and Shorty were begging, "Man... Red... cut it out, man!... Freeze!" I pulled the trigger once
more.
"I'm doing this, showing you I'm not afraid to die," I told them. "Never cross a man not afraid to
die... now, let's get to work!"
I never had one moment's trouble with any of them after that. Sophia acted awed, her sister all
but called me "Mr. Red." Shorty and Rudy were never again quite the same with me. Neither of
them ever mentioned it. They thought I was crazy. They were afraid of me.
We pulled the first job that night-the place of the old man who hired Rudy to sprinkle him with
talcum powder. A cleaner job couldn't have been asked for. Everything went like clockwork. The
fence was full of praise; he proved he meant it with his crisp, new money. The old man later told
Rudy how a small army of detectives had been there-and they decided that the job had the
earmarks of some gang which had been operating around Boston for about a year.
We quickly got it down to a science. The girls would scout and case in wealthy neighborhoods.
The burglary would be pulled; sometimes it took no more than ten minutes. Shorty and I did most
of the actual burglary. Rudy generally had the getaway car.
If the people weren't at home, we'd use a passkey on a common door lock. On a patent lock, we'd
use a jimmy, as it's called, or a lockpick. Or, sometimes, we would enter by windows from a fireescape,
or a roof. Gullible women often took the girls all over their houses, just to hear them
exclaiming over the finery. With the help of the girls' drawings and a finger-beam searchlight, we
went straight to the things we wanted.
Sometimes the victims were in their beds asleep. That may sound very daring. Actually, it was
almost easy. The first thing we had to do when people were in the house was to wait, very still,
and pick up the sounds of breathing. Snorers we loved; they made it real easy. In stockinged feet,
we'd go right into the bedrooms. Moving swiftly, like shadows, we would lift clothes, watches,
wallets, handbags, and jewelry boxes.
The Christmas season was Santa Claus for us; people had expensive presents lying all over their
houses. And they had taken more cash than usual out of their banks. Sometimes, working earlier
than we usually did, we even worked houses that we hadn't cased. If the shades were drawn full,
and no lights wereon, and there was no answer when one of the girls rang the bell, we would take
the chance and go in.
I can give you a very good tip if you want to keep burglars out of your house. A light on for the
burglar to see is the very best single means of protection. One of the ideal things is to leave a
bathroom light on all night. The bathroom is one place where somebody could be, for any length
of time, at any time of the night, and he would be likely to hear the slightest strange sound. The
burglar, knowing this, won't try to enter. 'It's also the cheapest possible protection. The kilowatts
are a lot cheaper than your valuables.
We became efficient. The fence sometimes relayed tips as to where we could find good loot. It
was in this way that for one period, one of our best periods, I remember, we specialized in
Oriental rugs. I have always suspected that the fence himself sold the rugs to the people we stole
them from. But, anyway, you wouldn't imagine the value of those things. I remember one small
one that brought us a thousand dollars. There's no telling what the fence got for it. Every burglar
knew that fences robbed the burglars worse than the burglars had robbed the victims.
Our only close brush with the law came once when we were making our getaway, three of us in
the front seat of the car, and the back seat loaded with stuff. Suddenly we saw a police car round
the corner, coming toward us, and it went on past us. They were just cruising. But then in the
rear-view mirror, we saw them make a U-turn, and we knew they were going to flash us to stop.
They had spotted us, in passing, as Negroes, and they knew that Negroes had no business in the
area at that hour. It was a close situation. There was a lot of robbery going on; we weren't the
only gang working, we knew, not by any means. But I knew that the white man is rare who will
ever consider that a Negro can outsmart him. Before their light began flashing, I told Rudy to
stop. I did what I'd done once before-got out and flagged them, walking toward them. Whenthey
stopped, I was at their car. I asked them, bumbling my words like a confused Negro, if they could
tell me how to get to a Roxbury address. They told me, and we, and they, went on about our
darsice
(darsice)
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