Since you said it was possibly a surname, my guess is that someone named Fugazi was a well known counterfeiter for the mob, and the Italian Americans started using it as slang.
According to this, I was almost right. He owned a limousine rental service with the ad tag line, “look like a rich guy.” So he was creating “fake riches.”
For me it makes sense! I also imagine the name could originally be Fugazzi with two z, as that would make more sense in Italian. And then it maybe was anglicised first as Fugazy (as said in Wiktionary) and finally Fugazi!
Since you said it was possibly a surname, my guess is that someone named Fugazi was a well known counterfeiter for the mob, and the Italian Americans started using it as slang.
https://lemmy.zip/comment/28532982
According to this, I was almost right. He owned a limousine rental service with the ad tag line, “look like a rich guy.” So he was creating “fake riches.”
For me it makes sense! I also imagine the name could originally be Fugazzi with two z, as that would make more sense in Italian. And then it maybe was anglicised first as Fugazy (as said in Wiktionary) and finally Fugazi!