History Main / SmokescreenCrime

** "Mr. Monk and the Candidate": The pilot episode has ''two'' Smokescreen Crimes: the robbery-turned-homicide of a woman named Nicole Vasquez and the killing of Jason Ronstadt, the bodyguard of mayoral candidate Warren St. Claire. Not only do these two deaths have more to them than meets the eye, but it turns out that they are connected and were orchestrated by the same person. The Nicole had discovered that Gavin Lloyd, Warren's campaign manager was embezzling money from the campaign; Lloyd hired an assassin to kill Nicole and make it look like a burglary that turned violent. However, Lloyd had initially gone to Jason Ronstadt to bribe him into killing Nicole, which Jason had refused -- fearing that Jason would expose him, Lloyd had Jason killed by the same assassin. The shooting being public made it look like it was an attempt on Warren's life and the bodyguard was just collateral damage.

** ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'': It was long believed that the shooting of Thomas and Martha Wayne by Joe Chill was just a random robbery-homicide. ''ComicBook/DetectiveComics'' #235 reveals that Chill was hired by mob boss Lex Moxon to kill Thomas as revenge for getting Moxon arrested and imprisoned. Bruce believes that the reason he wasn't killed that night was so that Bruce could testify that his parents were simply the victims of a violent robbery. This revelation is largely forgotten in subsequent comics but has influenced a few Batman adaptations as seen below.

** ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'': During the ''ComicBook/OneYearLater'' storyline, Luthor hires the Prankster to wreak havoc across Metropolis while he secretly breaks Kryptonite Man out of prison. Following this experience, the Prankster starts providing services to other criminals as a distraction-for-hire.

During an investigation, it comes to light that the crime the protagonists are investigating is merely a smokescreen that was committed to cover up the perpetrator's true objective and leave the authorities chasing a false lead.

* A person robs a place like a bank or a jewelry store, but steals something that no one knows is missing in addition to the money or jewels they stole to cover up their true motive.
* A criminal deliberately dupes the authorities into thinking they are going to commit one crime and then do another one the authorities never even considered.

* ''Film/Unknown2011'': Prince Shada's idealistic views have earned him multiple attempts on his life and it appears that Section 15 has been hired by his enemies to kill him. [[spoiler:It is ultimately revealed that the villains' true target is Shada's friend Professor Bressler, who has developed a genetically modified breed of corn capable of surviving harsh climates, an invention which could prove problematic for certain businesses. The villains' plan is to kill both Shada and Bressler with a bomb, making it look like Shada was killed by enemies from his country and Bressler was collateral damage.]]

** "[[Recap/YoungJusticeS1E14Revelation Revelation]]": [[OmniscientCouncilOfVagueness the Light]] come to believe that the heroes might suspect [[LegionOfDoom an alliance of supervillains has formed]], so they have one of their minions, [[AristocratsAreEvil Count Vertigo]], organize a ''separate'' supervillain team, the Injustice League, to openly attack several major cities around the world. The heroes take them down and assume the crisis has been averted, leaving the Light free to keep scheming (at least until the heroes do eventually become aware of them).

* ''Series/LoisAndClarkTheNewAdventuresOfSuperman'':
** "The Phoenix": The newly resurrected Lex Luthor plants a bomb in Perry White's office. While the bomb is being dealt with Superman and the bomb squad, Luthor plastic explosives and a detonator from the bomb squad's headquarters.

* ''Series/LoisAndClarkTheNewAdventuresOfSuperman'': The villain of "Contact" is Bob Fences, who abducts Lois and hypnotizes her into thinking she was abducted by aliens and implants suggestions into her mind to throw herself into danger. While Superman is busy saving Lois, Fences steals items needed for his plan to hold the world hostage for profit.

* ''Series/{{Gotham}}'': The mystery of who killed the Waynes is a long-running plot thread throughout the show and the deeper Bruce digs, the more it becomes clear it wasn't a simple robbery-homicide. [[spoiler:It's ultimately revealed that Thomas and Martha Wayne's deaths were was ordered by Hugo Strange because Thomas was opposing Strange's experiments at Indian Hill.]]

