In New York the higest ranked instructor is Jack Hoban. Ninjutsu was part of pop culture in the 80s but the true art did not have enough instructors at the time. Now there are more people training in Ninpo than at any time in history. I'm not a magician, but I do have a friend who is that also trains in Ninpo. A lot of the stealth and disappearing ninja were popular for comes from perfecting the body movement skills, or taijutsu.
Edited to add: Here is a dojo in Albany: http://www.tonypereiraonline.com/mikewoerner.htm
[This message has been edited by Dosetsu (edited April 20, 2003).]
