1: a covert and often illegal operation in which an investigator enters into a premises for the purpose of gathering information
That includes “bag jobs” aimed at getting foreign diplomatic codes and some opening of mail to and from U.S. citizens. — Newsweek, 13 Jan. 1975
2: an operation or process that is secretly prearranged to guarantee a particular outcome
Back then, the sale to Henry and Co. was deemed a bag job by most everyone in the Boston area … and the new owners of the Sox were met with tremendous skepticism.— Tony Massarotti, The Boston Herald, 20 Apr. 2008For some time, Barry and his lawyers have argued that he is the victim of a political bag job to oust him from a job he held for five years. — Christopher Walker, The Patriot Ledger (Quincy, Massachusetts), 31 Aug. 2005
First Known Use of bag job
1971, in the meaning defined at sense 1
History and Etymology for bag job
probably as shortening of black bag job, from the stereotypical black bag carried on such an operation