Word: combatancy
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...operates the Combat Zone just by looking around, so I take Ralph's word for it that sharpers have the upper hand. The scribbler putting the white space on the publicity posters at the Colonial Theatre to more efficient use is without a doubt near the bottom of the hierarchy. He favors light blue ink for his graffiti. There's barely enough room left for the note that he's carefully marking in tonight: "ChRiStiANS G.Green SAYS The OnLy Good 1 SA DEAd ONE. MASTER of CEREMONIES OF MONIES $ OR MASTERS OF DECEIT The ANGLOS." He shuffles to one side...
...about Ralph is that he gambles. He claims that fierce gamblers run the Combat Zone and he enjoys explaining the strange code, he calls it, that requires them to squash you if you don't hold your end of a deal. "You like to read, uh, poetry, right? Well these people like to gamble; that's their poetry, gambling...
...cops are too late so I figure they won't mind if I waylay them with a few questions. They're reticent talkers. About six months ago the department assigned the highest percentage of plain-clothes officers in the city to the Combat Zone. The commander of vice, John Doyle, handles inquiries into the reasons for this policy. But they tell me that all you really need to know about the Zone is that it's a dangerous place, and you shouldn't be nosing around in it. It becomes clear to me that of all zones--parcel post, erogenous...
...convinced the Combat Zone is more likely to soothe people than incite crime. His store accommodates clientele ranging from derelicts to gentlemen in Brooks Brothers suits, and sales are brisk during the day, when people feel safe in the Zone. The men aren't particularly discriminating. They seem to be interested in the simplistic tomes on Hitler and Toshiro, sensational descriptions of sodomy and pederasty, and devices for simulating sex when a complete partner isn't handy. They don't even complain when the peep shows they expected to see for a single quarter stop abruptly midway through the reel...
...pizza joint across the street the pocket of a man slumped against the counter has just been picked. The cop figures he's a junkie. After robbery, larceny is the most common crime in the Combat Zone, he tells...