[mgj-discuss] "They try to make crime fun but are politically motivated."

[Todd Eaton]

From: David Graeber    From: "William K. Dobbs" Subject: 'The fat 
years are over' -  Hamburg social engineers strike rarely and professionally

Regarding rich people, 'The fat years are over' says a crew in 
Hamburg, Germany whose social engineering capers have caught the 
attention of police. One cop commented, "They are very political yet 
one of their main motives is fun. The problem is that they strike so 
rarely and so professionally that they are a major job to catch."

There's much more information about the dastardly deeds in the material below.

1.  German 'Robin Hoods' give poor a taste of the high life - The 
Scotsman May 9, 2006 2.  Modern-Day Robin Hoods Have Hamburg Cops 
Baffled - Deutsche Welle  May 8, 2006 3.  'Robin Hood' gang rob 
gourmet stores in bid to feed Hamburg's poor - The Independent 
[London, UK] May 9, 2006 4.  Police hunt Robin Hood thieves - 
Ananova, May 9, 2006 5.  Editorial:  Spider Mum vs. Capitalism - Wall 
Street Journal Europe May 10, 2006 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Photos 
online at:  http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/05/340318.html

The Scotsman [Edinburgh, UK] May 9, 2006 
<http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=692762006>

German 'Robin Hoods' give poor a taste of the high life By ALLAN HALL

Berlin - A GANG of anarchist Robin Hood-style thieves, who dress as 
superheroes and steal expensive food from exclusive restaurants and 
delicatessens to give to the poor, are being hunted by police in the 
German city of Hamburg.

The gang members seemingly take delight in injecting humour into 
their raids, which rely on sheer numbers and the confusion caused by 
their presence. After they plundered Kobe beef fillets, champagne and 
smoked salmon from a gourmet store on the exclusive Elbastrasse, they 
presented the cashier with a bouquet of flowers before making their getaway.

The latest robbery is part of a pattern over the past several months, 
suggesting that the thieves deliberately set out to highlight what 
they perceive as the inequality inherent in German society.

However, the authorities do not agree. Bodo Franz, a police 
spokesman, said: "They get off feeling they are just like Robin Hood. 
There are about 30 in the group. But whatever their motives, they are 
thieves, plain and simple."

Carsten Sievers, the manager of a luxury supermarket in the wealthy 
Blankenese area of Hamburg, recently watched the robbers run off with 
trolleys full of expensive foodstuffs, including Kobe beef which, at 
more than 100 a pound, is always on their illicit shopping list.

In another recent swoop, the gang emptied a groaning buffet table in 
a top restaurant into sacks, while one of their number held up a sign 
saying. "The fat years are over" - the title of a hit film currently 
doing the rounds in Germany.

In internet statements, the gang have made a point of saying their 
booty is distributed to Hartz IV recipients - the poorest of 
Germany's long-term unemployed. The benefit is named after the 
disgraced Volkswagen personnel director Peter Hartz who, before he 
lost his job with the car-maker in a prostitutes-and-bribes scandal, 
devised the new means-testing which is loathed and derided by 
society's most economically challenged.

When the gang robbed the gourmet store in April - triggering a 
massive police investigation that cost 20,000 in taxpayers' money 
without an arrest being made - they left a note behind saying: 
"Without the abilities of the superheroes to help them, it would be 
impossible for ordinary people to survive in the city of the millionaires."

Police say they are concentrating their investigation on a loose 
collective of anarchists and malcontents called "Hamburg in Vain", to 
which they believe the superheroes belong. But they admit there is a 
certain panache and skill about their robberies.

The gang are also behind black market cinema tickets which they 
distribute free to the poor, and they have printed leaflets telling 
passengers how to dodge ticket inspectors on the city's underground and buses.

Mr Franz said: "They try to make crime fun but are politically motivated."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Deutsche Welle May 8, 2006
<http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,1997748,00.html>
NEWS
Modern-Day Robin Hoods Have Hamburg Cops Baffled

They steal from the rich and give to the poor. And just like Robin 
Hood and his men, a gang of Hamburg activists are proving difficult 
to catch despite the fact they dress as superheroes when they raid 
swanky stores.

