: to travel the world and pose as a mark as

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Speaker 1: a tourist and then catch people and figure out what

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Speaker 1: they're doing interesting to keep abbreast of it. Yeah, so, um, chuck,

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Speaker 1: let's talk a little bit about the basics of pick pocketing, right,

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Speaker 1: which I think kind of give us a better view

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Speaker 1: of why people think that it's an art form. Um.

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Speaker 1: There's you've got a few different kinds of people involved.

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Speaker 1: Like there's uh, the low level pickpockets, who are really

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Speaker 1: just basically somebody who has uh a moral compass that's

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Speaker 1: off and um, an open bag next to him. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: the opportunist, Like, Hey, there's a co ed studying econ

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Speaker 1: one O one on the lawn and she's got her

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Speaker 1: iPad sticking out of her open backpack right next to her,

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Speaker 1: right which she has her headphones jacked into it turned

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Speaker 1: up all the way and is not paying attention because

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Speaker 1: she's been drinking. Well, if the headphones are on her

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Speaker 1: attached to the iPad, then the person is grabbing the iPad. Well, sure, oh,

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Speaker 1: I thought you meant like there was a person next

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Speaker 1: to her that was open and the iPads in there.

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Speaker 1: She's not studying with the iPad are only for Netflix,

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Speaker 1: and that's what I thought she was deserving. She's studying. Right,

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Speaker 1: Maybe we're talking about a different person, which one I

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Speaker 1: think we've just compled to the easiest mark there there is, right,

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Speaker 1: which is the unassuming college students. Right. Or you're at

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Speaker 1: like a coffee place or something like that, and there's

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Speaker 1: somebody next to you, and it's the kind of place

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Speaker 1: where you would expect somebody's going to be next to you,

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Speaker 1: and you're not really paying attention. You're involved in your

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Speaker 1: computer and their hands in your bag grabbing your wallet

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Speaker 1: or whatever. Or your sleep on the beach very common one. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: that one stinks because you want to be able to

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Speaker 1: sleep on the beach. You have your bag open next

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Speaker 1: to you, in your wallet sitting in it at a

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Speaker 1: coffee house and you're not paying attention to it. You

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Speaker 1: got what you deserved. If somebody steals, I mean it

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Speaker 1: stinks that there are people out there stealing in general,

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Speaker 1: and that you can't just go through life like that,

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Speaker 1: but we all know full well that you can't go

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Speaker 1: through life like that, and if you do, then you

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Speaker 1: have no right to complain. You can't even cancel all

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Speaker 1: of your credit cards. You have to leave one of

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Speaker 1: your credit cards open because punishment, Yes, that's punishment to yourself.

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Speaker 1: Uh well, we also we actually skipped to why people

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Speaker 1: pickpocket to begin with. It's mainly because it's pretty non

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Speaker 1: confrontational crime and you're never known or confronted, and you're

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Speaker 1: you're not like holding a gun, so there's no although

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Speaker 1: we did find out it's a felony a lot of states,

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Speaker 1: even just non weapon involved pickpocketing. Yeah, but it wasn't.

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Speaker 1: That's pretty new, is it. Yeah, for a very long time,

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Speaker 1: it was like if you picked somebody's pocket, you got

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Speaker 1: very It was a small sentence. You had to return

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Speaker 1: the money and apologize pretty much. Yeah, the cop brought

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Speaker 1: you over by your ear exactly. But um, for the

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Speaker 1: most part, like you said, it's not confrontational, So the

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Speaker 1: person who loses his or her wallet to a pickpocket

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Speaker 1: will probably have no idea who took it, won't know

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Speaker 1: for a long time. Um, And it's fairly safe if

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Speaker 1: you're good at it. It's safe crime. Yeah. Plus there's

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Speaker 1: no weapons involved, which is why the sentences were traditionally

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Speaker 1: not very big. It's almost victimless except for the victim

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Speaker 1: you know, Well it depends. I mean, if you're touring

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Speaker 1: Europe and you have everything including your passport and your

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Speaker 1: wallet in your back pocket and all of it's taken,

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Speaker 1: that is, there's a victim in that one. I knew

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Speaker 1: a victim in all of them. I knew a girl

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Speaker 1: who had her sunglasses ripped off her face and roam Italy. Okay,

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Speaker 1: that's not artful. Snatch guys, that's not artful, just a jerk. Um.

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Speaker 1: There was at the Starbucks by my old place, there

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Speaker 1: was a rash of kids just running in and stealing um,

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Speaker 1: people's iPhones right off the table and running out or

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Speaker 1: out of their hand, or stealing the computer that they

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Speaker 1: were working on the laptop and running out the door.

