The Big Con (38 page)

The
countess.
Mrs. Maurer. Also the
Raggle.

To
be coupled in the betting.
For con men to work together. Also to run as an entry.

To
crack out of turn.
1. For one member of a con to miss his cue and speak his lines in the wrong place. Big-con games are rehearsed like plays and each man must know his part perfectly. See to
rank a joint.
2. To butt in, or offer unwanted advice.

The
cross.
A short-con game in which the mark loses his money betting on the roper’s ability to beat a third man at dice. Five square dice are used and the mark is played for in a saloon which is right.

Cross-fire.
1. In short-con games, a conversation in argot between the insideman and the outsideman to deceive the mark and any by-standers. 2. In big-con games, where no argot is used, conversation between the insideman and the other members of the mob for the mark’s benefit. “It’s really the cross-fire that beats the mark.” When secret signals must be given in bigcon games, they are made in the form of
offices.
(q.v.)

Crow.
Fake or cheap. Also
snider.

To
curdle.
For anything, especially the fix, to go wrong.

Cush.
Money. For other specific terms relating to money, see
ridge, meg, deemer, cose, push-note, fin, sawbuck, double saw, C-note, half a C., G-note, coarse ones, soft ones.

Cushions.
1. A passenger train. 2. The day coaches as
contrasted to Pullman coaches. 3. Reserved seats at a circus. (Short con.)

To
cut in.
1. intr. To break into a conversation; to accost a mark. 2. tr. To share the profit of a con game with an outsider, as for instance someone who furnishes the names of lucrative marks.

To
cut up the score.
To divide the profits of a con game. In big-con games the lay is usually as follows: The insideman takes fifty-five per cent of the score, out of which he pays the manager ten per cent of the total, gives each of the ten or twelve shills one per cent of the total, pays the bank at least five per cent and takes care of the fix. The outsideman takes forty-five per cent of the total out of which he pays all expenses incidental to roping.

To
cut up the old scores.
To gather together and talk over old times. Also to
punch the guff.

Deemer.
A ten-cent piece.

Deep-sea gamblers.
See
boat-rider.

Dinks.
See
block game.

Dip.
A pickpocket. This word, still used by old-timers, is not much used by younger pickpockets.

Dollar store.
An early form of the present-day big-store originated by Ben Marks at Cheyenne, Wyoming, during the building of the Union Pacific Railway. The dollar store displayed valuable articles priced at one dollar in order to bring in marks, who were played for with short-con games.

The
Double-trays.
A short-con game in which the mark is roped and agrees to help fleece a gambling house with mis-spotted dice (double-trays). However, a pair of loaded
and
mis-spotted dice is slipped in to replace the originals, and the mark is fleeced.

The
ducats.
A short-con game played with five business cards. The roper connives with the mark to put a
pencil mark on one card which will enable him to draw the right one and beat the insideman. But the cards are turned end for end and a duplicate pencil mark on a non-winning card misleads the mark. Also the
tickets.

The
duke
or
huge duke.
A form of the big mitt played on railroad trains without a store. A mob of three collects marks and fleeces them one at a time in a compartment or stateroom. Probably coined by Eddie Mines, noted duke-player and big-con roper. See the
big mitt.

Drop-in.
Something which is easy; easy money. So-called because a fat mark may sometimes “drop in” to a confidence game without being steered.

Ear-wigger.
Anyone who tries to overhear a conversation. Also
wiggin’s.

The
electric bar.
A swindle worked at a saloon bar with a magnetized plate and dice with metal spots so arranged as to turn up the desired numbers when the current is on.

End.
1. A share of the score which is due each grifter who participates. 2. A portion of the score taken as a bribe by the law. See to
have (someone) right.

The engineer’s daughter.
A mock-con game played by con men for a conceited grifter. A grifter’s wife or girl poses as the “engineer’s daughter.” The point-out is played for the victim, who finally manages to get on intimate terms with the engineer’s daughter. Another con man dressed as an engineer bursts into the apartment, brandishing a pistol. The victim collects what clothing he can and rushes out into the street, where he is welcomed by all the grifters who happen to be in town. Peculiar to resort cities like Hot Springs, Arkansas. Cf. the
cold-poke
, the
tish.

Excess baggage.
A grifter who is incapable of discharging his duties with the mob.

Expensing.
The process of getting payments from a mark
who believed he was hiring telegraph operators to tap wires and get race results in advance for him. Obsolete except among old-timers. (Short con.)

The
fake.
1. A short-con game practiced by news-butchers on trains. The prospective customer buys a cheap book for two dollars because he thinks he sees a five-dollar bill protruding from it. 2. Also
fakus
or
Mr. Fakus.
Any cheating mechanism used in short-con games, especially on gambling devices and flat-joints.

To
fall.
To be indicted and convicted of a criminal offense.

Faro-bank.
1. n. A gambling game much used by con men in which the players bet on the order in which the cards will be drawn from a dealing box. See the
last turn.
2. v. To take a mark’s money by allowing him to win and lose, always losing more than he wins. Also to
bankroll.

Fight store.
An early form of the modern big store in which the roper connived with the mark to beat the insideman through betting on a fixed prize fight. Similar swindles were worked through the foot-race and wrestle stores.

Fin.
A five-dollar bill.

To
find the leather.
See the
poke.

Finger-egg.
See to
put the finger on.

Fink.
See
mark.

The
first count.
The total score from a con touch, the implication being that the insideman has cheated the other members of the mob. “The first count is always the best.”

Fish.
See
push-note
1.

To
fit the mitt.
To bribe an official. See to
have (someone) right.

