The phone book lists the West Baltimore storefront with the green door as a social club, but some members admit it is really a front for organized crime.
The crime, mind you, is a non-violent misdemeanor carrying a maximum fine of $100. Club members are gray-haired guys who wear tweed caps and sport coats. And these grandfatherly desperadoes provide what some people, including elected officials, regard as a vital public service.
They use their late-model U.S. sedans as unlicensed, illegal taxicabs -- what in some cities are known as jitneys or "gypsies" but in Baltimore are called "hacks."
"It's making a living," said "Mr. D," a 10-year-veteran hacker and a senior member of the West Baltimore club, who spoke on condition he not be identified. "It's just a few extra bucks for people who didn't get a good pension."
Operating mostly in black neighborhoods, hackers generally work part time, driving families to and from the supermarket, taking elderly people to doctor's appointments and ferrying children to school. Regular taxi companies "don't want the people we drive," said Mr. D, who pilots a big, meticulously maintained Ford and wears an Army field jacket.
The West Baltimore club's hackers earn between $50 and $200 a week, depending on how often they drive, he said. Police familiar with the neighborhood are generally aware of their operation, Mr. D said, but leave them alone. "We give a lot to charity," he added.
Several officials of the Maryland Public Service Commission, which regulates the city taxi industry, said they were unfamiliar with hacking. But according to Z. Andrew Farkas, a Morgan State University professor, hackers have been an important link in the city's public transit network and underground economy for 75 years.
Cab company officials and regulators stress the perils of riding in illegal cab, which has no meter or set fare, has not been subject to annual inspection and whose driver may have a criminal record and may lack the required insurance.
But some politicians and others say it may be time to stop treating hackers as petty criminals: Maybe they should be hailed as transportation pioneers.
"I think hackers serve a very significant purpose, and I think we should perhaps look at legalizing it," said Delegate Elijah E. Cummings, D-Baltimore, the vice chairman of the House of Delegates committee that reviews legislation dealing with cab regulation.