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Speaker 1: And there's a guy who has a coffee place in

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Speaker 1: um Grant Park that his there was just a robbery

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Speaker 1: and everybody was robbed um in that manner like people

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Speaker 1: just ran in and stole and ran out. Um. So

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Speaker 1: the guy's getting locks for the table so you can

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Speaker 1: slide your laptop in and lock it in place. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: that's sad that you have to do that, all right,

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Speaker 1: So where are we crowded subway? Yes, this is the

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Speaker 1: slightly higher in the hierarchy of pickpockets. Make it sound

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Speaker 1: effect here, Well, how about this, chuck. One of the

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Speaker 1: things I think that Um kind of gets to the

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Speaker 1: point across when you're describing pickpocketing, sure is saying when

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Speaker 1: you're talking about a scam, saying the old first, right,

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Speaker 1: and having maybe like old timey ragtime saloon music playing

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Speaker 1: in the background while you're describing it. So go ahead

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Speaker 1: with that. Jerry's like on the fly, um, crowded subway car,

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Speaker 1: which is called the old sandwich or sandwich for those

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Speaker 1: of you who are a little more proper. And that's

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Speaker 1: a lot of times these pickpockets working teams because you're

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Speaker 1: counting on the benefit of distraction. Yes, so tell him

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Speaker 1: how the old sandwich works. Well, the sandwich is a

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Speaker 1: you got a person in front who's called the stall,

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Speaker 1: and the stall suddenly maybe stopped short, um, and and

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Speaker 1: the person the target bumps into him, the mark. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and then the hook or the pick or the wire Okay,

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Speaker 1: Um bumps into him it's expected that somebody behind you

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Speaker 1: would bump into you because it's the jerk's fault in

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Speaker 1: front of you. So you're paying attention to the jerk

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Speaker 1: in front of you while the guy behind you you

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Speaker 1: turn around and apologized to and after you know by

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Speaker 1: that time, the guy's already stolen your wall. So the

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Speaker 1: person in front of you ends up stalling it of

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Speaker 1: you is the stallk who you're like, why did you stop?

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Speaker 1: And while you're stopped, the guy who bumped in behind

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Speaker 1: you the hook was stolen you, Walt, I thought why

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Speaker 1: they turned around and said, boy, I'm sorry for this

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Speaker 1: jouk in front of me. They might have been stealing it.

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Speaker 1: I guarantee you. That's a variation on it that's called

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Speaker 1: the sandwich wrap, the low car wrap, Chuck. There's also

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Speaker 1: um so the people who who do the sandwich working teams. Um.

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Speaker 1: The team is actually called a cannon. Yeah. So that's

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Speaker 1: a group of organized pickpockets. Twist and his buddies exactly,

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Speaker 1: lead appropriately enough then by a Fagan, which is an

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Speaker 1: old hook, an old pick, an old master pickpocket who

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Speaker 1: um is named after, Um the crime boss in Oliver Twist, Right, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: Um and the fagon teaches younger pickpockets the ropes and

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Speaker 1: absorbs them into the cannon over time. What was that

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Speaker 1: movie that they mentioned, Oliver Twist. Well, now there was

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Speaker 1: another Harry in your Pocket. I think, yeah, that's what

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Speaker 1: it's called. I haven't seen it, but it's a James

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Speaker 1: Coburn movie from seventy three. Got believe that I will

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Speaker 1: be seeing you. Got no h no complaints there. So

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Speaker 1: a cannon is probably going to be the people who

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Speaker 1: are really good at what they're doing, because there's an old,

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Speaker 1: venerable guy leading the whole thing. Then you go down

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Speaker 1: like a couple of notches. You've got um bag workers

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Speaker 1: who like go for purses, right, yeah, mole buzzers are

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Speaker 1: I guess that's probably the English version. Well there, that

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Speaker 1: takes some skill because you're getting close to somebody, right,

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Speaker 1: um lush workers not that that hard. On the subway,

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Speaker 1: A lush worker would just target somebody who was coming

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Speaker 1: home drunk on the subway and they just, I guess,

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Speaker 1: open up their vests and take their wallet out and

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Speaker 1: close their vests, smack the guy in the face with

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Speaker 1: the wallet and then wait for the subway to arrive

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Speaker 1: at it stopped not very hard, so they were viewed

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Speaker 1: um kind of lower level E. But did you read

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Speaker 1: about the fob workers. Yeah, that was and it's hard

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Speaker 1: to say respect again because these are criminals, but the

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Speaker 1: fob worker really puts in his or her time, right,

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Speaker 1: So like this person just uses nothing but his index

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Speaker 1: finger and his middle finger boom yeah um, and just

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Speaker 1: walks through a subway on a on a ride and

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Speaker 1: just grabs like a couple of quarters, a dollar or

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Speaker 1: whatever's easy to grab. And apparently this one guy estimated,

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Speaker 1: um I think it was an old subway dick um.

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Speaker 1: He estimated that fob workers could get like four hundred

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Speaker 1: bucks out of a single subway ride. That's crazy. Well

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Speaker 1: that's probably from like Wall Street to Coney Island. But

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Speaker 1: this is like the eighties, nineteen eighties exactly, you know,

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Speaker 1: not even eighteen eighties. Uh. Well, I saw where one

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Speaker 1: guy actually went to class in the nineteen sixties. I

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Speaker 1: don't know if it was in this article or another one,

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Speaker 1: but paid a fagan to teach him the art of pickpocketing.

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Speaker 1: That was probably in that popular science article from the sixties,

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Speaker 1: this late article reference, Oh, I know what it was.