A bunch of egalitarian criminals who go by such names as "Spider Mum" 
and "Santa Guevara" are being referred to as modern-day Germany's 
version of Robin Hood and his Merry Men. And just like the Sheriff of 
Nottingham in the legend of Sherwood Forest's most famous outlaw, the 
Hamburg police are at a loss when it comes to stopping them.

The group, which calls itself "Hamburg Umsonst" -- loosely translated 
as Hamburg Without Charge, has apparently graduated from handing out 
flyers with tips on how to forge cinema tickets and travel illegally 
on public transport to raiding the swankiest stores and delicatessens 
before distributing their swag to the city's poor.

Their most high profile job to date came last week. Dressed in an 
array of comic book hero costumes, the gang raided a well-to-do 
eatery in the north German port city last Friday during work hours 
and absconded with a large amount of fine food -- after posing for a 
publicity photograph with bemused staff. Hamburg cops called to the 
crime scene drew a blank despite deploying 14 patrol cars and a 
police helicopter.

According to eye witnesses, the "Hamburg Umsonst" raiding party 
consisted of around 30 people who apparently knew what they were 
doing when it came to fancy eats and drinks. The everyday shoplifter 
will probably not take the time to savor the array of produce on hand 
before sticking a box of Valrhona chocolates down their pants. It 
soon became obvious -- these guys were pros.

Cops can't catch connoisseur crooks in costumes

The Hamburg cops have little to go on except that the gang has a 
social conscience, know the difference between corned beef and Kobe 
veal and have a seemingly unlimited supply of fancy dress costumes.

But even the best laid plans of criminal masterminds have the odd 
weak spot. While carrying out their raids in order to support the 
one-euro jobbers, exploited employees and those on benefits, the gang 
have been unable to resist the sating of the ego.

In what could eventually be their undoing, the caped food raiders 
have shown a penchant for leaving notes at the scene of their crimes 
which carry statements such as: "Without the abilities of a 
superhero, survival is impossible in the town of the millionaires."

Until the police get a break, upmarket shopkeepers in Hamburg are 
advised to keep their doors closed to anyone wearing spandex tights 
and a Mexican wrestling mask.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The Independent [London, UK] May 9, 2006
'Robin Hood' gang rob gourmet stores in bid to feed Hamburg's poor
By Tony Paterson in Berlin

They dress up in pink catsuits, have names like "Spider Mum" and feel 
a social obligation to plunder the most expensive restaurants and 
gourmet delicatessens in town as part of a campaign to help the poor.

Last week the well-heeled citizens of Hamburg's Altona district got a 
taste of their antics when 30 of them marched into the city's luxury 
"Fresh Paradise Goedeken" supermarket and walked out five minutes 
later with EUR15,000 (pounds 10,000) worth of stolen goods.

The gang's booty included magnums of Champagne at EUR99 abottle, 
filets of Japanese Kobe beef at EUR108 a kilogram, legs of venison, a 
salmon and several boxes of Valrhona chocolate.

Before leaving, gang members thrust a bouquet of flowers into the 
hands of a shop assistant. Attached was a handwritten note which 
proclaimed: "Survival in the city of millionaires would be impossible 
without us!" It was signed by "Spider Mum", "Santa Guevara" and "Multiflex".

Another note later released by the gang insisted that the haul had 
been distributed to Hamburg's needy, to the "social workers, cleaning 
ladies and minimum-wage earners". It added: "The places of wealth in 
this town are as numerous as the opportunities to take it."

"It was a well-planned robbery," Carsten Sievers, the store's 
manager, said on Friday last week. "Somebody had obviously been in 
the shop before the main contingent arrived and had already filled up 
several shopping trolleys."

Fourteen squad cars and a police helicopter scoured the Altona 
district for more than an hour after the robbery, but failed to find 
the perpetrators.

"The gang covered its tracks completely. They act like 
professionals," Bodo Franz, the head of a Hamburg police unit 
investigating the robbery, said.

As they left the scene of the robbery, the gang, clad in masks, 
catsuits, dark glasses and rubber masks, posed for a group photo 
outside the supermarket and brandished their booty in front of the camera.

