Stuff You Should Know - Pickpockets: Artists or Crooks?

Episode Date: February 7, 2012

There aren't many criminal pursuits that are as storied as pickpocketing, and some people fondly reminisce over its heyday. Learn why some consider pickpocketing an art form, how to protect yourself from this art and more in this episode. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Flooring contractors agree. When looking for the best to care for hardwood floors, use Bona Hardwood Floor Cleaner. The residue-free, fast drying solution is specially designed for hardwood floors, delivering the safe and effective clean you trust. Bona Hardwood Floor Cleaner is available at most retailers where floor cleaning products are sold and on Amazon. Also available for your other hard surface floors like Stone, Tile, Laminate, Vinyl, and LVT. For cleaning tips and exclusive offers, visit Bona.com slash Bona Clean. The War on Drugs is the excuse our government uses to get away with absolutely insane stuff. Stuff that'll piss you off. The cops, are they just like looting? Are they just like pillaging? They just have way better names for what they call,

like what we would call a jack move or being robbed. They call civil acid work. Be sure to listen to the War on Drugs on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. Brought to you by the reinvented 2012 Camry. It's ready, are you? Welcome to Stuff You Should Know from HowStuffWorks.com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. This is Charles W. Chuck Bryant, Wet and his Whistle. That's right. And the Stuff You Should Know. This is the podcast. Yeah, this is off to a terrible start yet again.

That's, what, 450 consecutive bad starts? No, we haven't had 400 yet. Yeah, what, bad starts or just shows? Okay, maybe bad starts. Yeah, shows. We're coming up on it. Gotta be close to 450, right? No, coming up on 400, I think. Oh, I thought we were over that. No, not yet. No, we would mention our 400th show. My goal is for us to make it to 500. And then after that, all bets are off. Yeah, that's exactly right, Bryant. So what's your, I think I might know what your intro is, but that would be a wild stab in the dark. I'd like to hear it because I don't have an intro. Oh, really? Yeah, what's my intro? Well, I got one then. Okay.

The origin of the word sidekick, you ever heard this? What does that have to do with pickpockets? I'll tell you, my friend. Okay. Back in the old days in London, which is, you know, obviously Oliver Twist made pickpocketing very famous in London. Charles Dick instead. Well, yeah, his character. They had different, their own language. It was, we'll find out as pickpockets have their own language, period, all sorts of lingo, like multiple names for everything. Right. And back in the day, they each pocket had its own name. The Jerv, J-E-R-B-E, or the Hervé was the vest pocket. And the kick, I'm sorry, the Pratt was the back pocket and the kick was the side pocket.

And the kick was the most difficult spot to pickpocket because it was on the leg and it was always moving. And so people soon realized that that was the safest place to put their stuff, was in the sidekick. And so the sidekick years later becomes a term for, you know, someone helpful and maybe protective. Tonto. Like Tonto. So that's sidekick. That's, that's your first intro. Is it really? I believe it is. Geez. I would have picked a better one. No, that's fantastic. That one's going to go down in stuff you should know, Lore. As the sidekick. And that was my first, not the sidekick, but I don't know, fairly appropriate. Do you remember when we used

to argue about that, about whether you were or not? Would we settle on? That you're not. But I know where it originates. From Oliver Twist. No, from the sidekick. Well, what's funny is there's a lot of stuff that has to do with pickpocketing, Chuck, that did originate from Oliver Twist. Oh, really? Yeah. Like you were talking about, like, pickpocketing has its own lingo, like you said. And it's kind of storied and almost legendary. And if you dial the clock back a few decades, like it was kind of looked upon the way that maybe today people look upon pirates. You know what I'm saying? Like they're criminals. Sure. But there's so much art to what they're doing. Yeah. Maybe like somebody who could steal a

