Bob Arno

Bob Arno (born 1940[1]) is a Swedish-American entertainer, known primarily as a comedy pickpocket, and more recently criminologist specializing in global street crime.

As described in a March 9, 2004 article in The New York Times, the video is footage shot by himself and his wife, Bambi Vincent, of criminal pickpockets and other street thieves before, during, and after committing their crimes.

In the preface of their book (see below), Arno and Vincent claim to have initially suffered inner turmoil created by failing to prevent incidents occurring in their presence, but they overcame that discomfort after realizing the value of their study.

On May 11, 1969, a front page profile written by Brian Moynahan in the London Sunday Times called Arno "one of the world's pickpocketing experts."

In its June 20, 1969 issue, Time magazine wrote: "One of the world's foremost experts in the techniques of first-rank 'wires' (or 'cannons' or 'pit workers') is Bob Arno, a 29-year-old Swede whose demonstrations onstage and in nightclubs earn him more than $100,000 a year."

In a January 9, 1981 article entitled "Beware the Stiff-Armed Stranger; He May be Lifting Your Wallet," The Wall Street Journal quoted "Robert [sic] Arno, a Miami, Fla., pickpocketing expert who's advised police in various countries."

He lectures to corporate and lay audiences and presents training workshops for law enforcement and security, and other government agencies in the United States and abroad.

Promenade Speakers Bureau calls Arno's presentations "a tad provocative," and says they include "pattern recognition" and "body language profiling."

Arno "was invited as a guest speaker, presenting pickpocket techniques as well as an insight in the countermeasures and tactical behavior of the offenders" to law enforcements specialists from across Europe.

Arno walked into the picturesque but crime-ridden Spanish Quarter of Naples, Italy, to see how long it would take for his (fake) Rolex to be stolen by scooter-riding bandits.

Cruise ships served a triple purpose in the 1990s: a steady income as a performing venue; exotic world travel; and putting Arno in the middle of huge tourist crowds, which is generally where pickpockets operate.

He starred in his own show with Swedish comedy magician John Houdi at Berns Salonger in Stockholm, performed at the Lido in Amsterdam, at Liseberg and Gröna Lund in Sweden, at theaters in Sydney, and at Sun City, North West.

As Arno's study of criminal pickpockets and con artists advanced, he appeared more and more frequently on national and local news shows around the world.

In Arno's early appearances on ABC 20/20, he narrated his crime-in-action video and walked the news crews through popular travel destinations where they became the victims of pickpockets and con artists.

When, for some productions, Bob Arno was unwilling or unable to demonstrate pickpocket techniques and license his crime-in-action video, actors were assembled to dramatize scenarios without his expertise.

Just for fun, Arno appeared on NBC's "Little Big Shots Forever Young with Steve Harvey", which aired on July 19, 2017 to a rousing standing ovation.