The Black Godfather

FINALLY, a figure who can soothe these divisive times!

Posted By: Paul - Wed Jul 20, 2016 - Comments (3)
Category: Crime, Movies, Racism, Stereotypes and Cliches, 1970s

Fighting the Traffic in Young Girls

"Sex trafficking 2016," meet "white slavery 1910."

Original text here.

Posted By: Paul - Sat Jul 16, 2016 - Comments (9)
Category: Crime, Sexuality, Public Indecency, The More Things Change, 1910s

Tricycle Black Maria

Served the extra duty of public humiliation of criminal.

Posted By: Paul - Mon Jul 11, 2016 - Comments (3)
Category: Bicycles and Other Human-powered Vehicles, Cops, Crime, Inventions, Nineteenth Century

Trick Valise

March 1937: A tricked-out payroll satchel foiled would-be robbers. From Newsweek (Apr 3, 1937):


Quite ingenious, but seems like it would work only once, since after that everyone would know what the trick was. So how did they protect the payroll subsequently?

Newsweek - Apr 3, 1937

St. Louis Post-Dispatch - Mar 26, 1937

Posted By: Alex - Sat Jun 18, 2016 - Comments (5)
Category: Crime, Inventions, 1930s

Warning required before crime

January 1973: Texas State Rep. Jim Kaster filed a bill that would have required criminals to give their victims twenty-four hours notice before they committed a crime. Argued Kaster, "Obviously the criminal is not going to do it, but this would be another punishment that could be added to the penalty." No surprise, the bill was defeated.

Arizona Republic - Jan 19, 1973

And this article gives a little more info:

El Paso Herald-Post - Jan 19, 1973

Posted By: Alex - Sat Jun 11, 2016 - Comments (10)
Category: Crime, Law, 1970s

Forgot she shot him

The strange case of Roberta and William Randall of Phoenix, Arizona. She shot him in the face while he was napping, then forgot she shot him. He didn't realize he had been shot. Apparently the hole in his cheek didn't make him suspicious. Nor did the note she had written for him, "Bill, you've been shot. Call 911."

Democrat and Chronicle - Feb 27, 1992

The Arizona Republic (Mar 17, 1991) offers a few more details about this mysterious case:

Posted By: Alex - Tue May 31, 2016 - Comments (8)
Category: Crime, 1990s

Stealing Boosts Staff Morale

Companies do all kinds of things to boost staff morale. They hire motivational speakers, have team-building exercises, give employees gifts, etc.

But the industrial psychologist Lawrence Zeitlin, in an article published in June 1971 in Psychology Today ("A little larceny can do a lot for employee morale"), argued that the most effective way a business could boost morale was by allowing its employees to steal a little from the company.

He argued that theft added to a sense of "job enrichment" by making the job more interesting. It gave employees a sense of satisfaction at getting away with it. Also, workers "often looked upon theft as a condition of employment." Furthermore, he noted, allowing the theft could be cheaper than installing elaborate security precautions.

In her book Management and Ideology, business author Judith Merkle provides some background info on Zeitlin's article:

Sydney Morning Herald - May 30, 1971

Posted By: Alex - Wed May 25, 2016 - Comments (6)
Category: Business, Crime, 1970s

Detroit 9000

Posted By: Paul - Fri Apr 29, 2016 - Comments (6)
Category: Crime, Movies, Stereotypes and Cliches, 1970s

Dental Hygiene Hoodlum

Another case of a serial thief with a strangely specific focus. Police in Columbus, Ohio are on the lookout for Sean Patrick Burk, who is suspected of multiple thefts of boxes of Crest White Strips. And only Crest White Strips. They're calling him the "Dental Hygiene Hoodlum."

Says the City Attorney, "Serial thieves generally target certain items but it is unusual for us to see such brand loyalty where an offender only steals large quantities of a single product, over and over again."

More: NBC4i.com

Posted By: Alex - Fri Apr 22, 2016 - Comments (8)
Category: Crime

Illinois Canal Scrip

With USA paper money in the news, let's look at a wild and woolly era in the history of the USA when just about anyone could issue their own cash.

Explanation here.

And more info here.

Posted By: Paul - Fri Apr 22, 2016 - Comments (4)
Category: Business, Crime, Frauds, Cons and Scams, Nineteenth Century