As we all know, crime doesn't pay-but especially when you forget the money as you make your getaway. The World's Stupidest Criminals locks up a memorable moron's gallery of outlandish alibis, pathetic escapes, and bizarre bootie, rounded up by the editors of the British cult classic Fortean Times.

You'll meet dim-witted crims the world over, from the Italian thief who stole a suitcase from a car but left his $36,000 lottery ticket behind to the Norwegian bank bandit who returned to the scene of the crime a few hours later to deposit his loot (he was afraid of being robbed). There's also the Yugoslavian man who sewed his lips together to avoid incriminating himself, and the guy in Honolulu who was arrested at the zoo for serenading an elephant with a harmonica (he was wearing nothing but his underwear).

These are but a few of the arrestingly simple-minded suspects captured in The World's Stupidest Criminals. Drawing on the Fortean Times's 25-year archive of real news clips from around the globe, this book offers knee-slapping examples of outrageous confidence scams, puzzling break-ins, wacky weapons, and even the occasional Good Samaritan-like Mr. Twister the Clown, who fed about-to-expire parking meters "to make people happy." In the bestselling tradition of America's Stupidest Criminals and Wanted: Dumb or Alive, The World's Stupidest Criminals collects an entire world of truly mindless crimes and justice for all.