Come on man, he is conning people, lol. Maybe he's doing it because he really wants to help and this is all he knows.
I always took him as kind of a scumbag, but with a moral code. Or just like a harmless crook with a heart of gold. idk.
He's lying to people. How we the audience or he in the universe, justify it though, that's the fun of the discussion.
I do feel he is helping Mob, but he is not 100% upfront, and he is getting something out of the deal.
I thought they were showing this point with the flashback. He gives good honest advice, say's have a good one, but I am to busy to talk all the time when Mobs asks if he can come over tomorrow, then sees what he can do, then says yea, come over tomorrow, with a glimmer of profit in his eye.