The Steal (33 page)

p. 92
“I would go . . .”:
Quoted in District of Columbia Court of Appeals Board on Professional Responsibility District of Columbia Court of Appeals Committee Number Four Report on Claude Allen, November 2008, 11–12.

p. 92
“He was outraged . . .”:
Quoted in the April 28, 2008, hearing. Author interviews with Thomas Goldman, December 10, 2008; December 14, 2008.

p. 92
“We especially . . .”:
Quoted in
Legal Times
, March 10, 2010.

p. 93
Shoplifting . . . is one of:
Author interview with Ron Clarke, June 2008.

p. 94
most-shoplifted items:
2003 Centre for Retail Research report.

p. 95
“It
is
difficult to buy . . .”:
Author interview with Bamfield, June 2010.

p. 95
preferred times of shoplifting:
1999 Retail Theft Trends Report
. Actually, several surveys suggest that most people shoplift on weekends.

p. 95
“We don’t drill that deep”:
Author interview with Bill Greer, May 2007.

p. 95
Steak:
Food Marketing Institute “most-shoplifted” lists 2004–2008. In 2009, the last year this survey was conducted, over-the-counter health and beauty products and pharmaceuticals took back the lead by a tiny number.

p. 96
“I think it’s unlikely . . .”:
Author interview with Timothy Jones, July 2006.

p. 96
I first heard this point of view:
Theft Offenders workshop in Queens, NY, March 25, 2006.

p. 97
“Where was the beef . . .”:
Times and Democrat,
January 7, 2010.

p. 97
“I spent time in jail . . .”:
Author interview with Keith McHenry, October 2008.

p. 97
“electronic shoplifting”:
The phrase is first used in reference to Napster in 2001. Before that, “electronic shoplifting” referred to cable TV scams.

p. 97
“Home Shoplifting Network”:
Goodlatte, quoted in
Audio Week,
September 30, 2002.

p. 99
“But somehow that wasn’t the same”:
Bellow,
The Adventures of Augie March
, 193.

p. 99
“It’s not a case of . . .”:
Author interviews with Alan Edelstein, May, June, July 2008.

p. 99
“it was very easy to shoplift from . . .”:
Sante, quoted in
New York Times
, October 15, 2006; author interview with Sante, April 2007.

p. 99
“I went to theft as to a liberation . . .”:
Sartre,
Saint Genet: Actor and Martyr
, chapter title. The book is full of romantic allusions to thieves.

p. 99
“a succession of cramped . . .”:
Genet,
The Thief’s Journal
, 170.

p. 100
“few critics could do as much”:
White,
Genet: A Biography
, 166.

p. 100
While bibliomania:
Author interview with Nicholas Basbanes, March 2009.

p. 101
“The moral questions . . .”:
Thompson,
Notes on Bibliokleptomania
, 4.

p. 101
“It is true . . .”:
Author interview with Nicholas Basbanes, April 2009.

p. 101
“drunk, suburban” poseur:
New York Observer,
December 23, 2005.
Steal This Book
continues to be one of the most-shoplifted books. A first edition is worth more than $200.

p. 101
Solano told me:
Author interview with Louisa Solano, March 2008,
Publishers Weekly
, January 26, 2004.

p. 101
“behind the counter”:
Author interviews with editor number 1, September 2009.

p. 102
“my own conviction . . .”:
Author interview with editor number 2, May 2009.

p. 102
“It’s the best-selling book . . .”:
Author interviews with Melissa Mitchell, March 25, 2006; July 12, 2007.

pp. 102–3
“We have no idea . . .”:
Author interview with LifeWay store manager, Tennessee, March 2007.

p. 103
“imbiber[s] . . .”:
Merkin,
Dreaming of Hitler
, 239.

p. 104
“You don’t shoplift . . .”:
Author interview with Barry Matsuda, summer 2008.

p. 104
ninety-six cameras:
Author interview with Scott Barefoot, April 2006.

p. 104
27.1 percent:
Lemire, Beverly, “The Theft of Clothes and Popular Consumerism in Early Modern England,” 257.

p. 105
The most “legendary” thefts:
Author interviews with Terence Dixon, June 2008, June 2009.

p. 106
“Most of the stores . . .”:
Washington Post
, April 11, 2006, F1; letters,
Washington Post
, April 18, 206, F2.

p. 107 Change to Win study:
February 2007.

p. 107
“In stores where . . .”:
CVS press statement about condoms, March 2007.

p. 109–10 Data on Woodbury Common:
Woodbury Common website.
New York Times
, December 24, 2005, B4.

p. 110
“It’s like an open-air market . . .”:
Author interview with Cliff Weeks, May 7, 2006.

p. 110
“A center of that size . . .”:
Author interview with Michele Rothstein, June 14, 2006.

p. 110
“West, north, east, south . . .”:
Author interview with Chief Robert Kwiatkowski, May 7, 2006.

pp. 110–11 Statistics:
Kwiatkowski, ibid.;
Times Herald-Record
,
February 5, 2005.

p. 110
“always a lady”:
Ibid.

p. 111
“back to school shoplifting”:
Ibid.

p. 112
626 arrests:
Kwiatkowski.
Times Herald-Record
, December 18, 2004.

p. 112
70 percent of the town’s:
Kwiatkowski, quoted in
Times Herald-Record
, November 14, 2004.

p. 112
“They [the mall leadership] . . .”:
Author interview with Sheila Conroy, May 2006.

p. 113
“As a major taxpayer . . .”:
Michele Rothstein, May 31, 2006.

p. 113
Boosters:
Author interviews with Tamara, Portland, Oregon.

p. 116
“ ‘She was so drunk . . .’ ”:
Author interviews with Lisa Paules.

