Pickpocket King

[Varinia Swicegood]

BobArno (born 1940[1]) is a Swedish-American entertainer, known primarily as a comedy pickpocket, and more recently criminologist specializing in global street crime. He grew up in Stockholm, Sweden, and became a US citizen in 1992.

Arno's stage pickpocket performance is billed as comedy, though it includes some non-comedic elements which, nevertheless, fascinate and impress audience members. First among these is his incorporation of documentary-style video which is projected during his presentation. As described in a March 9, 2004 article in The New York Times, the video is footage shot by himself and his wife, Bambi Vincent, of criminal pickpockets and other street thieves before, during, and after committing their crimes. This "reality factor" contributes greatly to the presentation's originality and adds elements of awe and enlightenment that give it depth beyond comedy.

Unlike most other performers in the small, specialized field of pickpocket entertainment, Arno does not present magical effects for their own sake. He does incorporate principles of magic in much the same manner that criminal pickpockets, con artists, and other street thieves do. And, given that his show is comedy, he is not above preparing a volunteer on occasion to enhance his humorous finale. Regardless, Arno's thievery skills are legendary. Blue Moon Talent Agency says "Nothing a victim possesses is safe from Bob Arno's lightning lifts." He has perfected the art of the steal to include neckties, suspenders, glasses, belts, cell phones, wallets, and pocket contents, as well as watches.

In 1993, looking to expand the show, Arno and his wife, Bambi Vincent, challenged themselves to bring elements from the street to the stage. They began a serious study of street criminals, filming them in the act of tricking and/or stealing from victims, and interviewing them when possible. "Wearing hidden camera and recording equipment, they do everything they can to put themselves in the thick of the action," according to Las Vegas Review Journal. Arno and Vincent began calling themselves "thiefhunters" and soon amassed a valuable film archive of a (then) little-documented crime.

In the preface of their book (see below), Arno and Vincent claim to have initially suffered inner turmoil created by failing to prevent incidents occurring in their presence, but they overcame that discomfort after realizing the value of their study. Certainly they were able to port street techniques to the stage, as originally intended. But the video footage and interviews garnered interest from law enforcement and security agencies, while the video mixed with anecdotes and lessons became a popular lecture to laymen.

Thus began Arno's career as a criminologist and speaker. [1] His study had begun much earlier with observations of soldiers on R&R leave in Asia during the 1960s. On May 11, 1969, a front page profile written by Brian Moynahan in the London Sunday Times called Arno "one of the world's pickpocketing experts." In the four-column article Arno describes theft risks peculiar to various Asian countries and compares victim reaction by nationality. In its June 20, 1969 issue, Time magazine wrote: "One of the world's foremost experts in the techniques of first-rank 'wires' (or 'cannons' or 'pit workers') is Bob Arno, a 29-year-old Swede whose demonstrations onstage and in nightclubs earn him more than $100,000 a year." In a January 9, 1981 article entitled "Beware the Stiff-Armed Stranger; He May be Lifting Your Wallet," The Wall Street Journal quoted "Robert [sic] Arno, a Miami, Fla., pickpocketing expert who's advised police in various countries."

In 1993, armed with video cameras to document his findings, Arno revived his research in earnest. His knowledge base started with common and specialized forms of street thievery, and later grew to include off-the-street theft from tourists. His expertise now includes behavior profiling, identity theft, laptop theft, credit card fraud and internet scams. He lectures to corporate and lay audiences and presents training workshops for law enforcement and security, and other government agencies in the United States and abroad. Promenade Speakers Bureau calls Arno's presentations "a tad provocative," and says they include "pattern recognition" and "body language profiling."

In December 2015 he was invited to speak at Europol's International Pickpocketing Gangs Conference in The Hague. Arno "was invited as a guest speaker, presenting pickpocket techniques as well as an insight in the countermeasures and tactical behavior of the offenders" to law enforcements specialists from across Europe.

The feature article "Thieves Among Us" in the April 2005 issue of National Geographic Traveler documents several of Arno's "unorthodox surveillance tactics." Arno walked into the picturesque but crime-ridden Spanish Quarter of Naples, Italy, to see how long it would take for his (fake) Rolex to be stolen by scooter-riding bandits. By alleging to be a pickpocket, he establishes a rapport with street thieves, which has resulted in at least one offer to join an organized crime ring at US$1,000/day for himself and Vincent.