painting from a museum. Right. You have to at least grudgingly respect them. Well, and we'll talk to, we'll not talk to, we'll talk about some people who have studied this. Yeah, I wish someone was here. Is that what this guy's doing? Exactly. He's lifting your wallet. In this article you found from Slate, there were some experts on, you know, pickpocketing, and they definitely think of it as an art, a lost art. Specifically, I want to mention the guy's name, Bob Arno, whose job it is to travel the world and pose as a mark. As a tourist. Yeah. And then catch people and figure out what they're doing. Interesting. They keep abreast of it. Yeah. So Chuck, let's talk a little bit about the basics of pickpocketing, right? Yes. Which

will, I think, kind of give us a better view of why people think that it's an art form. Sure. There's, you've got a few different kinds of people involved. Like there's the low-level pickpockets who are really just basically somebody who has a moral compass that's off. Yeah. And an open bag next to them. Yeah, the opportunist. Right. Like, hey, there's a co-ed studying Econ 101 on the lawn, and she's got her iPad sticking out of her open backpack right next to her. Right. Which she has her headphones jacked into and turned up all the way and is not paying attention because she's been drinking. Well, if the headphones are on her, attached to the iPad, then... Right. That'd be a dead gible. Oh, the person's grabbing the iPad?

Well, sure. Oh, I thought you meant like there was a person next to her that was open. Yeah. And the iPad's in there. She's not studying with the iPad. Oh, gotcha. Those are only for Netflix and web surfing. That's what I thought she was doing. She's studying. Right. Maybe we're talking about a different person. Which one? I think we've just come up with the easiest mark that there is. Right. Okay. Which is the unassuming college student. Right. Or you're at like a coffee place or something like that, and there's somebody next to you, and it's the kind of place where you would expect somebody's going to be next to you, and you're not really paying attention. You're involved in your computer and their hands in your bag. Sure. Grabbing your wallet or whatever.

Or you're sleep on the beach. Right. Very common one. Yeah, that one stinks. Because you want to be able to sleep on the beach. Heck yeah. If you have your bag open next to you and your wallet sitting in it at a coffee house and you're not paying attention to it, you got what you deserved if somebody steals it. I mean, it stinks that there are people out there stealing in general, and that you can't just go through life like that. But we all know full well that you can't go through life like that. And if you do, then you have no right to complain. You can't even cancel all of your credit cards. You have to leave one of your credit cards open because punishment. Yes, there's punishment to yourself. Well, we actually skipped to why people pick pocket to

begin with. It's mainly because it's pretty non-confrontational crime and you're never known or confronted and you're not like holding a gun. So there's no, although we did find out it's a felony in a lot of states, even just a non-weapon involved pickpocketing. Yeah, but it wasn't, that's pretty new. Is it? Yeah, for a very long time it was like if you pick somebody's pocket, you got very, it was a small sentence. You had to return the money and apologize. Pretty much. Yeah, the cop brought you over by your ear. Exactly. But for the most part, like you said, it's non-confrontational. So the person who loses his or her wallet to a pick pocket will probably have no idea who took it, won't know for a long time, and it's fairly safe

if you're good at it. It's safe crime. Yeah. Plus, there's no weapons involved, which is why the sentences were traditionally not very big. It's almost victimless except for the victim. You know? Well, it depends. I mean, if you're touring Europe and you have everything including your passport and your wallet in your back pocket and all of it's taken, there's a victim in that one. Yeah. I knew a victim in all of them. I knew a girl who had her sunglasses ripped off her face in Rome, Italy. Okay, that's not artful. That's not artful. You're just a jerk. True. There was a, at the Starbucks by my old place, there was a rash of kids just running in and stealing people's iPhones right off the table and running out. Or out of their hand. Or stealing the computer

that they were working on the laptop and running out the door. That's not pickpocketing. No. And there's a guy who has a coffee place in Grant Park. There was just a robbery and everybody was robbed in that manner. People just ran in and stole and ran out. So the guy's getting locks for the table so you can slide your laptop in and lock it in place. Really? Yeah. Wow. That's sad that you have to do that. I agree. Jerks. All right. So where are we? Crowded subway? Yes. This is the slightly higher in the hierarchy of pickpockets. Maybe a sound effect here. Well, how about this, Chuck? One of the things I think that kind of gets the point across when you're describing pickpocketing is saying when you're talking about a scam saying the old first. Okay. Right.

