The Wall Street Journal had much better coverage of this "sting" operation. Some highlights:
Mr. Harper, the 40-year-old Elmo, says he was set up by the cops. But upon returning to his spot a day after his arrest, he conceded that things are tense these days among the characters, who form cliques and alliances to defend their turf and make money. Mr. Harper, for example, says his Elmo is a foe of Batman and Superman, but in cahoots with Mr. Incredible, SpongeBob SquarePants and at least one of the half-dozen Spider-Men who prowl the street.
Members of Elmo's clique often pose in pictures together and split tips when the dollars are flowing. Because many of the costumes have no pockets, wads of cash are often visibly clenched in characters' hands. But as a Saturday stroll down the boulevard showed, other characters are alone and adrift, often wearing ragged costumes and seeming to horn in on others' turf. One Spider-Man and a Puss 'N Boots character, for example, jumped into other characters' pictures at the last minute, then tried to wrangle some of the tip. Both declined to be interviewed.
Maxwell Allen earns about $100 a day as one of the top Batmans on the boulevard, thanks to a work ethic that keeps him in tights and a cape 12 hours a day, seven days a week. But he has sometimes clashed with both fellow characters and tourists. A few years ago, Mr. Allen duked it out with Kato -- a character from the Green Hornet comic book -- who he and other characters thought had gotten too arrogant. "I guess I was the better martial artist," he brags, though he claims that he and Kato today are friendly.
