The Hot Porsche Caper

Oscar pinches Porsches. Oscar--that is not his real name--is a high-ranking member of one of the many auto-theft rings that prowl New York's boroughs by night. He and his partners, Jackie and Mickey, cater to the carriage trade; they work the city's classier quarters. In less than 30 seconds, Mickey can open a locked Porsche, start it and drive it away. Within 48 hours, Oscar can deliver the car, complete with new paint job and serial number, to his eager customer.

Oscar and his pals can work fast because of a simple device known in the trade as a "slap hammer." The gadget is essentially a thin steel rod with a movable weight attached to it; inserted into a lock, it can pull the lock tumbler out of a car door in seconds.

Worlds of Luxury. The slap hammer will work on any make of automobile. It is just one device employed by New York car thieves; another is the Curtis key punch, which costs about $150 and will fit in a shoe box. Using a code stamped on the lock tumblers of all American and most foreign cars, an operator can quickly make a "slave key" that will work in both door and ignition.

Oscar's clients, mostly under 30, are a fast-moving, upwardly mobile set. They have a wide range of jobs; they include stockbrokers, insurance men, advertising executives. They are propelled into worlds where luxury cars are fixtures, but their paychecks often fall short of their aspirations. From Oscar, they get Porsches that normally sell for around $9,000 at the bargain price of $3,500. (He provides same-day service for an extra $100.) Oscar's customers know that the cars are stolen, but they do not care.

Oscar and his friends are typical of what Lieut. Arthur Deutcsh, commanding officer of the New York Police Department's "auto squad," describes as the "literally thousands of car thieves operating throughout the five boroughs." By conservative estimates, car thieves cost New Yorkers more than $250 million a year. Deutcsh's 30-man squad has a tough time keeping even with Oscar and his ilk.

Thefts are on the increase, and arrests have gone down because of the difficulty police have in stopping growing numbers of professionals like Oscar from plying their trade.-Says Deutcsh: "It's almost impossible to catch someone in the act. We'd have to be everywhere at once to even try." In fact, the Oscars account for the smallest number of car-theft arrests. Most of those arrested are joyriding kids.

Front End and Grille. Oscar, Jackie and Mickey started out in what has almost become an apprentice program for aspiring auto thieves. They began in "piece work," slap-hammering late-model Buicks and Cadillacs, which were sold for $50 each to mob-controlled wholesalers in Brooklyn and Queens. The cars were then cut up by highly skilled body men, and their components sold by crooked parts-and-junk dealers who stood to make almost as much as the car was worth when whole. The front end and grille of a Cadillac can bring as much as $1,200.

Oscar and his partners started "retailing" about a year ago. The autos they sell have serial numbers that have been altered by skillful craftsmen. Oscar has friends closely connected with certain motor vehicle departments who for a fee will issue bona fide registration forms, plates and marker tags.

Insurance Windfall. Jackie and Mickey acquire the "merchandise," and Oscar disposes of it. On an average night, Mickey and Jackie steal two or three cars off the streets of New York. On a good night they may snatch half a dozen. Oscar prefers to deal in expensive foreign cars, he says, because they are easier to sell; Porsches are particularly sought after by Oscar's kind of client. "Besides," he adds, "anyone who can afford to buy a $9,000 car doesn't need it in the first place. He can afford to take taxis to work for a couple of weeks until his insurance either rents him a car or makes good on his claim." Jackie is no less forthright about his victims. "I need their goddamn cars more than they do," he says. "I'm trying to save up enough money to buy a house and get my family out of this goddamn rip-off city." Oscar has already made the move out of New York; he lives in Connecticut.

What is to prevent Oscar from re-stealing a client's car? Nothing, he says, except his responsibility to maintain "good will." But if such an unlikely accident were to happen, he points out, the client would reap a windfall from his insurance company. The insurer would pay off on the adjusted retail price of the auto rather than the bargain price paid by the client--who could wind up making a profit of $3,000 or more.

*Stolen cars in New York City increased in number from 77,448 in 1968 to 94,835 in 1970 --about 260 a day. There were 7,166 arrests for stealing autos or accessories in 1968, and only 6,539 two years later.

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