Did you have Gypsies come through your town as a Kid ? Seems like most summers they would come to town running scams like Asphalt repair and roofing scams. Who were these People and do they still exist ? My memory is not real clear since I was really young. Anyone ??

Travelers, and yes they are still around.

Yup, 100%... We got them running around in Maryland.....

Thieves thieves tramps and thieves... Heard it from the people in town they call us...

Still common.
Google them, they are interesting.

Dirty, nasty, theiving/scamming, but interesting.

My towns major graveyard has a gypsy section, was a bunch of em way back on edge of the burg

To add.....they lived on edge of town.

Not that the locals killed em as they passed through and planted em LOL

Travelers are still around. They use to come thru about once every year or two and most of the work was shoddy, at best.

However, Dad (95) tells a different story of the gypsy's that use to come around, when he was younger. He said they camped up the road about 1/8 mile from my house. There would usually be from 3-5 wagons, pulled by horses. They would do odd jobs throughout the community, shoe horses, swap and trade horses/mules, carpentry work, etc, and did a good job. He said they refused to cut fire wood, except for themselves. All-in-all, he said most were good folks and nobody had stuff missing, when they left. For the most part, it was the same bunch coming thru each year and people kinda looked forward to it.

He did say that one time a bad bunch came thru and were told not to come back. He didn't say who told them or how they were told, but they never showed up again.

Time frame for this was mostly in the '30's and after WWII, up until the early '50's.

Never really saw/had them around us but I did see some in southern Croatia. They were not well received there.

Never looked into what ethnic group(s) could be considered gypsies.

Around here they seemed to be a cross of italians and mexicans.

Beanians? 😂

Dont remember any in the South

There is a difference between what we traditionally think of as gypsies (Romani) and the Irish gypsy trash (travelers) that run the driveway etc scams.

Yep. I remember them

They were more common here in rural WI when my mother was young. She used to tell stories about where they set up camp and watching them closely when they were in her dad's store.
When we were young and got out of line a bit, she used to threaten to, "give us to the gypsies if we didn't behave"!

There seems to be a new influx here that came in with the Syrians a few years back........running all sorts of scams with donations/ sending the woman out to panhandle, ect.

Down the hill from my Grandparents' plots at Spring Grove Cemetery is the Williams' plot. The Williams are Gypsies.

Charlie Miller Funeral Home has been around since forever. It's a Northside institution. Grandpa Whitey used to golf with Charlie Junior. The story goes back to Charlie Senior. Way back a little girl died. She was in a family that was passing through Cincinnati. The family was penniless, but Charlie heard about the situation and buried the little girl free of charge. He even provided a nice dress for her. The little girl was part of the Williams Clan, a family of Gypsies. The patriarch of the clan vowed that from that time on, all the Gypsies of his clan would bury their dead in Cincinnati at Charlie Miller's Funeral Parlor.

It's a once-a-year affair. The Gypsies come to town with their frozen loved ones and for a brief time that end of Spring Grove Cemetery is packed. The Williams clan has a thing for elaborate floral arrangements. I've seen a 4'X6' pack of Kool Cigarettes down there along with . . . well, you name it. Birds, unicorns, professional team logos-- whatever was dearest to the departed. It's a big celebration. Family members come from all over the country.

Spring Grove is the largest cemetery in Cincinnati and the 2nd largest in the world. I've got most of my family and friends buried in there. My ex's family are all buried about 50 yards from the Williams. If you ever get to town, you need to take a ride through.

Everything I know about gypos I learned from snatch.

Bb

Wouldn't normally quote oneself, but...


Don't bother with Google unless you like to dig.
I'd do. Geek out on things I don't know.
Can remember looking into this year's ago, took another peak.

I went to Wikki.
Romani (Gypsies) are not criminals. Not even mentioned.

You won't find any of the common allegations.
Not even being rebutted.

What you find, are white washed papers.
And articles describing how they have been persecuted forever. (True-ish)
And how it's so bad, that police commonly discuss "Gypsie" crime openly.
In ways which would be unheard of if it were Blacks or Latinos that were
being discussed.



Google Tina and David Costello for a one off story that reflects on how
they really work.

