A legendary school for pickpockets and thieves may exist somewhere in the misty heights of the Andes Mountains outside Bogota, Colombia.
It's known as the School of the Seven Bells, and although no U.S. police officer is known to have been there, many people believe it's real.
Their belief is underscored by the skill and stealth of some slick South American pickpockets who snatch wallets from victims on subways and at airports.
According to Paul Higdon, an expert with the international police agency Interpol, the mysterious school for thieves got its name from the colorful final exam its graduates must pass.
In the test, the teacher poses as a mark, his body booby-trapped with seven small bells, each strategically placed. The students must slip valuables from each of seven pockets without ringing any of the attached bells.
There is no big secret to picking a pocket - it's all a matter of practicing the moves until they're as smooth as silk, and learning to distract the mark's attention at a critical moment.
Bob Arno, a Las Vegas performer whose act consists of calling up volunteers from the audience and removing wallets and wrist watches, said many pickpockets are taught the skill. Even though Arno's marks know what's coming, they never feel a thing.
Arno and his wife, Bambi, have traveled the world, performing and studying the art. In the former Soviet Union, they saw thieves who slice open their victims' pockets with razor blades clenched in their teeth. In Rome, they saw groups of men surrounding their victims on crowded buses, using the jouncing motion to cover their thievery.
And everywhere they went, they heard about the School of the Seven Bells. "It may be the reason the best pickpockets in the world are in South America," Arno later told a Nevada newspaper.
NYPD Inspector Louis Croce, who worked on the pickpocket squad in the early 1980s, said he'd heard about the School of the Seven Bells.
But asked whether he thought the school was merely a legend or a real place, he said, "If I had to bet money on it, I'd say it's a myth."
It's known as the School of the Seven Bells, and although no U.S. police officer is known to have been there, many people believe it's real.
Their belief is underscored by the skill and stealth of some slick South American pickpockets who snatch wallets from victims on subways and at airports.
According to Paul Higdon, an expert with the international police agency Interpol, the mysterious school for thieves got its name from the colorful final exam its graduates must pass.
In the test, the teacher poses as a mark, his body booby-trapped with seven small bells, each strategically placed. The students must slip valuables from each of seven pockets without ringing any of the attached bells.
There is no big secret to picking a pocket - it's all a matter of practicing the moves until they're as smooth as silk, and learning to distract the mark's attention at a critical moment.
Bob Arno, a Las Vegas performer whose act consists of calling up volunteers from the audience and removing wallets and wrist watches, said many pickpockets are taught the skill. Even though Arno's marks know what's coming, they never feel a thing.
Arno and his wife, Bambi, have traveled the world, performing and studying the art. In the former Soviet Union, they saw thieves who slice open their victims' pockets with razor blades clenched in their teeth. In Rome, they saw groups of men surrounding their victims on crowded buses, using the jouncing motion to cover their thievery.
And everywhere they went, they heard about the School of the Seven Bells. "It may be the reason the best pickpockets in the world are in South America," Arno later told a Nevada newspaper.
NYPD Inspector Louis Croce, who worked on the pickpocket squad in the early 1980s, said he'd heard about the School of the Seven Bells.
But asked whether he thought the school was merely a legend or a real place, he said, "If I had to bet money on it, I'd say it's a myth."
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