Which Cats character is known as the “Napoleon of Crime”?

Macavity is the Cats character known as the “Napoleon of Crime.” He is the musical’s elusive criminal mastermind, also called the Mystery Cat or the Hidden Paw, and is portrayed as a dangerous figure who repeatedly escapes capture.

The nickname comes from T. S. Eliot’s poem “Macavity: The Mystery Cat” in Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats. Eliot modelled the character partly on Professor Moriarty, Sherlock Holmes’s criminal nemesis. Moriarty is himself described as a “Napoleon of Crime,” so the phrase connects Macavity to the tradition of the brilliant, seemingly untouchable villain.

In the musical, Macavity kidnaps Old Deuteronomy and later disguises himself as the Jellicle leader. Demeter and the other cats expose the disguise, but Macavity fights back, shorts out the stage lights and vanishes in the confusion. That incident leads the tribe to summon Mr. Mistoffelees, whose magic restores the lights and rescues Old Deuteronomy. Macavity is therefore more than a theatrical troublemaker: he drives the plot’s central crisis.