When Tony the Lip borrows the big shot dude's hat, and then pretends to find it ... I must have missed something ... it made no sense to me.
shareHe was trying to make inroads with a powerful guy.
shareHe needed somethin 2 keep his head warm
shareHe "borrowed" the hat because he knew how much it was loved by its owner, and that the owner was wealthy and powerful. Then he "found" the hat, and returned it to its owner, who, being so grateful, paid him, and felt that Tony was trustworthy (wrong!) and that he owed him a favour now.
It was a ruse to ingratiate himself into the big boys club.
I thought there was more to it than that. Because by losing the hat contributed to the closing of the club and making himself unemployed. It did not seem to do him much good, It was confusing and I thought not a good part of the story.
shareI took it as he wanted some additional income before being laid off for two months. He'd overheard the hat's owner saying how important the hat was. So he bribed the coat check gal with a few bucks, then likely got way more than his money back when he returned the hat to the rich owner.
I lost track of some of the characters. I don't recall if the hat owner showed up in any other scenes, but like others posted, he might now want to help Vigo's character in some way(s).