Obviously, it's stereotyping.
I'm sure every single one is not crooked.
Just as no group is 100% anything.

I'm sure, on a cold day, some Romani' would gladly give you the jacket
they took of someone else's back.😉

Houston has plenty

They used to come through ABQ (at least our section) every year.
Have no idea where they came from. or went to, but they apparently went back another way.

AKCHOPPER: I remember them from my youth and from my professional career where I put about 100 (one hundred) of the thievin bastards in jail!
Sad that a whole culture (the majority but alas not ALL) of gypsies based their livelihoods on deceit, dishonesty and outright thievery!
In my experience and observations they worked as hard at thievery and dishonest dealings as many "honest" citizens who don't have to worry about jail time.
Oh well - to each their own.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

They used to do driveway blacktops in the summer where I grew up.

Interesting read about gypsies buried in Meridian MS.

As mentioned above , they are Romani.

Used to have em' in the driveway several times a year trying to sell asphalt.Ran one off at gunpoint when he snuck up behind me in the shop one day.I guess he spread the word,because I haven't seen one since !

I hadn’t thought about this in years but I remember as a young kid my parents talking about a warning that was issued about people going through our neighborhood and taking down payments for driveway work but leaving town without doing the work. Thinking back it was probably Gypsies/travelers.

Growing up in the 50's and 60's I don't remember Gypsies running scams in our neighborhood. What I do remember is Gypsies living in their cars across the street from our house when the Gypsie King was in the hospital around the corner.

Heard about them but don't remember seeing them, but then again we were out in the country

Hobos, yes jokes, and newspapers hanging the fence for a windbreak.

"give".

My folks would have sold us.

Why give away a perfectly functioning mini worker when you can get some cash from the Gypsies?

They tend to specialize in a scam.
One of their favorites in the summer, more so in the past when
everyone didn't have a/c, is to knock on your door and engage
in a conversation. Asking for directions, selling something...
Then another would sneak into another door and steal.


Sometimes, they would come through the area and no one noticed.
Then, over a period of time, people have things missing.
Jewelry, silver, small things of higher value. Then either Someone
tells of catching one in the house, or folks talk and the person at the
door is brought up. Suddenly, numerous folks realize what happened.

This scam was one usually run by women.
While the men were busy painting tar roofs or asphalt with dirty
motor oil.

Irish Travellers are a different but similar group.
There Is a big settlement of them in South Carolina.

They are completely different people.

It’s like saying the Salvadoran street gangs are the same as the mob.

Arent the Gypsies selling extended car warranties now?

They are almost as corrupt as the Biteme admin.

Irish Travelers used to be around some, never saw any gypsies though.

Community I grew up in in Indiana would have been hard to distinguish the gypsies from the natives


Mike

Yeah , I remember them coming thru painting a bunch of roofs and the first rain it all washed off. The gypsies were long gone

Never had gypsies but had a few Grizzleys and the occasional Polar Bear....
Gypsies (seemingly) had more sense than to "do what they do" in Nome, circa the late 1950's.

Billy,
Thought I made that clear.
They are different backgrounds, ethnicity.

they also engage in similar nomadic crime.

If I see either at Wal-Mart, I'm warning folks they are out and about.



Doies that cover it? Or what's missing?

Used to work with one. He didn't do the stereotype any favors.

Used to be lots of gypsies around, then some German families moved into the area, then they seemed to move on, nobody knows where.

"There are two types of Gypsies –

Roma Gypsies and Irish Travellers.

Both have a nomadic lifestyle but are separate ethnic groups.

There is much debate about their history, however Romany Gypsies are said to have their roots in India and came to Europe in the 13th century, while Travellers are mainly of Irish origin."

It was Samoans when I moved in here in 1998. They were into masonry. Hard no from me.

In 1970 I took Anthropology 101 from a woman who did her thesis on gypsies. They thought that below the waste was marime [dirty ike non gypsies]
https://www.peterleeson.com/Gypsies.pdf

When I was a kid, there was a verb: "gyp".

Google does not call me racist for asking...

gyp1
/jip/
INFORMAL
verb
past tense: gypped; past participle: gypped
cheat or swindle (someone).
"that's salesmanship, you have to gyp people into buying stuff they don't like"


It must be because gypsies are white.

