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It dawned upon me that I had worn the wrong shirt for undercover work. It was a hot morning in August, and I was standing on Broadway near Times Square, tracking seven men who did not want to be tracked.

I watched as each man unlocked a bike from a Citi Bike station on Broadway, across from the Ed Sullivan Theater. Then, the group pedaled one block east, deposited bikes at a dock on Seventh Avenue, ran back to Broadway, grabbed more bikes, and did it all over again.