Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(US Und.) to arrest, to snatch, to take.

1912		D. Lowrie My Life in Prison 81: Th’ feller who was t’ get th’ stuff [drugs] [...] was t’ go inter th’ cell an’ yaffle th’ magazine.
1926		J. Black You Can’t Win (2000) 138: A big, flatfooted harness bull steps out and yaffles us.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 242/1: Yaffle. (West, mid-West, Central and Southwest area) [...] 2. To grab; to seize.