Pipino: Gentleman Thief | Hacker News Reader

Pipino: Gentleman Thief

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149 pointspepys24 comments

I cannot believe that things like this still happen in today's world, although I'd be surprised if it wasn't a little bit embellished. This piece reminds me a little bit of the documentary about the Russian mafia, Thieves By Law (I'm pretty sure it's on youtube, go watch it). Aging master criminals who want their stories to be told to a world that they know is eager to hear about them. How fortunate that we have such an accessible medium to distribute their tales.

Yeah it still happens, like this 10' x 6' painting for example from 2 months ago

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/11034...

That is an amazing story.

But... it kinda sounds like Pipino and Palmiso were running a two man confidence racket. Pipino would steal, Palmiso wouldn't catch him but would manage to recover something priceless that had been taken.

>Antonio Palmosi left the force after a bribery scandal in 2004

I guess, that is not exactly coincidence. Probably he got kickbacks from Pipino for not arresting him.

Or just recognition for a job well done, for recovering the work.

Footnotes mention he later had a bribery scandal to deal with.

Man this makes me want to go back to Venice. Amazing city - getting lost in the back alleys and searching out the best cicchetti is a fantastic way to spend a week or two.

"Have you looked at them?" Pipino said, holding up a fork. The craftsmanship was impeccable. "If you don’t take them, it’s a sin," he declared. "Plus, they’re worth about a million lire." That was roughly $100,000. Claudio nodded and moved on.

In 1991, one dollar was worth about 1,200 Italian liras, so a million liras would be about $800.

Maybe there were ~ 125 individual pieces of cutlery? at $800 apiece, the total would be 100k...

That does seem like a lot of cutlery, though.

If it's for big dinner parties hosting the rest of the aristocracy and celebrities and guests, 125 (figure 4 per person?) wouldn't be all that much.

For a 6-course menu, you'd need more, at least 8-10 pieces per person.

> "If you don’t take them, it’s a sin"

That's... an interesting sense of morality that he has.

Different groups have different moral codes. If you're a highly respected, professional burglar then not taking something so good could be considered professional misconduct.

The origin of the word "sin" as most people use it today is a word from archery. It means hitting the target but missing the center. Pretty apt for a renowned burglar to not take something which is highly valuable and very portable on a robbery.

> The origin of the word "sin" as most people use it today is a word from archery. It means hitting the target but missing the center.

This page (which gives the OED as a source) says that's true of the Greek hamartia (often translated as "sin") but not of the English word itself: http://www.wordorigins.org/index.php/site/comments/trespass_...

Or, y'know, figuratively...

I guess its a comment about the morality of the rich. The idea being that to get rich, whatever rich is, it is assumed that they effectively stole from the poor. So taking it back is re-appropriation, or some such.

Personally, I see tax as the civilised way of doing that. Granted, that doesn't work that well, but then given our democracies, that up to the masses to vote for it, who are basically the poor.

Impressive guy, I guess, but... a gentleman wouldn't steal in the first place. Not even from the wealthy. Though refusing violence is in fact a nice thing in a criminal...

I recall reading that in (medieval?) Europe, some nobles who ran out of money would rather become highwaymen and rob travelers than actually work for a living, as this was deemed beneath them.

I have absolutely no recollection where I read this, so it could easily be false.

His book is titled "Rubare ai ricchi non è peccato", "Stealing from the rich isn't a sin". Sadly there doesn't seem to be an English translation.

There's a similar, but not identical, saying in Spanish: "El que roba de un ladrón tiene cien años de perdón", or, "He who steals from a thief is forgiven for a hundred years."

As a Venetian, it’s incredible that I didn’t know about Pipino at all. Probably something that we try to forget.

Maniero, on the other side is incredibly famous, and still considered honorable nonetheless. Make your conclusions…

How's the tech scene in Venice?

Found this on vimeo: http://vimeo.com/69183293

amazing story!

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