Don’t get gipped
Root word Gypsies

Early summer 2019 I helped catch a couple Romani shoplifting at the store I was working at. They must have given the rest of the group a pretty good description of me as a week later I was cussed out pretty soundly by three women I ran into at the convenience store across the parking lot. I'm guessing they were cussing based on the tone, looks, and inflection of their words as I understood none of it.

What Travelers we have around are no problem. I'm somewhat related to them through my grandfather and long ago let them know I will have nothing to do with them. The bad blood started when my grandfather died, his cousin stole everything of value from the house while the funeral was going on. That part of the family disappeared for half a century until that generation and much of the next died off. I unknowingly moved into the general area of that cousin's son and he looked me up. I told him to leave and if he ever showed up again he would not be walking away. Thankfully, he died a year or so later and the house he owned was sold to normal people.

I do, but that was about 75/70 years ago in northern Arkansas. They'd come through the tiny rural town in which I grew up, wagons pulled by horses. Camp at the fairgrounds for awhile. Do odd jobs, then move on.

Also, my paternal grandmother who lived outside Shefflield, Alabama, used to talk about the gypsies who'd come through that area.

When I lived in los Angeles, it was not at all unusual to see the Williams gypsies doing their "driveway" repair scam and the women scamming out the drivers at the freeway on ramps, using their kids as shills. .

There was an interesting movie made in 1978 called King of the Gypsies staring Sterling Hayden, Eric Roberts, and Susan Sarandon. Take a look if you can find it.

L.W.

I bunch came through our town in the mid 60s, and stole a bunch of stuff from my Dad's store. In the 70s they came through town selling junk, and coming back after dark to steal stuff they'd spotted during the day. That's when Gypsies stopped being quaint with me.

Actually, the song went "Gypsies, tramps, and thieves"

Oh, the stories...

We had the King living near us growing up. All of those families under him lived in and around the same area.

Used car lots on 82nd Ave was their main source of income.

Watched them try to steal from Fred Meyers grocery store. Watched them try and lie about fast food orders, hoping to get more food for free.

Saw the shît cars idiots would buy off their lots, only to be told your SOL, you bought it, you own it now.

Had a Gypsy husband and wife live next to me in my first duplex I rented. They started a fire in their bathroom from a candle in a wall sconce that caught a robe hanging on the back of the bathroom door on fire....Smoke damaged my place.

They weren’t allowed by the King to go to public schools. Our school district threw a legal fit, once. They demanded the kid, who was at least 15 years old attend the 6th grade or face legal action from the district....The kid, who had hair on his face was sitting at a large table where 3 other 6th graders were seated.

The gypsy told the girl, sitting across from him to look under the table.....She did. Then she shrieked when she saw the gypsy had his Dick pulled out and was sticking a #2 pencil into his dick hole.

He was sent to the principals office. He never came back to school after his first day in class.

Like I said....The stories, I could tell.

Lol

🦫

No way.

Europeans as a whole do not receive them well. They get blamed for a lot of bad things that may or may not be of their doing.

Ever run into Mickey?!

Gypsies came through this area in the 30's, read a newspaper account recently (one of those "on this date" columns) of a couple of incidents of stealing.

The largest group of Travelers in North America not too far from North Augusta, SC (Murphy Village). Some of the houses are huge with several smaller homes on the property.

Way.

🦫

Early 70s they came through our town. Us kids loved it as the store owners would pay us to follow them around to make sure they didn’t shoplift. Would later also hear stories of the poor roof sealing jobs that they did for farmers.

I grow more appreciative every day for growing up and living in the "no man's"land of east Texas.

WTF is wrong with you people?

I don't remember any in SW TN but I lived a sheltered life as a child. I have a friend who lives in a small village of ~2,000 people NW of Zurich, Switzerland (about 20 miles to us 'mericans) asked him about crime. He mentioned "Polish gypsies" who would drive into the village and steal from houses during the middle of the day, of course half the doors were unlocked. Been there several times, amazing place to live - seriously.

Around the time of the state fair there was a general feeling of watch your property.

I had a former carnie working in my department in the late 80's. He turned into a good worker and stayed with us until the plant closed.

