Ganef

Right to the end of the street he dragged her, pursued by a hooting crowd. Then he stopped, worn out. "Will you give me that sixpence, you Ganef!"

Packed in airtight against the bite of the steely out-of-doors, most of the village of Vodna—except the children and the half-witted Shimsha, the ganef—huddled under its none-too-plentiful coverings that night and prayed and trembled.

The streets swarmed with hucksters, ganefs, and handkerchief girls who solicited in the shadows of buildings draped in black bunting.

I would love to have a little inside knowledge that my grandfather's friends took down a president, but the reality is an endless procession of desperate little ganefs—and most of them are very small—trying to stay one step ahead of cops in suits from Sy Syms.