And having maybe like old timey ragtime saloon music playing in the background where you're describing it. So go ahead with that. Jerry's like, oh god. On the fly. Crowded subway car, which is called the old sandwich. You've got it. Or sandwich. For those of you who are a little more proper. And that's a lot of times these pickpockets work in teams because you're counting on the benefit of distraction. Yes. So tell them how the old sandwich works. Well, the sandwiches say you've got a person in front who's called the stall. And the stall suddenly maybe stops short. And the person, the target bumps into him. The mark. Yeah. And then the hook or the pick. Or the wire. Okay. Bumps into him. It's expected that somebody behind you

would bump into you. Because it's the jerk's fault in front of you. Right. So you're paying attention to the jerk in front of you while the guy behind you, you turn around and apologize to and after, you know, by that time the guy's already stolen your wallet. So the person in front of you ends up stealing it? No. The person in front of you is the stall. Okay. Who you're like, why'd you stop? And while you're stopped, the guy who bumped in behind you, the hook, is still in your wallet. I thought while they turned around and said, boy, I'm sorry for this jerk in front of me. They might have been stealing it. I guarantee you that's a variation on it. That's called the sandwich wrap. The low carb wrap. Right. Chuck, there's also,

so the people who do the sandwich work in teams. Yeah. The team is actually called a cannon. Yeah. So it's a group of organized pickpockets. Like Oliver Twist and his buddies. Exactly. Led appropriately enough then by a Fagan, which is an old hook, an old pick, an old master pick pocket who is named after the crime boss in Oliver Twist. Right. Fagan. Yeah. And the Fagan teaches younger pickpockets the ropes. Yeah. It absorbs them into the cannon over time. What was that movie that they mentioned? Oliver Twist. Well, no, there was another Harry in your pocket, I think. Yeah. It's what it's called. I haven't seen it, but it's a James Coburn movie from 73. You got no believe that I will be. Yeah, me too. You got no, no complaints

there. So a cannon is probably going to be the people who are really good at what they're doing because there's an old venerable guy leading the whole thing. Then you go down like a couple of notches. You've got bag workers who like go for purses. Right. Yeah. Mole buzzers or I guess that's probably the English version. Yeah. Well, they're, that takes some skill. Now, yeah. Because you're getting close to somebody, right? Lush workers, not that hard. On the subway, a Lush worker would just target somebody who was coming home drunk on the subway and they just, I guess, open up their vest and take their wallet out and close their vest and smack the guy in the face with the wallet and then wait for the subway to arrive at its stop.

Yeah. Not very hard. No. So they were viewed kind of lower level-y. Sure. But did you read about the fob workers? Yeah. That was, and it's hard to say respect again because these are criminals, but the fob worker really puts in his or her time. Right. So like this person just uses nothing, but his index finger and his middle finger. Boom. Yeah. And just walks through a subway on a ride and just grabs like a couple of quarters, a dollar, whatever's easy to grab. Crazy. And apparently this one guy estimated, I think it was an old subway dick, he estimated that fob workers could get like 400 bucks out of a single subway ride. That's crazy. Yeah. Well, that's probably from like Wall Street to Coney Island. Sure. But this is like the 80s. Yeah,

true. So 1980s. Exactly. You know, not even 1880s. Right. The war on drugs impacts everyone, whether or not you take drugs. America's public enemy number one is drug abuse. This podcast is going to show you the truth behind the war on drugs. They told me that I would be charged for conspiracy to distribute 2,200 pounds of marijuana. Yeah. And they can do that without any drugs on the table. Without any drugs. Of course. Yes, they can do that. And I'm the prime example of that. The war on drugs is the excuse our government uses to get away with absolutely insane stuff. Stuff that'll piss you off. The property is guilty. Exactly. And it starts as guilty. It starts as guilty. The cops, are they just like looting? Are they just like pillaging? They just have way