The incident was the latest attack perpetrated by this Robin 
Hood-style gang of so-called "Spontis", whose activities have alarmed 
and baffled the Hamburg police and the city's well-to-do. Yet the 
gang, which refers to itself as "Hamburg for Free", does not strike 
often. Its last attack took place almost exactly a year ago, when 40 
masked men and women stormed the Sllberg restaurant in the city's 
wealthy Blankenese district overlooking the river Elbe.

Diners were appalled as the gang snatched titbits from the plates in 
front of them and started stuffing the stolen food into their mouths. 
Other gang members brandished a huge knife and fork made out of 
silver foil and cardboard above the diners' heads. A placard 
declaring "The fat years are over" was strung between pillars in the 
restaurant.

Mr Franz, who has been trying to track down the "Hamburg for Free" 
gang since the incident a year ago, said that investigators had 
merely established that the group was probably made up of a mixture 
of students and anarchists.

"We don't know much about them. They are very political yet one of 
their main motives is fun," he said. "The problem is that they strike 
so rarely and so professionally that they are a major job to catch."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Ananova May 9, 2006
<http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_1835880.html>
Police hunt Robin Hood thieves

German police are hunting a gang of Robin Hoods who steal food from 
exclusive restaurants and delis to give to the poor.

The anarchist thieves, who wear superhero costumes during their 
raids, have struck repeatedly in recent months in Hamburg, reports 
the Scotsman.

After they plundered Kobe beef fillets, champagne and smoked salmon 
from a gourmet store on exclusive Elbastrasse, they presented the 
cashier with a bouquet of flowers.

And they left a note saying: "Without the abilities of the 
superheroes to help them, it would be impossible for ordinary people 
to survive in the city of the millionaires."

In another recent swoop, the gang emptied a groaning buffet table in 
a top restaurant into sacks, while one of their number held up a sign 
saying: "The fat years are over".

In internet statements, the gang say their booty is distributed to 
the poorest of Germany's long-term unemployed.

They are also behind black market cinema tickets which they 
distribute free to the poor, and they have printed leaflets telling 
passengers how to dodge ticket inspectors on the city's underground and buses.

But police spokesman Bodo Franz said: "They get off feeling they are 
just like Robin Hood. There are about 30 in the group. But whatever 
their motives, they are thieves, plain and simple."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Wall Street Journal Europe May 10, 2006
EDITORIAL
Spider Mum vs. Capitalism

Disguised in pink cat suits, Venetian carnival costumes and rubber 
masks, the self-styled superheroes came to fight the world's biggest 
criminal -- capitalism. Or at least the inequitable distribution of 
capitalism's culinary spoils.

"Santa Guevara," "Spider Mum" and "Multiflex," as the crime fighters 
call themselves, robbed a gourmet store in Hamburg two weeks ago in 
broad daylight. The vigilante connoisseurs snatched delicacies worth 
1,500 euros, including Ruinart Champagne, Kobe beef and Valrhona 
chocolate. Before leaving the scene of the crime -- er, social 
revolution -- they had time to pose for a photo and hand the cashier 
a bouquet of flowers.

Just as in a Marvel comic, the police proved no match for the 
superheroes. Despite a chase involving 14 cop cars and a chopper, 
Spider Mum & Co. are still at large. In a note left behind, they 
boasted that "without the skills of superheroes, survival in the city 
of millionaires is impossible." Hamburg's Robin Hoods said they gave 
the perishable loot to the needy.

The gang's motto is Hamburg Umsonst or Hamburg for free. Last year, 
also just around the traditional left-wing May Day demonstrations, 
they robbed a Michelin one-star restaurant. Like copy-cat groups in 
Berlin, Dresden and Freiburg, the gang also offers tips on hard to 
trace Web sites on how to dodge public transport fares or sneak into 
movie theaters without paying. The Germans draw inspiration from the 
Barcelona group Yomango, Spanish slang for "I steal." Yomango's 
guerrilla tactics involve appropriating products from stores, 
exhibiting them as pieces of art, before "returning" them to different stores.

These shenanigans sound like the pranks of middle-class students with 
too much time on their hands, more interested in enjoying the fruits 
of capitalism for free than in abolishing it. Given the high 
unemployment in Germany and Spain, we offer the following free 
advice: Finish your studies and get a job before you are caught.