** "The Bank Shot Job": This is wrongfully assumed to be the case. The team are trying to pull a con on the corrupt Judge Roy when the bank they are in is taken hostage by a father and son duo who need money to save the mother from drug dealers. Roy gets into a struggle with the father for the gun and accidentally shoots Nate in the shoulder, causing a panicked Sophie to cry out Nate's real name. This leads to Roy realizing that Nate and Sophie are running a con on him, [[EntertaininglyWrong but he mistakenly believes that the robbers are in on it and that the robbery is simply a cover for Nate to take his money without Roy suspecting Nate's involvement.]]
** "The Three Card Monte Job": Nate's father, Jimmy Ford, triggers alarms at three different banks to make the police think that all three banks are being robbed. The Leverage team initially believes that Jimmy's intention is to spread the police thin by obscuring which bank is being hit, allowing Jimmy's team to get in and out with ease. Nate then recalls his father trying to teach him how to play Three-Card Monte, and [[EurekaMoment finally realizes the trick to the game -- the Queen of Hearts card is never actually on the table]]. This principle is being applied to Jimmy's plan; his goal is not to rob any of the banks, but to steal a key piece of evidence in that could bring down several Irish mob families from a precinct's evidence locker, which is now vulnerable thanks to the chaos caused by the three false alarms. Nate turns Jimmy's plan on its head by allowing him to steal the evidence, but then contacts the Irish families and tells them that if Jimmy isn't paid a hefty sum, it goes right back to the evidence locker, effectively putting a death mark on his father's head. Nate does show mercy by sending his father to Ireland on a steamer under an assumed name.

* ''Series/BurnNotice'': In "[[Recap/BurnNoticeS2E15SinsOfOmission Sins of Omission]]", Michael breaks into a high-security lab to put back a certain item. To "explain" the breach (without implicating the person who'd stolen the item in the first place), he grabbed some expensive-looking items and tossed them in the trash, making it look like they'd stolen something else.

* ''Film/InsideMan'': A gang of well-organized thieves [[HostageSituation hold people hostage in a bank]]. The RashomonStyle retelling of the events obscures the gradual reveal of their true plan: [[spoiler:to steal diamonds in a particular safe deposit box, as well as exposing the bank president as a Nazi collaborator, and the hostages are meant to delay the police while the thieves conceal the leader in a hidey-hole inside the bank. The thieves then dress all the hostages in clothes like the ones they are wearing and release them all at once to conceal their escape. A week later, the gang's leader simply walks out of the bank with the goods.]]

* ''Film/ThePearlOfDeath'': The villains are after the titular pearl which is hidden in one of six china busts of Napoleon. The villains hire the Creeper to find the pearl, and his process involves killing the owners and then breaking open the busts to see which one contains it. The Creeper also makes it a point to destroy all china that the victims possess to disguise the fact that he is looking for a particular pearl.

* ''Film/SherlockHolmesAGameOfShadows'': Professor Moriarty arranges for a group of [[BombThrowingAnarchist anarchists to bomb the conference room]] at a peace summit in Paris, as a diversion from the sniper he employed to shoot one of the [=VIPs=] at the conference immediately before the explosion.
* ''Film/{{Shooter}}'': The main protagonist is framed for an assassination attempt on the U.S. President's life which resulted in the death of the Ethiopian archbishop, Desmond Mutumbo. [[spoiler:It turns out that the archbishop was the real target all along, as he was threatening to expose a massacre in an Ethiopian village committed by the villains. Since killing Mutumbo would've resulted in an investigation as to why someone would want him dead, the villains made it look like he was an unintended victim in an attempt to kill the president.]]