better names for what they call like what we would call a jack move or being robbed. They call civil acid. Be sure to listen to the war on drugs on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. On the podcast, pay dude, the nineties called David Lasher and Christine Taylor, stars of the cult classic show Hey Dude, bring you back to the days of slip dresses and choker necklaces. We're going to use Hey Dude as our jumping off point, but we are going to unpack and dive back into the decade of the nineties. We lived it. And now we're calling on all of our friends to come back and relive it. It's a podcast packed with interviews, co stars, friends, and nonstop references to the best decade ever. Do you remember going to blockbuster? Do you remember

Nintendo 64? Do you remember getting frosted tips? Was that a cereal? No, it was hair. Do you remember AOL instant messenger and the dial-up sound like poltergeist? So leave a code on your best friends beeper because you'll want to be there when the nostalgia starts flowing. Each episode will rival the feeling of taking out the cartridge from your Game Boy, blowing on it and popping it back in as we take you back to the nineties. Listen to Hey Dude, the nineties called on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Well, I saw where one guy actually went to class in the 1960s. I don't know if it was in this article or another one, but paid a Fagan to teach him the art of pickpocketing. That was probably in that popular

science article from the sixties. Oh, maybe this late article reference. Oh, I know what it was. It was from the New York Times, but it was an archived edition. Nice. Yeah. So what did you learn? How to pickpocket. Right. Did he write about it or did he say like, no, I could tell you, but I'd have to kill you. Well, the article was just on the lingo really. Yeah. And then it sourced the source of where the guy got the lingo from. And it was this dude that said he went to school. Nice. Yeah. What else do we have? Child children, sadly, in a lot of countries will pickpocket you. Remember the human trafficking episode? We talked about children being forced to beg. Sure. I guarantee that there are some out there that are forced to pickpocket.

Well, distracting. Once again, the working in pairs. Look at my shiny toy or while they're begging you, the other kid will come up and, you know, reach the little tiny hand in the pocket. The old tiny hand. The old tiny hand trick. This one was my favorite, Chuck. Apparently, it's fairly common to throw bird droppings on somebody, surreptitiously, then offered to help clean it off. That is, I've read this because I didn't believe that. And I saw people on Trip Advisor who, it's not bird droppings. It's like fake bird droppings. And they'll sling it on people. And then they come up and go, Oh God, I can't believe that happened. Are you okay? Like here's the towel. You know, it's crazy. It just dawned on me. You mean I were in New York

once. I think it was when we were on the whatever show that trip when you and I were on the whatever show. Yeah. And we were standing in line at the Shake Shack. Is that the name of the place? I don't know. It's in one of the parks. What is it? Oh, oh, sure. Bryant Park. I can't remember. Yeah, I think that's what it is. Okay. So I think it is a Shake Shack. Anyway, we're standing in line and this guy got bird droppings. It fell right around him in a circle. Didn't hit him. And it made no sense physically how that happened. And now I wonder if somebody was trying to pick his pocket and failed or else if they did and just distracted him and didn't offer to help clean it off. Well, the other trick I saw similar to this could have

happened there too, because apparently ketchup and mustard, they'll squirt that on you in a food line and then say, Oh, you know, I got ketchup on you here. Let me wipe that off. And while I do, let me take your wallet. That's called the oil mustard trick. The stage of fight, maybe? Yeah, a couple of different guys will stage a fight. And while you're distracted, the third guy will come around and pick everybody's pockets. Basically, if something suddenly happens out of the ordinary in public, you want to cover up your valuables. But you want to be smart when you do that, because sometimes that is a ploy in and of itself. You think you're one step ahead of the pig pocket? Yeah. Well, sometimes you'll be on that crowded subway and someone will say, Hey,

