Some wise soul at the Naples PD--don't remember who--decided that to catch con men you needed to use their methods. One of the most famous was the Pyramid game. Also called 8 Ball, Dinner Party, Airplane and many others, it claimed that a donated sum would be returned ten or twenty times over. In fact, about 90% of the participants would lose money. All but the Slicksters who started the game.
What was intriguing was the mathematics. One person contacted two, these two, two more making four, and so on, rapidly increasing the number of persons involved. The wise one who converted the con game to our use--probably a Dispatcher--saw how this could vastly improve our telephonic warning system.
It worked like this: When we received info that a counterfeiter or card shuffler or forger was at work, our Dispatcher would call a specific merchant with the warning. This merchant would, in turn, warn two more, and so forth, just like the Pyramid Scheme. Soon every merchant in the area knew what was going down. And, after being stung so many times, they were damn sure ready for some payback.
We worked with the merchant's association to put the plan together. Each merchant was given a list with the two businesses they were to notify when they received a warning call. And did it work!
It wasn't long until when the Card Shuffler reached into his sport coat pocket to bring out the fake card, there was a detective waiting to receive it.
Again, the old saying proved true: Necessity is a Mother.
No comments:
Post a Comment