Some of the stories were hysterical, knife fights over gambling and women (not much difference from normal mill folks). The rigged games: they went to a lot of trouble to make money and never seemed to make a lot at that. He was quite a character.

There is a new movie recently released about the carnies in the late 1930s, called Nightmare Alley. it depicts the cons, the shills, the grifters, the rigged games and freak shows, and the dregs of carny people who worked the carnivals. Stars Bradley Cooper as the ultimate carny con man clairvoyant and "mind reader."

Has an interesting twist at the end, too.

L.W.

How does it compare to Carnivale (the HBO show from a number of years back)?

BGG, I do not know as I did not see Carnivale.

L.W.

I remember seeing them in the mid 1960s with their horse drawn wagons in the Chicago suburbs. My mother hid her kids away.

Not around here, have ran into a bunch of them in italy

In England in the 60’s the rag and bone men were gypsies, clip-clopping slowly down the street on a flatbed cart with car wheels, drawn by a single horse. They would pick up junk and recyclables calling out “all ye ragbone”.

We were on the coast and the town was a holiday resort, the donkey rides on the beach were run by gypsies, probly since shut down by the animal welfare people.

2016 riding a bicycle I came across some tethered gypsy horses grazing alongside a rural intersection, I didn’t stop to take photos.

Thought they were s hit

My grandmother told us when she was growing up during the Great Depression in PENN, that Gypsies would come through and usually they would go around at night and stop at a farm and ask for directions etc
Many a farmer would find stuff missing from his barn the next day, grain, oats, etc She would also tell us that the Gypsies would take us if we were not good.

Search gypsies and Spiro ok. They are still there. Bunch of big houses east of town, all with big campers in front during off season. Still running the paving scam.

The one ethnicity which is primarily comprised of roaming thieves and con artists. They are human parasites. These romanis are not to be confused with travelers.

Had plenty of them when I lived in England back in the early to mid 60s... 63 to 66.

If it wasn't nailed down they'd swipe it.

Yep I remember people being in an uproar in sw ohio where I grew up, uproar over them stealing.

Two came to our door when I was about 6-7 years old, asked my Mom if she wanted the grass trimmed up close to the house. She agreed to hire them. This was about 1966-67 well before the days of powered trimmers. They had a hand shear, we got a similar shear not long after.
Anyway I looked out the window and they were just standing around beside the side of the house, they had did the front and came told my Mom they were finished right after I told her they were just standing at the side of the house. She went and checked and jumped their ass pretty good about trying to cheat her, she made them do it perfect and found other places that needed trimming. My Mom didn't take no schitt.
Only remember them that one time.

Pretty sure gypsies are what happens when middle easterners started breeding with Russians.

My late mother grew up on a dairy farm. She used to tell me that her father allowed gypsies to set up camp in a back pasture along a creek and stay for the summer. This would have been in the late 1920's - early 30's.

Their farm is a county park today. The creek is still there.

I remember my Mom and Dad talking about them when I was young. I don't remember ever seeing any, but there is a Gypsy Baby that is buried in the same Cemetery as all of my family. According to a man, now in his 90's, that was overseer of the Cemetery before me, and lived very near it as a young man, the baby was buried in the far back corner. We have taken in more land since so it is kinda in the middle now. Grave is marked by a small rock, with no name. miles

They were around Slummy.

They hit the big towns doing the same crap as mentioned here.
St.Pete, Tampa, Miami.
They painted tile roofs and re-sealed driveways.
They'd offer a discount if you could get a few of your neighbors to do their places at the same time.
They worked dirt cheap and would typically be doing a few homes close together along the same streets due to the discounts they'd offer.

The products they'd use was so watered down you'd only get a few months out of it. People would complain a little but I think most knew they got what they paid for.

Don't recall any related thievery going on.

I liked the produce guy that had the back of his pickup set up like a produce market, he cruzed the streets in our neighborhood and of course the ice cream man was always special..

I don't think those guys were gypsies though.

I really never heard about them until I lived in Texas.

Not many of them in rural ND when I grew up.

I don't even think I've ever met or seen a gypsy in real life. Hippies used to show up and pass through where I lived in deepest, darkest Appalachia.

