From Bill Case:

I’ve noticed a tad bit of grade-inflation in the use of the word
“mastermind” in describing criminals. One local broadcast
this week used the term to describe a teenage lout who convinced two
of his peers to rob a drugstore (actually THE drugstore) in a small
town in rural West Virginia. Since everybody knows everybody else
in this particular town — and the trio of louts left a clear trail
of footprints in the snow — all were apprehended shortly after the
fact. I think we need some kind of minimum level of competence for
criminal masterminds.