The Steal (32 page)

p. 49
“mixed” neighborhood:
Author interviews with Ronald Assaf, June 2006, June 2008.

p. 49
“Jack, if we can . . . ”:
Ronald Assaf, 2006.

p. 50
“Even more than today . . . ”:
Ibid.

p. 50
Gradually stores began:
Ibid.

p. 51
“Strengthened security . . .”:
Kiplinger’s Personal Finance
, November 1970, 5.

p. 52
“Money Is Shit . . .”:
Rubin
, Do It
, 117.

p. 52
“All money represents theft . . . ”
Ibid., 43.

p. 52
“The revolutionary will steal . . .”:
Powell,
The Anarchist Cookbook
, 75.

p. 53
“If you read a
New York Times
. . . ”:
Rat
, February 6–23, 1970, 9.

p. 53
“We chained . . . ”:
Letter from Barney Rosset, December 29, 2008.

p. 53
“Ripping off . . . is an act of . . . ”:
Hoffman,
Steal This Book
, 75.

p. 53
“We have been shoplifting . . .”:
Ibid., 7.

p. 53
“the food tastes better”:
Ibid., 10.

pp. 53–54
“Sew a plastic bag . . . ”:
Ibid., 3.

p. 54
“Specialized uniforms . . .”:
Ibid., 2.

p. 54
upward of 100,000 copies:
Figure mentioned in Jezer,
Abbie Hoffman: American Rebel
, 229. Hoffman himself claimed it sold 300,000 (
Life
, October 22, 1971, 77). In an interview with Barney Rosset on February 3, 2009, he told me the book sold “200,000 if not more” copies. But Rosset has no records.

p. 54
“second aisle on the left . . .”:
Ramparts
, May 1971, 61.

p. 54
“foisted on the reading public . . .”:
Memo, 6/22/71, folder 4: 136; 4, Hoffman Family Papers.

p. 54
“where a ten-year-old . . .”:
Local news clipping.

p. 55
“hip Boy Scout . . .”:
New York Times Book Review
, July 18, 1971, 19.

p. 55
“Where the f—. . .”:
Boston Globe
, July 31, 1971. Also described in Jack Hoffman,
Run, Run, Run
, 172.

p. 55
“Ripping Off: The New Lifestyle”:
New York Times Magazine
, August 8, 1971, 12.

p. 55
“Stealing is stealing . . .”:
Ibid., 52.

p. 55
“Saying that shoplifting . . .”:
Ibid., 52.

p. 56
“took pictures as a hobby”:
Author interviews with Eddie Davis, July 2007, August 2009;
Louisville-Courier,
June 16, 2006.

p. 56
“I don’t remember what happened”:
Author interview with Edward Davis, July 2007.

p. 57
“subjects known . . .”:
Police leaflet from
Paul v. Davis,
424 U.S. 693 file, the National Archives, Chicago.

p. 57
“my supervisor . . . ”:
Edward Davis, op. cit.

p. 57
“civil liberties, civil rights activists . . .”:
Daniel T. Taylor III et al., Plaintiffs-appellants, v. Kentucky State Bar Association et al.
,
Defendants-appellees
, United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit, 424 F.2d 478, March 26, 1970.

p. 57
“the great William Kunstler”:
Author interviews with Dan Taylor, September 2009.

p. 57
“it was possible”:
Ibid.

p. 58
“We try harder”:
Ibid.

p. 58
“star performer in the center ring . . . ”:
Kentucky Court of Appeals in the Narvel Tinsley case, 494 S.W.2d, at 740.

p. 58
“The case made it difficult . . .”:
Edward Davis, August 2009.

p. 58
“[T]he facts alleged . . . ”:
Quotes from the Supreme Court hearing of
Paul v. Davis,
424 U.S. 693 aural transcript of summary and oral arguments at the Oyez Project.

p. 59
“(a) deprivation . . . ”:
Ibid.

p. 59
“proof of any type . . .”:
Ibid.

