Definition of ganster

(The Rev. John A. O'Brien, "Let's Take Birth Control...)

The attempt to enforce that belief ushered_in a reign of bootleggers , racketeers , hijackers and gangsters that led to a breakdown of law unparalleled in our history .

(Kenneth Allsop, The Bootleggers and Their Era...)

This dinner was the start of a new blatancy in the relationship between the gangs and the politicians , which , prior to 1924 , says Pasley , `` had been maintained with more_or_less stealth '' , but which henceforth was marked by these ostentatious gatherings , denounced by a clergyman as `` Belshazzar feasts '' , at which `` politicians fraternized cheek_by_jowl with gangsters , openly , in the big downtown hotels '' .

(Jim Thompson, The Transgressors....)

He himself had heard that there was gangster money in the company , but that had nothing to do with him .