This brings back memories I'd forgot about. They would stay at a campground close to my house growing up in southwest Virginia. I was maybe 10 and cruised all over the area on my Honda XR 75. As soon as they would show up at the campground with their paving equipment dad would tell me to stay away from the campground, woop me good if I didn't listen. I got gas money for my bike from picking up pop bottles. Seems there weren't any bottles when the gypsies were around.

Travelers come thru our rural area (that ain’t so rural anymore) about once every five years and hustle everyone to paint their barn roofs. They actually do a decent job, and I let them paint our tallest one because I hate climbing up there. You just have to make sure they cover the areas and equipment surrounding the barns with tarps to catch the overspray. They won’t if you don’t stand right there and watch them, and everyone around here keeps a close eye out for several days after they leave.

When a buddy first told me who they were after I noticed they were unusual, I expected them to be broken down rag-tags. Heck, they all had pretty nice brand new trucks and equipment. Kinda surprised me.

I think they are part of the bunch from the Carolinas.

There are a few in Western Mass., Springfield area. They are a little more settled, women reading palms, men buying and selling. When I worked at the RV dealership they would come around buying up the old junk trailers we wouldn't put on the lot.They were pretty sharp, packaging 3 or 4 units, averaging the total then trying to take the best one at the low price. Some were pretty good customers, tax numbers, wholesale licence, and always paid cash. The most common last name was "Mitchell", they would all talk among themselves in that Rom language. There were some shady ones we had to watch, and a couple times we were close to a 911 call but they wanted nothing to do with the law and split. There is a hierarchies among them.
They would fix up these junkers and sell them cheap off the front yard of these two and three family houses where they lived. People would buy them from "Tony" but they were stuck for any problems as "Tony" could never be found again.

There are a few in Western Mass., Springfield area. They are a little more settled, women reading palms, men buying and selling. When I worked at the RV dealership they would come around buying up the old junk trailers we wouldn't put on the lot.They were pretty sharp, packaging 3 or 4 units, averaging the total then trying to take the best one at the low price. Some were pretty good customers, tax numbers, wholesale licence, and always paid cash. The most common last name was "Mitchell", they would all talk among themselves in that Rom language. There were some shady ones we had to watch, and a couple times we were close to a 911 call but they wanted nothing to do with the law and split. There is a hierarchies among them.
They would fix up these junkers and sell them cheap off the front yard of these two and three family houses where they lived. People would buy them from "Tony" but they were stuck for any problems as "Tony" could never be found again.

I lived in a military housing complex off base outside of Madrid growing up. Bonafide OG gypsies lived in a makeshift camp outside the housing area. If you left your bike or skateboard out on the porch or your laundry drying on the clothesline in the yard overnight it would be gone in the morning. They stole my moms moped that was chained to the porch. Saw a Gypsie riding it on the dirt road on the other side of the fence when I was on the playground at school.

There are a lot of them in Spain. They still will aggressively try to read your palms and other ways to swindle you out of your money at the tourist spots or outside of the Cathedrals. Nowadays they live in their own apartment buildings in their own barrios. When I was a kid they lived in makeshift camps along the rivers and dumps. Genetically they descend from people who came from India/Pakistan after having settled in Romania originally.

This. We had them come through once in a great while and distract someone at the front door while an accomplis went through the back door and ransacked the house from behind.

kwg

They come through the area I live, NE AL/SE TN/NW GA every couple of years. They do the gravel/asphalt on driveway stuff. They've stopped and asked us a couple of times over the years but I wasn't interested. I was surprised that my parents let them do theirs. I don't know what they charged but they did a pretty good job. It was a existing gravel drive and circle drive through the back yard that was already well defined with the gravel packed pretty hard and set up to drain well. I imagine it was a pretty easy job for them since it was already the perfect starting point. At any rate, it still looks good after several years and my parents are happy with it.

i-20 exit 5 in SC....murphy village.......they have many mansions there.....

I don't recall every seeing any.

Travelers go WAY back. I have read of them being called Tinkerers in 1700's Scotland. A group of them actually kidnapped Adam Smith when he was 3. Yes, the Adam Smith, the Father of Economics.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_Gypsy_and_Traveller_groups#Indigenous_Highland_Travellers

Gypsy should more accurately refers to Romani

Neither were highly thought of

Unbeknownst to me, I had one as an insurance client, back in the mid-90's.