p. 59
“These fellows . . .”:
Ibid.

p. 60
“Our photographers . . .”:
Ibid.

p. 60
“As for
Constantineau
. . . ”:
Ibid.

p. 60
“characterized him as active . . . ”:
Ibid.

p. 60
“While we have in a number . . . ”:
Ibid.

pp. 60–61
“the potential . . . ”:
Ibid.

p. 61
“government officials. . . .”:
New York Times
, November 18, 1979, 19. This case is still mentioned as one of the most important rulings from the Rehnquist court in its narrow definition of civil rights and the Constitution. Linda Greenhouse mentions it in Rehnquist’s obituary,
New York Times
, September 4, 2005, 11. It is also mentioned that day in an article about the court in transition. Additionally, there has been much legal scholarship about it. Thanks to Dennis Hutchinson for putting me on to the scholarship.

p. 61
“our so-called shoplifting case”:
Conference notes, Harry A. Blackmun Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress. Special thanks to Dennis Hutchinson and his daughter, Katy, for collecting these notes.

p. 61
“struggling”:
Connections with Rene Shaw,
Louisville Courier-Journal
, June 15, 2006, April 7, 2007.

p. 61
“I just wish things had . . .”:
Edward Davis, op. cit., September 2009.

p. 62
“In advocating stealing . . . ”:
Rubin,
Growing (Up) at 37
, 107.

p. 63
“‘Becoming autonomous’ . . .”:
The Invisible Committee,
The Coming Insurrection
, 42. This is a book that Glenn Beck called “the most evil” he ever read, a commendation that Semiotext(e) pasted on the book jacket as a blurb. Beck, along with other related publicity, drove the book into its sixth printing in 2010, when it also reached number 54 on
Amazon.com
and appeared on the expanded version of the
New York Times Book Review
best-seller list.

p. 63
“People secretly . . . ”:
Author interview with Stephen Mihm, January 2008.

p. 64
“They are little more . . .”
Hobsbawm,
Bandits
, 171.

p. 64
“Bank robbery . . . ”:
Ibid., 178.

p. 64
“I don’t think shoplifters . . .”:
Author interview with Eric Hobsbawm, June 2009.

p. 64
“Those lacy panties . . . ”:
Quoted on CBS TV report, October 23, 2006.

p. 64
“air of a Latin American . . . ”
New York Times
, June 21, 2007, F1.

p. 65
“some Freegans . . . ”:
Author correspondence with Warren Oakes, June 2008, July 2008.

p. 65
When I called Weissman:
Author interviews with Adam Weissman, May–July 2008.

p. 67
“Is shoplifting a Freegan issue?”:
Author interview with Madeline Nelson, July 2008.

pp. 68–69
“Nothing compares . . .”
The Crimethink Workers Collective,
Days of War, Nights of Love
,
235.

p. 70
“I am not taking a side . . . ”:
James Trimarco (Cookie Orlando), December 2008, May 2008.

p. 70
“My concern . . .”
and all quotes:
E-mail exchange among Freegans about shoplifting, May–June 2008 and January 2009, kindly provided by Adam Weissman.

p. 71
“One doesn’t destroy . . . ”:
E-mail correspondence with David Graeber, June 16, 2008; November 2008.

p. 72
“the individual’s rights . . .”
Author interview with Ryan Watkins-Hughes, May 16, 2006.

p. 72
“Gen Y . . . ”:
Author interview with Zoë Sheehan Saldaña, July 12, 2006.

p. 72
“a silent protest of . . . ”:
Author interview with Andrew Lynn, June 2006.

p. 73
“It’s not worth anything . . . ”:
Sheehan Saldaña, op. cit.

p. 74
“is not far off”:
Author interview with “technical anarchist,” September 2009. Author interviews with Simona Levi, November 11, 2006; September 2009.

p. 75
“our security . . .”:
Author interview with A (Yomango member), October 2009.

p. 75
the “liberated” dress:
A, op. cit.

