Question

"i found out what your ‘drug-stores' were." he turned to us and spoke rapidly. "he and this wolfsheim bought up a lot of side-street drug-stores here and in chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter. that's one of his little stunts. i picked him for a bootlegger the first time i saw him, and i wasn't wrong." gatsby doesn't deny tom's accusation. obviously tom has gathered too much damaging information about him, and the more tom talks the worse it seems to everyone present . tom has found out that gatsby, with wolfsheim and others, is involved in other illegal activities. the fact that gatsby had bootlegging operations in the gangster-ridden city of chicago makes him seem especially corrupt, because that city was known for mobster rule, criminals like al capone, and frequent murders. page

Answer 1

The question is asking for a comment on "side-street" in the following excerpt from the chapter Seven of The Great Gatsby is an equivalent of "side-street" in the sense of "underhanded," "secret," "sleazy"

Step-by-step explanation:

If we look at the given excerpt, it can be stated that Gatsby and Meyer Wolfsheim are engaged in bootlegging, illegal drug sales, and possibly gambling

Though being on a side-street is not implicating in and of itself, Tom's mockery and choice of words indicate that he is using "side-street" in an ironic or offensive way.

Hence the answer to the given question is that side-street doesn't definitely mean "secret" or "sleazy." but if read the excerpt, one can conclude that here Tom is indicating a secrecy, illegality, and sleaziness.