broken-down valise

plural broken-down valises

1. USslangMafiaA person who has fallen on hard times; a has-been.

   The Mafia and the FBI both considered Greg a relic, a washed-up has-been or, in the colorful language of the Mafia, a brokester, a broken-down valise.

   2008, Joaquin "Jack" Garcia, Making Jack Falcone: An Undercover FBI Agent Takes Down a Mafia Family, New York: Touchstone, page 4

   3 more examples

   "In the football business there are so many sleazy bums — broken-down valises, I call them — who don't have two quarters to rub together," Bloom said.

   1987 June 21, Bill Brubaker, “The Rise and Gall of Secret Agents Walters and Bloom”, in Washington Post, Washington, DC

   Adam Schiff: "Abe Mercer. Ten years ago, he was a broken-down valise. Bad divorce, partners suing him, ethics review. If Doc Gooden can rise from the dead, why not Abe Mercer?"

   1996 September 18, René Balcer, “Causa Mortis”, in Law & Order, season 7, episode 1

   Sonny was just a dirty-looking old man, a broken-down old man. A broken-down valise. That's Charlie's words. That's what he'd call a washed-up wiseguy.

   2003, Gary Weiss, Born to Steal: When the Mafia Hit Wall Street, New York: Warner Books, page 237

2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see broken down, valise.

   Wedged into the rumble seat was my broken-down valise with everything I possessed in the world.

   1980, E. L. Doctorow, Loon Lake, New York: Random House, page 129