![]() But jail makes you think of it as stealing."Īnd the game has changed. "I'm too old for this," Rose said during one of several jailhouse interviews. Veteran detectives expressed surprise at Rose's recent arrest, both for its rarity and because he was caught working with a partner - he normally worked alone. "We've seen him so many times over the years, yet we've never been able to catch him" - at least, in the act of stealing. "He's been plaguing New York for decades," said Dones, who spent 14 years chasing pickpockets. While some details of Rose's story are impossible to verify independently, he was well known to the police and had a reputation for being careful. Rose's notoriety stems from how infrequently he has been arrested, and how, at least in the last 15 years, he has never been caught in the act by plainclothes officers. Simmons, an occasional partner of Rose's, said he honed his skills on a jacket that hung in his closet, tying bells to it to measure how heavy his hand was. There are flashy dressers, like the 5-foot-3 Duval Simmons, whose reputation is so well known among the police that he says he sometimes sits on his hands while riding the subway, so he cannot be accused of stealing. There is an older man who pretends to be stricken by palsy while on a bus, and then uses a behind-the-back manoeuvre to infiltrate the pocket of the passenger next to him. There is Francisco Hita, who when caught touching someone's wallet, pretends to be deaf, the police say, responding with gesticulations of incomprehension. "I would say he's one of the best," said Nelson Dones, a retired detective who put together the training cards. Rose is one of about 50 pickpockets whose mug shots are on flash cards studied by plainclothes subway officers. "In a few years, there won't be any of us left." "We're disappearing," he said wistfully in a recent interview at the Manhattan Detention Complex, where he told his life story. 2 train, ended with his arrest and his sentencing this month to 1 1/2 to three years in state prison, where Rose - who has done short stints in jail - has never done time. His last larceny, in March, on an uptown No. The young thieves of today have turned to high-tech methods, like skimming ATMs.Īnd pickpockets like Rose have been left behind. ![]() People carry more credit cards and less cash men wear suits less, and tightfitting pants more. (In an interview, the sergeant, now retired, denied ever being bested by Rose.)īut that was a long time ago. When the sergeant recognised Rose one stop later, he patted his pocket, reassured to feel money there. ![]() Rose sidled up to him in the crowded train, plucked a roll of $300 from the man's pocket and slipped $30 or $35 of his own money, in smaller denominations, into the sergeant's pants. Then there was the time, he claims, that he decided to show off after spotting an off-duty sergeant, a renowned chaser of pickpockets, on his way to Yankee Stadium. Inside, Rose said, were $5000 and a diamond ring. Rose offered a hand with the man's luggage, the victim never noticing the envelope being lifted from his pocket. Rose recounted an episode at an airport when he spotted a man at the baggage carousel, the outline of a fat envelope visible. Then there are times when he stole with kindness. ![]()
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