Do professional thieves exist?

[Gravedigger Dav]

There is an area here where a lot of people go to cycle and jog. The parking log is a known target for thieves. One day my wife put her purse in the trunk of her car before pulling out of our garage.
She went to this spot, had a jog then drove home. When she opened her trunk the purse was gone. Not a scratch or mark on the car. The cops told her that the thieves have electronic devices that open car doors and trunks that can be opened with a remote.
Sound professional to me. In the hour before she discovered the theft and called our credit card company and bank they already ran up a lot of charges at various Bay Area locations. More than one person must have had her cards.

They clone cards. They do this quickly hoping to get as much as possible before the card is shut down.

 

[Gravedigger Dav]

Every weekend warrior that makes $100 from a bar gig playing Skynard and Mustang Sally might not be a professional musician, but they're definitely and effin professional thief in my book.

And the condescending jazz players have weighed in on the subject.

 

[Bass_Pounder]

I'm not sure we needed such a comment.

Sorry if it offend, but within the U.S. Law Enforcement community it is well known, and I have personally worked many joint cases with the Feds.

Would the term "Travelers" be better ?

 

[petrus61]

And the condescending jazz players have weighed in on the subject.

Eeeew, no. Strictly post rock Hungarian techno-funk for me.

 

[slobake]

Eeeew, no. Strictly post rock Hungarian techno-funk for me.

I prefer Bavarian Pollkadeath it is very post post.

 

[AlembicPlayer]

are you asking if there's such thing as organized crime?

this is a joke right?

 

[Stempelloos]

Just remembered the robbery of 50 kilo's of diamonds from Gassan Diamonds in 2001, a place I used to deliver post to.
The guy who did it worked as a guard there.

A movie was made about that story in 2007.
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This guy was under pressure to get money, but not a professional diamond robber.

On the 25th of februari 2005 professionals robbed jewels and diamonds that were worth 75 million Euro's from Schiphol Airport.
They drove off from the airport with the armoured van where the the lute was brought in.

 

[fhm555]

When I was in the Corps, I knew a guy who had been trained by the secret service to open all manner of high security locks and vaults. He had every intention of putting his skill to good personal use when released from his government obligation.

 

[Gravedigger Dav]

Eeeew, no. Strictly post rock Hungarian techno-funk for me.

That is so lame and outdated. Everybody is doing hipster rock Hungarian techno-funk

 

[Stempelloos]

When I was in the Corps, I knew a guy who had been trained by the secret service to open all manner of high security locks and vaults. He had every intention of putting his skill to good personal use when released from his government obligation.

I've heard stories about former Stasi (East-German intelligence) employees selling their expertise to criminals (Russian mob and so on) after the wall came down.

Along those lines, also stories about former IRA members now working for drug cartels, using their expertise for drug and arms trading. And "security" issues around the drug gangs.

Funny, I wonder the same thing every time I watch Reservoir Dogs. I'd imagine there are people in real life who make there living in just that way.

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In late 1992, Quentin Tarantino left Amsterdam, where he had spent three months, off and on, in a one-room apartment with no phone or fax, writing the script that would become Pulp Fiction, about a community of criminals on the fringe of Los Angeles. Written in a dozen school notebooks, which the 30-year-old Tarantino took on the plane to Los Angeles, the screenplay was a mess—hundreds of pages of indecipherable handwriting.

Some Dutch people say that Tarantino took inspiration from the stories he heard in the Coffee shop and other places he used to hang out.

 

[petrus61]

That is so lame and outdated. Everybody is doing hipster rock Hungarian techno-funk

I'm eagerly anticipating post-hipster, myself.

 

[TripleDouble]

As a former Boston resident, I hope in my lifetime the Gardner Museum Heist is solved. That genius supervillian pulled the ole "dress like a cop and then walk in and hold the place up" routine, but I guess simple works in professional thieving sometimes too.

 

[rtslinger]

Let me answer the question for you yes and on many levels including the people who shoplift for a living from the big store to supply the little mom and pop places it is a steal to order business they run. Didn't you ever wonder why when you read the local police blotter the shoplifters are not grabbing expensive stuff they get baby formulas and deodorant