“I gave all my money to head waiters and tarts”

March 23, 2013 5:23 AM

“The people I burgled got rich by greed and skulduggery. They indulged in the mechanics of ostentation — they deserved me and I deserved them." Peter Scott, known as the "King of the Cat Burglars", has died at the age of 82.
posted by Hartster (11 comments total)

Not entirely sure his proclaimed justification holds water, but I guess he had a fun time.

Retirement funds aren't at the forefront of a cat burglars mind it turns out though.
posted by gomichild at 6:06 AM on March 23, 2013 [1 favorite]

“In 1957, during one of his jail stretches, Scott met George 'Taters' Chatham, renowned as London’s most celebrated cat burglar, with whom he formed a partnership that would eventually secure the pair a haul of art and jewellery worth millions of pounds.”
posted by jeffburdges at 6:14 AM on March 23, 2013

Not entirely sure

I am. It doesn't.

Greed and skulduggery? Judy Garland?
posted by IndigoJones at 7:20 AM on March 23, 2013 [1 favorite]

Not a fan of burglers. I almost killed one years ago. Burglers often commit rape as a crime of opportunity.

So I felt great scaring the crap out of that bastard. I hope it was a wake-up call for him.
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 7:27 AM on March 23, 2013 [3 favorites]

“I gave all my money to head waiters and tarts” -- but I sincerely hope he saved enough to get that chiselled on his tombstone.
posted by pont at 7:56 AM on March 23, 2013

Burglers often commit rape as a crime of opportunity.

"Often"?
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 8:39 AM on March 23, 2013 [5 favorites]

Famous cat burglars fall into the same category as famous spies and famous hackers.
posted by fullerine at 9:30 AM on March 23, 2013 [2 favorites]

Leaving aside his bogus excuses for stealing jewelry, it was just rank stupidity to keep doing the same crime in the same city, long after he had become the default suspect.
You can just see the Metropolitan Police saying "Jewelry heist in Mayfair? Let's arrest Peter Scott again.".
posted by w0mbat at 10:03 AM on March 23, 2013

Ever notice how these "famous" cat burglars always seem to present the best "gentleman thief" side of themselves by only targeting the wealthy and being a friend of the poor?

Let no one be naive. People who are good at promoting a certain image of themselves can do so usually because they are good at bullshitting. I'm guessing half of this man's burglaries aren't nearly as noble as he proclaims, and the other half never happened.
posted by AlSweigart at 11:32 AM on March 23, 2013 [5 favorites]

http://bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/hb.pdf
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 2:52 PM on March 23, 2013 [3 favorites]

only targeting the wealthy

Noble or not, it's just good business.
posted by snottydick at 7:10 AM on March 26, 2013