Sentence:  More than once I was confronted by professional gamblers , `` bookies '' , loan `` sharks '' , gangsters , `` thugs '' and `` finger men '' - people of a class I did not even know <WSD>existed</WSD> - to repay my husband 's staggering losses , `` or else '' . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  have an existence, be extant