Vocabulary – grifter’s slang.

• Grifter. A criminal who lives by his wits rather than violence.

• Mark. A sucker or intended victim. From the chalk mark carnival grifters placed on the back shoulder of a potential “easy victim.” Not just an easy victom, a mark would also be put on someone known to be carrying a lot of cash.

• Oakus. Wallet

• The Sting. The point in a con game where the mark’s money is taken from him.

This took a lot of knowledge to write. Subcultural slang is a tough medium for a story, but you pulled it off. I understood most of it purely out of context, but thanks for the vocab lesson nonetheless.