"Gangs of con artists prey on London"

From The Evening Standard:

Greedy and corrupt MPs today called for action to tackle a rise in the number of gangs staging illegal gambling games on Westminster Bridge. They said con artists operating in the shadow of Parliament were threatening to blight London's image in the run up to the Olympics, the cost of which over ran by about 400% once all the insiders had lined their own pockets.

As many as nine gangs playing fraudulent dice or 'three card trick' games have been seen operating on the bridge in recent weeks fleecing tourists and visitors to the capital. The call came as police took time off from boozy meetings with journalists to launch a series of raids across the capital to target gangs engaged in pick-pocketing, fake designer bag thefts and illegal gaming.

Mark Field, the Cities of London and Westminster MP, said several constituents had alerted him to the growing problem of gamers on Westminster Bridge. He said : "It is a clear problem that we get in this part of town. We Tories are underfunding the police so there is a limited amount of police resources they have to move people on. It is a blight, it happens every year. It runs the risk of undermining a very important time when we want to showcase London to the world."

Falkirk MP Eric Joyce, whose constituency's unemployment rate has remained consistently higher than Scotland's average over the past three years, took time off from his stressful MPs job with gold-plated pension to tweet: "Seven dice games blocking whole pavement on north half of Westminster Bridge. Why do cops allow?"

Gangs typically operate with a dealer, a banker and two 'players' who pretend to be members of the public while two 'heavies' look out for police and step in when people complain. Tourists see people 'win' £100 and join the game but then lose £20.

Colin Wiles, 55, a housing consultant from Cambridge, said he saw "eight or nine" of the gangs on Westminster Bridge last month when he came to London to visit his daughter. He said: "There were six or seven in each gang, a few of them were stood around while one of them did it. I didn't see a single policeman anywhere. I woudn't mind if they were just robbing poor people in Brick Lane or somewhere on the margins, I mean who cares about them, but to see them robbing relatively wealthy tourists under the nose of the Houses of Parliament is a slap in the face for aspiration. It gives a really bad impression of London, especially in Olympics year."

Duwayne Brooks, a Lewisham Liberal Democrat councillor, whose parents used a highly unusual spelling of a Gaelic name meaning "dark" or "black" and who was once best friend of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence - presumably before rather than after he was murdered - also tweeted about the Turkish and eastern European gangs.

He said: "Bloody foreigners. They're always there. Sometimes I've seen as many as nine gangs. They should be dealt with. Send them back home, I ask you, this country is going to the dogs. But it's difficult, if you arrest them, they will be given bail. They're just going to go out and do it again. Enoch was right."

Taxi driver Stuart Wild, 66, said he often drove past the gangs. He said : "I cannot believe the extent to which this is happening - it's totally out of control.... yeah, Euston to St Pancras, that'll be £25, sir... hanging's too good for them... I haven't got change for a £50 note, no, but it's another £20 for luggage... and the bloody minicab drivers, stealing my customers, all darkies they are... is a fiver all right for a tip... call it quits shall we?"

Scotland Yard said police were carrying out operations in 10 boroughs today to disrupt the gangs. Which was a bit of a waste of time seeing as they knew perfectly well that the con artists are working on Westminster Bridge.