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Speaker 1: It was from the New York Times, but it was

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Speaker 1: an archived edition. Nice, So what do you learn how

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Speaker 1: to pickpocket? Right? Did he write about it or did

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Speaker 1: he say, like you can tell you, I'd have to

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Speaker 1: kill you. Well, the article was just on the lingo, really,

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Speaker 1: and then it's sourced the source of where the guy

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Speaker 1: got the lingo from, and it was this dude that

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Speaker 1: said he went to school. Yeah, uh, what else do

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Speaker 1: we have? Child? Children? Sadly, and a lot of countries

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Speaker 1: will pick Remember the human trafficking episode, we talked about

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Speaker 1: children being forced to beg guarantee that there are some

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Speaker 1: out there that are forced to pickpocket. Well, distracting once again,

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Speaker 1: the working in pairs, look at my shiny toy, or

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Speaker 1: while they're begging you, the other kid will come up

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Speaker 1: and you know, reach a little tiny hand in the pocket,

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Speaker 1: the old tiny hand, the old tiny hand. Trick um.

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Speaker 1: This one was my favorite chuck up. Apparently it's fairly

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Speaker 1: common to throw bird droppings on somebody so viciously then

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Speaker 1: offered to help clean it off. That is, I've read

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Speaker 1: this because I didn't believe that, and I saw people

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Speaker 1: on trip Advisor who it's not bird droppings, it's like

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Speaker 1: fake bird droppings and they'll sling it on people and

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Speaker 1: then they come up and go, oh god, I can't

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Speaker 1: believe that happened. Are you okay? Like, here's the towel.

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Speaker 1: You know, it's crazy. It just dawned on me. Um,

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Speaker 1: you mean and I were in New York once. I

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Speaker 1: think it was when we were on the Whatever show. Um,

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Speaker 1: when you and I were on the Whatever Show, and um,

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Speaker 1: we were standing in line at the shake shack. Is

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Speaker 1: at the name of the place it's in, Um, one

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Speaker 1: of the parks. What is it? Oh? Sure by park?

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Speaker 1: I can't remember. Yeah, I think that's what it is. Okay, So, um,

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Speaker 1: I think it is a shake scheck. Anyway, Um, we're

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Speaker 1: standing in line and this guy got bird droppings. It

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Speaker 1: fell right around him in a circle, didn't hit him,

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Speaker 1: And it made no sense physically how that happened. And

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Speaker 1: now I wonder if somebody was trying to pick his

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Speaker 1: pocket and failed, or else if they did and just

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Speaker 1: distracted him and didn't offer to help clean it off. Well,

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Speaker 1: the other trick I saw similar to this could have

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Speaker 1: happened there too, because apparently catchup and mustard, they'll squirt

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Speaker 1: that on you in a food line and then say, oh,

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Speaker 1: you know, I gott catch up on you here, let

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Speaker 1: me wipe that off, and while I do, let me

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Speaker 1: take your wallet. Let's help you old mustard trick. They'll

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Speaker 1: stage a fight. Maybe yeah, a couple of different guys

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Speaker 1: will stage a fight, and while you're distracted, the third

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Speaker 1: guy will come around and pick everybody's pockets. Basically, if

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Speaker 1: something suddenly happens out of the ordinary in um public,

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Speaker 1: you want to cover up your valuables. But you want

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Speaker 1: to be smart when you do that, because sometimes that

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Speaker 1: is a ploy in and of itself. You think you're

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Speaker 1: one step ahead of the pig pocket as well. Sometimes

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Speaker 1: you'll be on that crowded subway and someone will say, hey,

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Speaker 1: somebody just took my wallet. So of course the instinct

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Speaker 1: for everyone around that person is to pat their pocket

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Speaker 1: where their money or while it is. And of course

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Speaker 1: the other pickpocket on the train is going okay, left

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Speaker 1: front pocket sidekick, uh vra chevra jevra, what is it? Hairy?

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Speaker 1: Whoever has the best pocket, which would be in Brooklyn?

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Speaker 1: I guess little hipsters with best and uh boom done.

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Speaker 1: You just told him where your money was, and um,

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Speaker 1: I think in an even funnier way is when somebody

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Speaker 1: warns you to look out for pickpockets as a way

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Speaker 1: to get you to like pat where your wallet it is? Yeah,

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Speaker 1: which is like just pickpocket telling you look out for

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Speaker 1: pickpockets so you'll show them where your wall it is.

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Speaker 1: It's beautiful, Josh, you said anything unusual happening to you.

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Speaker 1: For instance, the very attractive woman came up to me

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Speaker 1: hitting on me, that would be very unusual. I would

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Speaker 1: probably know to feel around for my wallet because men

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Speaker 1: can be dummies when it comes to the charms of

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Speaker 1: an attractive woman. Yeah, you know the way to uh,

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Speaker 1: the way to get around that one. How's that morals

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Speaker 1: have more? Yeah, what do you mean? Just be like, madam,

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Speaker 1: I'm afraid I'm taking. Oh, well, if you're taken, but

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Speaker 1: if you're not, you're like, hey, you know what I'm saying.

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Speaker 1: I wasn't saying me obviously years ago. Oh got you

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Speaker 1: single check? Uh on the beach or compassion. If they're

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Speaker 1: on the beach, you might have someone pretend they're drowning,

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Speaker 1: like everyone rushes out there, and then all of a

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Speaker 1: sudden you have blankets full of purses and beach bags.

