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- I can recommend a book called Wiz Mob.[1]
It's ostensibly a study of the specialized language of pickpockets, but actually goes in to great detail on how pickpocket gangs work.
Before reading this book, and knowing nothing about the subject matter, I had somehow assumed pickpockets worked alone and were just bottom-of-the-barrel amateur opportunists. I couldn't have been more wrong, as it turned out they work in highly organized units.
Fortunately, probably through the ubiquity of video surveillance, such gangs don't seem to be as widespread as they used to be.
[1] - https://www.amazon.com/Whiz-Mob-Correlation-Technical-Pickpo...
- Some real life details from the U.S:
"Street pickpockets generally work in teams, known as whiz mobs or wire mobs. The “steer” chooses the victim, who is referred to generically as the “mark,” the “vic,” or the “chump,” but can also be categorized into various subspecies, among them “Mr. Bates” (businessman) and “pappy” (senior citizen). The “stall,” or “stick,” maneuvers the mark into position and holds him there, distracting his attention, perhaps by stumbling in his path, asking him for directions, or spilling something on him. The “shade” blocks the mark’s view of what’s about to happen, either with his body or with an object such as a newspaper. And the “tool” (also known as the “wire,” the “dip,” or the “mechanic”) lifts his wallet and hands it off to the “duke man,” who hustles away, leaving the rest of the mob clean."
If I counted correctly, the described team has five members. For that kind of action it could be an optimum, otherwise it wouldn't be a typical example.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/01/07/a-pickpockets-...
In the article there's a reference to "a paperback, published in 1964, called “Whiz Mob: A Correlation of the Technical Argot of Pickpockets with Their Behavior Patterns,” by David W. Maurer, a professor of English who devoted his life to the study of raffish subcultures, before apparently killing himself, in 1981."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_W._Maurer
"David Warren Maurer (April 12, 1906 – June 11, 1981) was a professor of linguistics at the University of Louisville from 1937 to 1972, and an author of numerous studies of the language of the American underworld."
Thanks to the modern technology if you're interested in that topic you can find today various CCTV footage of such acts on the YouTube. What's fascinating is how everything happens so "easily" in the real life that even when you try to watch carefully you'd initially miss all the actors until the video points to them or until you replay the video. It's almost like a famous gorilla in the basketball game, but happening continuously on the streets and in the shops.
