Pickpocketing

And before taking Joey's money and watch, he just flicks that watch right off like a professional swindler.

Pickpocket.

Yeah.

Nice doing business with you, Stavros adds before kissing Joey on the forehead.

And he wants to know how safe it is to pass those ransom bills.

He knows that Fingers is a pickpocket.

Well, he goes to one of the little runt's hangouts and flashes a roll in front of him.

And then he leaves the joint, saunters into a crowded store where it'll be easy for Fingers to work, and Fingers does exactly what's expected of him.

Magic.

Pickpocketing.

Dance.

And candy.

This dame here just tried to pick my pocket.

Oh! Pickpocket, is it? Glory be in such a pretty wood tool.

Never mind that, Clancy.

Just have it locked up.

Oh.

[laughs] Pickpocket, is it? Glory be, and such a pretty one, too.

Never mind that, Clancy.

Just have it locked up.

Yeah, I know.

Pickpockets.

Yeah, you did.

Gotta watch out.

You see them on YouTube.

Pickpocket, pickpocket.

I wanna say that all the time.

Um, yeah.

The modus operandi in this instance was that their bags were being cut as they were running

Pickpocketing someone while running, that's a skill that we should monetize.

Absolutely.

[laughs]

Robert Benchley, American writer.

Part one: Pickpockets.

Chapter one: London.

The Brits, what could you say? They were pickpockets, a band of charmingly accented thieves trading on faded imperial glory to collect crumbs of intel and hawk them to CIA in exchange for a fine meal.

The agency was getting a raw deal, and now, on top of it all, Langley had been told to lay off a primo target, the kind of guy who left China once or twice each year.

Pickpockets.

Pickpockets who were also violating the game's rule number one, collect the intel.

This is how CIA fell out with the Brits.