Mr. Spallone is a lawless person, and he would make Yonkers a lawless city."

They declared that the pedlar, in fear of his life, had complained to the king; and that they had been sent to bring the lawless person who had said these things before the king himself.

In an Act of 1662 in the reign of Charles II there is reference to 'a great number of lewd disorderly and lawless persons, being thieves and robbers, who are commonly called Moss-troopers'.

The term marabi appears to have a murky origin; despite this, Coplan sheds light onto possibilities, tracing the meaning, "to fly around" (which apparently describes the styles of marabi dancers) and citing the Mabille and Dieterlen's Sotho dictionary, which defines marabi as slang for "'lawless person; gangster'".