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Speaker 1: Or you might drop some change on the floor and

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Speaker 1: be like, oh, I'm so dumb, or your shopping bag.

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Speaker 1: Somebody might drop their shopping bag, and as a nice person,

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Speaker 1: you're gonna help him up. So the it's good on

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Speaker 1: one hand to have morals if you're in a committed relationship.

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Speaker 1: It's bad on the other hand to have morals if

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Speaker 1: you help people pick their bags up. This strange world

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Speaker 1: we live in, chuck it is um. You also probably

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Speaker 1: can't pick a pickpocket out in a crowd. I'll apparently

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Speaker 1: one of the longstanding traditions is UM to dress very

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Speaker 1: well sure, uh, like a wealthy business person, or at

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Speaker 1: least a business person. Yeah in this economy, right, yeah, exactly,

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Speaker 1: Um and uh yeah, that's a good one. Walk around

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Speaker 1: with a map and a camera around your neck. And

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Speaker 1: they'll also, um frequently have things to hide their hands,

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Speaker 1: whether it's a newspaper, a coat folded over their hands,

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Speaker 1: or a baby, a live human baby. Uh you mentioned,

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Speaker 1: uh when you would tell them inadvertently where your money was, okay,

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Speaker 1: And sometimes it will just either call it the stroke

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Speaker 1: or the fan, the old stroke, and that's when they

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Speaker 1: will kind of pre pickpocket you and just sort of

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Speaker 1: feel around where your wallet might be bulging from to

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Speaker 1: set you up for assumed to be picked pocket. So

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Speaker 1: how do you how do you get around this? Carry

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Speaker 1: a gun and shoot people to get too close. Yeah

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Speaker 1: that's one way, um, I think the uh that's the

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Speaker 1: Bernard gets way, Ums Brunson way. Thank you for doing

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Speaker 1: that on behalf of everyone listening to this episode. Thanks

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Speaker 1: Chuck um the The basically, the best way to prevent

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Speaker 1: pickpocketing is to be aware. You know, like I said,

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Speaker 1: if anything unusual happens out in public, just you need

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Speaker 1: to be aware. You should be aware anyway, if you

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Speaker 1: look like you're confident of where you are. Um, even

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Speaker 1: if you're a tourist, if you look like you are

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Speaker 1: aware of your surroundings, they're probably gonna pass you over.

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Speaker 1: For ned from which top falls? Who has like um

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Speaker 1: uh sunscreen on his nose and like a fisherman's cap.

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Speaker 1: And oh and whether you're trying to prevent pickpocketing or

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Speaker 1: just in general, you should never ever wear socks with sandals. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: this is dead giveaway. You're an instant mark. You got

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Speaker 1: that looking. We're all sorts of crime, that's right. Uh.

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Speaker 1: If you're traveling in other countries and other countries is

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Speaker 1: where it's likely going to happen. Because we'll discuss here

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Speaker 1: in a minute how it's not as big of a

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Speaker 1: problem here in the US anymore. Canada, that's right, but

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Speaker 1: in uh really all over the world except for North

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Speaker 1: America or at least the United States of Canada, it's

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Speaker 1: still a big problem. So you don't want to carry

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Speaker 1: your wallet in your back pocket like a big dummy

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Speaker 1: front pocket is safer. Money belt is even safer than

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Speaker 1: that money belt under your clothes. I'm wearing one right now.

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Speaker 1: You really I did when I traveled through Europe, did

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Speaker 1: you really? Yeah? I just can't bring myself too. They're

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Speaker 1: just they're so stupid looking now they are when you

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Speaker 1: go to pay for something and you gotta like reach

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Speaker 1: it down in there, and it's like flesh colored like

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Speaker 1: what they're trying to make it look like your credit

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Speaker 1: cards just levitating against your stomach. But uh, I did

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Speaker 1: because I was all paranoid about all this stuff when

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Speaker 1: I went to Europe. It's a smart thing to do.

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Speaker 1: And little did I realized that me and my buddy were,

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Speaker 1: you know, fairly tough looking dudes walking around and probably

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Speaker 1: not uh easy marks or at least there were lots

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Speaker 1: more around us that were way easier than us and

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Speaker 1: my my friend Chappy two I remember at the time.

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Speaker 1: So I almost want someone to try and pickpocket me.

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Speaker 1: He would be like a Hannibal Lecter. Yeah, in Hannibal,

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Speaker 1: he would like chase them down and beat them down

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Speaker 1: into the ground and that would that would be all

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Speaker 1: over for that pickpocket. Hannibal Lector didn't do that, but

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Speaker 1: he did stab at Gypsy to death for pickt Uh

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Speaker 1: Fannie packs don't do it because yeah, those are easily unzipped,

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Speaker 1: especially if they're around turned around to the back um,

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Speaker 1: which you would do to look cool. Oh yeah, on

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Speaker 1: the rear um. I locked my zippers together like in

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Speaker 1: my backpack with a little uh a little tiny lock. Yeah,

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00:21:54,600 --> 00:21:56,960
Speaker 1: but that helps, but it's uh, they can still. I've

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Speaker 1: heard about people like cutting into a backpack even man. Yeah,

383
00:22:00,800 --> 00:22:03,960
Speaker 1: you gotta have some quick hands to do that and

384
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Speaker 1: some cajones. Um. They recommend to carry a dummy wallet.

