[Ads-l] "rap sheet" (1932)

[dave@wilton.net]

OED has 1949. Green's has 1940 (the 1923 citation in that dictionary is a typo for 1973). Fred Shapiro previously posted a 1947 cite to this list, and Bill Mullins one from 1940 in the Tulsa Daily World. That paper has a number of citations from the 1930s, this is the earliest I have found:
 
“Criminals and Pictures Change Since First Police Photograph Back in 1913.” Tulsa Daily World (Oklahoma), 8 December 1932, 9/6. Readex: America’s Historical Newspapers.
 
"'The heaviest rap sheet, however, doesn’t mean the most desperate criminal,' Charles Carr, detective sergeant will tell you.

"A crafty criminal like [Pretty Boy] Floyd will be picked up only once in a while and the police record on him will be incomplete. It’s those who don’t know their racket and bungle their jobs who get the heavy rap sheet records."

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