The Perfect Crime

In fact, hard information about the theft groups is difficult to come by anywhere. The FBI claims on its Web site that it established a Jewelry and Gem Major Theft Program in the early 1990s, with "a computerized database, [with] which the FBI collects and analyzes reports of [jewelry] robberies nationwide and disseminates information to federal, state, and local law enforcement." That appears to be more hype than reality.

The agency's spokesman in San Francisco says that "headquarters" maintains the statistics. But a Washington, D.C., spokeswoman says the FBI does not keep statistics on jewelry robbery; she suggested contacting the Jewelers' Security Alliance in New York. The JSA, an industry group, only keeps track of number of robberies and amount stolen; it does not monitor arrests and convictions.

Convictions have been hard to get, in part because the gangs are so insular. Woodings desperately needs informers. "[The gangs] are networked around family blood ties. When we catch them, they are fearful of talking. You can see it in their eyes, which get all glassy. They want to talk, but it's too dangerous."

Ken Walsh, professor of criminal justice at San Francisco State University, says, "The police are stymied, up against something that makes them look bad; it's embarrassing. Cops rarely solve these crimes through sheer detective work. But the groups are hard to penetrate. The sheer brutality of their leadership is fantastic. They will not hesitate to cut off your hand, stick a knife in your eye, hurt your family."

Many cops are also angry at the "technicalities" that keep them from catching bad guys. SFPD Inspector Robert Paco -- a soft-spoken cop with a flinty gaze -- keeps track of SATG activities in San Francisco. He says that a local ordinance -- what he calls the "sanctuary clause" -- "thwarts" apprehension of "the Colombians." (The ordinance prohibits the SFPD from enforcing immigration laws or working with the INS. It was passed by the Board of Supervisors in 1989 in the wake of a massive roundup of illegal aliens in the Mission District.) Paco says if he could stop suspicious cars full of Hispanic males and arrest them for not having proper immigration papers, he could put a big dent in the jewelry robberies.

"You know, we profile people all the time," Paco comments. "It's a hugely sensitive area, profiling. Hard to come up with a PC solution. You walk gingerly [in San Francisco] when you are afraid of violating the sanctuary law."

The police are having a hard time stopping jewel thieves partly because the gangs represent a relatively new breed of criminal. The Central Intelligence Agency is very concerned about the rise of "transnational criminal networks," composed of legal and illegal immigrants from Russia, Nigeria, Mexico, China, and Colombia. According to the CIA-sponsored National Intelligence Council, these anti-social organizations thrive within the "global diffusion of sophisticated information, financial, and transportation networks." They traffic in slaves and narcotics, smuggle toxic waste and weapons, specialize in money laundering and financial fraud. In California, for example, the South American Theft Groups aren't only after jewelry. "There are other South American groups that specialize in cargo theft, stealing computer chips, electronics," says SFPD Inspector Paco, "but these jewelry groups do not seem to be connected to them."

Phil Williams, director of the Ridgway Center for International Security Studies in Pittsburgh, Pa., has studied transnational criminal groups, in conjunction with the Rand Corp. of Santa Monica. "[The groups] are like a plate of spaghetti," Williams writes. "Every piece seems to touch every other, but you are never sure where it all leads.

"The diversity of these organizations, their symbiotic relationships with legitimate businesses, their capacity to exploit (rather than disrupt) legitimate trading activities and financial institutions, and their ability to corrupt governments and law enforcement agencies, make efforts at decapitation somewhat moot. ... And even if government actions do lead to the indictment or elimination of the top leadership, this simply provides new opportunities for internal promotion unless the organization itself is destroyed."

The hidebound, hierarchical structures of most police agencies, Williams believes, hamper them from pursuing agile, global networks of criminals. Stymied by the criminals' speed of execution and their near-invisibility, law enforcers have been unable to think up a solution to the theft groups. Williams argues that it may not even be prudent to liquidate the gem gangs. "Transnational organized crime is constantly evolving in ways that make it particularly difficult to counter," he observes. According to the law of unintended consequences, he notes, even more violently inclined groups, such as the Russian mafiya, would probably step in to fill the niche vacated by the Colombian-dominated SATGs.

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THE VICTIMS

"I Could Feel Them Casing Me"