Fitted event.
The “fixed race” upon which the mark is induced to bet. See the
pay-off.

Fitted mitt.
A bribed official.

The
fix.
Co-operation bought from the police by a fixer. “The fix is in.” See to
have (someone) right.

Fixer.
A local man employed by grifters to fix the law.

Flat-joint.
A form of short-con swindle with many variations. Used extensively with circuses, fairs, etc.

Fly-gee.
An outsider who understands confidence games, or who thinks he does.

Flyer.
A warrant for arrest sent out simultaneously in all large cities.

The
flop.
A short-con racket sometimes worked by con men when they are short of money. Also the
hype
, the
sting.
Not to be confused with the
slide
, the
push
and the
boodle
, which work on a different principle and are restricted largely to short-con workers and circus grifters.

The
foot race.
A pay-off game now obsolete which preceded the modern big-con games. The outside man posed as the disgruntled secretary of a millionaire (the insideman) who fancied runners and bet heavily on them. The secretary offered to double-cross his employer, fix the race, and share the profits with the mark. The racer who was “fixed” to win collapsed, a “doctor” pronounced him dead, and the mark lost heavily.

Forty-some-odd.
A pistol. Also the
odds.
See the
cackle-bladder.

To
frame (the gaff or the joint).
To set up the big store.

G-note.
A $1,000 bill, used in making up the boodle. (Big con.)

Gaff.
See
joint.

To
get a hard-on.
To reach for a pistol.

The
give-away.
See the
high-pitch.

To
go round the horn.
For an arrested suspect to be transferred rapidly from one police station to another to prevent his attorney from serving a habeas corpus writ.

The
gold brick.
An obsolescent con game in which a
sucker bought what appeared to be a genuine gold brick from a farmer or Indian. Also the
bat.

Green-goods racket.
See the
spud.

Grift.
1. n. A racket or criminal profession. Often used where grifter would not be used in a strict sense. “I’ve been on the grift all my life.” 2. n. A group of criminal professions which employ skill rather than violence. “All those boys were on the grift.” 3. v. To work any profession included in the grift. See
grifter.

Grifter.
In the strict sense, one who lives by his wits as contrasted to the heavy-men who use violence. For the professionals recognized as true grifters, see the chapter
Birds of a Feather.

To
guide.
See to
rope.

Gun moll.
A thief-girl, especially a female pickpocket. The term has no connection with guns or with killings—as is sometimes suggested in the newspapers—but comes from Yiddish
gonif
, thief.

Half a C.
A fifty-dollar bill.

Handler.
The accomplice in a short-con game who directs the betting of the shills. (Short con.) Roughly comparable to the
manager
in the big con.

To
have smallpox.
To be wanted on a warrant; “smallpox” is said to be “catching” because anyone in the company of a wanted man may be arrested also.

To
have (someone) right.
To buy protection from an official. “The Postal Kid had the chief right for years.” Also used of cities, banks, etc.: “The Yellow Kid had Rochester, Minnesota, right at that time.” Also to
fix
, to
fit the mitt
, to
take.

The
head of the joint
or
top of the joint.
The total amount taken in a single confidence touch. “Sometimes the nut comes off the head of the joint.” Also the
top of the score.

Heat.
Trouble, especially pressure from the law or tension created by a beefing mark.

Heavy-gee.
A professional on the heavy-rackets, usually a safeblower.

Heavy-rackets.
Those rackets involving violence or threat of violence as contrasted to the grift. See
grift.

Heel-grifter.
A cheap, small-time grifter. See
grifter.

The
high-pitch.
A short-con game involving the sale of cheap merchandise, the price of which is refunded by the operators, who then sell worthless goods at a high price and drive away. Also the
give-away.

The hipe
or
hype.
See the
flop.

Home guard.
1. A victim who lives in the city where the store is located. 2. A local grifter as contrasted to an itinerant one.

To
hopscotch.
To go on the road with a confidence game. (Largely short con.)

The
hot-seat.
A British version of the American wipe in which the victim is convinced that he has been commissioned to deliver a large sum of money to the Pope. In reality he takes a parcel of newspaper, while the money he has posted as security is kept by the swindlers.

Insideman
. 1. (Big con) The member of a con mob who stays near the big store and receives the mark whom the roper brings. Insidemen are highly specialized workers; they must have a superb knowledge of psychology to keep the mark under perfect control during the days or weeks while he is being fleeced. See to
cut up the score.
2. (Short con) The one who operates the game by which the marks are fleeced, as the three-shell game.

Jacket.
1. An entry in the police records which may stand against a criminal if he is picked up on another charge, so called from the folder or “jacket” in which the entry is filed. 2. A tip-off, or a witness to a crime who may testify later. “We got a jacket on that one.”

Joe Hep
or
Hep.
Smart, or “wise” to what is happening. Probably ironically so called from one Joe Hep, the proprietor of a saloon in Chicago where grifters had their headquarters.

To
join out the odds.
To turn pimp.

Joint.
1. A place of business (Legitimate.) 2. A gambling house, big store, or other establishment where marks are trimmed. Also
gaff.
See
big store.
3. The score from a confidence game. See the
head of the joint.

Jug
or
jay.
A bank.

Kicking hand.
The member of a mitt-mob who has a set line of cross-fire, grumbling and protesting because he loses. See
big mitt.

Kip
or
kipper.
1. A room, especially a hotel room; the place one lives. 2. A bed.

To
knock (a mark).
To convince a mark that he is being swindled. “There’s a mark born every minute, and five to trim him and five to knock him.” Usually the term is used ironically, for all con men know that a good mark literally cannot be knocked. “That fink craved the tat and you couldn’t knock him.” See
mark.