CROOKS’ MECCA

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 632, 8 April 1929, Page 13

CROOKS’ MECCA

Criminals Flock to London BLACKMAILERS AND SWINDLERS London at the moment appears to be the meeting-place for a congress of international crooks, says the “Daily Mail.” British and American travellers -who frequent the highways of travel on the Continent and on the Atlantic have been amazed to see so .many familiar faces —faces known equally well to Scotland Yard and the police of other countries —in tho West End hotels and bars at the present time. They are naturally asking why so many of them are there, and who they are doing. A residue of notorious characters is always to be found in the popular resorts of London, but the number in them now is far beyond the normal. In one well-known bar the other day there were five men with international criminal records. One was a blackmailer who usually operates with a pretty woman as his accomplice and sometimes a third person as well. His companion on this occasion was a young man from the Dominions wjjiose nefarious activities have been officially noted in ships in the Tropics and the Mediterranean. Preying on Women Near them were two individuals of Levantine origin wlio specialise in preying on credulous women tourists who travel alone. The fifth was an elderly, red-faced man with a breezy manner who is ready at a moment’s notice to become a retired Australian sheep farmer with a fortune to spend on charity, or a shy and rather bewildered New Zealander anxious to be shown London by a wealthy American. The two first-named crooks were still sipping their mid-day cocktails when a Scotland Yard detective strolled in. Before he had ordered his drink they had slipped unobtrusively away. Pose as Ex-Officers These predatory adventurers are always well dressed, plausible, and well schooled in their various roles. The British type often poses as an exofficer. Others are racing “experts,” who profess to include among their friends many prominent men. Some of them “work” with women, who haunt the public rooms of hotels most frequented by foreigners. The women are expensively attired, always attractive, and ready to pilot a likely “client.” to a flat where he can play poker or meet “charming people.” Train Swindlers Certain international crooks now wintering in the West End are usually to be found on the Riviera or in Cairo at this season of the year. They are well known in the international trains de luxe—even between Victoria and Paris—where they endeavour to make the acquaintance of reputable well-to-do travellers. More than one big coup in the South of France has been carefully prepared in a London hotel or bar, where the victim has been under careful observation. Touts for share salesmen also use these resorts.