Alice Chauvin SWAMPQUEEN
2006-06-26 22:56:51 UTC
Transvestite gang pesters Magazine Street
By Richard A. Webster Staff Writer
2006-06-26 10:24 AM CST
NEW ORLEANS =E2=80" Robyn Lewis, owner of Dark Charm fashion and
accessories for women, represents the first line of defense for the
Magazine Street shop owners. She is the first to see them come strutting
in their pumps down St. Andrew Street, the bewigged pack of thieves who
have plagued the Lower Garden District since May.
Like an SOS flare, Lewis grabs her emergency phone list and starts
calling.
=E2=80=9CThey=E2=80=99re coming,=E2=80=9D she warns Eric Ogle a salesman
at Vegas, a block down Magazine Street. Ogle, who was terrorized by the
brazen crew two months earlier, alerts neighboring Winky=E2=80=99s where
manager Kendra Bonga braces for the onslaught.
Soon every shop owner in the 2000 block of Magazine Street has been
alerted.
Sarah Celino at Trashy Diva eyes the door, ready to flip the lock at the
first sight of the ringleader=E2=80=99s pink jumpsuit and fluorescent
red wig.
Down at Turncoats, where the fashion-happy gang once made off with more
than $2,000 in merchandise, store manager Wes Davis stands ready.
Davis said it wasn=E2=80=99t supposed to be like this. They survived
Hurricane Katrina=E2=80=99s Category 3 winds and the ensuing looters.
They reopened despite the long odds of doing business in a devastated
city. The last thing the Magazine Street shop owners expected to
threaten their survival was a crime ring of transvestites.
=E2=80=9CThey=E2=80=99re fearless,=E2=80=9D said Ogle. =E2=80=9COnce
they see something they like they won=E2=80=99t stop until they have it.
They don=E2=80=99t care, they=E2=80=99ll go to jail. It=E2=80=99s really
gotten bad. You know it=E2=80=99s ridiculous when everyone on the block
knows who they are.=E2=80=9D
Expensive tastes
The transvestites first appeared in March when they raided Magazine
Street like a marauding army of kleptomaniacal showgirls, said Davis,
using clockwork precision and brute force to satisfy high-end boutique
needs.
They first hit Vegas March 31 while Ogle was working.
=E2=80=9CThey come in groups of three or four. One tries to distract you
while the others get the stuff and run out the door. It=E2=80=99s very
simple,=E2=80=9D Ogle said.
Next door at Winky=E2=80=99s, Bonga heard people screaming inside Vegas,
then saw a blur of cheap wigs and masculine legs in designer shoes
streak past her door.
=E2=80=9CAll of a sudden our UPS guy dove out of the store and tried to
tackle them and there=E2=80=99s little Eric from next door on the
sidewalk with a bunch of stuff he managed to grab from one of the
guys,=E2=80=9D Bonga said. =E2=80=9CThe other two guys took off down the
street and jumped into a car driven by a real girl.=E2=80=9D
Ogle gave police a description of the perpetrators =E2=80"
African-American males ranging in height from 6 feet to 6-5. They all
wore the same midriff shirts and wigs with twisted, dreadnaught hair.
=E2=80=9CThey=E2=80=99re all very skinny and very flamboyant,=E2=80=9D
Ogle said.
Two hours after the police left, the transvestites returned to Magazine
Street to storm Turncoats just a block away from Vegas, and made off
with more than $2,000 in merchandise.
=E2=80=9CThey move like clockwork,=E2=80=9D Davis said. =E2=80=9CTwo
thousand dollars is a lot for our store to lose, especially being in the
slow summer season. It makes it so I can=E2=80=99t even mark my stuff
down as much as I want to because I=E2=80=99m trying to make up for what
I lost.=E2=80=9D
In the ensuing weeks, the gang of transvestites continued their reign of
terror. Sometimes they come dressed as men, though Bonga said it is
obvious who they are based on their delicately plucked eyebrows.
