got any citation on that?

Nope, not chapter and verse anyway.

I think it was in a book by Willard Espy who published a collection of phrases which we still use today without understanding the original context.

One of those phrases was "pulling the wool over a person's eyes", hence, "pulling a fast one".

It seemed plausible to me because a street thief needs to work fast if he wants to stay in business.

But I'm open to other interpretations, mav.