mongo/mungo

[Erin McKean]

Robin Nagle, who is researching a book on NYC sanitation workers, is
curious about the origin of the word mongo (or mungo), meaning
something found in the trash that the sanitation worker decides to
keep.

There's an entry at 'mongo' in HDAS, but it's fairly terse. (There's
a cite from a New Yorker article of 1984 (Sept. 24) and from "In the
Cut" by S. Moore, 1995.) I couldn't find anything in the ADS-L
archives.

Does anyone have any further information on this word that they could
share with Ms. Nagle? She's especially interested in any other words
to describe the same or similar things, and if there are regional
variants. Please reply to her directly as she does not read the ADS
list.

Thanks!

Erin