p. 116 Oregon Department of Corrections statistics:
ODC website.

p. 117
Theft Talk alum:
Author interviews with John Allen Bradshaw.

p. 119
“enhancement”:
Author interviews with Frank Muscato, May 2008, May 2009.

p. 119
Now the levels range:
April 2009 legislative spreadsheet, kindly provided by Frank Muscato.

p. 120
Committee hearing:
The Florida Senate Criminal & Civil Justice Appropriations Committee, April 15, 2009. Regular Session, April 23, 2009.

p. 120
“My main objective . . .”:
Arthenia Joyner, e-mail, October 24, 2009. Bill Analysis and Fiscal Impact Statement prepared by the Criminal and Civil Justice Appropriations Committee, April 15, 2009.

p. 120
this sort of bill:
Author interview with John Rogers, June 2009.

p. 121
“a man or a woman . . .”:
Chicago Tribune
, December 4, 1911, 9.

p. 121
“manipulation of suckers . . .”:
Sutherland,
The Professional Thief
, 3.

p. 125
“It’s knowing I’m . . .”:
Author interview with shoplifter.

p. 126
“You begin to . . .”:
Author interview with “Donna,” December 28, 2006.

p. 126
“[I shoplifted] . . .”:
Author interview with “B,” February 2006.

p. 126
“Sometimes I’ll . . .”:
Author interview with “Christine,” April 9, 2006.

p. 126
“I was caught . . .”:
Author interview with Adam Stein, August 6, 2007.

p. 127
The self-described “elder of filth”:
Author interviews with John Waters, May 2008, June 2008.

p. 128
Nan, a red-haired:
Author interviews with “Nan,” March 2006, 2007.

p. 129
“I feel like I know . . .”:
Author interview with “Doug,” November 2005.

p. 129
“I would get out of . . .”:
Author interview with Scott Harris, February 2008, April 2008.

p. 130
“the neglect of the . . .”:
Katz,
Seductions of Crime
, front matter.

p. 130
“sneaky thrill”:
Ibid., table of contents, chapter 2 title.

p. 130
“seduced and repelled . . .”:
Ibid., 5.

p. 130
“a terrible freedom”:
Lesser, “The Shoplifter’s Apprentice,” 20.

p. 130
“as much prey . . .”:
Ibid., 13.

p. 130
“benign even pleasurable . . .”:
Ibid., 18.

p. 130
“anything could happen now”:
Ibid., 20.

p. 130
“tingles against her palm”:
Goldberg,
Bee Season
, 73.

p. 130
“luxuriates . . .”:
Ibid., 76.

p. 131
“All she needs...”:
Harrison,
Exposure
, 164.

p. 131
I spent a couple:
Author interview with Kathryn Harrison, February 2006.

p. 136
“Even today ...”:
Saturday Evening Post
, April 29, 1961; August 5, 1961.

p. 136
“Ex-Star Seized as Shoplifter ...”:
Los Angeles Times
, January 28, 1966, 1.

p. 136
“You’re under arrest”:
Los Angeles Times
, April 27, 1966, 1.

p. 136
“Don’t hold my arm so tight ...”:
Ibid.

p. 136
“mystified”:
Los Angeles Times
, January 29, 1966, 1;
New York Times
, January 29, 1966, 13.

pp. 136–37
“For the past thirty years ...”:
Quoted in Lamarr,
Ecstasy and Me,
240. For more on Anthony Loder’s testimony, see
New York Times
,
April 23, 1966, 14.

p. 137
“systematically and methodically”:
Los Angeles Times
, April 20, 1966, 30.

p. 138
“Our president was killed ...”:
Los Angeles Times
, April 26, 1966, 1.

p. 138
“Gestapo tactics”:
Los Angeles Times
, April 27, 1966, 1.

p. 138
“It was my first ...”:
Author interview with Ira K. Reiner, July 2008. The jury in the case was initially hung. After the trial, the judge publicly lambasted them about the not-guilty decision. Then Lamarr brought a lawsuit against May’s, which was eventually dismissed.

p. 138
“When poor people ...”:
Earl Warren, quoted in Cray,
Chief Justice
, 459.

p. 138
“spoke German”:
Author interview with Hedy Lamarr’s lawyer, Joerg Jaeger, July 19, 2010.

p. 138
“My mother used to . . .”:
Orlando Sentinel
, August 3, 1991.

p. 139
“Because of the Jews . . .”:
Dworkin,
Miss America, 1945
, 181.

p. 140
“Bess Myerson on the Prowl . . .”:
Life
, July 16, 1971.

p. 140
“Can’t I just pay . . .”:
Quoted in Alexander,
Ms.
magazine, September 1988, 43. According to Alexander, a psychiatrist is “in the news stories,” an assertion I could never verify.

p. 141
“So be it”:
Philadelphia Daily News
, May 28, 1988.

p. 141
“I was leaving . . .”:
New York Times
, May 28, 1988
; New York Times
, July 16, 1988, 31.

p. 141
“Why Do Aging Women Steal?”:
Headline quoted in the
New York Daily News,
September 2, 2001.

p. 141
“Midlife Shoplifters . . .”:
Ibid.

p. 141
“As for the women’s movement . . .:
Ms
. magazine, op. cit.

p. 141
“would and would not do . .”:
Alexander,
When She Was Bad
, ix.

p. 142
“It could be you”:
Life
, August 1988, 32.

p. 143
“Anywhere else . . .”:
New York Times
, November 10, 2002, 12.

p. 143
“You are a lazy . . .”:
Quote from movie
Girl, Interrupted.

p. 144
“The security officers observed . . .”:
The People of the State of California v. Winona Ryder,
vol. 4, 754.

p. 144
“the actress was seen . . .”:
Los Angeles County district attorney press release.