somebody just took my wallet. So of course, the instinct for everyone around that person is to pat their pocket with their money or wallet is. And of course, the other pick pocket on the train is going, Okay, left front pocket. Exactly. Side kick. Vovre, Chevrolet. What is it? Harveys. Whoever has the vest pocket, which would be in Brooklyn, I guess. Yeah. Little hipsters with vests. Sure. And boom, done. You just told them where your money was. And I think an even funnier way is when somebody warns you to look out for pickpockets as a way to get you to like pat where your wallet is. Really? Yeah, which is just a pick pocket telling you to look out for pickpockets. So you'll show them where your wallet is. It's beautiful. Josh, you said anything

unusual happening to you. For instance, a very attractive woman came up to me hitting on me. That would be very unusual. I would probably know to feel around for my wallet because men can be dummies when it comes to the charms of an attractive woman. Yeah, you know the way to, the way to get around that one. How's that? Morals. Have morals? Yeah. What do you mean? Just be like, Madam, I'm afraid I'm taken. Oh, well, if you're taken, but if you're not, you're okay. You know what I'm saying? Oh, yeah. I wasn't saying me, obviously. You did say you. Years ago. Oh, gotcha. Single check. On the beach or compassion, if they're on the beach, you might have someone pretend they're drowning. Like everyone rushes out there and then all

of a sudden you have blankets full of purses and beach bags. Or you might drop some change on the floor and be like, I'm so dumb. Or your shopping bag. Somebody might drop their shopping bag and as a nice person, you're going to help them up. So it's good on one hand to have morals if you're in a committed relationship. It's bad on the other hand to have morals if you help people pick their bags up. Yeah, true. It's a strange world we live in, Chuck. It is. You also probably can't pick a pickpocket out in a crowd. Apparently one of the longstanding traditions is to dress very well. Sure. Like a wealthy business person or at least a business person. Yeah. In this economy, right? Yeah, exactly. Or tourists. Yeah, that's a good one. Sure. Walk around with a map and a camera

around your neck. And they'll also frequently have things to hide their hands, whether it's a newspaper, a coat folded over their hands, or a baby, a live human baby. You mentioned when you would tell them inadvertently where your money was located, sometimes they will just either call it the stroke or the fan, the old stroke. And that's when they will kind of pre-pickpocket you and just sort of feel around where your wallet might be bulging from to set you up for a soon-to-be picked pocket. Right. So how do you get around this? Carry a gun and shoot people that get too close. Yeah, that's one way. I think that's the Bernard Getzway. Yeah. The Charles Brunson way. Thank you for doing that. Sure. On behalf of everyone listening to this episode, thanks, Chuck.

No problem. Basically, the best way to prevent pickpocketing is to be aware. You know? Sure. Like I said, if anything unusual happens out in public, you need to be aware. You should be aware anyway. If you look like you're confident of where you are, even if you're a tourist, if you look like you are aware of your surroundings, they're probably going to pass you over for Ned from Wichita Falls, who has like sunscreen on his nose and like a fisherman's cap. And whether you're trying to prevent pickpocketing or just in general, you should never ever wear socks with sandals. Yeah, this is a dead giveaway. Yeah. You're an instant mark if you've got that look. For all sorts of crime. That's right. If you're traveling in other countries and other countries

is where it's likely going to happen because we'll discuss here in a minute how it's not as big of a problem here in the U.S. anymore. Yeah. E.G. Canada. That's right. But in really all over the world, except for North America, or at least United States and Canada, it's still a big problem. So you don't want to carry your wallet in your back pocket like a big dummy. Right. Front pocket is safer. Money belt is even safer than that. Money belt under your clothes. I'm wearing one right now. Are you really? I did when I traveled through Europe. Did you really? Yeah. I just can't bring myself to. They're so stupid looking. No, they are. When you go to pay for something and you got like reached out in there.