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Speaker 1: I've heard this. I've never heard that does it pull

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Speaker 1: up with like cards that say like, sucker, you didn't

387
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Speaker 1: get my wallet. If you want to go to that

388
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Speaker 1: trouble you could. I think I would if you look

389
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Speaker 1: around and pay attention to like your junk mail and

390
00:22:22,560 --> 00:22:25,080
Speaker 1: your normal life, you're going to find things that look

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Speaker 1: like fake credit cards and fake money that you can

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Speaker 1: stuff your dummy wallet with. The thing is, it's like,

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Speaker 1: I mean, that's kind of outweighing these pickpockets, which is

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Speaker 1: kind of fun in and of itself. Absolutely, at the

395
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Speaker 1: same time, it seems like it's going to a lot

396
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Speaker 1: of trouble just to let them steal something like that's

397
00:22:47,440 --> 00:22:50,080
Speaker 1: still your wallet, even if it's a dummy wallet, like

398
00:22:50,119 --> 00:22:53,440
Speaker 1: it's an actual wallet. Yeah, that's true, it's just filled

399
00:22:53,480 --> 00:22:55,399
Speaker 1: with fake stuff. So you're saying, don't let it happen

400
00:22:55,440 --> 00:22:58,879
Speaker 1: at all, dummy wallet or smart wallet. Yeah, but I

401
00:22:58,880 --> 00:23:01,840
Speaker 1: mean dummy wallet's way to go, that's true. Uh, if

402
00:23:01,840 --> 00:23:04,400
Speaker 1: you're traveling, you want to uh, you know, as always,

403
00:23:04,440 --> 00:23:07,320
Speaker 1: they will remind you to keep a list of everything

404
00:23:07,359 --> 00:23:10,080
Speaker 1: you have, including your credit card numbers. Don't put everything

405
00:23:10,119 --> 00:23:13,439
Speaker 1: in one place. I have a friend at home have

406
00:23:13,640 --> 00:23:17,360
Speaker 1: access to all your documents so they can send them

407
00:23:17,359 --> 00:23:19,639
Speaker 1: to you in case it does get nicked. You know

408
00:23:19,720 --> 00:23:22,320
Speaker 1: that kind of thing. Just I call it common sense traveling.

409
00:23:22,720 --> 00:23:27,280
Speaker 1: That's great, great advice. Chuck um, I in my suitcase, Chuck,

410
00:23:27,440 --> 00:23:30,960
Speaker 1: keep copies photo copies because you can't call them z

411
00:23:31,160 --> 00:23:37,360
Speaker 1: rocks because that's copyright infringements. Right. Uh, they like my passport,

412
00:23:37,800 --> 00:23:40,879
Speaker 1: like basically everything I have photo copies of and you

413
00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:43,399
Speaker 1: keep it like I keep it in the lining the

414
00:23:43,440 --> 00:23:47,120
Speaker 1: liner of the suitcase. Everyone's gonna know this now when

415
00:23:47,119 --> 00:23:50,920
Speaker 1: they see you traveling. But it's good. It's a good

416
00:23:50,960 --> 00:23:54,000
Speaker 1: idea to keep them at the hotel, keeps them at home. Yeah.

417
00:23:54,640 --> 00:23:57,320
Speaker 1: Uh so that you can call a trusted friend who's

418
00:23:57,320 --> 00:24:01,040
Speaker 1: watching your dog or whatever and say, hey, man, not

419
00:24:01,119 --> 00:24:04,479
Speaker 1: only was my real passport stolen, my photo copies were

420
00:24:04,520 --> 00:24:06,639
Speaker 1: stolen out of the hotel. Can you give me my

421
00:24:06,680 --> 00:24:10,280
Speaker 1: passport number? Yeah? And don't carry things like your social

422
00:24:10,280 --> 00:24:12,840
Speaker 1: Security card and stuff like that. Yeah. I actually used

423
00:24:12,880 --> 00:24:15,200
Speaker 1: to carry my social Security card back in the day,

424
00:24:15,480 --> 00:24:17,600
Speaker 1: like a big dummy. Really, and when I was like sixteen,

425
00:24:17,600 --> 00:24:20,359
Speaker 1: I thought, man, I was important or something. You know,

426
00:24:20,680 --> 00:24:23,840
Speaker 1: take this exactly. Do you take social Security cards as credit?

427
00:24:25,840 --> 00:24:30,280
Speaker 1: Just knock it off my bill? Yeah. Uh So onto

428
00:24:30,359 --> 00:24:33,320
Speaker 1: the Slate dot com article. I think I think we've

429
00:24:33,400 --> 00:24:35,840
Speaker 1: arrived there. It's one of my favorite websites. That's a

430
00:24:35,840 --> 00:24:41,800
Speaker 1: good one it is, so who wrote this? Joe Kio Honey,

431
00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:47,119
Speaker 1: he's Hawaiian, I'll bet. And when was this? This is

432
00:24:47,160 --> 00:24:50,720
Speaker 1: this year? Huh February of last year? So this is

433
00:24:50,720 --> 00:24:53,800
Speaker 1: a current and up to date. Is a dying art

