c. 1905–15), known by the pseudonyms of Louis Harris and Dan the Dude, was a New York criminal and the longtime owner of the Stag Cafe at 28 West 28th Street, in the vice district of Satan's Circus.
According to David Maurer, a professor of linguistics who wrote a history of the American confidence man, the chief function of a "hangout" of this sort was to provide protection to grifters who are in a strange town.
There is usually a private back room in connection with the place where only established professionals and "right" people are encouraged to congregate, and from which the general public is excluded.
[2]Maurer added that based on his correspondence and interviews with turn-of-the-century con men, Dan the Dude "was an unusually helpful fixer.
"[2] In addition to his activities at the Stag Cafe, Dan was also involved in illegal gambling, and was later implicated in the 1912 murder trial of Charles Becker.