They got me my first week on the job, working for Pac Bell in Hollywood. The big ‘Sucker’ balloon next to my mug drew them to me like bees to pollen. I’m standing in line at a check cashing joint just down the street from the original, ‘Tommy Chili Burgers’, off of Beverly, eager to cash my first pay check, then, hit that Tommy’s, hard. A van pulls into the crowded parking area next to the check place. As I’m walking back to my 1965 Ford Econoline van, praying it will start, just one more time, two men in this van get out and wave me over. Looks of confidentiality on their faces. I read on the side of the almost new van, ‘Georges stereo and T.V.’s’. I go see what they want. While looking around furtively, they bring me to the rear of their van, open the back doors, and start their spiel. “Look pal, our boss just layed us off. He’s going out of business and he’s not paying us. We’ve got some real deals here buddy!”… One of my new friends then shows me that the van is filled almost to the roof with brand new stereos, T.V.s and speakers. Taking a blade to the top of a sealed box, he shows me the color TV inside. A nice 26”. Or, any stereo and two box speakers for just a hundred bucks. I was in pig heaven! I forked over a hundred bucks out of my hundred and ninety dollar check like a thirsty man would a cold drink off a blazing desert. Not wanting to give me an unsealed box, I’m given a sealed one. They even carried it over to my van for me. Cool! As soon as I get to my little dive off of Beechwood drive, just below the Hollywood sign, I clear off my dresser top for my new prize. As I carry it in, I actually worried about the neighborhood junkies, breaking in and stealing my new prize. Whew, it was heavy! I set it on the floor and cut open the top. Inside are two cement cinder blocks wrapped in bubble wrap. They got lousy reception when I hooked up an antenna to them… Over the years, I must have been hit up by a dozen more guys pulling this same scam. I would pretend to be interested, then slide a new TV box from the stack and start to open it, getting them all flustered. Then I would laugh and tell them I already had enough bricks and cinderblocks. Off they would go, looking for an easier sale. Another good con is the shell game. Usually these guys worked in teams. Setting up a folding table with a metal top, the ‘Operator’, would have three cups, or, ‘shells’, which he would then place a round bearing underneath the middle one. To entice betting, a planted partner in the small crowd forming around him, would watch as he spun all the cups in a confusing blur, then, you put down five bucks and picked the one you thought the ‘pea’ was under. Oh my gosh, she won! Looking perplexed, our con man seems a bit out of sorts. Asking her to give it another try, “Double or nothing!” He again moves them around, then lets her choose. OH MY GOSH! Guess what? She won again! Acting miffed, he ignores her pleas to go again after paying her off, then lets someone else take some easy money. The winner fades away, to wait back in their car, the next ten people lose. Darn! How does he do it? A Bunko cop filled me in. There’s a ‘pea’ under all of the cups. He spins them, making the ball, magnetically stick to the underside of the cup. To make which ever one drop or not, you just squeeze the cup a tiny bit and the ball will drop… ‘LOST DOG’. This one can make a con a lot of money. Plus, if busted, it’s a misdomeaner. Always watching for an expensive car with a dog left inside, or, out in an old ladies yard. One way or another, that dog will get loose. These dog nappers sometimes have over a dozen dogs they’re waiting to see ads for or signs going up, pleading for help for Muffy to come home. Yep. They move around town, working fresh streets until the cops get hep, or someone wises up. Then it’s off to another city, to repeat the scam. Some people in Beverly Hills will pay thousands for a ‘found’ pet. Paid no questions asked… You also have the ‘move ins’. Usually done just after dark, the new tenants are in and all comfy in a few hours. Since no one has met them yet, no one knows who the heck they are. What the owners of the empty house find out later, is all those big boxes carried inside with such effort, were empty. Not on their way back out to the rental van though. Inside are the rental’s air conditioner, ceiling fans, washer and dryer, garbage disposal, toilets, wood trim, heaters, stove, leaded glass kitchen cabinet doors, or what ever else they can move through middle men, all over L.A. Now a day, they’re taking the copper pipes right out of the walls and pulling the electrical wiring for scrap value… Just before moving, some electric cable thieves were fried while stealing the cables out of Edwards Air Force Base’s repeater station on the mountain across from Phonehenge. The wires tested dead. Then, the timers kicked in, right as these guys were cutting the one inch cables. Adios. One of them had his arm blown right off, landing forty feet away with the cutters still in the hand… Out of dozens of such cons, none made me laugh as much as ‘Freddy the Flop’. Freddy’s forte was fat rich people in big fat expensive cars. He had his favorite parts of town, but usually worked big name store parking lots. Especially in Beverly Hills. Keeping his eyes peeled, he would spot a victim backing up, then, from out of nowhere, Freddie is over the hood and flopping on the ground, screaming in pain, or, even better, unconcious. I once told him he should get a job as a stuntman. He looked at me like I was insane. He usually would take a handful of cash, claiming he had a warrant or some other reason not to get the cops involved. Most people were happy to pay him off… Oh, have to get in the car scam… At all the expensive eateries, they have red, green or whatever color vested car park attendants, running up to customers cars to park them easily so the people can hit the bar or get a table. Knowing this some enterprising cons, found vests the correct color, waited for the right moment, then, smiling and opening the drivers door, they would tear off a stub, tell the people, “Have a nice dinner!”, then drive that Mercedes or Porche, right to a chop shop. Since the people thought he was legit, the thief has at least an hour before they’re looking for their ride… More on cons some later…