434
00:24:54,080 --> 00:24:56,720
Speaker 1: and a dying crime in the US? Yeah? And why,

435
00:24:56,960 --> 00:24:59,920
Speaker 1: I mean, where's pickpocketing going? Why is it vanishing if

436
00:25:00,080 --> 00:25:04,160
Speaker 1: if you know you can make some money off of it. Well,

437
00:25:04,200 --> 00:25:06,919
Speaker 1: a bunch of reasons they list. Um, crime as a

438
00:25:06,920 --> 00:25:11,680
Speaker 1: whole has fallen since the nineties. Uh, people don't carry

439
00:25:11,680 --> 00:25:14,399
Speaker 1: as much cash. It's harder to rip people off with

440
00:25:14,440 --> 00:25:17,400
Speaker 1: credit cards and debit cards because you know, there there's

441
00:25:17,400 --> 00:25:21,960
Speaker 1: more security involved with those. I would say close circuit

442
00:25:22,080 --> 00:25:28,640
Speaker 1: cameras everywhere might dissuade some guys from doing this. What else, Well,

443
00:25:28,640 --> 00:25:33,879
Speaker 1: you know we talked about the penalties traditionally being fairly small, sure,

444
00:25:34,119 --> 00:25:37,280
Speaker 1: but in some cases, in some states, Um, they have

445
00:25:37,480 --> 00:25:41,800
Speaker 1: raised it to where it's the same as armed robbery basically,

446
00:25:42,320 --> 00:25:45,920
Speaker 1: so it can be a felony. And um, suddenly you're

447
00:25:45,960 --> 00:25:48,320
Speaker 1: not just looking at you know, three months in the pokey,

448
00:25:48,359 --> 00:25:51,080
Speaker 1: which anybody can do standing on their head. You're looking

449
00:25:51,119 --> 00:25:54,040
Speaker 1: at like five years for pickpocketing. It's gonna make you

450
00:25:54,119 --> 00:25:57,320
Speaker 1: rethink your your trade, and it has in a lot

451
00:25:57,359 --> 00:26:03,600
Speaker 1: of ways. Also, apparently Fagan's are dying out and the

452
00:26:03,640 --> 00:26:07,439
Speaker 1: new generation basically is being blamed for the loss of

453
00:26:07,480 --> 00:26:10,240
Speaker 1: the art of pickpocketing. Yeah, I thought that was pretty funny.

454
00:26:10,280 --> 00:26:12,879
Speaker 1: Basically they said, these kids these days just don't have

455
00:26:12,920 --> 00:26:16,199
Speaker 1: the patience to learn pickpocketing, so it's easier just to

456
00:26:16,200 --> 00:26:19,240
Speaker 1: get a gun. Yeah. Well not even just patients, they're

457
00:26:19,359 --> 00:26:23,639
Speaker 1: less they're not as fearful of confrontation again thanks to

458
00:26:23,680 --> 00:26:26,800
Speaker 1: the gun. Yeah, kids are all stupid stick up men

459
00:26:26,880 --> 00:26:30,600
Speaker 1: these days. There's no finesse to it. There's not. Uh.

460
00:26:30,640 --> 00:26:32,359
Speaker 1: The New York Times in two thousand one, they had

461
00:26:32,760 --> 00:26:38,160
Speaker 1: a stat um in nineteen there were about twenty three

462
00:26:38,160 --> 00:26:44,240
Speaker 1: thousand reported pickpocketing pickpocketing crimes. About five years later that

463
00:26:44,560 --> 00:26:46,760
Speaker 1: number had fallen by half, and then by the year

464
00:26:46,800 --> 00:26:49,800
Speaker 1: two thousand there were less than five thousand, and sadly

465
00:26:49,840 --> 00:26:53,640
Speaker 1: today they do not even track it. No, it's so lostatistically. Yeah,

466
00:26:54,240 --> 00:26:58,320
Speaker 1: that's good. We should be rejoicing in this. That's Julian's work. Yeah,

467
00:26:58,440 --> 00:27:01,360
Speaker 1: he helped a lot yea with the cry thing. Yeah, well,

468
00:27:01,440 --> 00:27:05,000
Speaker 1: Times Square in and of itself changed entirely. Have you

469
00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:08,840
Speaker 1: ever seen basket Case, uh, where the guy carries his

470
00:27:08,960 --> 00:27:14,199
Speaker 1: mutant brother around in the basket and killing rampage. He

471
00:27:14,320 --> 00:27:17,000
Speaker 1: stays in Times Square And I've never been to Time

472
00:27:17,040 --> 00:27:20,359
Speaker 1: Square until like way after the crossover, I guess is

473
00:27:20,400 --> 00:27:22,760
Speaker 1: what you call it to where it's now very family

474
00:27:22,760 --> 00:27:25,320
Speaker 1: friendly and safe. And I was like, that's what Times

475
00:27:25,359 --> 00:27:29,359
Speaker 1: Square used to look like. Holy cow, it looks like Detroit. Yeah.

476
00:27:29,400 --> 00:27:32,560
Speaker 1: I was in New Jersey when it was crossing over.

477
00:27:33,359 --> 00:27:37,400
Speaker 1: So when I first started going to New York, it was, um,

478
00:27:37,480 --> 00:27:41,439
Speaker 1: they were still like Pete shows and other businesses I

479
00:27:41,440 --> 00:27:44,520
Speaker 1: won't mentioned on the podcast, and it was just starting.

