Las Ramblas Footage

October1

AS FEATURED ON ABC STATEWIDE DRIVE WITH KATHY BEDFORD

I’ve been sitting on this footage from my trip to Barcelona in June but thought I’d share it with you now. I spent a day hunting down the Trileros, con artists who play the Shell Game on the streets with unsuspecting tourists.

Read Part One Here
Read Part Two Here

This is just one small piece of footage that I’ve collected over the past six months. I’ve also shots taken in Stockholm, Portugal, London and Paris to come later.

Happy to answer any questions you might have.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 1st, 2009 at 8:43 pm and is filed under Confessions, The Monte, Travels. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

4 Comments to

“Las Ramblas Footage”

On October 1st, 2009 at 9:46 pm matt Says:
COOL!
On October 2nd, 2009 at 3:06 am Andy Says:
I like the new site appearance

Nice video, Nicholas!

Saw some class attempts on Rambla yesterday action with thrower turning his back and the accomplice lifting up two boxes … the thing about the Rambla crews is its just too blatant that most of the crowd is an accomplice.

Friends who arn´t aware of the game of its mechanics always point this out too me.
On October 2nd, 2009 at 5:09 am Jeff Smith Says:
You did a wonderful job with the text narration! I am adding you to my “follow” list on my Soapy Smith blog.

Jeff Smith
Website: Alias Soapy Smith
Blog: Soapy Smith’s Soap Box
On October 2nd, 2009 at 7:51 pm nickjohnson Says:
Thanks Jeff - I appreciate the link. I just finished reading a great article on your ancestor.

Andy - The crews I watched building crowds of 20-30 people on a busy day. Of those, four or five are in on it. You’ll find that while many people like to nod knowingly and say that its obvious that the stooges are in on it they never announce it. Even if 90% of the crowd figure out it’s a scam, the other 10% are left unknowing.

I’ve watched dozens of people play the game and lose and I’ve only once seen a victim be warned that the game is a scam.

These types of people used to be called “Fly Gees”. Smug members of the public who have SOME idea as to how the game works but don’t have the guts to stand up and say something.