Brian Mcdonald "Gangs of London"

I was just seeing what my widget had come up with today and came across this: Brian McDonald “Gangs of London” which sounds absolutely fascinating. Have you ever heard of the “Forty Elephants” a notorious gang of female thieves who were responsible for the largest shoplifting operation ever seen in Britain between the 1870s and 1950s? They were a very highly organised offshoot of the male Elephant and Castle gang and took advantage of the more voluminous ladies’ clothing of the time plus more resctful attitudes towards female shoppers to stash their loot. At this point I was going to make a joke about hiding stuff in their muffs, but I don’t want Catharine to ban me!