480
00:27:44,640 --> 00:27:49,439
Speaker 1: Like the first uh family like theme restaurant went in

481
00:27:49,640 --> 00:27:51,840
Speaker 1: while I was living up there. I wonder how many

482
00:27:51,880 --> 00:27:57,320
Speaker 1: tax breaks that family theme restaurant got just you know, yeah,

483
00:27:57,480 --> 00:27:59,240
Speaker 1: I can't remember what it was, but I remember thinking

484
00:27:59,240 --> 00:28:01,760
Speaker 1: at the time, Uh, Times Square, look at it and

485
00:28:01,760 --> 00:28:05,800
Speaker 1: they're cleaning it up, sadly, no more brown bagging it.

486
00:28:07,359 --> 00:28:10,399
Speaker 1: What does that mean walking around drinking beer out of

487
00:28:10,400 --> 00:28:14,040
Speaker 1: a brown bag, picking pockets? I thought it meant bringing

488
00:28:14,040 --> 00:28:19,440
Speaker 1: your lunch from home. Ah yeah, or lunch pailing it. Okay, um, chuck,

489
00:28:19,600 --> 00:28:23,159
Speaker 1: there is one place where the art of pickpocketing was

490
00:28:23,280 --> 00:28:28,360
Speaker 1: revived recently, say around two thousand seven, where Europe as

491
00:28:28,359 --> 00:28:33,080
Speaker 1: a whole still is rampant with pickpocketing, um thanks to

492
00:28:33,480 --> 00:28:37,600
Speaker 1: the Apparently, according to the Slate article, UM the entrance

493
00:28:37,680 --> 00:28:43,960
Speaker 1: of Romania and Bulgaria, two places with legendary pickpockets into

494
00:28:43,960 --> 00:28:46,959
Speaker 1: the EU. So now people from Romania and Bulgaria can

495
00:28:46,960 --> 00:28:52,880
Speaker 1: travel around Europe much more easily and pickpockets wherever they stop. Interesting. Well,

496
00:28:52,880 --> 00:28:57,800
Speaker 1: good for them. I don't know about that, but that's pickpocketing.

497
00:28:58,160 --> 00:29:01,440
Speaker 1: That's how flesh color of money belts work. That's right,

498
00:29:02,360 --> 00:29:05,600
Speaker 1: I own one. Have you got anything else? Now? Well,

499
00:29:05,600 --> 00:29:09,280
Speaker 1: if you want to see some um in late nineties

500
00:29:09,640 --> 00:29:12,960
Speaker 1: staff members of How Stuff Works posing in photos? Is that?

501
00:29:13,040 --> 00:29:16,240
Speaker 1: Who that was to demonstrate? I was trying to see

502
00:29:16,240 --> 00:29:18,880
Speaker 1: one of them? Is that? How to stuffs? Catherine near

503
00:29:18,960 --> 00:29:22,320
Speaker 1: I think she's the mark in the photos? Interesting? Um,

504
00:29:22,360 --> 00:29:26,560
Speaker 1: you can write you can type pickpocketing in the search

505
00:29:26,600 --> 00:29:28,560
Speaker 1: bar how stuff Works dot com. And since I said

506
00:29:28,600 --> 00:29:34,880
Speaker 1: search bars, time for listener mail. Josh. I picked this

507
00:29:34,920 --> 00:29:39,000
Speaker 1: one out especially for this one because it involves cleptomania,

508
00:29:39,280 --> 00:29:41,239
Speaker 1: and I know that's an old show, but this was

509
00:29:41,840 --> 00:29:45,640
Speaker 1: pretty fascinating, I thought, and this is from anonymous, all right,

510
00:29:46,080 --> 00:29:50,360
Speaker 1: and it's a girl. Um huh, oh you know who

511
00:29:50,400 --> 00:29:54,560
Speaker 1: it is because she's a criminal cancer. I recently listen

512
00:29:54,560 --> 00:29:56,560
Speaker 1: to your podcast in Cleptomania, and I have to thank

513
00:29:56,560 --> 00:29:59,440
Speaker 1: you for giving a name to the disorder that has

514
00:29:59,440 --> 00:30:02,240
Speaker 1: plagued me for of the past four years. She didn't know.

515
00:30:02,560 --> 00:30:05,160
Speaker 1: She had never heard of it. Um. I first started

516
00:30:05,200 --> 00:30:07,320
Speaker 1: to steal when I was fifteen. I was at a

517
00:30:07,320 --> 00:30:10,920
Speaker 1: pizza hut with my family, felt a very troubling, consuming

518
00:30:11,040 --> 00:30:14,360
Speaker 1: urge to steal the silverware. After secretly putting the knife

519
00:30:14,400 --> 00:30:16,520
Speaker 1: and fork in my purse, I felt relieved and a

520
00:30:16,520 --> 00:30:19,240
Speaker 1: little guilty. Uh. That day was the start of a

521
00:30:19,320 --> 00:30:24,720
Speaker 1: theft rampage. I've stolen silverware, especially spoons, from every restaurant

522
00:30:24,720 --> 00:30:27,560
Speaker 1: I've ever been to, and even one that I worked at.