p. 75
“Yomango accuses . . . ”:
El País
, July 5, 2002; July 6, 2002.

p. 76
“We realized that . . .”:
All quotes are from author interview with “Leo de Cerca,” May 2006.

p. 78
“changed the space”:
Interviews with Bani Brufadino, Jeff Stark, Oriana, and Vince Carducci (all February and March 2008).

p. 81 Centre for Retail Research gender report:
Cited in the
Guardian
, July 14, 2005; “The Gender Offenders,” data compiled by the Centre for Retail Research, 2010.

pp. 81–82 Author interviews with Joshua Bamfield:
December 2007, August 2008, May 2009, July 2010.

p. 83
“is a response to the social order . . .”:
Kaplan,
Female Perversions
, 514.

p. 83
“Very rich women . . .”:
Ibid., 304.

p. 84
“Men tend to be . . .”:
Author interview with Jon Grant, November 2005.

p. 84
“There’s an immense . . .”:
Author interview with Walter Vandereycken, January 2008. There is a small body of work on this subject.

p. 85
“[Shoplifting] is less . . .”:
Author interviews with Gail Caputo, October 5, 2006; November 2007; May 2008.

p. 85
“Where are the lines . . .”
Caroline Knapp,
Appetites
, 13.

p. 85
“Some of ’em . . .”:
Author interview with Ellen Chandler, March 14, 2007.

p. 86
40 percent:
NASP website. Some estimates are higher. Klemke, “Exploring Juvenile Shoplifting,” for example, claims that 50–60 percent of young people have shoplifted.

p. 86
“Where would we be . . .”
Author interviews with Richard Hollinger, April 24, 2006; June 2006.

p. 86
“the next Kenneth Lay”:
Ibid.

p. 87
“It’s considered . . .”:
Author interview with Bill O. Hing, July 12, 2006.

p. 87
“Every day . . .”
Washington Post
, December 29, 2002, B7.

p. 87
Marlene Jaggernauth:
Author interviews December 2009, July 2010.

p. 88
“Every few months . . .”:
Bamfield, op. cit.

p. 88
“primary household shopper”:
Dabney, Hollinger, and Dugan, “Who Actually Steals,” 710. This phrase was invented by Read Hayes.

p. 88
$70,000:
C. Blanco et al., “Prevalence and Correlates of Shoplifting in the United States: Results from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC),”
American Journal of Psychiatry
, 2008, table 1, 906.

p. 88
“considerable differences . . .”:
JoAnn Ray and Katherine H. Briar, “Every Twelfth Shopper: Who Shoplifts and Why?” 1987.

p. 89
$600,000:
New York State Office of the Attorney General Civil Rights Bureau New York City Office. Macy’s Security Monitor Report, November 30, 2005, 3;
New York Times
, January 14, 2005, B1.

p. 89
“Maybe he has two wives”:
Author interview with detective, February 20, 2006.

p. 90 List of items stolen:
State of Maryland v. Claude Allen,
Claude Alexander, Arrest Warrant on Charging Document, March 9, 2006. Interview with sources, assorted dates, 2006. Plea memorandum,
State of Maryland v. Claude Allen
, July 7, 2006. The exact items that Allen allegedly shoplifted vary. At the District of Columbia Court of Appeals Board on Professional Responsibility Hearing before Committee Number Four, April 28, 2008, his defense counsel insisted that he was guilty of shoplifting three items. The arrest warrant on the charging document and the lp reports contend that he shoplifted many items, some of which were reported in the media.

p. 90
“spend more time with . . .”:
New York Times
, February 11, 2006, A12.

p. 91
“Why would . . .”:
Washington Post
, March 24, 2006, A30.

p. 91
“For Bush’s Ex-Aide . . .”:
New York Times
, March 13, 2006, 1, 30.

p. 91
“Close friends . . .”:
Washington Post
reporter Michael Fletcher on NPR, March 13, 2006. This rumor, which was disseminated in the national media, turned out to be “nothing,” as Fletcher put it in a phone conversation in 2010.