VOL.CCXVV NO. 72   SHOWBIZ EDITION   FRIDAY, AUGUST 1, 1997   LAS VEGAS, NEVADA   2 CENTS

What’s News –     World-Wide

Choreographed for Public Entrapment    Gentlemen Thieves Step into Focus  BARCELONA, Spain – I don’t mean to infer that this city has more street crime than the next; but it makes an excellent laboratory for the serious student of con games. With patience and practice, the keen-eyed observer will be rewarded with abundant examples of pickpocketing, bag-snatching, and three-shell games.  We used to concentrate on the gypsy pickpockets, but once we learned to recognize their style and technique we grew weary of them. They were no challenge to spot and their MO was predictable. We never really intended to focus on gentlemen thieves …  We were on La Rambla, having browsed, feasted, ogled, and enjoyed perfect spring weather. The crowds swirled around us doing La Rambla things. There is incredibly much to look at: the Dr. Seuss-like architecture of Gaudi, caricature artists at work, caged doves cooing, a couple performing the tango, living statues. One can’t help but be part of it all. Continued…

Retired Thief Gets his Brain Picked A Retired Pickpocket Reveals Techniques to “Working” Colleague  By Bambi Vincent Staff Reporter of          The Tall Swede Journal TANGIER, Morocco – In a dim, smoky hashish cafe, we faced the backlit profile of the Moroccan pickpocket. He barely looked at us, instead concentrating on our interpreter. Steaming glasses of sweet mint tea sat before us, packed with fresh leaves of brilliant green. Bob waited to sip his tea until I was half finished with mine – to see if I keeled over, I imagined. Retired Moroccan “dip” Al’alla confided in Bob Arno in a dingy hashish cafe in Tangier.  Continued…

ENTERTAINING and educational is the only way to describe the dramatic new presentation by legitimate pickpocket Bob Arno. His own video footage of actual street crimes shows audiences how it really happens. On-stage re-enactments dramatize reality with a comedic twist.  The World’s Greatest Magic III provided huge exposure for its star when it was broadcast in America in November 1996 on NBC TV. the rest of the world will see the program during 1997.  Those in the know may have been surprised to hear the one and only Swedish Heister introduced as “Switzerland’s Prince of Thieves.” Host john Ritter’s unfortunate mistake was said to be the result of a “typical American education.”  NBC promised but failed to correct the mistake

and the special continues to slander Arno with the unpopular nationality. The BBC and Japan’s NHK/Fuji TV are duking it out over rights to Bob Arno’s exclusive documentary footage. Already consulting for the former, Arno will likely produce for the latter.

Other Contents

STREET PERILS:  When it seems too good to be true…run! EDUCATION:  "The Serious Side of Stealing" lecture

FUNNY PAGES:  Sour…and Swede  Bob Arno Stage Patter