At age 15, Arno began performing magic at youth centers in his native Sweden and was successful enough to tour the country for several years. He briefly experimented with hypnotism before settling on pickpocketing, having been inspired by french entertainer "Dominique" Risbourg, the reigning pickpocket performer of the time. When Dominique had an extended run in Stockholm in 1956, he solicited the local Magic Circle for an assistant, and Arno volunteered.

I started out looking for "bad guys" in 1964, Vietnam War. I was a war-photographer. I was 23 years old, I had no idea how to get good pictures. While we where out there [in Vietnam], in the same hotel, a major drug guy happened to live there. This guy, I got friendly with. And that led me to the underworld, to the belly of the beast.[2]

The 1990s also saw Arno in theater productions. He starred in his own show with Swedish comedy magician John Houdi at Berns Salonger in Stockholm, performed at the Lido in Amsterdam, at Liseberg and Grna Lund in Sweden, at theaters in Sydney, and at Sun City, North West. He also began performing at private corporate events, which is currently his main focus along with keynote speaking and law enforcement training.

In 2011, he was featured with Ben Seidman in a series of hidden camera videos directed by Jamie Kennedy and Michael Addis. Using their pickpocketing skills they slipped computers into people's handbags without them knowing. The "I Was Framed" project, gained online popularity and quickly reached over 900,000 views.[5][6][7]

The National Geographic documentary film Pickpocket King was shot in Naples, Italy in September 2010, and premiered around the world (region by region) in 2011 and 2012. Conceived and directed by Kun Chang, director, the film follows Arno as he meets and infiltrates the city's most prolific pickpocket gang. Once a relationship is established, the thieves challenge Arno to steal in the real world. [The film can now be seen on YouTube in many languages.]

The "beware of thieves" genre thus became popular. When, for some productions, Bob Arno was unwilling or unable to demonstrate pickpocket techniques and license his crime-in-action video, actors were assembled to dramatize scenarios without his expertise.

Arno's foreign television credits are many, including appearances in Germany, Sweden, South Africa, Australia, Japan, Singapore, Canada, Slovenia, Brazil, India, United Arab Emirates, and United Kingdom.

Bob Arno is a professional pickpocket who performs in Vegas and travels around the world on his spare time to catch real-life pickpockets. In the documentary, he meets and befriends a group of the best pickpockets in Naples, Italy, and just watching the thieves do their work is both awe-inspiring and scary.

Hi, i want just to say that i live in Naples, I have never undergone any type of robbery. I think that this documentary only help to reinforce a false stereotype. Surveys show that the amount of robbery made ??in Naples is very smoller than that of all other Italian and European cities.

Bob Arno and I are responsible for choosing Naples as the locale for the documentary. We chose it for many reasons, but primarily because we knew (from personal experience and years of research) that there were so many pickpockets actively working in the city. In the making of this film, we were pickpocketed on the very first bus we rode.

In Naples, Italy, the world's best pickpockets challenge Bob Arno to a match of skills. In this National Geographic documentary, a gang of pickpockets demonstrate how they steal and reveals a human side that victims can't imagine. Then an amazing celebratory dinner with six thieves morphs into a challenge that might be one step too far for Bob Arno. Watch the film.

BTW next time I play the game and not if vanilla I will skip doing the DLC. It is too much of a headache for me since I always play with mods and mods keeps the DLC from working properly and turning mods on and of is a real bother ( stopping game then restarting). just to do something in the DLC area.

Which is way outta the way and not easy to get to and with mod problems not even worth going to.

Anyone encounter this? I have fought and beaten the pickpocket multiple times and it will not add to bestiary. I know its the guy on the bridge above the mom and pop shop that you can mistakenly bribe. I have played through the opening areas multiple times because I had thought I may have mistakenly bribed him but thats not the case. I made a save with him still alive and have reloaded it multiple time to see if was bugged or something. Additionally I have deleted and redownloaed the game. This is infurating because I knew about the chance to miss this enemy and then the game won't add it to the bestiary. By chance does it add later in the game? Please help!

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