Pickpocket King

In Naples, Italy, the world's best pickpockets challenge Bob Arno to a match of skills. In this National Geographic documentary, a gang of pickpockets demonstrates how they steal and reveals a human side that victims can't imagine. Then, an amazing celebratory dinner with six thieves morphs into a challenge that might be one step too far for Bob Arno.

Bob Arno, the celebrated comedy stage pickpocket and criminologist, has researched pickpockets and other street thieves in Naples, Italy, since 1994. He begins this film project with a search for Angelo, a pickpocket who demonstrated his unique talents to Bob many years ago. Instead, Bob finds a team he'd never before met: Franco, Enzo, and Mirco.

By stealing the watch of one of these thieves, Bob piques their interest in him and they suggest having coffee together. A series of meetings and demonstrations follow over the next weeks, culminating in a challenge of skill, wit, and nerve.

To most travelers, and especially to victims of pickpockets, the thieves are invisible, mysterious, nefarious beings — rarely seen and never comprehended. This documentary reveals the hearts, souls, and faces of men who make their living by taking the money and property of others.

In one scene, the pickpockets teach a hapless victim a safer way to carry his wallet. In another, Angelo poetically compares his way of life to Bob Arno's: "We do the same thing, you and I. But you make people laugh — I make them cry."