The Big Con (40 page)

Short rider.
A mark who lives close to the city in which a big store is located. Big-con men usually agree with the fixer to avoid fleecing all local residents and short riders.

The
shut-out.
One stage in playing for a mark in a big store. For instance, in the pay-off, the mark goes to the window to make a bet, but is “shut out” by members of the boost who are all betting huge sums of money. By the time the mark gets to the window, the announcer says, “They’re off,” and betting is closed. The mark hears the race called precisely as the con men had predicted,
and resolves to get his bet down on the next race at all costs. (Big con.) Also the
prat-out.

The
single-hand con.
A short-con game played by one man who picks up an old gentleman on a train, shows him a large check, gets his confidence, borrows a sum of money with the check as security, and leaves the victim to watch the baggage.

To
sit in (with a mark).
For a roper to feel a mark out with regard to a con game, then signal his partner to come in on the deal. (Short con.)

The
slick box.
A controlled dice game played with a roper and shills. The mark is fleeced by a skilled manipulator who controls the dice by means of a box shellacked inside. (Short con.)

The
slough.
A short-con game similar to the shiv, except that a small padlock is used.

To
slough.
To lock.

The
smack.
An intricate short-con game based on matching pennies. Big-con men often apply the principles of big-con work to it and take off scores of several thousands of dollars. See
big-con.

Sneezed.
Arrested.

Soap game.
A short-con game in which the grifter appears to wrap up a twenty-dollar bill with each cake of soap he is selling. It is worked with shills and cross-fire. Said to have been invented by the notorious Soapy Smith.

Soft ones.
Old bills used by a short-change artist to make up his boodle. (Short con.)

To
spiel the nuts.
To play the shell-game under cover of a brisk cross-fire.

The
spud.
A swindle in which the con men convince the mark that he can buy real money from a man who has stolen plates from the government. Also the
green-goods racket.

Square paper.
An honest person, usually a legitimate person.

Squeeze.
A dishonest device for controlling a mechanical gambling game. (Short con.)

Stand-in.
See
push-note
2.

To
stand a rap for (someone).
To resemble someone closely. Cf. to
put (someone) away.

Starter.
A crooked dealer in a gambling house.

To
stash.
To hide something.

To
steer against a store.
To rope marks for any con game using a store.

Stick.
A shill, especially one used in a short-con game. See
shill
, the
boost.

To
stick up.
For detectives to question a grifter, then release him.

Still hand.
The member of a mitt-mob who holds the winning hand. See
ribbing hand, big mitt.

To
sting.
To take a mark’s money. “We’ll sting coming into St. Louis.”

The
sting.
1. See the
hipe.
2. The point in a confidence game where a mark’s money is taken.

Stir.
Prison.

Stool pigeon.
A police informer. Also
rat, fink, long-tailed rat, mouse
, and many other uncomplimentary names.

Store.
1. See
big store.
2. Any establishment against which short-con games like the mitt or monte are played. Cf. the
big store.

The
strap.
A short-con game played with a coiled strap, one coil of which the mark tries to catch with a pencil.

To
street.
To get a mark out of a store.

Subway dealer.
A card-player who deals from the bottom of the deck.

Sucker-broad.
A woman who is dishonest and unreliable, but who is not of the underworld. Cf.
gun-moll.

Sucker feel-out.
The constant questioning to which the mark subjects the outsideman while he is tied up. “He’s got me waxy with that sucker feel-out.”

Sucker gambling house.
A gambling house not run by professionals. Sucker is used for anything not strictly professional. See
sucker-word.

Sucker-word.
An argot word used or misused by outsiders, and hence not generally used by professionals. For example,
stool pigeon
or
plugger
used for shill.

The
switch.
The sleight of hand by which one object is substituted for another, used in the wipe, the poke 2 and other short-con games.

To
switch.
To transfer a mark’s confidence from the roper to the insideman.

To
tab.
To make note of.

Tailer.
The armed grifter who keeps tab on the mark while he is not with the con men. See
con mob.

To
take a powder.
See to
cop a heel.

To
take
or
take his end.
To accept bribe money. Applied to anyone who is fixed. See to
have (someone) right.

The
tale.
A British swindle played at the race track. An Englishman pays the con man for a lost bet, even though he did not instruct the con man to make it. Cannot be played in America owing to the difference in sporting ethics.

The
tat.
1. A crooked dice swindle worked by grifters in night clubs. The mark is allowed to find a die (sometimes made from a sugar cube) and is inveigled into a betting game. The tat is substituted for the square die when the operator throws and the mark is fleeced. Also
up and down Broadway.
2. A crooked die made with fives and sixes on all sides. It is otherwise a duplicate of the one which the mark finds.

Taw.
A bank roll.

T.B.
Literally, total blank; no score. “That savage from Omaha was a T.B.” Also 28.

The
tear-up.
A method of blowing a mark, especially with the mitt and the duke. The roper tears up the check
covering the victim’s losses, saying that the man did not understand the play. This check is a duplicate and when the victim returns home he discovers that the original check has been cashed.

To
tear (someone) off.
To cheat one’s partner of part of his share of a touch.

Tell-box.
A faro dealer’s crooked dealing box.

To
tell the tale.
1. For the insideman to tell the mark the story of his illicit dealings. (The big con.) 2. To tell any story to a prospective victim. (Short con.)

Three-card monte.
The well-known card swindle, worked with insideman, outsideman and shills. (Short con.) Cf.
closed monte, open monte.

The
tickets.
See the
ducats.

Tie-up.
1. The process of keeping the outsideman constantly with the mark while he is being played. (Big con.) 2. A mark who is being played. (Big con.)