Plain looking man and woman come into my office for auto insurance, on a brand new F-150. A week later, she calls to add a brand new GMC truck. A week or 2 after that, she calls to add a brand new Cadillac Escalade. For the next 3-4 months, I don't hear from them at all.

Then, she calls one day and files a claim. Her son in California (we are in Colorado) rear-ended a 1969 Buick Electra 225, and possibly injured someone in the Buick. She is very apologetic, says the son is at-fault and 'to go ahead and pay the claim'. A week later, she calls again and says the same son has rear-ended a Datsun B210, and possibly injured the driver of the Datsun, and, of course, 'to go ahead and pay the claim". A few days after the 2nd claim, the same son rear-ends another old car, and the same story from Mom.

In the meantime, I get a call from an investigator with GMAC, asking about her. The investigator said this woman goes by at least 7 alias'. The women belongs to The Travelers, and had befriended an older widowed man just up the street from me, and he co-signed for all these new cars.

The investigator told me that these people lease a new car, make the insurance and lease payments for 4-5 months, then report the car stolen. A year later, one of them goes into a DMV in California and says they have had an abandoned car on their property for a year, and they want the title to it, and California then issues a title for the 'abandoned' car. So, for the cost of 4-5 months of lease and insurance payments, they get a free and clear California title on almost new cars/trucks.

There was a lot more information about these people that the investigator shared with me, from the used motor oil roofing scam to talking old people into signing over real estate to them.

The Irish gypsies are called Travelers and live in in Murphy Village SC, just across the river from Augusta Ga. They drive around the country doing driveway and roofing repair scams.

I have visited Murphy Village and it is something else. Probably 300 houses in there and they are very big, and expensive. And most have a Catholic shrine in the yard, there might be a 6 foot tall statue of Virgin Mary.


.




The houses are large and costly but they look weird, like the Travelers don't trust architects and just design the houses themselves.


.

There will be 2 or three new vehicles in every driveway, always a shiny new pickup, for hauling around those 5 gallon buckets of asphalt and paint, and there may also be a new Cadillac. Not unusual to see $150K worth of wheels in a driveway. These Irish criminals make a lot of money.

They only marry within their community and they often marry cousins. Not unusual for a 14 year old Traveler girl to marry her 17 year old cousin.
These Irish criminals don't like to "work" in cold weather, but, you may live in Indiana, if you see this summer some guys locked up for cheating a widow out of $5 grand on a driveway scam, they are probably Travelers from South Carolina. Sherlock and Gorman are common family names.

I see they are moving in to white collar crimes.

Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2017

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) -- An additional 24 Irish Traveler defendants from Murphy Village plead guilty to criminal conspiracy to commit racketeering.

According to S.C. Attorney General Beth Drake's office, the group all entered guilty pleas in a Columbia courtroom.

The accused defendants include John U. Carroll, Ann Carroll, Courtney Carroll, Jay G. Carroll, Mary C. Carroll, Mary Rita Carroll, Ralph Carroll, Mary Gorman, Tina Gorman, Thomas Martin Mack, Rachel McNally, Billy O'Hara, Jim O'Hara, Winnie O'Hara, Hugh Riley, Melissa Riley, Tracy Riley, Betty Sherlock, M. Lisa Carroll Sherlock, Michael P. Sherlock, Patricia Sherlock, Patrick Sherlock, Sandra Sherlock, and Ann F. Sherlock.

Federal Judge J. Michelle Childs accepted their pleas and will impose sentences after she has reviewed the presentence reports prepared by the U.S. Probation Office.

All 24 were a part of multiple criminal activities including mail and wire fraud, lying on loan applications, and scamming government benefits like food stamps and Medicaid.

This is the second group of travelers to take a guilty plea this year, bringing the total to nearly 50 travelers convicted.

The first group pleaded guilty to racketeering in a similar scheme involving rolling back odometers when trading or selling their vehicles.

The federal investigation has been going on for years involving multiple local, state, and federal agencies.

Each defendant faces up to five years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.