Right. And it's like flesh colored, like what they're trying to make it look like your credit cards just levitating against your stomach. But I did because I was all paranoid about all this stuff when I went to Europe. It's a smart thing to do. And little did I realize that me and my buddy were, you know, fairly tough looking dudes walking around and probably not easy marks or at least there were lots more around us that were way easier than us. Yeah. And my friend Chappy, too, I remember at the time, said, I almost want someone to try and pickpocket me. He'd be like a Hannibal Lecter. Yeah. And Hannibal. He would like chase them down and beat them down into the ground. And that would be all over for that pickpocketer. Hannibal Lecter didn't do that,

but he did stab a gypsy to death for pickpocketing him. Fanny packs. Don't do it because those are a number of reasons. Yeah. Those are easily unzipped, especially if they're around turned around to the back, which you would do to look cool. Oh yeah. On the rear. I locked my zippers together. Yeah. Like in my backpack with the little little tiny lock. Yeah. But that helps. But it's they can still, I've heard about people like cutting into a backpack even. Man. Yeah. You gotta have some quick hands to do that. And some Cajones. Yeah. They recommend to carry a dummy wallet. I've heard this. I've never heard that. Yeah. Does it pull up with like cards that say like, sucker, you didn't get my wallet? If you want to go to that trouble, you could. I think I would.

If you look around and pay attention to like your junk mail and your normal life, you're going to find things that look like fake credit cards and fake money. Yeah. That you can stuff your dummy wallet with. The thing is, it's like, I mean, that's kind of outwitting these pickpockets, which is kind of fun in and of itself. Yeah, absolutely. The same time, seems like it's going to a lot of trouble just to let them steal something. Yeah, that's true. Like that's still your wallet, even if it's a dummy wallet, like it's an actual wallet. Yeah, that's true. This is filled with fake stuff. So you're saying, don't let it happen at all. Yeah, dummy wallet or smart wallet. Yeah, but I mean, dummy wallet's a way to go. That's true.

If you're traveling, you want to, you know, as always, they'll remind you to keep a list of everything you have, including your credit card numbers. Don't put everything in one place. Have a friend at home have access to all your documents so they can send them to you in case it does get nicked. You know, that kind of thing. Just, I call it common sense traveling. That's great. Great advice, Chuck. Yeah. I, in my suitcase, Chuck, keep copies, photo copies. Because you can't call them Xerox because that's copyright infringement. Right. Like my passport, like basically everything I have photo copies of. And you keep it, like I keep it in the lining, the liner of the suitcase. Well, everyone's going to know this now.

You know, when they see you traveling. It's a good idea to keep them at the hotel. Sure. Keep them at home. Yeah. So that you can call a trusted friend who's watching your dog or whatever and say, Hey man, not only was my real passport stolen, my photo copies were stolen out of the hotel. Can you give me my passport number and that will help. Yeah. And don't carry things like your social security card and stuff like that. Yeah. I actually used to carry my social security card back in the day. Like a big dummy. Really? When I was like 16, I thought, man, I was important or something. You know, take this. Exactly. Do you take social security cards as credit? Just knock it off my bill. So on to the slate.com article. I think,

I think we've arrived there. It's one of my favorite websites. That's a good one. It is. So who wrote this? Joe Keohane. He's Hawaiian, I'll bet. I bet he is. Keohane. And when was this? This was this year, huh? February of last year. So this is current and up to date. Yeah. It is a dying art and a dying crime in the US. Yeah. And why? I mean, where's pickpocket and going? Why is it vanishing if, you know, you can make some money off of it? Well, a bunch of reasons. They list crime as a whole has fallen since the 90s. Yeah. People don't carry as much cash. Yeah. It's harder to rip people off with credit cards and debit cards because, you know, there's more security involved

with those. Yeah. I would say closed circuit cameras everywhere might dissuade some guys from doing this. Yep. What else? Well, you know, we talked about the penalties traditionally being fairly small. Sure. But in some cases in some states, they have raised it to where it's the same as armed robbery, basically. Wow. So it can be a felony. Yeah. And suddenly, you're not just looking at, you know, three months in the pokey, which anybody can do standing on their head. You're looking at like five years for pickpocketing. It's going to make you rethink your trade. Yeah. And it has in a lot of ways. Sure. Also, apparently, Fagans are dying out. And the new generation basically is being blamed for the loss of the art of pickpocketing. Yeah.