Tiger.
A faro-bank. To “twist the tiger’s tail,” to play the faro-bank.

To
tighten up (a mark).
For the insideman to give the mark a convincing talk just before he is sent home for his money. (Big con.)

Tin-mittens.
A fixer. By implication, one who likes to hear the coin clank in his hand.

Tip.
A crowd of people.

The
tip.
A short-con game sometimes worked by big-con men. The roper offers to help the mark fleece the insideman by tipping off his hand in a poker game. He is allowed to win a convincer, and is then faro-banked out of his money. See
big con.

The
tish.
A mock-con game used with women. A con man puts a large bill in a woman’s stocking with an admonition that she will be sorry if she takes it out before morning. She takes it out at the earliest opportunity, only to find that it has turned to tissue paper.
Cf. the
engineer’s daughter
, the
cold poke
, the
switch.

Tool.
The member of a pickpocket mob who does the actual stealing. Also the
wire.

Top of the joint
or
top of the score.
See
head of the joint.

Touch.
The money taken from a mark. Also
score.

Transpire.
A short-con game in which the mark is led to bet on the meaning of the word
transpire
, which the outsideman uses to mean
perspire.

To
turn out.
1. tr. To train a grifter in some special line of work. “Old John Russell turned out the Yenshee Kid when he was only fifteen.” 2. intr. For a grifter to start on the rackets.

Twist.
A woman or girl, usually one in the rackets or connected with the underworld. From the Australian twist and twirl.

To
whip.
To walk.

Wiggin’s.
See
ear-wigger.

Winchell.
A mark. Also used in such combinations as
willing winchell, winning winchell
, etc.

The
wipe.
A short-con game worked largely with Negroes, Italians or Gypsies. The victim is induced to put a large sum of money into a handkerchief, which is tied up and put away. The switch is put in and the mark finds that his money has turned into newspaper cuttings. Cf. the
poke.
2. See the
switch.

Wire.
See
tool.

The
wire.
A big-con game in which the insideman (passing as a Western Union official) convinces the mark that he can delay the race results going to the bookmakers long enough for the mark to place a bet after the race is run. The roper makes a mistake and the mark loses. Cf. the
rag
, the
pay-off.

Wire-tapping.
An obsolete short-con game from which the
wire
developed.

Wrestle store.
See
fight store.

Wrong.
1. As in wrong town, one not protected by the fix. 2. As in wrong copper, one who cannot be bribed. 3. As in wrong guy, one who is untrustworthy, especially a stool pigeon. Cf.
right.

Yellow.
A telegram, especially a fake telegram used in the pay-off and the rag.

Before we leave the confidence man to his work, it might be well to look into the future for a moment. No one can say with any accuracy what will happen in the days to come; we can only speculate on the basis of past events. Many different forces, some of them perhaps entirely new, will probably leave their mark on the big-time confidence games.

The present European War is already affecting international stores. First, it has practically eliminated tourist traffic in Europe and also is hampering the free movement of con men abroad. Since the international con man preys, for the most part, on wealthy tourists, his only recourse is to follow the tourist trade to safer waters—namely, South America, the West Indies or Mexico. The problem of the fix is also becoming more difficult in the face of increasing military control over civilian life. This situation will probably force many confidence men to seek other hunting grounds for the duration of the War.

War profits are already finding their way into the pockets of certain European citizens who may be depended upon to make excellent marks. It is probably only a matter of time until something very similar occurs here. Thus the second World War may produce another crop of “war babies” with corresponding profits for the confidence man.

Changes in the mode of travel seem to have little effect upon the success of modern ropers, who travel by plane, by train, by private car or by steamship and pick their victims where they find them. Once they secure a mark’s confidence, it matters little how they meet him or how they transport him to the store. The faster the better, so far as the con men are concerned.

Recent federal legislation against securing passports under false names will probably seriously hamper the activities of confidence men and deep-sea gamblers who rope for the big con. For, once they reveal their true identity, they run the very grave danger of arrest by federal officials on an old charge or social ostracism on shipboard, for no con man can work effectively if a whole shipload of passengers is pointing him out as the notorious so-and-so. Neither of these obstacles is insurmountable, however; con men have overcome many more serious ones in the past.

The increasing interest of federal authorities in the activities of confidence men is undoubtedly making itself felt. The Post Office Department has built up a reputation for deadliness whenever con men infringe upon the mails-to-defraud laws. In addition to this, federal operatives now have other effective weapons with which to attack the problem, not the least of which is a booming campaign of propaganda designed to rob the criminal of the sympathetic public opinion he has for so long enjoyed. In some localities where the local fix has been secure for years the unsuspecting fixer has been hustled off
to federal prison for simple income-tax evasion. For this reason con men have grown rather wary of local fixing whenever there is a conflict between local and federal authorities. Thus many cities which have been reliably “right” for years have suddenly become inhospitable. This is not really a new problem facing confidence mobs, for the same thing has happened sporadically in the past. The con mobs survived the purge of Council Bluffs, Colorado Springs, Reno and Denver. Other cities were simply “righted up,” headquarters were moved, and the big store went on. It remains to be seen what effect federal pressure applied simultaneously to all the important American centers for confidence men might have.

There is at present a determined movement on the part of the Federal Government to cut off the wire service from race-tracks to legitimate bookmakers. Should this move succeed, confidence men, specifically those operating the pay-off, might be somewhat inconvenienced for a time. They could rest assured, however, that very shortly illicit or “bootleg” service would be common enough that the mark would not be suspicious of a big store set up with what appeared to be illegal service. It is even possible that the outlawing of legitimate track-service might work in favor of the pay-off men.