Word: swag
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...subterranean society of professional crime, the fence is an economic necessity. Godfather to rip-off artists ranging from truck hijackers to snatch-and-grab junkies, the fence buys their "swag" (stolen goods) for a fraction of its value and unloads it swiftly at slightly below wholesale to respectable folks eager for a bargain. Though he is the underworld's most visible agent, the fence has generally escaped the scrutiny of journalists, cameras and sociologists. Until recently, that is. In The Professional Fence (Free Press; $8.95), Sociologist Carl B. Klockars offers the latest word on the ancient practice of selling...
...larceny," he explains, "maybe even 99 out of 100 ... If the price is right and a man can use the merchandise, he's gonna buy." During World War II, Swaggi parlayed his philosophy of man into a thriving odd-lot business that provided a "front" for a lucrative swag mart that soon was fencing hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of hot goods a year-virtually unimpeded by the police. In more than 30 years as a fence, Swaggi, 60, has spent only eight months in jail. His secret: camouflage illegitimate activities with a legitimate business and challenge...
...while there, it looked very much as if every third movie made in America had something to do with busting into a well-armed fortress and making off with the swag. Now the heat is on a somewhat different theme-the catastrophe epic-and Bank Shot seems like the tag end of the old caper genre. It also looks much the worse for wear, and its struggle to wring a few guffaws out of trampled material is something no one should have to watch...
Wood as Grass. Certain younger sculptors at the Whitney eschew the high finish such works imply: their materials are plain, crudely put together and ostentatiously frugal. John Duff's Tie Piece, with its floppy swag of old neckties sewn together and swaying on a curved wooden slat, is a very promising exploration of the possibilities that lie dormant in ignored objects. It is rare to see such a fastidious imagination expressing itself through such deliberately mingy means...
...people as an agent of change, can imagine only going some where else, escaping America and even America's colored. His politics at first are obscure, perhaps he plans a robbery, a big one in the image of the big robbers who rule America, escaping with the swag and taking his parents and brother with him. His parents are to him here as "the people" to the revolutionary he will become; they must be convinced, so that they can sanction what he does...