Recent Book: Receivers: The Professional Fence
| Published date | 01 April 1976 |
| Date | 01 April 1976 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X7604900215 |
| Subject Matter | Recent Book |
court granted orders of certiorari
and
mandamus, quashing the decision
and
directing the committee to hear the
application according to law. The
case forms a valuable addition to the
note on grounds
of
refusal of such
licences (p.660) and is here noted as
typical of the thoroughness of treat-
ment which marks the book from
cover to cover.
The work which has been built into
Paterson over the years has won for
it a unique position as an authori-
tative treatise on the subject - the
variety of subjects - with which it
deals. The current edition fully main-
tains a noteworthy tradition.
F.
GRAHAM
GLOVER
RECEIVERS
CARL
B.
KLOCKARS:
The Professional Fence. Tavistock. £5.00 (Paperback £2.90).
Almost unique in its field, this book
is a close study of the professional
receiver
of
stolen goods, as found in
contemporary western society, parti-
cularly as found in the United States.
As an opening basis for this treatise,
Carl
Klockars has written a thorough
monograph upon the career of the
eighteenth century London receiver
and
master thief, Jonathan Wild. Then
we are launched into the career of his
principal subject, Vincent Norfior
Swaggi, whose fascinating criminal
career stretches back to the United
States of 1912. In racy style this man
"tells all" concerning his lawless
career, and particularly the receiving
of
stolen goods. This aspect of the
book is intensely readable, delineating
the concentrated life styles of the
American criminal scene. As was to be
expected, Vincent justifies his life by
the well known rationalization:
"If
Ididn't buy the gear, somebody else
Would". In various forms of words,
the excuse that stealing from corpora-
tions and large stores is not really
dishonest is repeatedly implied. The
real thief is he who breaks into people's
houses, preferably poor people's
houses, and steals their treasures or
scanty cash. While sociologists may
find this rationalization attractively
roguish, policemen who have had
repeated contact with the naked
greediness of receivers will see it for
the lying humbug it is.
Bearing in mind the expose style
of writing, it was surprising to find the
classic and not unusual conspiracy
involving dishonest lawyers; corrupt
law enforcement officials, insurance
assessors, receivers
and
thieves was
not dealt with in real detail.
It
is the
secret life style
of
professional re-
cei.vers
and was practised repeatedly
by
Jonathan
Wild over two hundred
years ago. The surprising factor is
how thieves, some quite sensible
fellows, can be repeatedly taken in by
tlus "badger" variation and made the
"patsies" so often. Researchers from
136
sociological disciplines are not always
told the complete
truth
even by
talkative criminals, especially those
aspects of their lives that are shameful
and treacherous.
Skilled receivers so often bring
about, directly or indirectly and by
subtle encouragement and purchased
information, the commission of serious
crime (that otherwise might never have
been committed) by a group of
thieves, so that when the stolen
property or money is successfully in
the thieves' possession, corrupt police
- secretly privy to the original
conspiracy - can be alerted by the
"receiver", the thieves arrested, and a
minor percentage of the stolen cash or
property recovered. But the really
valuable and desirable articles, and
most of the cash, can be "weeded" or
"creamed" for the benefit of the
receiver and selected officials involved
in the arrest. Insurance rewards and
informants' expenses (false claims of
course) can also be shared.
The small but significant part played
by disreputable lawyers as receivers
themselves of high value stolen gear,
principally jewellery, share certificates,
or uncustomed stones, receives little
mention. Such attorneys, and their
clerks, have a wonderful
"front"
for
retaining and negotiating such pro-
perty: "deceased clients' property"
and "valuing for probate", on those
rare occasions when detection occurs,
are cast iron excuses.
If
the whole foul business can be
contrived with thieves who may be
already possessed of money and house
property, or at least have access to
"family" money and property, further
financially successful inroads into these
assets can be made by the receiver,
acting as a middle
man
or "fixer"
with the prosecuting authorities and
with a dishonest "plea bargaining"
defence attorney, often privy to the
original conspiracy himself.
It
is in
this form of "wheeling and dealing"
that the true corrupting viciousness
April
19705
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