Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a member of a notorious New York City street gang; thus generic for any thug or gangster [the Gophers, whose ‘turf’ encompassed New York’s ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ (the West side between 42nd Street and 14th Street), used the area’s cellars and basements as their preferred hideouts].

1915		M.G. Hayden ‘Terms Of Disparagement’ in DN IV:iii 196: gopher, a boy thief.
1927		(con. 1890s) H. Asbury Gangs of N.Y. 253: The Gophers were lords of Hell’s Kitchen, [...] They were fond of hiding in basements and cellars, hence their name [...] every man was a thug of the first order.
1931		Irwin Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 89: Gopher. — A gangster or other hard character. One of New York city’s old-time gangs went by the proud name of ‘The Gophers,’ who may have taken their name from the fact they had many hiding places in cellars along the waterfront, in which they were like the rodents of the same name.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1962		Ragen & Finston World’s Toughest Prison 801: gopher — A gangster or other hard character.

2. (also goopher, gope) a safe; thus gopher-blower,-cracker, a safe-breaker, kick in the gopher, to blow open a safe.

1871		J.H. Banka State Prison Life 492: Safe [...] Gopher.
1882		‘The Jargon of Thieves’ in Derry Jrnl 8 Sept. 6/5: A safe-breaker is now called a ‘gopher-cracker’ .
1891		Emporia Dly Repub. (KS) 28 Apr. 3/2: A safe blower is a ‘peter man,’ ‘box man’ [...] formerly called ‘gopher blowers’.
1893		J. Hawthorne Confessions of Convict 43: He put the boodle in his private gopher.
1904		‘Number 1500’ Life In Sing Sing 248: Gopher. A safe. [Ibid.] 260: The yeg men blew the gopher. The safe crackers forced open the doors of the safe with explosives.
1904		Salt Lake Herald (UT) 19 Oct. 5/1: He used to be a gope cracker, but four long stretches in the stir broke his heart and he’s a dead one now.
1914		Jackson & Hellyer Vocab. Criminal Sl. 38: gopher [...] Current amongst yeggs A safe; a strong box.
1914		Wash. Post 11 Nov. Miscellany 3/6: The old time ‘jimmy’ and the sectional jimmy and the ‘apron’ and the graduate wedge [used] to open the ‘goophers,’ as safes were designated.
1910		Spokane Press (WA) 22 Sept. 7/3: He has all the gophers pegged [...] the soup planted [...] and the handcars and speeders for the getaway.
1916		‘Thieves’ Sl.’ Toronto Star 19 Jan. 2/5: BLOW A SAFE Kick in the gopher.
1924		G. Henderson Keys to Crookdom 406: Gopher. [...] A safe.
1931		Irwin Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 89: Gopher. – [...] a safe.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 85/1: Gopher. 1. (West) Any strong safe with an intricate time-locking mechanism, hence to be robbed only by burrowing underground. 2. A burglar who bores through walls, ceilings, or floors to reach his objective.

3. a robber who specializes in safes, strongboxes or bank vaults; thus gopher racket, safe-cracking; gopher man/worker, a safe-breaker; pull a gopher, to tunnel into a bank vault.

1891		J. Maitland Amer. Sl. Dict.
1900		A.H. Lewis ‘Crime That Failed’ in Sandburrs 77: He’s a bank woiker, what d’ fly people calls ‘a gopher man’.
1903		A.H. Lewis Boss 148: He’s a gopher [...] he can go through a safe like th’ grace of heaven through a prayer meetin’.
1910		J. Sullivan ‘Criminal Sl.’ in Amer. Law Rev. LII (1918) 890: A safe blower is called a ‘gopher man,’ ‘peter blower’ or ‘yegg-man’ or ‘gerver.’.
1924		G. Henderson Keys to Crookdom 406: Gopher. Burglar or safe-blower, yegg man.
1926		J. Black You Can’t Win (2000) 21: Max Shinburn and ‘Piano Charlie,’ famous ‘gopher men,’ who tunnelled under banks like gophers and carried away their plunder after months of dangerous endeavour.
1931		Irwin Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 89: Gopher Men. — Safe-robbers, no doubt since they burrow into the safes with drills before blasting them open with dynamite or powder.
1931–4		D. Clemmer Prison Community (1940) 334/2: PULL A GOPHER, vph. 1. To burrow or tunnel under a bank vault.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn) 105: gopher [...] gopher man A safe blower [...] gopher worker A safe cracker.
1950		see sense 2.
1962		Ragen & Finston World’s Toughest Prison 801: gopher men – Safe-robbers.

4. a robber who tunnels to his target; thus gopher gang, gopher mob, gangs who work in this way.

1928		M.C. Sharpe Chicago May (1929) 260: Gopher — one who tunnels to steal.
1939		Howsley Argot: Dict. of Und. Sl.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn) 105: gopher gang [...] gopher mob A gang of vault tunnelers.