Green’s Dictionary of Slang

sticky fingers n.

1. a thief.

1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn) 226: sticky fingers One given to petty theft; to steal.
1968		G. Cuomo Among Thieves 147: The fellow with his eye on the prize. Old sticky fingers.

2. the tendency or desire to steal.

1962		B. McGhee Cut and Run (1963) 77: I dropped the watch in my pocket. I can’t control my sticky fingers.
2001		J. Baker Shooting in the Dark (2002) 285: Maybe Ralph’s sticky fingers had upset some kind of drug syndicate and they were looking for revenge.

In compounds

sticky-fingered (adj.)

larcenous.

1891		Pubs Eng. Dial. Soc 62-5 33: STICKY-FINGERED, adj. thievish. ‘He’s a sticky-fingered chap, an’ all. The very fust day he’s out of prison he steals a bag of potatoes out of Widow Baines’ garding’.
1907		Sun. Times (Perth) 21 Apr. 1/1: Having picked up the ten pound note [...] he attempted to bluff [...] the name and occupation of the sticky-fingered bounder will appear in due time.
1943		‘Henry Green’ Caught (2001) 151: When you said about the Regular what ’ad a sister that got took inside for bein’ sticky fingered in one of the big shops.
2008		Sun. Times (S.Afr.) 6 Jan. 20: The sticky-fingered Mwai Kibaki, who had just added an election to the list of stolen goods in his possession.

In phrases

play sticky fingers (v.)

to rob.

1977

(con. 1960s) D. Goines Black Gangster (1991) 133: Find out if Roman is playing sticky fingers with our bread.