Apollo Robbins is a master pickpocket, a Las Vegas magician, and a Hollywood consultant on crime flicks like Margot Robbie’s Focus and Timothy Hutton’s series Leverage.

Not bad for a former shoplifter who once robbed Jimmy Carter’s Secret Service bodyguards while entertaining the ex-president at Caesar’s Palace - all in good fun, at least for Apollo.

“I took the credentials that they had in their inside jacket pocket, their personal credentials, the keys to the motorcade,” the legendary magician said. “And the itinerary where they were taking Carter to, and some watches and things.”

Luckily, Robbins kept his hands off their weapons and was invited around for a friendly chat back in 2000: “I was asked to speak to the Secret Service, then some neuroscientists heard about it and asked, ‘Do you have some theories about why you were able to do that?... And can we test that in a lab?’”
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Pickpocket to the spies

‍Magicians and spies have a lot in common - both are expert liars trained to manipulate their audience - so it is perhaps no surprise that Apollo has also collaborated with former CIA interrogator Barry McManus and reportedly consulted for the US Department of Defense (DoD).
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“It’s no big secret that a lot of Army Special Forces guys have a very big interest in magic and deception and being able to manipulate attention,” an unnamed Special Operations Command official told the New Yorker. “Apollo is the guy who actually gets into the nuts and bolts of how it works, why it works, and oftentimes can extrapolate that into the bigger principle.”

While Apollo Robbins said he's worked on training modules for the US government in the area of human behavior, the US Special Operations Command told SPYSCAPE there was no record of a Defense Department organization having a contract with him. The DoD had no comment.
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‍Apollo Robbins does the hustle

Born in Texas in 1974, Apollo grew up in Springfield, Missouri, and got his nickname from the Apollo-model frisbee he constantly twirled. Born with fine and gross motor-skill deficits, his legs bowed outward and he wore braces until the age of five, working tirelessly to develop a high degree of dexterity - a trait that came in handy when his two older half-brothers taught him how to shoplift and pick pockets. Apollo once stole a pack of cigarettes from a shop owner but slipped it back into the man’s pocket unnoticed, ensuring the young thief was caught ‘empty-handed’.

He hung around Springfield’s Mr. E’s Magic & Novelties, and the owner, a grandfather-like figure, redirected Apollo’s juvenile delinquency into the study of magic. Apollo taught himself how to ride a unicycle, juggle, and eat fire (there was an unfortunate incident when he set fire to his hair), and became an accomplished artist and cartoonist. Apollo’s big dream was to become a stage performer, however.

He’d been studying magic seriously since age 15 and moved his young son and wife to Las Vegas at the age of 22. It was rough going. He sold his magic books to buy food and, at a particularly low point, Apollo’s first wife left him and took their son with her. His big break finally came in 1998 with a call from the head of entertainment at Caesars Palace. One of the hotel’s toga-themed Roman restaurants needed a magician to fill in for two weeks. Apollo, dressed as a wizard, entertained hungry diners as they waited to be seated. He spun the temp gig into a four-year deal.

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Apollo Robbins: Working with stars and spies

After his Jimmy Carter-Secret Service prank hit the headlines, Apollo’s star was on the rise. The Phoenix Suns basketball team hired him to ‘steal’ personal items from player Charles Barkley, then Hollywood came calling. The producers of the TV show Alias hired Apollo to ‘borrow’ actress Jennifer Garner’s engagement ring given to her by then-fiancée Ben Affleck before returning it safely.

Now known as ‘The Gentleman Thief’, Robbins occasionally acts as a security consultant for police departments and entertainment companies. His corporate clients include Bank of America, Tiffany & Co., and Microsoft, and he’s taught casino workers how to spot deception at the gambling tables.

Apollo also collaborates with cognitive scientists to design immersive training workshops for law enforcement, the military, and businesses. Occasionally, he’s also lectured at the MIT Sloan and Harvard Kennedy business schools on ‘The Illusion of Knowledge’.

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You’ve got to pick a pocket or two

Magicians have been deceiving audiences since at least 3,000 BC when performers dazzled fans with the ‘lota bowl’ prop trick. What Apollo does is more choreographed, however, leading neuroscientists, psychiatrists, and defense analysts to study his smooth moves to find out what they reveal about the nature of human attention.

Apollo is the type of pickpocket with the finesse to work alone - known on the streets as ‘Working Single O’ rather than as part of a ‘Whiz-Mob’ team.

Generally, when pickpockets work as a team, the ‘Steer’ picks a ‘Mark’ (a victim), the ‘Stall’ distracts the Mark, and the ‘Shade’ obscures the theft so the ‘Mechanic’ can fleece the Mark and hand off the stolen goods to the Duke Man (runner). (See our Sneaky Pickpocket Glossary.)

Apollo’s solo pickpocketing technique is more of a dance, however.

“When I shake someone’s hand, I apply the lightest pressure on their wrist with my index and middle fingers and lead them across my body to my left,” he explained. “The cross-body lead is actually a move from salsa dancing. I’m finding out what kind of a partner they’re going to be, and I know that if they follow my lead I can do whatever I want with them.”
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