523
00:30:28,120 --> 00:30:30,120
Speaker 1: Right now, I have a collection of hundreds of sets

524
00:30:30,120 --> 00:30:34,160
Speaker 1: of silverware. At one time, I even began to label

525
00:30:34,240 --> 00:30:37,480
Speaker 1: them with the restaurant's name and the date that it

526
00:30:37,560 --> 00:30:40,320
Speaker 1: was stolen, but that became too much work. That's like

527
00:30:40,360 --> 00:30:43,840
Speaker 1: the Pickpocket and the Tinton movie. He has like all

528
00:30:43,880 --> 00:30:45,920
Speaker 1: of the Waltz he's still in like labels with the

529
00:30:46,080 --> 00:30:49,440
Speaker 1: date and interesting. Uh So, like you said in your podcast,

530
00:30:49,440 --> 00:30:52,400
Speaker 1: I keep this hidden and I felt tremendous tension and

531
00:30:52,440 --> 00:30:54,920
Speaker 1: guilt over the years for it, but never once mentioned

532
00:30:54,920 --> 00:30:57,680
Speaker 1: it to my therapist. I'm in therapy for depression and

533
00:30:58,000 --> 00:31:01,680
Speaker 1: depression and anxiety, which I learned is actually co morbid

534
00:31:01,760 --> 00:31:04,760
Speaker 1: with kleptomania. Yeah, the therapist is gonna be like, why

535
00:31:04,800 --> 00:31:07,400
Speaker 1: didn't you tell him years ago? Exactly, I could have

536
00:31:07,520 --> 00:31:11,120
Speaker 1: cured you already. I felt that I must apologize to

537
00:31:11,160 --> 00:31:13,520
Speaker 1: the businesses. I feel that I must apologize to the

538
00:31:13,520 --> 00:31:18,680
Speaker 1: businesses in and around Kalamazoo, Michigan. So if you're business

539
00:31:18,720 --> 00:31:21,800
Speaker 1: in Kalamazoo, Michigan restaurant and you're missing spoons, it's this

540
00:31:21,920 --> 00:31:24,840
Speaker 1: lady's fault. Chuck can tell you who it is. However,

541
00:31:24,880 --> 00:31:28,320
Speaker 1: I'm making a change today. Your podcast and my guilty

542
00:31:28,360 --> 00:31:31,480
Speaker 1: conscience has inspired me to tell my therapist and hopefully

543
00:31:31,480 --> 00:31:34,440
Speaker 1: be free of this nasty habit. My emailed I was like, hey,

544
00:31:34,480 --> 00:31:39,440
Speaker 1: can I read this on the ergement? Sure, that's awesome Calamazoo, Michigan.

545
00:31:39,480 --> 00:31:44,840
Speaker 1: Anonymous from Kalamazoo, Yes, very nice, congratulations and turning over

546
00:31:44,880 --> 00:31:47,280
Speaker 1: a new leaf. Yeah, tell your shrink about it. He'll

547
00:31:47,400 --> 00:31:50,280
Speaker 1: probably be very fascinated. And if anyone out there has

548
00:31:50,320 --> 00:31:53,600
Speaker 1: not heard the How Kleptomania Works episode, it's pretty good.

549
00:31:53,760 --> 00:31:57,280
Speaker 1: I magically transformed Chuck into a tube of lipstick. Yeah,

550
00:31:57,520 --> 00:32:01,760
Speaker 1: remember that you were great. If you have a revelation

551
00:32:01,840 --> 00:32:04,360
Speaker 1: about yourself or you're turning over a new leaf, whether

552
00:32:04,360 --> 00:32:07,200
Speaker 1: it's for the new year or not, it seems appropriate

553
00:32:07,240 --> 00:32:09,239
Speaker 1: that you tell us about it. You know where your

554
00:32:09,280 --> 00:32:12,320
Speaker 1: old pals Josh and Chuck. Um, you can tweet to us,

555
00:32:12,480 --> 00:32:15,400
Speaker 1: which our Twitter handle is s y s K podcast.

556
00:32:15,760 --> 00:32:18,440
Speaker 1: You can put it on Facebook. Um, that's Facebook dot

557
00:32:18,440 --> 00:32:20,520
Speaker 1: com slash that you should know. Those two are much

558
00:32:20,560 --> 00:32:23,360
Speaker 1: less private than just sending us a regular old fashioned email.

559
00:32:23,880 --> 00:32:31,720
Speaker 1: To stuff podcast at how stuff works dot com For

560
00:32:31,840 --> 00:32:34,040
Speaker 1: more on this and thousands of other topics. Is it

561
00:32:34,120 --> 00:32:36,920
Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com. To learn more about the podcast,

562
00:32:37,120 --> 00:32:39,680
Speaker 1: click on the podcast icon in the upper right corner

563
00:32:39,680 --> 00:32:42,560
Speaker 1: of our homepage. The how Stuff Works I find app

564
00:32:42,600 --> 00:32:48,600
Speaker 1: has a ride. Download it today on iTunes. Brought to

565
00:32:48,600 --> 00:32:51,719
Speaker 1: you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. It's ready,

566
00:32:51,880 --> 00:32:52,320
Speaker 1: are you