# Are there truly professional thieves who know what they are doing and never get caught? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 11, 2013, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-truly-professional-thieves-who-know-what-they-are-doing-and-never-get-caught/668608 "2013-09-11T22:50:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2013, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-truly-professional-thieves-who-know-what-they-are-doing-and-never-get-caught/668608/21 "2013-09-12T17:46:30Z")
Scott H. Decker and Margaret Townsend’s"Drug Smugglers on Drug Smuggling" is an interesting read on that particular form of crime, written as an auxiliary text for criminology students, so not exactly leisure reading… Bottom line – Nearly all drug smuggling busts arise from a trusted ally turning them in. Either by foolishly getting caught himself and turning state’s evidence, or as a plant. Drug smugglers do not fear the Coast Guard, which is impotent if they don’t have a tipoff, but they fear Bahamian’s who are out looking for smugglers to hijack, and are not constrained by constitutional niceties. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2013, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-truly-professional-thieves-who-know-what-they-are-doing-and-never-get-caught/668608/22 "2013-09-12T18:39:25Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > There are cases like this, but not Joe Kennedy. Though it seems this myth will never die, it’s been investigated by every biographer of the Kennedys and every writer on Prohibition and there doesn’t seem to be a sliver of evidence for it. Check out Daniel Okrent’s [Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition](http://www.amazon.com/Last-Call-Rise-Fall-Prohibition/dp/B00DF7IUJI) for what appears to be a definitive refutation. Also, see Cecil Adams’ column, “[What is the true source of the Kennedy family’s wealth?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/716/what-is-the-true-source-of-the-kennedy-familys-wealth)” ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2013, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-truly-professional-thieves-who-know-what-they-are-doing-and-never-get-caught/668608/23 "2013-09-12T21:59:12Z")
Yes. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-truly-professional-thieves-who-know-what-they-are-doing-and-never-get-caught/668608/24 "2013-09-13T04:29:53Z")
> [@Noel\_Prosequi](#): > > … > > The reason for this is that no matter how meticulous the planning, no-one can forsee every detail that occurs in the course of a robbery or other elaborately planned crime except in fiction, where one authorial mind is omniscient… This point is made exactly, and more dramatically (no offense **Noel Prosequi)** in a [great scene](http://youtu.be/eLAbh_LceNw) by Mickey Rourke, a former bomber who advises his former defense attorney on what’s what. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2013, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-truly-professional-thieves-who-know-what-they-are-doing-and-never-get-caught/668608/25 "2013-09-13T05:34:50Z")
Here [10 Truly Successful Thieves](http://listverse.com/2011/07/27/10-truly-successful-thieves/) There also a pair of American thieves who had a remarkable run and were only caught in their later years from a happenstance traffic stop where the policeman found thousands of keys and burglary tools in their trunk. There was actually a TV true crime documentary about their careers but I can’t remember their names for the life of me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-truly-professional-thieves-who-know-what-they-are-doing-and-never-get-caught/668608.md?page=1)