Sometimes they bring 2-year-old children to add to the level of
distraction. They once returned to Vegas holding an
=E2=80=9Cinfant=E2=80=9D that really was a Cabbage Patch doll wrapped in
a blanket.
=E2=80=9CThey=E2=80=99ll make themselves scarce for a few weeks and then
one day you=E2=80=99ll be busy with a customer and all of a sudden
there=E2=80=99s a whole slew of them in your store and there=E2=80=99s
nothing you can do because you=E2=80=99re there by yourself,=E2=80=9D
Lewis said.
Scarce evidence
The New Orleans Police Department investigated the Turncoats robbery but
unless police catch a shoplifter in the act or in possession of stolen
property there is little they can do besides take a report, said NOPD
spokeswoman Bambi Hall.
=E2=80=9CIf store security states that someone took something, and then
by the time we apprehend them they don=E2=80=99t have the property, then
there=E2=80=99s really nothing we can do because it=E2=80=99s their word
against the (suspect),=E2=80=9D Hall said.
Lewis said she understands the understaffed NOPD has bigger priorities
than to =E2=80=9Ccatch a drag queen running down the street with an
armful of clothing.=E2=80=9D So the store owners created their own
watchdog system unofficially known as the =E2=80=9CDrag Queen Alert
List,=E2=80=9D a comprehensive phone roster of every business on the
block with stars next to those who carry guns.
When one shop owner spots a gang member, they immediately warn everyone
on the block and raise their defenses in unison.
When they enter Turncoats, Davis said he locks them inside the store,
which =E2=80=9Cfreaks them out,=E2=80=9D and they leave.
Celino said she doesn=E2=80=99t even wait for them to enter the store.
=E2=80=9CA couple weeks ago, a group of them was outside and one looked
like the guy who came in here and ripped us off so I locked the door on
them,=E2=80=9D Celino said. =E2=80=9CI know maybe that=E2=80=99s rude,
if they really were innocent people, but there=E2=80=99s nothing else we
can do. You look like the queens who ripped us off so I=E2=80=99m sorry
but I have to lock the door.=E2=80=9D
Ogle and Bonga say they regret being forced to resort to such profiling
but they feel they have no other choice. The transvestites, Ogle said,
appear to be drug-addicted and fearless in their lust for designer
shoes, jackets and jewelry.
=E2=80=9CThe city=E2=80=99s not functioning the way it was and
I=E2=80=99m sure a lot of them were getting some kind of government aid,
which they probably aren=E2=80=99t getting any more so they=E2=80=99re
incredibly desperate,=E2=80=9D Ogle said.
And sometimes violent.
When Lewis co-owned Trashy Diva, they attacked one of her partners in
the French Quarter location, throwing her to the ground and tossing a
heavy mannequin on top of her.
=E2=80=9CThey=E2=80=99re kind of confused because they think
they=E2=80=99re women so they don=E2=80=99t mind hitting women, but
they=E2=80=99re dudes. If you get hit by one it=E2=80=99s like getting
hit by a dude. ... Because the police are so poorly staffed,
we=E2=80=99re kind of on our own but the system we have seems to be
working. I haven=E2=80=99t seen them in at least a week but
they=E2=80=99ll be back. They=E2=80=99re never gone for
long.=E2=80=9D=E2=80=A2
Copyright =A9 2006, New Orleans Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved.
111 Veterans Blvd., Suite 1440 Metairie, LA 70005
Phone: 504.834.9292 Fax: 504.832.3550 Email: ***@nopg.com=A0
Terms & Conditions of Use | Privacy Policy
Swampqueen - Reine des Bayous! LAISSEZ LES BON TEMPS ROULLER! because,
"I am too blessed to be stressed and too anointed to be disappointed!"
