Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(US black) a confidence trick practised by a street criminal.

1964		B. Jackson Get Your Ass in the Water (1974) 92: But since you’ve been out you’ve learned new names for the game, / such as till-tapping, the carpet, the rope, and the drag, [all con games] which all leads up to one thing.
1968		‘Sl. of Watts’ in Current Sl. III:2.