Green’s Dictionary of Slang

benny n.1

[black jazz musicians adopted benny, which entered mainstream black sl. as benjamin n.1 c.1940]

1. (orig. US naut.) a straw hat.

[US]H. Green Maison De Shine 169: I hate that mutt [...] He went an’ put a new benny on the cheese der me once.
[US]S. Lewis Babbitt (1974) 99: I tip my benny to him!

2. (US, also binny) an overcoat.

[US]Sun (NY) 21 May 28/1: ‘If I make fifty or sixty bills dis winter I’ll buy myself some new skates (shoes), a Benny (overcoat) [etc]’.
[US]C.L. Cullen More Ex-Tank Tales 32: Figuring on where the engraved papers were going to come from that ’ud enable me to yank one of the bennies out of the eaves.
[US]Wash. Post 10 Dec. 4/4: ‘Benny’ used to be the word you used for overcoat. No longer is it good. You wear a ‘heelyar’ now.
[US]N. Anderson Hobo 54: They usually make it a point to get on hand at the beginning of winter a large supply of overcoats, or ‘bennies,’ and other clothes that are either sold at moderate prices or are given away.
[US]G. Henderson Keys to Crookdom 44: If you see a man wearing an overcoat with big pockets on a hot day you may spot him as a dip with big ‘binny.’ A binny is an overcoat with capacious pockets for receiving stolen goods.
[US]Judge (NY) 91 July-Dec. 31: Fur Bennie - A term applying to the proverbial raccoon coat.
[US]‘Dean Stiff’ Milk and Honey Route 145: It is necessary [...] that he should own at least two outer coats, a slicker and a ‘benny’.
[US]D. Burley Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive 109: Hawkins asks each and every livin’ ’ole man, where’s your benny?’.
[US]Goldin et al. DAUL 26/1: Benny. An overcoat. ‘That bum is no heist-man (hold-up man). He got his bit (sentence) for boosting (lifting) a benny.’.
[US]Babs Gonzales ‘The Be-Bop Santa Claus’ 🎵 With a red beaver Stetson on and a red cashmere benny.
[US]R. Abrahams Deep Down In The Jungle 136: He had a camel-hair benny with a belt in the back.
[US]‘Iceberg Slim’ Airtight Willie and Me 11: My teeth chattered in the sleazy thin benny.
[US]E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 110: Some terms that talk primarily about specific clothing items, such as [...] bennys (coats), brims (hats), kicks (shoes), lizards (lizard-skin shoes), leather pieces (leather jackets), and so on.
[Can](con. 1920s) O.D. Brooks Legs 88: They plucked their bennies from the wall hooks.

In compounds

benny worker (n.) [worker n.1 (1)]

(US Und.) a pickpocket or shoplifter who disguises their hands under an overcoat.

[US] ‘Und. and Its Vernacular’ in Clues mag. 158–62: benny worker Pickpocket who works under cover of a light coat.
[US]Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
[SA]L.F. Freed Crime in S. Afr. 106: A ‘benny worker’ is a shoplifter who operates under the protection of an overcoat.