mob, adj. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

mob adj.

(US) related to a criminal gang, esp. the US Mafia, or its culture and lifestyle.

1837		implied in Mob Town
1931		implied in mob guy
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn) 156: mob head A gang leader [...] mob moll A female gangster.
1953		E. Reid Shame of N.Y. 5: The Mob and the mob politicians controlled by the organization really believe that they are indispensable to the people.
1971		E. Wilson Show Business Nobody Knows 137: One of the mob places was the old Greenwich Village Inn in Sheridan Square [...] It was operated strictly as a front ‘to keep some of the boys working in a legitimate business’.
1989		C. Hiaasen Skin Tight 22: They think it’s a mob hit?
1991		B. Hamper Rivethead (1992) 9: Denny better watch his shit cuz these mob pricks were no one to try and slip a change-up by.
1998		C. Fleming High Concept 128: A New Yorker with a shady past and a family history of mob ties.
2000		Guardian Editor 7 Jan. 12: To get the most out of Donnie Brasco, it helps to see it as a primer in Mob lingo.
2010		A. Steinberg Running the Books 373: Boat recounted the catalog of his old bank robberies, mob jobs [etc].
2017		D. Winslow The Force [ebook] An armed confrontation with three wiseguys in a known mob hangout.
2024		C. Stella Joey Piss Pot 5: ‘[Y]ou owned a bar in a mob haven and your brother-in-law was a wiseguy himself’.

mob guy (n.) (also mob boy, mob gee, mob ghee)(US Und.)

1. a member of a criminal gang.

1931		G. Milburn ‘Convicts’ Jargon’ in AS VI:6 440: mob gee, n. A member of a mob.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn) 156: mob gee A gangster.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 139/1: Mob-ghee. One who works with a gang in preference to operating alone; a member of a criminal gang.
1975		E. Torres Carlito’s Way 122: You’re not a mob guy; you don’t owe them a thing.
1977		E. Torres Q&A 20: He’s a regular mob guy, a boss.

2. a member of the US Mafia; thus. ext. to counterparts in other countries.

1970		La Motta, Carter & Savage Raging Bull 26: I figured I’d show the mob boys they weren’t dealing with a couple of fairies in me and Pete.
1978		P. Hamill Dirty Laundry 152: The bank was essentially a laundry, used by mob guys and C.I.A. types.
1987		C. Hiaasen Double Whammy (1990) 62: Dennis flew down two mob guys from Queens. Offered them eighty grand to bump off Dickie.
1987		(con. 1970s) J. Pistone Donnie Brasco (2006) 353: They could say they recognize us as mob guys.
1993		M.B. ‘Chopper’ Read How to Shoot Friends 34: He thought he was a real mob guy, just like in the movies.
2019		D. Winslow Border [ebook] [T]he humor of it, two mob guys and the head of the NYPD’s Narcotics Division wanting him to do the same thing.
2023		A. Nette Orphan Road 90: ‘New York got involved, the body count went up, mob guys started cutting deals with the Feds’.

Mob Town (n.) (also Mob City)

(US) Baltimore, Maryland.

1837		A. Greene Glance at N.Y. 97: Baltimore has been emphatically called the Mob-City.
1889		Farmer Americanisms 47: Mobtown. — The city of Baltimore. This place has always been, and still is, notorious for the gangs of roughs and rowdies which infest its streets [DA].
1946		Sat. Eve. Post 11 May 15/2: Baltimore [...] in an earlier time when it was only moderately industralized [...] was known, with good reason, as ‘Mob-town’ [DA].