* ''LightNovel/FullMetalPanic'': Gauron seeks to cover up kidnapping Kaname on her school trip by blowing up the plane her class was on. Under the circumstances, nobody would be able to tell she hadn't even been on the plane when it exploded.

** ''The Sign of Fear'', an ExpandedUniverse novel by Robert Ryan. During World War One, a British WellIntentionedExtremist organisation kidnaps the government board set up to determine the level of compensation for mutilated soldiers, and starts mutilating them in turn as a protest over the poor compensation rates. Holmes and Watson realise the actual target is the board member who works for the Treasury, to frighten him into helping them rob the secret location where sterling bank notes are printed. But even the robbery is a cover; the real plot is to substitute forging printing plates for the real ones. The villain (who may be working for the Germans or Irish republicans) will be able to print genuine bank notes while the country will be thrown into financial chaos once the substitution is discovered.

* ''The Sign of Fear'' by Robert Ryan. During World War One, a British WellIntentionedExtremist organisation kidnaps the government board set up to determine the level of compensation for mutilated soldiers, and starts mutilating them in turn as a protest over the poor compensation rates. [[Literature/SherlockHolmes Holmes and Watson]] realise the actual target is the board member who works for the Treasury, to frighten him into helping them rob the secret location where sterling bank notes are printed. But even the robbery is a cover; the real plot is to substitute forging printing plates for the real ones. The villain (who may be working for the Germans or Irish republicans) will be able to print genuine bank notes while the country will be thrown into financial chaos once the substitution is discovered.

* ''Series/BlackMirror'': The episode "Crocodile" takes place in a world where a person's memory can be accessed with a special device. Mia's boyfriend Rob killed someone in a hit-and-run 15 years ago and now wants to write a letter to his widow. Mia kills him so he won't drag her down with him. Then, when Shazia might investigate her memories and uncover the crime, Mia kills her to cover up the murder and then kills Shazia's husband and baby son to cover up ''that'' murder.

* ''The Sign of Fear'' by Robert Ryan. During World War One, a WellIntentionedExtremist organisation kidnaps the government board set up to determine the level of compensation for mutilated soldiers, and starts mutilating them in turn as a protest over the poor compensation rates. [[Literature/SherlockHolmes Holmes and Watson]] realise the actual target is the board member who works for the Treasury, to frighten him into helping them rob the secret location where sterling bank notes are printed. But even the robbery is a cover; the real plot is to substitute forging printing plates for the real ones. The villains will be able to print genuine bank notes while the country will be thrown into financial chaos once the substitution is discovered.

* ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations'': In case 3-2, [[spoiler:Luke Atmey steals an urn while disguised as [=Mask=]?[=DeMasque=] in order to establish an alibi for a murder he committed during the robbery. His goal is to invoke double jeopardy through a larceny conviction.]]

* ''The Satan Bug'' by Alistair [=MacLean=]: The antagonist breaks into a bioweapons facility and subsequently threatens to commit a bio-terrorist act with the stuff he stole. The situation is all the more dire when it appears that he's unaware he stole a top-secret bio-superweapon in addition to much less deadly bioweapons. [[spoiler:But this is all a multi-level ruse. Not only is the antagonist merely pretending to be unaware of how dangerous the weapon is to get the police on edge, he does it so that London will be evacuated and he can walk into every bank vault he desired.]]

* ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'': A decker hired to break into a company's computer on a specific mission (e.g. to steal data) could try to make their objective less obvious by doing random damage (deleting unrelated files, crashing the system, etc.).

* ''Film/Unknown2011'': Prince Shada's idealistic views have earned him multiple attempts on his life and it appears that Section 15 has been hired by his enemies to kill him. [[spoiler:It is ultimately revealed that the villains' true target is Shada's friend Professor Bressler, who has as developed a genetically modified breed of corn capable of surviving harsh climates, an invention which could prove problematic for certain businesses. The villains' plan is to kill both Shada and Bressler with a bomb, making it look like Shada was killed by enemies from his country and Bressler was collateral damage.]]