| 1 | 1 | | On the way to my office, 1 was waiting at traffic lights in heavy rain, when there was |
| 2 | | a tap at my car window. Normally, Washington being what it is, I would have expected to |
| 3 | | see a homeless black man begging for money, but instead - rather to my relief - a friendly |
| 4 | | and familiar face greeted me through the closed window. The man himself seemed |
| 5 | | similarly [id:73763] to see a friend, for he was clearly in some kind of trouble. The lights were |
| 6 | | changing and the rain was lashing down, so I beckoned him to join me in the car. |
| 2 | 7 | | It was slightly embarrassing for me, because I could not remember exactly who he |
| 8 | | was. He was a black man in working overalls, I a white man in suit and tie. A kind of racial, |
| 9 | | class guilt was building up [id:73764] because he knew exactly who I was. 'I know you,' he said. |
| 10 | | 'You have a real cute baby, right?' 'Dead right!' I replied. 'And your wife is always taking |
| 11 | | the baby round our neighbourhood, right?' Yeah, right. Tm the maintenance man at the |
| 12 | | house a couple of doors up from you,' he explained, slightly [id:73765] (I feared) that I had not |
| 13 | | recognised him. 'Of course you are,' I replied. |
| 3 | 14 | | This all happened in a matter of seconds. The man explained that his car had been |
| 15 | | towed away by the police and that he had on him only $40 of the $120 he needed to [id:73766]. |
| 16 | | I happened to have $80 cash on me, and offered to lend it to him. He went out in the rain |
| 17 | | very grateful and promised to return the money at home that evening. |
| 4 | 18 | | Perhaps you have guessed by now. I had been the [id:73767] of a very skilful artist, one |
| 19 | | of the city's most legendary cheaters. I had not really recognised him; he did not even live |
| 20 | | anywhere near me. I soon realised I would not be getting my $80 back, but how on earth |
| 21 | | did he know so much about me, about my baby, my wife? 1 was so fascinated that I wanted |
| 22 | | to know more - and ended up in the office of Tony Zavosky, the Washington police |
| 23 | | detective in charge of investigating this kind of deceivers. |
| 5 | 24 | | He [id:73768]. "There were a hundred things about you to key in on, and he did. You've |
| 25 | | got a wedding ring - it's not hard to figure out you're married. You've got a baby se at in |
| 26 | | the back of the car - you've got a baby.' |
| 6 | 27 | | The chap who conned me is known as TBM - "The Boot Man', although his actual |
| 28 | | name is Willie Hill. He has almost certainly had hundreds, and possibly thousands, of |
| 29 | | victirns. Many are apparently too embarrassed to come forward and admit: '[id:73769]' |
| 7 | 30 | | Then Zavosky told me something that made me [id:73770]: among Hill's victims are two |
| 31 | | judges, countless lawyers and policemen. 'Police officers don't trust anybody,' said |
| 32 | | Zavosky, 'so that tells you just how good he is.' |
| 8 | 33 | | [id:73771], The Boot Man's spheres of operation are limited almost entirely to the |
| 34 | | neighbourhood of Washington's police headquarters and the city's main court. That makes |
| 35 | | Zavosky believe he comrnits his crimes primarily in order to [id:73772]: 'The mere fact that the |
| 36 | | piace is crawling with policemen must heighten the thrill.' |
| 9 | 37 | | Race must also play a part: victims are always white in a city that is more than twothirds |
| 38 | | black. What HilI instinctively appeals to are the inner fears and guilts of middleclass |
| 39 | | whites: the desire to avoid confrontation and the wish to show themselves to be [id:73773]. |
| 40 | | 'One man said, "Is that all you need? I can give you more if you need it,' - and that's how |
| 41 | | he got $450,' Zavosky recalled. |
| 10 | 42 | | Not long after The Boot Man had conned another policeman, Zavosky finally |
| 43 | | obtained a warrant for the arrest of WilIie HilI. But in a city that had 703 murders and |
| 44 | | more than 14,000 robberies or serious assaults last year, the charges were small beer. And |
| 45 | | so was Willie's punishment. And so, within two days he was [id:73774]. |
