American

Since June a band of thieves in the Los Angeles area has staged more than 30 violent raids on travel agencies. The gang demands blank tickets and the validation plates that print airline identifications, then sells thousands of hot tickets on the black market at a 50% discount. During heists in recent weeks, two female employees were raped, one agent was knifed and another killed.

Because the plates carry the code of each travel agency, businesses are being billed for a slew of stolen tickets, many of them to expensive locations in Central and South America. One agency was debited $47,000 for tickets taken last June. The local chapter of the American Society of Travel Agents has asked airlines to install $1,500 computer scanners at boarding gates to identify the hot tickets. Three weeks ago, when thieves held up Van Nuys travel agent Alfredo Vaca for the second time, he refused to surrender any more blanks, convinced that the losses would put him out of business. The robbers shot him dead.