Green’s Dictionary of Slang

wolf ticket n.

also woof ticket
[woof v.1 ]

(US black) a threat; an empty boast; usu. as sell a wolf ticket

[US]R.D. Pharr Giveadamn Brown (1997) 147: ‘If you two came down here on a wolf ticket, it’s time for you to leave’.
[US]D. Simon Homicide (1993) 489: A defendant is [...] performing in the courtroom, signifying, passing wolf tickets.
[US]J. Lerner You Got Nothing Coming 24: Following another fifteen-minute flurry of wolf tickets — which I take to be threats — young deputy Camel does the chain, handcuff and ankle shackle routine again.
[UK]Guardian G2 10 Jan. 11: The Wolf Tickets in the title of the new album are, he says, ‘really woof tickets, an expression that means “passing out, hard times and causing troubles”’.

In phrases

sell a wolf ticket (v.) (also sell a woof ticket)(US black)

1. to threaten, to intimidate.

[US]Afro American 10 May 31/5: The administration (Howard University--ed.) has been selling (wolf) tickets with their TRO’s (Temporary Restraining Orders) all year; and the students just cashed in one of those bad boys!
[US]N.C. Heard When Shadows Fall 227: ‘Whyn’t you stop with that tough-guy shit, man. Sell them wolf-tickets to somebody else, ’cause they don’t faze me’.
[US]Maledicta V:1+2 (Summer + Winter) 266: A prisoner threatens another by selling a wolf ticket or ridicules by signifying, usually in rhyme.
[US]N. McCall Makes Me Wanna Holler (1995) 59: Shane had been selling wolf tickets, running off at the mouth to [...] this guy at school and gotten four of his front teeth knocked through the back of his head.
[US]J. Hannaham Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit 17: Barking like Dobermans selling wolf tickets about an upcoming beatdown.

2. to boast, to brag.

[US]B. Seale Seize the Time 407: Some sisters [...] would stand up, talk bad and loud, sell wolf tickets, and carry on.
[US]V.E. Smith Jones Men 165: It’s plenty people selling wolf tickets.
[US]E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 98: Sell a wolf ticket [...] refers to boasting or bluffing your way through a tight situation. [Ibid.] 253: sell a woof ticket 1. Boast. 2. Bluff.
[US]Bentley & Corbett Prison Sl. 94: Wolf Tickets also Wolfin’ and Sellin’ Wolf Tickets Using threats and intimidation on other inmates. The wolf tickets are the actual threats.
[US]F.X. Toole Rope Burns 175: You be sellin woof tickets, sheeuh.
[US](con. 1998–2000) J. Lerner You Got Nothing Coming 24: White boys be trippin’. Selling wolf tickets they can’t cash.

3. (also sell wolf cookies) to lie, to talk nonsense; to trick with words.

[US]V.E. Smith Jones Men 202: He just stands there sellin’ wolf tickets like a Goddam fool.
[US]E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 98: I don’t sell no wolf tickets to nobody. Git you head broke dat way. [Ibid.] 253: sell a woof ticket […] 3. Talk nonsense. 4. Lie.
[US]F.X. Toole Rope Burns 134: Con was glad the ref hadn’t called him on the gun, because he’d been selling wolf tickets on the nine-millimeter from the git.
[US]Teen Lingo: The Source for Youth Ministry 🌐 selling woof tickets Trying to get someone to believe a falsity. Spreading lies.
[US]Burns & Pelecanos ‘That’s Got His Own’ Wire ser. 4 ep. 12 [TV script] Lester Freamon is not in the habit of selling wolf tickets.
[US]F. Bill Donnybrook [ebook] ‘I sold that son of a bitch a mess of wolf cookies. He thought I’s as crazy as I was stupid. He didn’t know what to do’.
[US]S.A. Crosby Razorblade Tears 99: ‘Word is bond. I don’t sell no wolf tickets’.