Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(orig. US) a cheat, a smooth talker, a hustler.

1891		Ellsworth Messenger (KS) 23 July 2/4: It would pay ever farmer [...] to redeem this county from the ring of slicksters who have so long got rich at their expense.
1903		Democrat-Herald (Charleston, MS) 17 Dec. 5/1: The suave slickster proved to be a human eel when officers went [...] to apprehend the polished ‘con’ man.
1915		Northwest Worker (Everett, WA) 1 July 1/2: There are prominent schemers in our own party, some of the with reputations as slicksters and for treachery.
1923		Tampa Times (FL) 3 Dec. 4/6: Readers [...] wonder whewre on earth Uncle Sam was keeping himself while those oil slicksters were milking their vicrims.
1934		Central N.J. Home News (New Brunswick, NJ) 17 Dec. 5/1: Originators of a sharp punchboard racket are headed this way [...] be careful of the punchboard slicksters.
1940		Green Bay Press Gaz. (WI) 7 June 4/2: The quack in the medical profession, the shyster in the legal profession and the slickster in the security business are all on a par.
1953		W. Fisher Waiters 192: Hipped chicks cavorted with sharp-togged slicksters.
1955		B. Schulberg On the Waterfront (1964) 120: Luke was able to lick the coloured straw boss, a slickster called Hotstuff.
1964		Larner & Tefferteller Addict in the Street (1966) 230: Don’t get me wrong, I’m no slickster.
1972		T.M. Kochman ‘The Kinetic Element in Black Idiom’ in Kochman Rappin’ and Stylin’ Out 162: Other operators on the street [...] are known as ‘slicks’ or ‘slicksters,’ by virtue of the ease with which they operate their deceptive maneuvers.
1980		E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 254: slick, sticker, slickster 1. One who deceives or confounds. 2. One who outwits. 3. One who takes advantage (also a verb).
1980		M. Thelwell Harder They Come 129: He was quite eager to [...] demonstrate his cleverness and toughness against the slickster.
1998		L. Stringer Grand Central Winter (1999) 28: I opened my eyes to see a pair of young slicksters straddling some old geezer.
2000		N. Barlay Crumple Zone 5: The oily slicksters double-parked in tinted Mercs.
2012		Tallahassee Democrat (FL) 28 Jan. 1/2: ‘We’re not some dumb black, backwater town being taken advantage of by slicksters’.