Pickpocket: The Art & Science of the Dip

“The mark strolls along a city sidewalk, fresh out of the bank, his wallet in his back pocket, blithely unaware that he’s stumbled into the clutches of a practiced jug troupe. Someone shouts, “Look out for pickpockets,” and when the mark hears it, he feels for his wallet. It’s still there. A steer positioned across the street sees this and wipes his brow, signaling to an attractive stall walking toward the mark. She bumps into him, and while the startled mark apologizes for his clumsiness, the pickpocket sweeps noiselessly past with a balletic grace and makes the dip, slipping out the wallet, dropping it into a newspaper and passing it to a second stall, who pulls out anything of value and drops the wallet in the trash. All four troupers promptly disappear into the crowd.”

Joe Keohane, “The Lost Art of Pickpocketing,” Slate, February 23, 2011

pickpocket

The Mexican jug troupe’s routine was a clever variation on the theme Keohane describes above. It was art, science and classic choreography all at once.

30 Seconds

In my first installment, I tried to use short sentences and blunt phrases to show how quickly things went down. This jug troupe worked lightning fast, nearly wordlessly, its every move flawless. They were, as Keohane says, “a practiced jug troupe.” They jumped through the script quicker than I can describe it. Here’s my best deconstruction; this entire parade took 30 seconds or less.

pickpocket
Scene of the Crime : Hacienda-style house, Calle Aguascalientes
(courtesy Google Street View)

The Setup

  • Pick Your Place: A crowd is perfect. The opposite situation also works: A sleepy street with scant traffic and no pedestrians means few witnesses — and no interruptions.
  • Know Where to Strike: I am now leaning toward the proposition that they’d already spied us and prepositioned their car near the shrub ahead of our arrival.
  • Know When to Strike: Although I’ve made a lot of the fact that I’d turned around to face Lorrie, I’m no longer certain that’s dispositive. They had the shrub. As soon as we hit that mark, it was a go.
  • Create a Diversion: The bird poop. This is the science lesson. First, it had us looking up, so we didn’t notice the jug troupe moving into place. Second, the liquid left a vivid brown stain, so it was believable. Third, bird poop has a definite yuck factor, so we’d be less anxious about having strangers help us.
  • Know How to Strike: More science. They clearly needed some kind of delivery vehicle for the “bird poop,” AKA soy sauce. And it had to seem like it was coming from the terrace above. I’m guessing they had a super-soaker capable of delivering a powerful and diffuse spray. It was deployed by the fourth troupe member, aiming in an arc, as he lurked behind the shrub. He had just enough time to quickly ditch his weapon and then return to help with the finishing touches.
supersoaker

Know Your Part

  • Know Your Part (1): The first woman, who appeared out of nowhere to “help us,” was definitely cast as the “attractive stall.” She actually had a speaking role. In English, no less. Suddenly an unknown liquid became “bird poop.” She also had props (the napkins).
  • Know Your Part (2): The second woman was there to keep us disoriented and reinforce the bird poop distraction (more napkins). She also helped steer me into position, facing away from the car, so that the vehicle and the pickpocket were out of view. Once that was done — it took four seconds or less — the pickpocket moved in.
  • Know Your Part (3): The pickpocket stationed himself directly in front of me, waving napkins and getting almost chest-to-chest. I was, at that moment, being attended by three of them. It was the pickpocket who declared, “Un pajaro grande.” And because he was literally in my face — with napkins — he was sure to keep me distracted as he went in for the dip.
  • Know Your Part (4): The super-soaker guy came in from behind. I never saw his face. He immediately went down my leg with yet another napkin. His job was to rifle through the wallet, grab the credit cards and then return the wallet to the pickpocket. When I looked down at super-soaker, the pickpocket immediately upped the ante. That’s when the napkin hit the back of my head and he declared “hay mas.
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Slink Away Before Anyone Notices

  • Leave a Parting Word: The attractive stall was suddenly addressing us again, allowing the rest of the troupe to silently disappear. She said words to the effect of, “you’re cleaned up now. Be sure to wash your hands. Bird poop.”
  • Then Go Quickly: I watched her saunter toward the awaiting vehicle, not a hint of haste in her step. No one else was around. She opened the right rear door, slipped into the seat and then shuttered the car door behind her. They were gone.

Part Four of a multipart distraction from COVID-19.

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