Roaring Twenties Mobster Slang

The Roaring Twenties was unlike any decade before or since. Prohibition had handed the American criminal underworld a gift worth billions — the entire alcohol trade, stripped from legitimate business and handed to anyone willing to operate outside the law. Al Capone built an empire worth $60 million a year. Lucky Luciano restructured organised crime across the entire country. The St Valentine’s Day Massacre made the front page of every newspaper in America.

Out of this world came a language — vivid, inventive, and deliberately impenetrable to outsiders. Gangsters, jazz musicians, flappers and bootleggers developed a shared vocabulary that reflected both the excitement and the danger of the era. Much of it has survived into modern usage. Some of it died with the decade.

Below is the complete guide to 1920s mobster slang — every term explained, with the context that makes it genuinely useful rather than just a list of words.

Weapons and Violence

Bean-shooter / Gat / Rod / Roscoe — All slang for a gun. Gat derived from Gatling gun; roscoe and rod were simply colourful alternatives. A gangster was rarely described as carrying a weapon by name — one of these terms was always preferred.

Packing heat — Carrying a concealed firearm. Standard practice in the gang wars of the 1920s when encountering a rival on the street could be a death sentence if you were unarmed.

Chopper Squad — A group of men armed with Thompson submachine guns, the signature weapon of the Prohibition era. The Thompson — also called the Chicago Typewriter — became the defining image of 1920s gangland violence.

Bop / Bump / Clip / Rub out — All terms for killing someone. Each had slightly different connotations: to bop was casual, to rub out was deliberate and organised.

Bracelets — Handcuffs. Used sardonically — being fitted for bracelets was not a pleasant experience.

Death, Prison and Consequences

Chicago Overcoat — A coffin. One of the most evocative terms of the era, born in the city where gang violence was most extreme. To be fitted for a Chicago Overcoat meant you were about to be killed.

Big Sleep — Death. Popularised by Raymond Chandler but rooted in genuine criminal slang of the period.

Big House / Can / In Stir — Prison. The Big House referred specifically to large federal penitentiaries. In stir meant currently serving a sentence.

Take a powder / Blow / Lam — To flee, escape or disappear. Going on the lam meant evading law enforcement by constantly moving.

Police and Informants

Bulls — Plainclothes police officers or detectives. Uniformed police were simply called coppers.

Gum-shoe — A detective, named for the soft-soled shoes that allowed silent movement. The term implied someone who moved quietly and watched without being seen.

Stool pigeon / Peaching / Canary — An informant. To stool or to peach meant to inform on associates to law enforcement. A canary sang to the police. These were among the most serious accusations that could be made in criminal circles — the penalty for being identified as an informant was frequently death.

Finger — To identify or point out someone to be killed or arrested. Fingering a man for a hit was one of the most dangerous things a person could do.

Money and Criminality

Cabbage / Scratch / Lettuce / Bread — Money, in various denominations of enthusiasm. Cabbage and scratch were the most common.

Bent — Stolen. Bent merchandise was goods that had been acquired illegally.

Glomming — The act of stealing. To glom something was to take it without permission.

Shylock — A loan shark. The term derived from Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice and had been criminal slang for an illegal money lender for decades before the 1920s.

Can-opener — A safecracker, one of the most technically skilled criminals of the era.

Grifter — A con man. A grafter operated confidence schemes rather than direct theft.

People and Characters

Moll — A gangster’s girlfriend or female companion. Virginia Hill, Bugsy Siegel’s girlfriend, was one of the most famous molls of the era.

Babe / Bim / Broad / Doll / Dame — Various terms for a woman, ranging from affectionate to dismissive depending on context.

Bearcat — A fiery, spirited woman who gave as good as she got. A compliment in disguise.

Sheba — A woman of particular attractiveness or charisma. Derived from the biblical Queen of Sheba.

Sheik — An attractive, romantically successful man. Derived from the popular 1921 film The Sheik starring Rudolph Valentino.

Cake-eater — A man who pursued women aggressively, often used disparagingly.

Goon — A thug or hired muscle. Someone employed for intimidation rather than intelligence.

Dewdropper — An unemployed man who slept late and contributed nothing. Not a term of endearment.

Transport and Communication

Boiler / Bucket — A car, usually an old or unreliable one. The 1920s saw the first mass adoption of the automobile, and gangsters were quick to exploit the mobility it provided.

Ameche — A telephone. Named after actor Don Ameche who played Alexander Graham Bell in a 1939 film — the term predates the film in criminal usage, suggesting it referred to the telephone itself as a novelty.

Meat Wagon — An ambulance. Given the frequency of violent incidents in Prohibition-era America, ambulances were a familiar sight.

Bangtail — A racehorse. Horse racing and illegal gambling were deeply intertwined with organised crime throughout the 1920s.

Ice — Diamonds or jewellery. Ice jobs were jewellery heists, one of the most profitable criminal activities of the era.

Frequently Asked Questions — 1920s Gangster Slang

What is a Chicago Overcoat?

A Chicago Overcoat is 1920s Prohibition-era slang for a coffin. The term originated in Chicago during the height of the gang wars when violent deaths were so common that being fitted for a coffin became a darkly humorous local expression.

What does packing heat mean?

Packing heat is 1920s slang for carrying a concealed firearm. The term dates from the Prohibition era when gangsters routinely carried weapons and it remains in common use today.

What is a moll in gangster slang?

A moll is 1920s slang for a gangster’s girlfriend or female companion. Famous molls of the era included Virginia Hill, Bugsy Siegel’s girlfriend, and Bonnie Parker of Bonnie and Clyde.

What does gat mean in 1920s slang?

Gat is 1920s slang for a gun, derived from Gatling gun. By the 1920s it had become common criminal slang for any firearm and appeared regularly in newspaper crime reporting of the era.

What is a stool pigeon?

A stool pigeon is someone who informs on criminal associates to the police. The term dates from the 19th century and was the standard 1920s expression for an informant, equivalent to the later terms rat and snitch. Being identified as a stool pigeon was frequently fatal in criminal circles.