忍者“神偷”

by Ben McGrath

In retrospect， Ninja Hunt figures that a serial“ninja burglar” would turn up on 2）Staten Island， a borough whose biggest cultural export， the 3）Wu-Tang Clan， long ago nicknamed the place Shaolin， in honor of kung-fu movies. This particular 4）bandit， who is now thought to have robbed eighteen homes on the island in the past seven months， acquired his honorific in September， when he encountered a 5）Dongan Hills resident named Phil Chiolo while raiding Chiolos home. He was dressed all in black， with a black face mask， Chiolo said， and he carried 6）nun-chucks， which he used to club Chiolo in the chest， head， and shins before Chiolo was able to 7）retaliate by stabbing at him with a steak knife.

Chiolo， who suffered a 8）welt near his collarbone， said the other day that he is fine， but Staten Island has since gone ninja mad， with the burglar enjoying a kind of romantic outlaw 9）notoriety. Other victims have likened him to a 10）gazelle or a cat （“very athletic， very quiet， and very fast”）， capable of scaling walls and leaping noiselessly out windows. （No one has heard him speak.） The “word on the street，”according to a Staten Island Advance editorial， was that ninja costumes were going to be an especially popular Halloween choice around the borough this year， and several weeks ago a local home-security company incorporated an image of a rappelling ninja in its print ads.

The Posts 11）police blotter， last month， included a small item about a man who， after allegedly attempting to flood his landlords apartment， exclaimed to the cops， “I know who the ninja is.” If he knew， apparently he didnt tell， because recently the ninja burglar struck again—twice in one night， escaping with 130，000 dollars worth of loot. “Now hes the famous ninja whos disturbing our peace，”Dr. Mohammad Khalid， a dentist from 12）Pakistan who lives in 13）Todt Hill， said last week， while standing under some trees near the scene of the latest break-ins. “He looks like a really professional robber that does not leave any marks or anything.”

The 14）N.Y.P.D. has assigned a 15）task force to the ninja 16）caper， and its officers， according to the Advance， have resorted to asking strangers 17）point blank， “Are you the ninja burglar？” Dr. Khalid， who serves as the president of the Iron Hills Civic Association， could be called the primary civilian combatant. For the past two months， he has employed a supplementary private security detail for the organizations membership， which includes 600 homes， and it seemed no accident， he thought， that this latest spree occurred just a block outside the prescribed range of his 18）surveillance crew.

回想起来，“忍者追捕”涉及的是一个席卷斯塔顿岛的连环“忍者盗贼”。“武当乐队”正是发祥此地且名声在外，出于对功夫电影的敬意，在很久以前他们把这个地方戏称为“少林”。这个特别的盗贼，如今已被认定在过去的七个月里洗劫了十八户人家。九月，他在东安山的基奥洛家作案时，遇到了当地居民菲儿·基奥洛，“忍者盗贼”之恶名便是源自此案。他一身黑衣，戴着黑色面具，基奥洛说道，那盗贼还拿着双节棍。他用那副双节棍击打基奥洛的胸部、头部和胫骨，而最后基奥洛用一把牛排刀刺向他作为反击。

几天前，近锁骨处鞭痕明显的基奥洛说他没事，但斯塔顿岛却因此陷入一片忍者狂热，而盗贼虽为亡命之徒却被披上了一股浪漫色彩。其他受害者把他比喻成一只羚羊或一只猫（“身手了得、潜行迅捷”），能在无声无息之间爬上墙头跃出窗户。（没人听过他说话。）据《斯塔顿岛前进报》社论报道，“坊间传言”，忍者装束将成为今年该区万圣节特别受欢迎的选择，而几周前，一家当地的家保公司将一个在绳索上滑降的忍者形象融入其平面广告中。

《纽约邮报》上个月的警局爆笑笔录栏目中有一小段提到，有一名男子在被指控蓄意浸湿破坏其房东寓所后，向警方声称：“我知道那忍者是谁。”即使他知道，很明显他没有说，因为最近那个忍者盗贼再次猖獗——某晚作案两次，夹带价值13万美元的赃物逃脱。“当下他是让我们不得安宁的忍者名人，”住在托德山的巴基斯坦裔牙医穆罕默德·哈立德医生在上周说道，当时他站在最新的案发现场附近的几棵树下。“他看起来像是个真正的职业盗贼，毫无蛛丝马迹遗留。”

纽约市警署针对这位“忍者”的不法行为派遣了一个专案组，据《前进报》的报道，专案组指挥官已采取直截了当地向陌生人询问的办法，“你是忍者盗贼吗？”哈立德医生是铁丘陵公民结社主席，他可以被称为平民斗士之首。在过去的两个月里，他额外雇佣了一支私人警卫队伍，用来保护组织成员，其中包括600个家庭，而且似乎并未发生什么意外，他认为，最近这起案件就发生在其监控人员监控范围之外的一个街区。

It was Wednesday， which， as some amateur profilers have noted， is the ninja burglars favorite night， but no one would have mistaken Khalid for a ninja as he stood gazing at neighboring windows in the dark. Khalid is rotund and deliberate. He wore a suit and tie， and was on his way to meet with another civic association to discuss expanding the surveillance range. “Yesterday at my own home， which is about half a mile from here， my garage was open， because somebody came to fix my computer printer，” he said. “He opened the garage and went down to the basement to get some cables. Five police guys came in and they grabbed him： ‘What are you doing here？He said， ‘Im fixing the doctors computer. ” Khalid smiled. He believes the ninjas days are numbered.

