news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050513/od_nm/mexico_mariachi_dc
Reuters Bogus mariachi bands rob music-lovers By Catherine Bremer Fri May 13,11:04 AM ET MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - In the latest crime ruse to hit Mexico City, thie ves are dressing up as mariachi musicians in embroidered suits with wide -brimmed somberros to rob unsuspecting music-lovers.
Mingling among the roughly 1,700 licensed mariachi who serenade people wi th raucous folk songs in a central city square are hundreds of "pirate" mariachi more adept at picking pockets than strumming guitars, city offi cials say. In a city where organized crime gangs make an easy living from armed assa ult and kidnapping, police fear the bogus musicians could trick people i nto taking them home to play at family parties, where mariachi are a pop ular treat. "Since the end of last year we have been seeing mariachi who are not mari achi," said Jose Luis Tamayo, the government official in charge of a cra ckdown to weed them out. They are going up to cars and signaling to ac complices if there's a bag or cell phone in sight. What worries us more than anything is that people could be robbed in their homes," he told Re uters. The cantina-lined Plaza Garibaldi, which fills with mariachi bands and te quila stalls after dusk, is a notoriously shady area in Mexico City's cr ime-ridden historic center. Mexicans have flocked here since the 1920s to pay for a romantic serenade or hire a band for a party. Many still brave it to hear harmonic melodi es like "Cielito Lindo" sung to trumpet, violin and guitar and see the r ichly-colored mariachi suits trimmed with silver or gold buttons up the legs. The Garibaldi crackdown will involve checks to see which mariachi have pe rmits and a push to make them display them. "We have reports of muggings," said Tamayo, who estimates there could be 800 "pirate" mariachi. "The problem is if you see someone approach dress ed as a mariachi you don't worry." High unemployment an d corrupt police have made the capital of around 18 million people one o f the world's most dangerous cities. "They do us a lot of damage because we get put in the same category," sai d mariachi violinist Vicente Monjardin.
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