I thought that was pretty funny. Basically, they said these kids these days just don't have the patience to learn pickpocketing. So it's easier just to get a gun. Yeah. Well, not even just patience. They're less, they're not as fearful of confrontation again. Yeah, true. Thanks to the gun. Yeah. Kids are all stupid stick up men these days. There's no finesse to it. There's not. The New York Times in 2001, they had a stat. In 1990, there were about 23,000 reported pickpocking pickpocketing crimes. About five years later, that number had fallen by half. And then by the year 2000, there were less than 5000. And sadly today, they do not even track it. No, it's so low statistically. Yeah. That's good. We're rejoicing in this. That's Giuliani's work.

Yeah, he helped a lot. Yeah, with the crime thing. Yeah. Well, Times Square in and of itself changed entirely. Have you ever seen basket case? Where the guy carries his mutant brother around in the basket and like, because of the killing rampage? What? What? He stays in Times Square. Oh, yeah. And I'd never been to Times Square until like way after the crossover, I guess is what you'd call it, to where it's now very family friendly and safe. And I was like, that's what Times Square used to look like. Holy cow. It looks like Detroit. Yeah, I was in New Jersey when it was crossing over. So when I first started going to New York, it was, there were still like peep shows and other businesses that I won't mention on the podcast. And it was just starting like the first

family like theme restaurant went in while I was living up there. I wonder how many tax breaks that family theme restaurant got. Oh, yeah, just going to give me a shot, you know. Yeah. I can't remember what it was, but I remember thinking at the time, oh, Times Square. Look at it. They're cleaning it up. Yeah. Sadly. Yep. No more brown bag in it. No. What does that mean? Walking around drinking beer out of a brown bag. Oh, gotcha. Picking pockets. I thought it meant bringing your lunch from home. Yeah, or lunch pail in it. Okay. Chuck, there is one place where the art of pickpocketing was revived recently, say around 2007. Where's that? Europe as a whole still is rampant with pickpocketing. Thanks to the apparently, according to the Slate article,

the entrance of Romania and Bulgaria, two places with legendary pickpockets. Oh, into the EU. Into the EU. So now people from Romania and Bulgaria can travel around Europe much more easily and pickpockets wherever they stop. Interesting. Yeah. Well, good for them. I don't know about that, but that's pickpocketing. That's how flesh colored money belts work. That's right. I own one. The war on drugs impacts everyone, whether or not you take to America's public enemy. Number one is drug abuse. This podcast is going to show you the truth behind the war on drugs. They told me that I would be charged for conspiracy to distribute 2,200 pounds of marijuana. Yeah, and they can do that without any drugs on the table. Without any drugs. Of

course, yes, they can do that. And I'm the prime example of that. The war on drugs is the excuse our government uses to get away with absolutely insane stuff. Stuff that'll piss you off. The property is guilty. Exactly. And it starts as guilty. It starts as guilty. Cops. Are they just like looting? Are they just like pillaging? They just have way better names for what they call like what we would call a jackmove or being robbed. They call civil acid. Be sure to listen to the war on drugs on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. On the podcast, Hey Dude, the 90s called David Lasher and Christine Taylor, stars of the cult classic show, Hey Dude, bring you back to the

days of slip dresses and choker necklaces. We're going to use Hey Dude as our jumping off point, but we are going to unpack and dive back into the decade of the 90s. We lived it and now we're calling on all of our friends to come back and relive it. It's a podcast packed with interviews, co-stars, friends, and non-stop references to the best decade ever. Do you remember going to Blockbuster? Do you remember Nintendo 64? Do you remember getting frosted tips? Was that a cereal? No, it was hair. Do you remember AOL instant messenger and the dial-up sound like poltergeist? So leave a code on your best friend's beeper because you'll want to be there when the nostalgia starts flowing. Each episode will rival the feeling of taking out the cartridge from your

Game Boy, blowing on it and popping it back in as we take you back to the 90s. Listen to Hey Dude, the 90s called on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You got anything else? No. Well, if you want to see some late 90s staff members of How Stuff Works posing in photos. Is that who that was? To demonstrate. I was trying to see. One of them is How Two Stuff's Catherine Neer. I think she's the mark in the photos. Interesting. You can write, you can type pickpocketing in the search bar at HowStuffWorks.com and since I said search bar is time for listener mail. Josh, I picked this one out especially for this one because it involves Cleptomania. Oh, okay. And I know that's an old show, but this was pretty fascinating, I thought.