AND Take time to laugh, for it is the music of the soul. HEAR OLD TIME
CAJUN MUSIC RAT HERE!:)
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/2073/jblond3.mid
AND I not only Believe in Miracles~I Rely on Them!=A0
CHER YOU GOTT'A DANCE LIKE NOBODY'S WATCHIN' & LOVE LIKE IT AIN'T EVER
GONNA HURT WIT' MY MOJO & The Bayou Gypsies
http://www.redhotmojo.com/
By Richard A. Webster Staff Writer
2006-06-26 10:24 AM CST
NEW ORLEANS =E2=80" Robyn Lewis, owner of Dark Charm fashion and
accessories for women, represents the first line of defense for the
Magazine Street shop owners. She is the first to see them come strutting
in their pumps down St. Andrew Street, the bewigged pack of thieves who
have plagued the Lower Garden District since May.
Like an SOS flare, Lewis grabs her emergency phone list and starts
calling.
=E2=80=9CThey=E2=80=99re coming,=E2=80=9D she warns Eric Ogle a salesman
at Vegas, a block down Magazine Street. Ogle, who was terrorized by the
brazen crew two months earlier, alerts neighboring Winky=E2=80=99s where
manager Kendra Bonga braces for the onslaught.
Soon every shop owner in the 2000 block of Magazine Street has been
alerted.
Sarah Celino at Trashy Diva eyes the door, ready to flip the lock at the
first sight of the ringleader=E2=80=99s pink jumpsuit and fluorescent
red wig.
Down at Turncoats, where the fashion-happy gang once made off with more
than $2,000 in merchandise, store manager Wes Davis stands ready.
Davis said it wasn=E2=80=99t supposed to be like this. They survived
Hurricane Katrina=E2=80=99s Category 3 winds and the ensuing looters.
They reopened despite the long odds of doing business in a devastated
city. The last thing the Magazine Street shop owners expected to
threaten their survival was a crime ring of transvestites.
=E2=80=9CThey=E2=80=99re fearless,=E2=80=9D said Ogle. =E2=80=9COnce
they see something they like they won=E2=80=99t stop until they have it.
They don=E2=80=99t care, they=E2=80=99ll go to jail. It=E2=80=99s really
gotten bad. You know it=E2=80=99s ridiculous when everyone on the block
knows who they are.=E2=80=9D
Expensive tastes
The transvestites first appeared in March when they raided Magazine
Street like a marauding army of kleptomaniacal showgirls, said Davis,
using clockwork precision and brute force to satisfy high-end boutique
needs.
They first hit Vegas March 31 while Ogle was working.
=E2=80=9CThey come in groups of three or four. One tries to distract you
while the others get the stuff and run out the door. It=E2=80=99s very
simple,=E2=80=9D Ogle said.
Next door at Winky=E2=80=99s, Bonga heard people screaming inside Vegas,
then saw a blur of cheap wigs and masculine legs in designer shoes
streak past her door.
=E2=80=9CAll of a sudden our UPS guy dove out of the store and tried to
tackle them and there=E2=80=99s little Eric from next door on the
sidewalk with a bunch of stuff he managed to grab from one of the
guys,=E2=80=9D Bonga said. =E2=80=9CThe other two guys took off down the
street and jumped into a car driven by a real girl.=E2=80=9D
Ogle gave police a description of the perpetrators =E2=80"
African-American males ranging in height from 6 feet to 6-5. They all
wore the same midriff shirts and wigs with twisted, dreadnaught hair.
=E2=80=9CThey=E2=80=99re all very skinny and very flamboyant,=E2=80=9D
Ogle said.
Two hours after the police left, the transvestites returned to Magazine
Street to storm Turncoats just a block away from Vegas, and made off
with more than $2,000 in merchandise.
=E2=80=9CThey move like clockwork,=E2=80=9D Davis said. =E2=80=9CTwo
thousand dollars is a lot for our store to lose, especially being in the
slow summer season. It makes it so I can=E2=80=99t even mark my stuff
down as much as I want to because I=E2=80=99m trying to make up for what
I lost.=E2=80=9D
In the ensuing weeks, the gang of transvestites continued their reign of
terror. Sometimes they come dressed as men, though Bonga said it is
obvious who they are based on their delicately plucked eyebrows.
Sometimes they bring 2-year-old children to add to the level of
distraction. They once returned to Vegas holding an
=E2=80=9Cinfant=E2=80=9D that really was a Cabbage Patch doll wrapped in
a blanket.
