spiv

noun

Etymology: Unknown. Perhaps from spiff, spiffy. Spiv was the nickname of Henry Bagster, a Londoner arrested a number of times in 1904-6 for activities as described below, and may have been the archetype. Also possibly from Romani spiv (“sparrow”), as active and opportunistic.

1. A smartly dressed person who trades in illicit, black-market or stolen goods, especially during World War II.
2. A flashy con artist, often homeless, who lives by his wits.

   “I mean, Mayfair is just top spivs stepping into the slippers of the former gentry, and Belgravia, like I've said, is all flats in houses built as palaces, and Chelsea—well!”

   “It was Robeson who introduced me to the other blacks in New York, the Show Boat cast, the hangers-on, girlfriends, spivs, and bookies. "My people," he called them, "my brothers and sisters" […]”

3. A low and common thief.
4. A slacker; one who shirks responsibility.