On Thursday， as 19）Police Commissioner Ray Kelly prepared to address a gathering of concerned Staten Islanders on the East Shore， a group of ninjas in training at the Island Martial Arts Academy demonstrated considerably greater courtesy than their renegade cousin. Instead of breaking and entering， they bowed before a doorway and spoke Korean 20）salutations. None of them appeared to have stab wounds， although many were quite proficient with nun-chucks， given their age （five to nine， which distinguishes them from the academys peewee ninjas， who are three to five）. Some held pieces of plywood with their names written on them. It was board-breaking week.

那是个周三，据业余追踪客们的分析，是那忍者盗贼最喜欢的作案夜，但当哈立德在黑暗中驻足凝望邻家窗户时，没人会把他误认为是忍者。哈立德是胖胖的、淡定从容的。他穿着西装打着领带，正走在路上，准备去和另一个公民结社会面商讨拓展监控范围事宜。“昨天在我自己家，离这儿大约半英里远，我的车库打开了，因为有人来修理我的电脑打印机，”他说道。“他打开车库，接着走下地下室拿些电缆。五个警察走进车库揪住了他：‘你在这儿干嘛？他答道：‘我正在修理医生的电脑。”哈立德笑了。他相信那个忍者没有几日光景了。

在周四，警署总督雷·凯利准备向东海岸一群忧心的斯塔顿岛居民致辞，一群在岛上的武术学院训练的忍者，与他们群中的那个变节者不同，展示了相当好的修养。他们从未强行进入他人住宅，取而代之的是，他们在门口前鞠躬并说着韩语的致意词。他们中似乎并没人有被刺的伤口，不少人精通双节棍倒是真的，尽管年纪轻轻（5到9岁，学院另外一群是3到5岁的小忍者）。一些忍者握着写了他们自己名字的木板块儿。那周是踢板练习周。

The academys master， Pete Paramithis， was careful to point out that all his nun-chucks are made of foam， and he expressed concern that the ninja burglar was giving 21）karate a bad name. Representatives of the N.Y.P.D. had already dropped by， looking for leads. Paramithis had a theory that the burglar， if he had any training at all， might be the product of an older， more punitive approach to martial-arts instruction， involving 22）pushups， as opposed to the positive reinforcement that he favors. “Negative training creates little monsters，”Paramithis said. “Its just like ‘23）The Karate Kid.Youve got the good guy， and the guy whos， like，‘Kill， kill！ ” Paramithis teaches concepts like “bully awareness” and “stranger danger.” He picked up a pen and wrote “Codes of Ninja” on a sheet of paper， above the words “concentration，” “courage，”“confidence，” “perseverance，” and “discipline.”

Meanwhile， at the Shaolin Kung Fu Temple， near the North Shore， Sifu Paula Wong， an instructor， seemed unaware of the burglar and his legend. “Were not familiar with the ninja， since a ninja is 24）an assassin，” she said. “Our training is more philosophy， with Buddhism and philosophies like Bruce Lee.”

学院的校长，皮特·帕拉米西斯，认真地指出他所有的双节棍都是用泡沫制造的，并且表示担心那个忍者盗贼正给空手道带来坏名声。纽约市警署已派代表来过学院找寻线索。帕拉米西斯有一个推测，那个盗贼——如果他有受过什么训练——可能会是一种较旧式的，更为严苛的接近于武术教学的产物，包括伏地挺身，与帕拉米西斯所衷爱的正面强化截然相反。“负面训练会造就出小怪物，” 帕拉米西斯说道。“就像‘功夫小子。你得到一块好材料，而那家伙却喜欢‘杀，杀！” 帕拉米西斯教授像“欺凌意识”和“陌生人危险”那类的概念。他拿起一支笔并在一张纸上写道“忍者守则”，那就写在 “专心”、“勇气”、“自信”、“毅力”和“纪律”几个单词的正上方。

与此同时，在北海岸附近的少林功夫寺，王宝拉师傅——一名导师，似乎对那个盗贼及其传奇并不在意。“我们对忍者并不熟悉，因为忍者是一种刺客，”她说道。“我们的训练则掺杂了像李小龙那样的佛教和哲学思想，更具哲学性。”