Green’s Dictionary of Slang

rip and tear adj.

[rip and tear n.]

(US Und.) unplanned, unsophisticated.

[US](con. 1905–25) E.H. Sutherland Professional Thief (1956) 9: Other mobs use rip-and-tear (crude) methods that heat up (cause danger in) the spot.
[US]‘John Monahan’ [W.R. Burnett] Big Stan 69: Glinka had pulled the thing off by using old tried-and-true rip-and-tear police methods.
[US]W.R. Burnett Conant 83: These boys played very rough; rip and tear, old hoodlum style.

In compounds

rip-and-tear man (n.)

(Aus Und.) a pickpocket.

[Aus]Argus (Melbourne) 31 Oct. 9/6: The ‘rip-and-tear man’ usually works with a ‘bumper-up’ - someone who bumps the victim off balance and distracts his attention while the pickpocket ‘lifts’ the ‘willy’ (wallet). Most pickpockets begin as‘bumpers-up’.