sbirro

Examples

• He wanted to cheat his confederate, and his confederate had cheated him; but far from bearing him malice for having done so, the sbirro views the conduct of the lazzarone in the light of an exploit, and feels an additional respect for him in consequence.

  Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine — Volume 55, No. 341, March, 1844

• A lazzarone always addresses a sbirro as _eccellenza_.

  Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine — Volume 55, No. 341, March, 1844

• We must make room for one more extract, in which he figures in conjunction with his friend the sbirro or gendarme, who before being invested with a uniform, and armed with carbine, pistols, and sabre, has frequently been a lazzarone himself, and usually preserves the instincts and tastes of his former station.

  Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine — Volume 55, No. 341, March, 1844

• The result of this is a coalition between the lazzarone and the sbirro -- law-breaker and law-preserver uniting in a systematic attack upon the pockets of the public.

  Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine — Volume 55, No. 341, March, 1844

• "Why not send a detective -- a sbirro?" suggested Corona.

  Saracinesca

• Grattacacio, that is, 'Cheese-grater,' because it was told of him that he had once done good execution with that simple kitchen instrument on the nose of a sbirro who had tried to catch him, but was himself caught instead.

  Stradella