I was just out on the Strada Nova, having purchased a cup of limone gelato, when I heard some scuffling and heavy steps nearby. Looking up, I saw two plainclothes policemen running off in two different directions, trying to corner one of the vucumprà, the African street vendors who hawk illegal counterfeit goods to stupider tourists. The name comes from the way they mispronounce “vuole comprare?” (“you want to buy?”), and as I understand it, these vendors have links to organized crime, so buying goods from them is bad in several different respects (and illegal in itself!). While most of the time they sell unimpeded in most parts of the city, occasionally there will be some police activity that aims to deter them.

The other day during lunch at Bepi’s, Alberto pointed out that there were no vucumprà in sight, and then proceeded to pick out two undercover police officers walking nearby. They look mostly like normal Venetians, but can be identified by their dark sunglasses, earpieces (sometimes), and marsupi (fanny packs), where they keep their guns. (By the way, I’ve noticed a great number of Venetians who use these fanny packs to carry various things, but they never wear them around their waists – only slung over their shoulders. The other day, I saw one fellow with a Lacoste fanny pack, so they must even be fashion accessories in their own right).

Anyway, those police officers we saw during lunch were having a deterring effect on the vucumprà. Today, it looked like the group of four police took the guy by surprise – his white sheet covered in counterfeit bags was lying there on the pavement, abandoned in his haste to run away. As I left the scene, one of the police was gathering up the bags while two of the others gave chase. I’m sure word quickly spread to other vucumprà in the area, and by now there will be none in sight, I’m sure.

I also saw something very interesting earlier today: Venice is being photographed for Street View! Well, I can’t be sure it’s for Google, but I saw a guy walking around with a contraption on his back that held four cameras about two feet above his head that pointed forward, backward, left and right. He had a small laptop in his hands that was guiding him, and the cameras clicked every five seconds or so as he walked along. When/if those images become public, you’ll see me in them, following him as I took some pictures (which I’ll post soon).