=E2=80=9CThey=E2=80=99ll make themselves scarce for a few weeks and then
one day you=E2=80=99ll be busy with a customer and all of a sudden
there=E2=80=99s a whole slew of them in your store and there=E2=80=99s
nothing you can do because you=E2=80=99re there by yourself,=E2=80=9D
Lewis said.
Scarce evidence
The New Orleans Police Department investigated the Turncoats robbery but
unless police catch a shoplifter in the act or in possession of stolen
property there is little they can do besides take a report, said NOPD
spokeswoman Bambi Hall.
=E2=80=9CIf store security states that someone took something, and then
by the time we apprehend them they don=E2=80=99t have the property, then
there=E2=80=99s really nothing we can do because it=E2=80=99s their word
against the (suspect),=E2=80=9D Hall said.
Lewis said she understands the understaffed NOPD has bigger priorities
than to =E2=80=9Ccatch a drag queen running down the street with an
armful of clothing.=E2=80=9D So the store owners created their own
watchdog system unofficially known as the =E2=80=9CDrag Queen Alert
List,=E2=80=9D a comprehensive phone roster of every business on the
block with stars next to those who carry guns.
When one shop owner spots a gang member, they immediately warn everyone
on the block and raise their defenses in unison.
When they enter Turncoats, Davis said he locks them inside the store,
which =E2=80=9Cfreaks them out,=E2=80=9D and they leave.
Celino said she doesn=E2=80=99t even wait for them to enter the store.
=E2=80=9CA couple weeks ago, a group of them was outside and one looked
like the guy who came in here and ripped us off so I locked the door on
them,=E2=80=9D Celino said. =E2=80=9CI know maybe that=E2=80=99s rude,
if they really were innocent people, but there=E2=80=99s nothing else we
can do. You look like the queens who ripped us off so I=E2=80=99m sorry
but I have to lock the door.=E2=80=9D
Ogle and Bonga say they regret being forced to resort to such profiling
but they feel they have no other choice. The transvestites, Ogle said,
appear to be drug-addicted and fearless in their lust for designer
shoes, jackets and jewelry.
=E2=80=9CThe city=E2=80=99s not functioning the way it was and
I=E2=80=99m sure a lot of them were getting some kind of government aid,
which they probably aren=E2=80=99t getting any more so they=E2=80=99re
incredibly desperate,=E2=80=9D Ogle said.
And sometimes violent.
When Lewis co-owned Trashy Diva, they attacked one of her partners in
the French Quarter location, throwing her to the ground and tossing a
heavy mannequin on top of her.
=E2=80=9CThey=E2=80=99re kind of confused because they think
they=E2=80=99re women so they don=E2=80=99t mind hitting women, but
they=E2=80=99re dudes. If you get hit by one it=E2=80=99s like getting
hit by a dude. ... Because the police are so poorly staffed,
we=E2=80=99re kind of on our own but the system we have seems to be
working. I haven=E2=80=99t seen them in at least a week but
they=E2=80=99ll be back. They=E2=80=99re never gone for
long.=E2=80=9D=E2=80=A2
Copyright =A9 2006, New Orleans Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved.
111 Veterans Blvd., Suite 1440 Metairie, LA 70005
Phone: 504.834.9292 Fax: 504.832.3550 Email: ***@nopg.com=A0
Terms & Conditions of Use | Privacy Policy
Swampqueen - Reine des Bayous! LAISSEZ LES BON TEMPS ROULLER! because,
"I am too blessed to be stressed and too anointed to be disappointed!"
AND Take time to laugh, for it is the music of the soul. HEAR OLD TIME
CAJUN MUSIC RAT HERE!:)
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/2073/jblond3.mid
AND I not only Believe in Miracles~I Rely on Them!=A0
CHER YOU GOTT'A DANCE LIKE NOBODY'S WATCHIN' & LOVE LIKE IT AIN'T EVER
GONNA HURT WIT' MY MOJO & The Bayou Gypsies
http://www.redhotmojo.com/