Okay. This is from Anonymous. All right. It's a girl. Okay. You know who it is. Well, sure. I recently listened to your podcast on Cleptomania and I have to thank you for giving a name to the disorder that has plagued me for the past four years. I guess she didn't know, she'd never heard of it. I first started to steal when I was 15. I was at a pizza hut with my family. I felt a very troubling, consuming urge to steal the silverware. After secretly putting the knife and fork in my purse, I felt relieved and a little guilty. That day was the start of a theft rampage. I've stolen silverware, especially spoons from every restaurant I've ever been to and even one that I worked at. Right now, I have a collection of hundreds of sets of silverware.

At one time, I even began to label them with the restaurant's name and the date that it was stolen, but that became too much work. That's like the pickpocket and the tinted movie. Oh, really? He has like all of the wallets he's stolen, like labels with the date and all that. Interesting. So, like you said in your podcast, I've keep this hidden and I've felt tremendous tension and guilt over the years for it, but never once mentioned it to my therapist. I'm in therapy for depression and anxiety, which I learned is actually comorbid with Cleptomania. Yeah, the therapist is going to be like, why didn't you tell me this years ago? Exactly.

I could have cured you already. I felt that I must apologize to the businesses. I feel that I must apologize to the businesses in and around Kalamazoo, Michigan. So, if you're a business in Kalamazoo, Michigan, a restaurant and you're missing spoons, it's this lady's fault. Chuck can tell you who it is. I could. However, I'm making a change. Today, your podcast and my guilty conscience has inspired me to tell my therapist and hopefully be free of this nasty habit. I emailed her. I was like, hey, can I read this on the air? She went, sure, that's awesome.

Nice. Kalamazoo, Michigan. Anonymous from Kalamazoo. Yes. Very nice. Congratulations on turning over a new leaf. Yeah, tell your shrink about it. He'll probably be very fascinated. And if anyone out there has not heard the How Cleptomania works episode, it's pretty good. I magically transformed Chuck into a tube of lipstick. That's right. Yeah. Do you remember that? Uh-huh. You were great.

If you have a revelation about yourself or you're turning over a new leaf, whether it's for the new year or not, it seems appropriate that you tell us about it. You know, we're your old pals, Josh and Chuck. You can tweet to us, which our Twitter handle is S-Y-S-K podcast. You can put it on Facebook. That's facebook.com. You should know. Those two are much less private than just sending us a regular old-fashioned email to stuffpodcastathowstuffworks.com. For more on this and thousands of other topics, visit howstuffworks.com.

To learn more about the podcast, click on the podcast icon in the upper right corner of our homepage. The How Stuff Works iPhone app has arrived. Download it today on iTunes. Brought to you by the Reinvented 2012 Camry. It's ready. Are you? The war on drugs is the excuse our government uses to get away with absolutely insane stuff, stuff that'll piss you off. The cops, are they just like looting? Are they just like pillaging? They just have way better names for what they call, like what we would call a jack move or being robbed. They call civil asset for it. Be sure to listen to the war on drugs on the iHeart Radio app,

Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. Are you looking for a mystery fix? Join the great detectives of old-time radio every day Monday through Saturday for a different detective drama from Radio's Golden Age. I'm Adam Graham and I've been guiding listeners through these classic programs since 2009. I offer my commentary after each episode and respond to your feedback. Enjoy a good mystery anytime you feel like some old-school radio goodness. Listen to the great detectives of old-time radio on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcast.