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* ''FanFic/ThisBites'': Cross' plan to devastate Sabaody Archipellago's slave trade, and cripple slavers worldwide, is to [[spoiler: turn piracy itself against all slavers. He does this by making pirates everywhere realize how profitable robbing them is, causing even the ones not morally opposed to slavery to start attacking slavers for loot and potential crewmates. Luffy, Nami, and Zoro relise that every pirate is going to jump on the bandwagon to the point where it becomes a tradition for pirates to attack slavers.]]
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* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': In "Brian: Portrait of a Dog", Chris admits to stealing $10 from Meg's room, Meg admits to stealing $10 from her mom's purse, and Lois admits to making counterfeit $10 bills.
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* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': In "Brian: "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS1E7BrianPortraitOfADog Brian: Portrait of a Dog", Dog]]", Chris admits to stealing $10 from Meg's room, Meg admits to stealing $10 from her mom's purse, and Lois admits to making counterfeit $10 bills.
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* On ''Series/TheWire'', this is Omar Little's MO - robbing drug dealers with a shotgun and redistributing what he takes.
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* ''A Simple Plan'' and [[Film/ASimplePlan its adaptation]] explore this trope in detail, along with [[RealityEnsues its many, many drawbacks]], when a backwoods yokel and his brother stumble on a wad of cash in a downed airplane.
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* ''A Simple Plan'' and [[Film/ASimplePlan its adaptation]] explore this trope in detail, along with [[RealityEnsues [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome its many, many drawbacks]], when a backwoods yokel and his brother stumble on a wad of cash in a downed airplane.
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* In the ''Series/Hogan'sHeroes'' episode "The Collector General" a Nazi General planning on using an old mine to stash art he stole from France ends up on the receiving end of this from Hogan and his crew. When he threatens Hogan that he'll reveal his activities Hogan responds with "When you steal from a thief, one sure thing, he'll never call the cops."
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* In the ''Series/Hogan'sHeroes'' ''Series/HogansHeroes'' episode "The Collector General" a Nazi General planning on using an old mine to stash art he stole from France ends up on the receiving end of this from Hogan and his crew. When he threatens Hogan that he'll reveal his activities Hogan responds with "When you steal from a thief, one sure thing, he'll never call the cops."
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* In the ''Series/Hogan'sHeroes'' episode "The Collector General" a Nazi General planning on using an old mine to stash art he stole from France ends up on the receiving end of this from Hogan and his crew. When he threatens Hogan that he'll reveal his activities Hogan responds with "When you steal from a thief, one sure thing, he'll never call the cops."
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[[folder: Fanfiction]]
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[[folder:Fairy Tales]]
* In ''Literature/AliBabaAndTheFortyThieves'', the eponymous character takes some treasures from the robbers' secret hoard. When his brother Cassim tries to do the same, the robbers catch and execute him, but the story shows it to be a punishment for his selfishness and greed, not for the act of stealing itself.
* In ''Literature/TheBremenTownMusicians'', the musicians scare away a group of robbers and seize their house and other possessions for themselves.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Fanfiction]]Fan Works]]
* In ''Literature/AliBabaAndTheFortyThieves'', the eponymous character takes some treasures from the robbers' secret hoard. When his brother Cassim tries to do the same, the robbers catch and execute him, but the story shows it to be a punishment for his selfishness and greed, not for the act of stealing itself.
* In ''Literature/TheBremenTownMusicians'', the musicians scare away a group of robbers and seize their house and other possessions for themselves.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:
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* In ''Literature/AliBabaAndTheFortyThieves'', the eponymous character takes some treasures from the robbers' secret hoard. When his brother Cassim tries to do the same, the robbers catch and execute him, but the story shows it to be a punishment for his selfishness and greed, not for the act of stealing itself.
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* In ''Literature/TheBremenTownMusicians'', the musicians scare away a group of robbers and seize their house and other possessions for themselves.
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* ''Manga/OnePiece'':
** The beginning of the of the series had Nami doing this to other pirates she came across (the anime even featuring her much earlier than where she originally debuted likewise robbing pirates and corrupted Marines). Initially it seemed she was doing this out of greed until the ''Arlong arc'' where it's revealed she was actually doing it to buy back her home island from Arlong, captain of the Fishman Pirates, due to a deal she made with him for an agreed sum he set. She was nearing her goal until Arlong paid a crooked Marine captain to raid and confiscate her treasure, then feigning ignorance when she confronted him about it, prompting Luffy and his developing crew to fight him head on. After Arlong's defeated, she still keeps her thieving skills handy, this time for the Straw Hats and her's benefit, against the rival pirate crews they face. Not afraid to steal the opposing force's treasure if the opportunity presents itself.
** The beginning of the of the series had Nami doing this to other pirates she came across (the anime even featuring her much earlier than where she originally debuted likewise robbing pirates and corrupted Marines). Initially it seemed she was doing this out of greed until the ''Arlong arc'' where it's revealed she was actually doing it to buy back her home island from Arlong, captain of the Fishman Pirates, due to a deal she made with him for an agreed sum he set. She was nearing her goal until Arlong paid a crooked Marine captain to raid and confiscate her treasure, then feigning ignorance when she confronted him about it, prompting Luffy and his developing crew to fight him head on. After Arlong's defeated, she still keeps her thieving skills handy, this time for the Straw Hats and her's benefit, against the rival pirate crews they face. Not afraid to steal the opposing force's treasure if the opportunity presents itself.
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* ''Manga/OnePiece'':
''Franchise/OnePiece'':
** The beginning of the of [[Manga/OnePiece theseries series]] had Nami doing this to other pirates she came across (the anime even featuring her much earlier than where she originally debuted likewise robbing pirates and corrupted Marines). Initially it seemed she was doing this out of greed until the ''Arlong arc'' where it's revealed she was actually doing it to buy back her home island from Arlong, captain of the Fishman Pirates, due to a deal she made with him for an agreed sum he set. She was nearing her goal until Arlong paid a crooked Marine captain to raid and confiscate her treasure, then feigning ignorance when she confronted him about it, prompting Luffy and his developing crew to fight him head on. After Arlong's defeated, she still keeps her thieving skills handy, this time for the Straw Hats and her's benefit, against the rival pirate crews they face. Not afraid to steal the opposing force's treasure if the opportunity presents itself.
** The beginning of the of [[Manga/OnePiece the
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* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': In "Brian Portrait of a Dog", Chris admits to stealing $10 from Meg's room, Meg admits to stealing $10 from her mom's purse, and Lois admits to making counterfeit $10 bills.
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* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': In "Brian "Brian: Portrait of a Dog", Chris admits to stealing $10 from Meg's room, Meg admits to stealing $10 from her mom's purse, and Lois admits to making counterfeit $10 bills.
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* ''Honest Thief'' lives for this trope, the twist being that two [[DirtyCop crooked FBI agents]] are the ones ripping off a retiring crook.
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* ''Honest Thief'' ''Film/HonestThief'' lives for this trope, the twist being that two [[DirtyCop crooked FBI agents]] are the ones ripping off a retiring crook.
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* In ''Film/TuffTurf'', Morgan steals a Porsche, which is promptly stolen by Nick's gang.
-->'''Jimmy''': God, I can't believe they took your car.\\
'''Morgan''': I don't own a car, man.
-->'''Jimmy''': God, I can't believe they took your car.\\
'''Morgan''': I don't own a car, man.
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* ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'': If you question your orders to sabotage and rob a charity art exhibit, the quest-giver reassures you that it's a FakeCharity going to line a vampire's pockets. This information [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration lets you]] steal the "charity" money without penalty to the KarmaMeter.
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* ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'': ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'':
** The {{Starter Villain}}s are gangsters who robbed and beat your FriendInTheBlackMarket rather than deliver on a deal. You can choose to steal the money and supplies back, or [[PayEvilUntoEvil take them off their dead bodies]].
** If you question your orders to sabotage and rob a charity art exhibit, the quest-giver reassures you that it's a FakeCharity going to line a vampire's pockets. This information [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration lets you]] steal the "charity" money without penalty to the KarmaMeter.
** The {{Starter Villain}}s are gangsters who robbed and beat your FriendInTheBlackMarket rather than deliver on a deal. You can choose to steal the money and supplies back, or [[PayEvilUntoEvil take them off their dead bodies]].
** If you question your orders to sabotage and rob a charity art exhibit, the quest-giver reassures you that it's a FakeCharity going to line a vampire's pockets. This information [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration lets you]] steal the "charity" money without penalty to the KarmaMeter.
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* In the ''Series/MrBean'' episode "Merry Christmas, Mr. Bean", while Mr. Bean is collecting money for a Salvation Army band he comes across a young pickpocket at work in a crowd. He forces the thief to put all of the money and goods he has stolen into the collection basket.
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** In ''The Eternity Code'', after being double-crossed by Chicago Mob-associated businessman [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Jon Spiro]], Artemis gets revenge on him by draining his bank accounts.
** In ''Literature/ArtemisFowl: The Opal Deception'', a FictionalPainting entitled "The Fairy Thief" was stolen shortly after its completion and has only ever changed hands through theft. Artemis becomes the youngest person in history to steal it when he heists it from a high security bank vault in Munich.
** In ''Literature/ArtemisFowl: The Opal Deception'', a FictionalPainting entitled "The Fairy Thief" was stolen shortly after its completion and has only ever changed hands through theft. Artemis becomes the youngest person in history to steal it when he heists it from a high security bank vault in Munich.
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** In ''The Eternity Code'', after being double-crossed by Chicago Mob-associated businessman [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Jon Spiro]], Artemis gets revenge on him by draining his bank accounts. He gives most of it as an InvoluntaryCharityDonation to Amnesty International, and keeps a small portion of it for himself as a "finder's fee".
**In ''Literature/ArtemisFowl: The ''The Opal Deception'', Deception'' features a FictionalPainting entitled "The Fairy Thief" Thief", which was stolen shortly after its completion and has only ever changed hands through theft. Artemis becomes the youngest person in history to steal it when he heists it from a high security bank vault in Munich.
**
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* ''Film/StrangerThanParadise'': Eva is just taking a walk on a Florida beach when a drug dealer shows up, mistakes her for a courier, and hands her an envelope stuffed full of cash. Eva immediately leaves town with the money. The real courier, a woman of similar age wearing a similar wide-brimmed hat, shows up moments later. Unlike many examples of this trope Eva gets away with it.
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* ''Film/{{Dollars}}'' ("Dollars"): Joe (Creator/WarrenBeatty) gets the idea to rob a bank where he works as security manager. What he does is, he calls in a fake bomb threat robbery, then pretends to foil the robbery, while actually robbing three safety deposit boxes rented by crooks who keep their loot at the bank. This means that the people he robbed can't call the cops. They can, however, come after Joe themselves.
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* ''VideoGame/SidMeiersPirates'': Each of the Top 10 Pirates has [[PirateBooty buried treasure]] somewhere on the map, which increases in value the longer the pirate stays alive in-game. The player character can dig up treasure belonging to a living pirate, in which case they'll drop everything to seek {{Revenge}}.
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* ''Franchise/LupinIII'': General rule of thumb with Lupin: either his target is just some valuable treasure piece or from folks already rich, more often than not the latter will be crooks and thieves themselves. Which suits him just fine as he likes the challenge and sees no worth or honor stealing from ordinary people.
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* ''Franchise/LupinIII'': General rule of thumb with Lupin: either his target is just some valuable treasure piece or from folks already rich, more often than not the latter will be crooks and thieves themselves. Which suits him just fine as he likes the challenge and sees no worth or honor in stealing from ordinary people.people.
* Laurent in ''Anime/GreatPretender'' is a GentlemanThief ConArtist who has a strict moral code of only conning crooks. When his apprentice Makoto tries to show off by tricking a random bystander into agreeing to pay for their meal at a restaurant, he pays for it himself saying his conscience wouldn't allow it.
* Laurent in ''Anime/GreatPretender'' is a GentlemanThief ConArtist who has a strict moral code of only conning crooks. When his apprentice Makoto tries to show off by tricking a random bystander into agreeing to pay for their meal at a restaurant, he pays for it himself saying his conscience wouldn't allow it.
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* ''Franchise/LupinIII'': General rule of thumb with Lupin: either his target is just some valuable treasure piece or from folks already rich, more often then not the latter will be crooks and thieves themselves. Which suits him just fine as he likes the challenge and sees no worth or honor stealing from ordinary people.
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* ''Franchise/LupinIII'': General rule of thumb with Lupin: either his target is just some valuable treasure piece or from folks already rich, more often then than not the latter will be crooks and thieves themselves. Which suits him just fine as he likes the challenge and sees no worth or honor stealing from ordinary people.
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** The beginning of the of the series had Nami doing this to other pirates she came across (the anime even featuring her much earlier then where she originally debuted likewise robbing pirates and corrupted Marines). Initially it seemed she was doing this out of greed until the ''Arlong arc'' where it's revealed she was actually doing it to buy back her home island from Arlong, captain of the Fishman Pirates, due to a deal she made with him for an agreed sum he set. She was nearing her goal until Arlong paid a crooked Marine captain to raid and confiscate her treasure, then feigning ignorance when she confronted him about it, prompting Luffy and his developing crew to fight him head on. After Arlong's defeated, she still keeps her thieving skills handy, this time for the Straw Hats and her's benefit, against the rival pirate crews they face. Not afraid to steal the opposing force's treasure if the opportunity presents itself.
to:
** The beginning of the of the series had Nami doing this to other pirates she came across (the anime even featuring her much earlier then than where she originally debuted likewise robbing pirates and corrupted Marines). Initially it seemed she was doing this out of greed until the ''Arlong arc'' where it's revealed she was actually doing it to buy back her home island from Arlong, captain of the Fishman Pirates, due to a deal she made with him for an agreed sum he set. She was nearing her goal until Arlong paid a crooked Marine captain to raid and confiscate her treasure, then feigning ignorance when she confronted him about it, prompting Luffy and his developing crew to fight him head on. After Arlong's defeated, she still keeps her thieving skills handy, this time for the Straw Hats and her's benefit, against the rival pirate crews they face. Not afraid to steal the opposing force's treasure if the opportunity presents itself.
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* ''ComicBook/SensationalSheHulk'': The subplot of issue #10 revolves around Jen prosecuting a police officer who stole money from drug dealers and giving it to victims of crime. One reporter points out that some people see the officer as a hero.
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* ''Film/CityOfIndustry'': A group of four criminals pull a succesful heist on a jewelry store. Their youngest member then betrays the other three to keep the loot all to himself, except he missed one--who spends the rest of the film tracking him down to get revenge.
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* ''Film/CityOfIndustry'': A group of four criminals pull a succesful heist on a jewelry store. Their youngest member then betrays the other three to keep the loot all to himself, except he missed one--who spends the rest of the film tracking him down to get revenge.
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* ''Film/CityOfIndustry'': A group of four criminals pull a succesful heist on a jewelry store. Their youngest member betrays the other three to keep the loot for himself, except he missed one--who spends the rest of the film tracking him down to get revenge.
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* ''Film/CityOfIndustry'': A group of four criminals pull a succesful heist on a jewelry store. Their youngest member then betrays the other three to keep the loot for all to himself, except he missed one--who spends the rest of the film tracking him down to get revenge.
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* ''Film/CityOfIndustry'': A group of four criminals pull a succesful heist on a jewelry store. Their youngest member betrays the other three to keep the loot for himself, except he missed one--who spends the rest of the film tracking him down to get revenge.
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* ''Series/{{Castle}}'': One VictimOfTheWeek was a prep school girl who, along with two of her classmates, burglarized the homes of their wealthy classmates. Their biggest score was burglarizing the home of her [[AmoralAttorney father]]'s clients, a gang of bank robbers.
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-->--'''Nacho Varga''', ''Series/BetterCallSaul''
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* ''Brother Cadfael'': In Eye Witness, the abbey's stolen gold is found and taken by a itinerant peddler... right back to the abbey, where he waits alongside the porter for the thief to be caught. The peddler confesses that he was quite tempted to just take the gold and flee, but in the end decided it was better to have a small but honest reward rather than a purely hypothetical gain accompanied by jail time.
* Deconstructed in ''Literature/GoingPostal''. Moist von Lipwig spent most of his life convinced he was doing this on the grounds of "[[TheBarnum you can't fool an honest man]]", concentrating on {{Violin Scam}}s or only stealing from large businesses. However, he comes to realize that he was still hurting innocent people in the process (culminating in TheReveal that his LoveInterest lost her job as a bank teller when she was blamed after he tricked her into accepting a bad check before they'd properly met -- seeing only the faceless employee of his mark at the time).
* Deconstructed in ''Literature/GoingPostal''. Moist von Lipwig spent most of his life convinced he was doing this on the grounds of "[[TheBarnum you can't fool an honest man]]", concentrating on {{Violin Scam}}s or only stealing from large businesses. However, he comes to realize that he was still hurting innocent people in the process (culminating in TheReveal that his LoveInterest lost her job as a bank teller when she was blamed after he tricked her into accepting a bad check before they'd properly met -- seeing only the faceless employee of his mark at the time).
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* ''Brother Cadfael'': ''Literature/BrotherCadfael'': In Eye Witness, the abbey's stolen gold is found and taken by a itinerant peddler... right back to the abbey, where he waits alongside the porter for the thief to be caught. The peddler confesses that he was quite tempted to just take the gold and flee, but in the end decided it was better to have a small but honest reward rather than a purely hypothetical gain accompanied by jail time.
* Deconstructed in ''Literature/GoingPostal''. Moist von Lipwig spent most of his life convinced he was doing this on the grounds of "[[TheBarnum you can't fool an honest man]]", concentrating on {{Violin Scam}}s or only stealing from large businesses. However, he comes to realize that he was still hurting innocent people in theprocess (culminating process, culminating in TheReveal that his LoveInterest lost her job as a bank teller when she was blamed after he tricked her into accepting a bad check before they'd properly met -- seeing only the faceless employee of his mark at the time).time.
* Deconstructed in ''Literature/GoingPostal''. Moist von Lipwig spent most of his life convinced he was doing this on the grounds of "[[TheBarnum you can't fool an honest man]]", concentrating on {{Violin Scam}}s or only stealing from large businesses. However, he comes to realize that he was still hurting innocent people in the
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* Both ''Literature/NoCountryForOldMen'' and [[Film/NoCountryForOldMen its movie adaptation]] invoke this trope to get [[ImplacableMan Anton Chigurh]] chasing [[AntiHero Llewelyn Moss]], a Vietnam veteran who stumbles on a drug deal gone awry.
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* Both ''Literature/NoCountryForOldMen'' and [[Film/NoCountryForOldMen its movie adaptation]] invoke this trope to get [[ImplacableMan Anton Chigurh]] chasing [[AntiHero Llewelyn Moss]], a Vietnam veteran who stumbles on a drug deal gone awry. He steals a [[BriefcaseFullOfMoney suitcase full of money]] from the scene, with no one to see except one AlmostDeadGuy...
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-->'''Jimmy:''' Help me out here. Did I dream it, or did I have $1,600,000 on my desk in cash? When I close my eyes, I can still see it. It's burned into my retinas like I was staring into the sun. No one on God's green earth knew we had it. We could have split it 50-50. We could have gone home with $800,000 each! Tax-free!
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[[/folder]]
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----
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** The beginning of the of the series had Nami doing this to other pirates she came across (the anime even featuring her much earlier then where she originally debuted likewise robbing pirates and corrupted Marines). Initially it seemed she was doing this out of greed until the ''Arlong arc'' where it's revealed she was actually doing it to buy back her home island from Arlong, Captain of the Fishman Pirates, due to a deal she made with him for an agreed sum he set. She was nearing her goal until Arlong paid a crooked Marine captain to raid and confiscate her treasure, then feigning ignorance when she confronted him about it, prompting Luffy and his developing crew to fight him head on. After Arlong's defeated, she still keeps her thieving skills handy, this time for the Straw Hats and her's benefit, mostly trying to keep anything the steals for herself.
to:
** The beginning of the of the series had Nami doing this to other pirates she came across (the anime even featuring her much earlier then where she originally debuted likewise robbing pirates and corrupted Marines). Initially it seemed she was doing this out of greed until the ''Arlong arc'' where it's revealed she was actually doing it to buy back her home island from Arlong, Captain captain of the Fishman Pirates, due to a deal she made with him for an agreed sum he set. She was nearing her goal until Arlong paid a crooked Marine captain to raid and confiscate her treasure, then feigning ignorance when she confronted him about it, prompting Luffy and his developing crew to fight him head on. After Arlong's defeated, she still keeps her thieving skills handy, this time for the Straw Hats and her's benefit, mostly trying to keep anything against the steals for herself. rival pirate crews they face. Not afraid to steal the opposing force's treasure if the opportunity presents itself.
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* ''Anime/OnePieceFilmGold'': The middle of the film have the Straw Hats teaming with a rival of Nami's name Carina to rob from the villain of the movie, Gild Tesoro, both as revenge for tricking them and putting the crew under his debt after losing in a crooked Craps game and likewise to save Zoro who he has captured. [[spoiler: Ultimately Carina is the one who gets away with the goods after Tesoro's defeated, having stolen his ''entire city wide golden boat''. But not to say the Straw Hats don't leave empty handed, they both regain their freedom, Zoro and Nami manages to get away with some of Tesoro's golden rings to boot.]]
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* ''Manga/OnePiece'':
** The beginning of the of the series had Nami doing this to other pirates she came across (the anime even featuring her much earlier then where she originally debuted likewise robbing pirates and corrupted Marines). Initially it seemed she was doing this out of greed until the ''Arlong arc'' where it's revealed she was actually doing it to buy back her home island from Arlong, Captain of the Fishman Pirates, due to a deal she made with him for an agreed sum he set. She was nearing her goal until Arlong paid a crooked Marine captain to raid and confiscate her treasure, then feigning ignorance when she confronted him about it, prompting Luffy and his developing crew to fight him head on. After Arlong's defeated, she still keeps her thieving skills handy, this time for the Straw Hats and her's benefit, mostly trying to keep anything the steals for herself.
** ''Anime/OnePieceFilmGold'': The middle of the film have the Straw Hats teaming with a rival of Nami's name Carina to rob from the villain of the movie, Gild Tesoro, both as revenge for tricking them and putting the crew under his debt after losing in a crooked Craps game and likewise to save Zoro who he has captured. [[spoiler: Ultimately Carina is the one who gets away with the goods after Tesoro's defeated, having stolen his ''entire city wide golden boat''. But not to say the Straw Hats don't leave empty handed, they both regain their freedom, Zoro and Nami manages to get away with some of Tesoro's golden rings to boot.]]
** The beginning of the of the series had Nami doing this to other pirates she came across (the anime even featuring her much earlier then where she originally debuted likewise robbing pirates and corrupted Marines). Initially it seemed she was doing this out of greed until the ''Arlong arc'' where it's revealed she was actually doing it to buy back her home island from Arlong, Captain of the Fishman Pirates, due to a deal she made with him for an agreed sum he set. She was nearing her goal until Arlong paid a crooked Marine captain to raid and confiscate her treasure, then feigning ignorance when she confronted him about it, prompting Luffy and his developing crew to fight him head on. After Arlong's defeated, she still keeps her thieving skills handy, this time for the Straw Hats and her's benefit, mostly trying to keep anything the steals for herself.
** ''Anime/OnePieceFilmGold'': The middle of the film have the Straw Hats teaming with a rival of Nami's name Carina to rob from the villain of the movie, Gild Tesoro, both as revenge for tricking them and putting the crew under his debt after losing in a crooked Craps game and likewise to save Zoro who he has captured. [[spoiler: Ultimately Carina is the one who gets away with the goods after Tesoro's defeated, having stolen his ''entire city wide golden boat''. But not to say the Straw Hats don't leave empty handed, they both regain their freedom, Zoro and Nami manages to get away with some of Tesoro's golden rings to boot.]]
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# Be prepared for intense scrutiny, both from vengeful criminal syndicates and [[CopsAndDetectives the people who catch them]]. You will need to get really good at [[XanatosGambit the]] [[BatmanGambit various]] [[GambitRoulette gambits]] really fast to come out on top.
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# Be prepared for intense scrutiny, both from vengeful criminal syndicates and [[CopsAndDetectives the people who catch them]]. You will need to get really good at [[XanatosGambit the]] [[BatmanGambit various]] [[GambitRoulette gambits]] everything on ThePlan index really fast to come out on top.
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* ''VideoGame/SlyCooper'': The Cooper Gang's modus operandi. They steal things from big-name criminals because there's no fun or honor in stealing from regular people.
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* ''VideoGame/SlyCooper'': The Cooper Gang's modus operandi. They operandi: they steal things from big-name criminals because there's no fun or honor in stealing from regular people.people. In Sly's words, "You rip off a master criminal, you ''know'' you're a master thief". This also helps them feel heroic to the audience, since nearly everyone they steal from is up to some horrible stuff that overshadow simple thievery, and often the Cooper Gang go out of their way to stop their operation alongside the thievery. This is [[ZigZaggedTrope Zig-Zagged]], however: in smaller stories such as the Sly 3 train robbery short, their victims don't appear to have done anything wrong and are robbed simply because [[ItAmusedMe it's fun to steal something valuable from them]].
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->''"I like ripping off thieves because they can't go to the cops. They have no recourse."''
-->--'''Nacho Varga''', ''Series/BetterCallSaul''
In many crime dramas, there is often a [[BriefcaseFullOfMoney briefcase]], and in many briefcases there are often lots and lots of unmarked bills. These bills can be used for [[ThisAndThat all sorts of things]], and ninety-nine times out of a hundred ([[AnthropicPrinciple except when the story is involved]]) they successfully change hands in the criminal underworld, to be traded away at a later date for [[CoolGuns guns]], HookersAndBlow, or [[CorruptPolitician favors from high offices]]. So what happens when a deal goes south and someone not in the loop stumbles on the cash?
The most natural thing in the world: [[EnemyCivilWar thieves stealing from thieves]].
The positives of doing this are obvious from the first. Anyone who wouldn't want a large amount of tax-free dollars cluttering up their crawlspace is either lying or too depressed to function. And let's face it: all the hard work and sacrifices you make for your [[TrueCompanions friends]] and [[FamilyMan loved ones]] [[HardTruthAesop don't even come close to paying the bills most of the time]]. Even if you're put off by the moral greyness of it all, it's not so bad. A lifetime of walking the straight and narrow isn't outweighed by one little victimless crime of opportunity... [[CantGetAwayWithNuthin right]]?
Of course, there are drawbacks. When you take money that doesn't belong to you, a few extra rules for living come into play:
# Be prepared for intense scrutiny, both from vengeful criminal syndicates and [[CopsAndDetectives the people who catch them]]. You will need to get really good at [[XanatosGambit the]] [[BatmanGambit various]] [[GambitRoulette gambits]] really fast to come out on top.
# Strive to be frugal. Solid gold rims for your car and a second story on your house [[SuspiciousSpending will definitely attract suspicion]].
# Look to launder your funds at home [[SwissBankAccount or abroad]] as quickly as possible.
# Avoid [[ForensicAccounting suspiciously adroit pencil-pushers with a penchant for pulling on loose tax threads]].
# Learn how to pilot [[UniversalDriversLicense as many vehicles as possible]] for a quick getaway, if necessary.
The home turf of any self-respecting [[AMacguffinFullOfMoney MacGuffin Full Of Money]], as well as diamonds, gold and other less-than-savory treasures. If it's not already part of a [[ASimplePlan simple plan]] or a [[TheCaper caper]], it may be floating in the wreckage of one. [[UnfortunateItemSwap Accidentally picking up the wrong bag]] can get you to this trope if you're lucky. Often the stomping ground of the KarmicThief.
Compare with StealingFromTheTill, a similar grift albiet in 1.5 million easy installments of $3.00 each, and NoHonorAmongThieves, a major impetus for some of the examples below. And just so we're perfectly clear, DontTryThisAtHome.
%%This page is alphabetized. Please put examples in alphabetical order. This page Administrivia/HowToAlphabetizeThings should help you with that.
----
!!Examples:
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder: Anime & Manga]]
* In ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'', partners-in-crime Isaac and Miria grossly overestimate how bad their previous misdeeds were and decide to atone by stealing the Genoard crime family inheritance to prevent them from fighting over it. Later, the pair want to do something special for their final caper and decide to ''rob the mafia'' as they are depriving hardened criminals of their ill-gotten gains. Given their general stupidity, this was bound to happen.
* ''Franchise/LupinIII'': General rule of thumb with Lupin: either his target is just some valuable treasure piece or from folks already rich, more often then not the latter will be crooks and thieves themselves. Which suits him just fine as he likes the challenge and sees no worth or honor stealing from ordinary people.
* ''Anime/OnePieceFilmGold'': The middle of the film have the Straw Hats teaming with a rival of Nami's name Carina to rob from the villain of the movie, Gild Tesoro, both as revenge for tricking them and putting the crew under his debt after losing in a crooked Craps game and likewise to save Zoro who he has captured. [[spoiler: Ultimately Carina is the one who gets away with the goods after Tesoro's defeated, having stolen his ''entire city wide golden boat''. But not to say the Straw Hats don't leave empty handed, they both regain their freedom, Zoro and Nami manages to get away with some of Tesoro's golden rings to boot.]]
* ''Anime/{{Slayers}}'': Lina Inverse only steals from bandits, feeling it is more moral than to steal from honest people.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Comic Books]]
* In the ''ComicBook/ProjectSuperpowers'' universe, the modern Owl Girl is a brutal vigilante who is open about the fact that her fight against criminals is funded by money stolen from the various gangsters and drug dealers she's killed.
* ''ComicBook/ThePunisher'': In order to fund his [[VigilanteMan war on crime]], Frank Castle constantly steals the money from criminals he kills (and equipment, when they are gun runners), thinking that already being blood money it's only karmic (and when it comes to guns, it's to make sure criminals aren't [[CrooksAreBetterArmed better equipped than the police]]).
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Fanfiction]]
* ''Fanfic/DungeonKeeperAmi'': Stealing for their CastFromMoney magic from each other happens between Dungeon Keepers, who are basically all criminals:
** Ami from Morrigan, by FlashyTeleportation minion.
** Midori from Ami by ThiefBag and teleporting away after.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Film - Live-Action]]
* In ''Film/{{Blade}}'', Dr. Karen Jenson takes umbrage at the fact Blade steals the money from a bunch of crooks that he saved her from (actually minions of the vampires that were out to silence her). Blade snarks that [[HunterOfMonsters his line of work]] isn't a charity and thus he needs to get the money from anywhere he can (there is also the underlying irony of using the money from the absurdly rich vampire courts to fund his hunting).
* ''Film/TheDriver'' has completed the heist, and eluded pursuit by both the police and the double-crossing punks. The detective thinks he's finally caught this outlaw as he's carrying a valet case full of money, and makes the arrest... but the case is empty, so there's no incriminating evidence.
--> '''The Detective''': Looks like we both got gypped by the exchange man.
* ''Film/TheFastAndTheFurious'':
** ''Film/TwoFastTwoFurious'': Not a major haul, but Brian and Roman not only walk away with clean rap sheets for their help bringing down the villain, but even manage to grab some of the money he was laundering and sneak away with it once he's arrested.
** ''Film/FastFive'': The entirety of the film has Dom and Brian putting a team together to take on the crooked cartel boss they gained the ire of. Culminating in them literally ''stealing his money vault and dragging it through the streets of Rio.''
* ''Honest Thief'' lives for this trope, the twist being that two [[DirtyCop crooked FBI agents]] are the ones ripping off a retiring crook.
*''Film/TheItalianJob2003'' falls under this trope in the form of a heist against a former member who stole the take from their previous heist and murdered their mentor.
** A proposed sequel to [[Film/TheItalianJob1969 the original film]] would have involved this trope as well, with the gang chasing down the loot after it falls into the hands of the French mob.
* In ''Film/ItsAMadMadMadMadWorld'', this trope plays into Captain Culpeper's motivation: steal the money out from under a bunch of marauding treasure-seeking idiots, then cross the border into Mexico to live out retirement in comfort. Simple, right? [[HilarityEnsues Not in this movie]].
* In ''Film/LockStockAndTwoSmokingBarrels'', this is how Eddie, Tom, Bacon, and Soap come up with the half a million pounds they owe to Harry: they plan on robbing their neighbors after they have themselves robbed a major cannabis grower.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Literature]]
* ''Literature/AesopsFables'': In "The Wolf and the Lion," a wolf steals a lamb, only to have it stolen from him by a lion. The wolf yells at the lion for stealing "his" property, but the lion mockingly asks the wolf if he obtained the lamb legally. The fable ends there, implying that the wolf had no grounds to argue back.
-->'''Moral:''' "What is evil won is evil lost."
* In ''Literature/AliBabaAndTheFortyThieves'', the eponymous character takes some treasures from the robbers' secret hoard. When his brother Cassim tries to do the same, the robbers catch and execute him, but the story shows it to be a punishment for his selfishness and greed, not for the act of stealing itself.
* ''Literature/ArtemisFowl'':
** In ''The Eternity Code'', after being double-crossed by Chicago Mob-associated businessman [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Jon Spiro]], Artemis gets revenge on him by draining his bank accounts.
** In ''Literature/ArtemisFowl: The Opal Deception'', a FictionalPainting entitled "The Fairy Thief" was stolen shortly after its completion and has only ever changed hands through theft. Artemis becomes the youngest person in history to steal it when he heists it from a high security bank vault in Munich.
* In ''Literature/TheBremenTownMusicians'', the musicians scare away a group of robbers and seize their house and other possessions for themselves.
* ''Brother Cadfael'': In Eye Witness, the abbey's stolen gold is found and taken by a itinerant peddler... right back to the abbey, where he waits alongside the porter for the thief to be caught. The peddler confesses that he was quite tempted to just take the gold and flee, but in the end decided it was better to have a small but honest reward rather than a purely hypothetical gain accompanied by jail time.
* Deconstructed in ''Literature/GoingPostal''. Moist von Lipwig spent most of his life convinced he was doing this on the grounds of "[[TheBarnum you can't fool an honest man]]", concentrating on {{Violin Scam}}s or only stealing from large businesses. However, he comes to realize that he was still hurting innocent people in the process (culminating in TheReveal that his LoveInterest lost her job as a bank teller when she was blamed after he tricked her into accepting a bad check before they'd properly met -- seeing only the faceless employee of his mark at the time).
* ''Literature/GoneGirl'': Amy views her money as being stolen from her to pay for The Bar, which is how she justifies taking money from Nick to fund her [[spoiler:attempt to fake her own death.]] The money then gets stolen from her by Jeff and Greta, two fellow low lives who figure out that Amy is carrying a lot of money and being pretty naive about it.
* Over the course of ''Literature/{{Millennium|Series}}'', Lisbeth Salander steals a fortune from a white-collar criminal. Since she can't simply turn the money over to the police without facing questions about how it ended up in her possession, she simply holds on to it, occasionally donating some of it to charity or using some of it to pay for her former guardian's therapy.
* Both ''Literature/NoCountryForOldMen'' and [[Film/NoCountryForOldMen its movie adaptation]] invoke this trope to get [[ImplacableMan Anton Chigurh]] chasing [[AntiHero Llewelyn Moss]], a Vietnam veteran who stumbles on a drug deal gone awry.
* Ian Fleming's short story ''[[Literature/OctopussyAndTheLivingDaylights Octopussy]]'' has Smythe, a British Army officer, abscond to the Caribbean with his wife and some NaziGold directly after World War II, only for him to run into none other than [[Literature/JamesBond James Bond]], the secret agent trying to get it back, a few decades later. Despite the initial success, it's portrayed as [[PyrrhicVictory a rather melancholy affair]], as the money fails to alleviate either Mrs. Smythe's [[DrivenToSuicide overdose on pills]] or Smythe's [[TheAlcoholic drinking problem]].
* The standard plot for the stories in Leslie Charteris's ''Literature/TheSaint'' series had Simon Templar (AKA The Saint) stealing from or tricking criminals, thus obtaining their ill-gotten wealth. He usually gave most of the money back to the criminals' victims, keeping only a small percentage for himself.
* ''A Simple Plan'' and [[Film/ASimplePlan its adaptation]] explore this trope in detail, along with [[RealityEnsues its many, many drawbacks]], when a backwoods yokel and his brother stumble on a wad of cash in a downed airplane.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/BetterCallSaul'':
** Subverted in the episode "[[Recap/BetterCallSaulS1E7Bingo Bingo]]", where Jimmy and Mike only take the Kettlemans' embezzled money [[FramingTheGuiltyParty to force them to take a plea deal]] for stealing it in the first place. Jimmy [[BeingGoodSucks regrets]] not invoking this trope [[Recap/BetterCallSaulS1E10Marco later on]], though:
-->'''Jimmy:''' Help me out here. Did I dream it, or did I have $1,600,000 on my desk in cash? When I close my eyes, I can still see it. It's burned into my retinas like I was staring into the sun. No one on God's green earth knew we had it. We could have split it 50-50. We could have gone home with $800,000 each! Tax-free!
** Played straight with Nacho Varga, who outright prefers to rob other criminals because they can't go to the police. When he learns about the Kettlemans' embezzlement money, he plans to steal it from them, knowing they'll take the fall for it, and is only thwarted from doing so by Jimmy warning them. He does the same thing later when [[StupidCrooks Daniel Wormald]] carelessly leaves his vehicle registration (which includes his real name and home address) out in the open during a drug deal, breaking into his home and robbing him of all the cash he's made selling drugs.
* In ''Series/FargoSeasonFour'', this is a key to resolving the season's conflict - [[spoiler:Ethelrida Smutney steals Don Fadda's ring from Oraetta Mayflower, who stole it from Fadda when she killed him all the way back in the first episode of the season. Ethelrida trades the ring to Loy Cannon, Fadda's rival, in exchange for her parents' debt to Cannon being cancelled. Cannon then turns around and uses the ring to force Don's son Josto to the bargaining table to end the war between their two gangs.]]
* In the ''Series/FilthyRich'' episode "Proverbs 20:6", Eugene gets roped into helping two stoners blackmail Mark, who's been impersonating Eugene's son Jason while the latter is in a coma. After the blackmail attempt is successful, Eugene realizes that the stoners intend to keep the money for themselves, and thus decides to steal the cash and bring it to Jason's hospital bed to pay for his care.
* In ''Series/{{Leverage}}'', the team justifies their many acts of theft and fraud on the grounds that the people they're ripping off have ripped off whichever client hired the Leverage team this week.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Theater]]
* In ''Theatre/TheRingOfTheNibelung'', Alberich steals the Rhinegold, but is robbed of it soon afterwards by Loge and Wotan. Wotan is eager to get the Rhinegold but wouldn't want to renounce love (which is the necessary condition for stealing the gold from its original place in the Rhine).
-->'''Loge''': What a thief stole, steal thou from the thief: couldst better gain aught for thine own?
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Video Games]]
* {{Defied|trope}} in ''VideoGame/BugFables''. In the help dialogue in the Bandit Hideout's storage room, Vi and Leif see a lot of food stored in the boxes and assume that, since it's stolen, there will be no problem if they steal it for themselves. But [[IdealHero Kabbu]] objects, claiming that a thief stealing from thieves is still a thief. Annoyed, Vi and Leif agree to leave Kabbu in the inn next time they would raid the Bandit Hideout.
* ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry5'': In ''Visions of V'', V initially plans on stealing from a rich person to get the necessary funds for his plan, but then decides to steal from muggers since he can take advantage of his weak appearance to draw victims to himself rather than him searching for them.
* In some paths of the ''VideoGame/HenryStickminSeries'', Henry can steal property from the Toppat Clan, which is an international crime syndicate with a huge profile of stealing super valuable items such as large jewels.
* ''VideoGame/SlyCooper'': The Cooper Gang's modus operandi. They steal things from big-name criminals because there's no fun or honor in stealing from regular people.
* ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'': If you question your orders to sabotage and rob a charity art exhibit, the quest-giver reassures you that it's a FakeCharity going to line a vampire's pockets. This information [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration lets you]] steal the "charity" money without penalty to the KarmaMeter.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': When Sokka criticizes Katara for stealing a waterbending scroll from some {{pirate}}s, part of her defense is that they probably stole it themselves.
* In the Creator/{{Netflix}} reboot of ''WesternAnimation/CarmenSandiego'' the titular character is a defector from V.I.L.E. who steals the artifacts they steal in order to return them to their rightful owners. When she can't beat them to the artifact and steal it first.
* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': In "Brian Portrait of a Dog", Chris admits to stealing $10 from Meg's room, Meg admits to stealing $10 from her mom's purse, and Lois admits to making counterfeit $10 bills.
[[/folder]]
-->--'''Nacho Varga''', ''Series/BetterCallSaul''
In many crime dramas, there is often a [[BriefcaseFullOfMoney briefcase]], and in many briefcases there are often lots and lots of unmarked bills. These bills can be used for [[ThisAndThat all sorts of things]], and ninety-nine times out of a hundred ([[AnthropicPrinciple except when the story is involved]]) they successfully change hands in the criminal underworld, to be traded away at a later date for [[CoolGuns guns]], HookersAndBlow, or [[CorruptPolitician favors from high offices]]. So what happens when a deal goes south and someone not in the loop stumbles on the cash?
The most natural thing in the world: [[EnemyCivilWar thieves stealing from thieves]].
The positives of doing this are obvious from the first. Anyone who wouldn't want a large amount of tax-free dollars cluttering up their crawlspace is either lying or too depressed to function. And let's face it: all the hard work and sacrifices you make for your [[TrueCompanions friends]] and [[FamilyMan loved ones]] [[HardTruthAesop don't even come close to paying the bills most of the time]]. Even if you're put off by the moral greyness of it all, it's not so bad. A lifetime of walking the straight and narrow isn't outweighed by one little victimless crime of opportunity... [[CantGetAwayWithNuthin right]]?
Of course, there are drawbacks. When you take money that doesn't belong to you, a few extra rules for living come into play:
# Be prepared for intense scrutiny, both from vengeful criminal syndicates and [[CopsAndDetectives the people who catch them]]. You will need to get really good at [[XanatosGambit the]] [[BatmanGambit various]] [[GambitRoulette gambits]] really fast to come out on top.
# Strive to be frugal. Solid gold rims for your car and a second story on your house [[SuspiciousSpending will definitely attract suspicion]].
# Look to launder your funds at home [[SwissBankAccount or abroad]] as quickly as possible.
# Avoid [[ForensicAccounting suspiciously adroit pencil-pushers with a penchant for pulling on loose tax threads]].
# Learn how to pilot [[UniversalDriversLicense as many vehicles as possible]] for a quick getaway, if necessary.
The home turf of any self-respecting [[AMacguffinFullOfMoney MacGuffin Full Of Money]], as well as diamonds, gold and other less-than-savory treasures. If it's not already part of a [[ASimplePlan simple plan]] or a [[TheCaper caper]], it may be floating in the wreckage of one. [[UnfortunateItemSwap Accidentally picking up the wrong bag]] can get you to this trope if you're lucky. Often the stomping ground of the KarmicThief.
Compare with StealingFromTheTill, a similar grift albiet in 1.5 million easy installments of $3.00 each, and NoHonorAmongThieves, a major impetus for some of the examples below. And just so we're perfectly clear, DontTryThisAtHome.
%%This page is alphabetized. Please put examples in alphabetical order. This page Administrivia/HowToAlphabetizeThings should help you with that.
----
!!Examples:
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder: Anime & Manga]]
* In ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'', partners-in-crime Isaac and Miria grossly overestimate how bad their previous misdeeds were and decide to atone by stealing the Genoard crime family inheritance to prevent them from fighting over it. Later, the pair want to do something special for their final caper and decide to ''rob the mafia'' as they are depriving hardened criminals of their ill-gotten gains. Given their general stupidity, this was bound to happen.
* ''Franchise/LupinIII'': General rule of thumb with Lupin: either his target is just some valuable treasure piece or from folks already rich, more often then not the latter will be crooks and thieves themselves. Which suits him just fine as he likes the challenge and sees no worth or honor stealing from ordinary people.
* ''Anime/OnePieceFilmGold'': The middle of the film have the Straw Hats teaming with a rival of Nami's name Carina to rob from the villain of the movie, Gild Tesoro, both as revenge for tricking them and putting the crew under his debt after losing in a crooked Craps game and likewise to save Zoro who he has captured. [[spoiler: Ultimately Carina is the one who gets away with the goods after Tesoro's defeated, having stolen his ''entire city wide golden boat''. But not to say the Straw Hats don't leave empty handed, they both regain their freedom, Zoro and Nami manages to get away with some of Tesoro's golden rings to boot.]]
* ''Anime/{{Slayers}}'': Lina Inverse only steals from bandits, feeling it is more moral than to steal from honest people.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Comic Books]]
* In the ''ComicBook/ProjectSuperpowers'' universe, the modern Owl Girl is a brutal vigilante who is open about the fact that her fight against criminals is funded by money stolen from the various gangsters and drug dealers she's killed.
* ''ComicBook/ThePunisher'': In order to fund his [[VigilanteMan war on crime]], Frank Castle constantly steals the money from criminals he kills (and equipment, when they are gun runners), thinking that already being blood money it's only karmic (and when it comes to guns, it's to make sure criminals aren't [[CrooksAreBetterArmed better equipped than the police]]).
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Fanfiction]]
* ''Fanfic/DungeonKeeperAmi'': Stealing for their CastFromMoney magic from each other happens between Dungeon Keepers, who are basically all criminals:
** Ami from Morrigan, by FlashyTeleportation minion.
** Midori from Ami by ThiefBag and teleporting away after.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Film - Live-Action]]
* In ''Film/{{Blade}}'', Dr. Karen Jenson takes umbrage at the fact Blade steals the money from a bunch of crooks that he saved her from (actually minions of the vampires that were out to silence her). Blade snarks that [[HunterOfMonsters his line of work]] isn't a charity and thus he needs to get the money from anywhere he can (there is also the underlying irony of using the money from the absurdly rich vampire courts to fund his hunting).
* ''Film/TheDriver'' has completed the heist, and eluded pursuit by both the police and the double-crossing punks. The detective thinks he's finally caught this outlaw as he's carrying a valet case full of money, and makes the arrest... but the case is empty, so there's no incriminating evidence.
--> '''The Detective''': Looks like we both got gypped by the exchange man.
* ''Film/TheFastAndTheFurious'':
** ''Film/TwoFastTwoFurious'': Not a major haul, but Brian and Roman not only walk away with clean rap sheets for their help bringing down the villain, but even manage to grab some of the money he was laundering and sneak away with it once he's arrested.
** ''Film/FastFive'': The entirety of the film has Dom and Brian putting a team together to take on the crooked cartel boss they gained the ire of. Culminating in them literally ''stealing his money vault and dragging it through the streets of Rio.''
* ''Honest Thief'' lives for this trope, the twist being that two [[DirtyCop crooked FBI agents]] are the ones ripping off a retiring crook.
*''Film/TheItalianJob2003'' falls under this trope in the form of a heist against a former member who stole the take from their previous heist and murdered their mentor.
** A proposed sequel to [[Film/TheItalianJob1969 the original film]] would have involved this trope as well, with the gang chasing down the loot after it falls into the hands of the French mob.
* In ''Film/ItsAMadMadMadMadWorld'', this trope plays into Captain Culpeper's motivation: steal the money out from under a bunch of marauding treasure-seeking idiots, then cross the border into Mexico to live out retirement in comfort. Simple, right? [[HilarityEnsues Not in this movie]].
* In ''Film/LockStockAndTwoSmokingBarrels'', this is how Eddie, Tom, Bacon, and Soap come up with the half a million pounds they owe to Harry: they plan on robbing their neighbors after they have themselves robbed a major cannabis grower.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Literature]]
* ''Literature/AesopsFables'': In "The Wolf and the Lion," a wolf steals a lamb, only to have it stolen from him by a lion. The wolf yells at the lion for stealing "his" property, but the lion mockingly asks the wolf if he obtained the lamb legally. The fable ends there, implying that the wolf had no grounds to argue back.
-->'''Moral:''' "What is evil won is evil lost."
* In ''Literature/AliBabaAndTheFortyThieves'', the eponymous character takes some treasures from the robbers' secret hoard. When his brother Cassim tries to do the same, the robbers catch and execute him, but the story shows it to be a punishment for his selfishness and greed, not for the act of stealing itself.
* ''Literature/ArtemisFowl'':
** In ''The Eternity Code'', after being double-crossed by Chicago Mob-associated businessman [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Jon Spiro]], Artemis gets revenge on him by draining his bank accounts.
** In ''Literature/ArtemisFowl: The Opal Deception'', a FictionalPainting entitled "The Fairy Thief" was stolen shortly after its completion and has only ever changed hands through theft. Artemis becomes the youngest person in history to steal it when he heists it from a high security bank vault in Munich.
* In ''Literature/TheBremenTownMusicians'', the musicians scare away a group of robbers and seize their house and other possessions for themselves.
* ''Brother Cadfael'': In Eye Witness, the abbey's stolen gold is found and taken by a itinerant peddler... right back to the abbey, where he waits alongside the porter for the thief to be caught. The peddler confesses that he was quite tempted to just take the gold and flee, but in the end decided it was better to have a small but honest reward rather than a purely hypothetical gain accompanied by jail time.
* Deconstructed in ''Literature/GoingPostal''. Moist von Lipwig spent most of his life convinced he was doing this on the grounds of "[[TheBarnum you can't fool an honest man]]", concentrating on {{Violin Scam}}s or only stealing from large businesses. However, he comes to realize that he was still hurting innocent people in the process (culminating in TheReveal that his LoveInterest lost her job as a bank teller when she was blamed after he tricked her into accepting a bad check before they'd properly met -- seeing only the faceless employee of his mark at the time).
* ''Literature/GoneGirl'': Amy views her money as being stolen from her to pay for The Bar, which is how she justifies taking money from Nick to fund her [[spoiler:attempt to fake her own death.]] The money then gets stolen from her by Jeff and Greta, two fellow low lives who figure out that Amy is carrying a lot of money and being pretty naive about it.
* Over the course of ''Literature/{{Millennium|Series}}'', Lisbeth Salander steals a fortune from a white-collar criminal. Since she can't simply turn the money over to the police without facing questions about how it ended up in her possession, she simply holds on to it, occasionally donating some of it to charity or using some of it to pay for her former guardian's therapy.
* Both ''Literature/NoCountryForOldMen'' and [[Film/NoCountryForOldMen its movie adaptation]] invoke this trope to get [[ImplacableMan Anton Chigurh]] chasing [[AntiHero Llewelyn Moss]], a Vietnam veteran who stumbles on a drug deal gone awry.
* Ian Fleming's short story ''[[Literature/OctopussyAndTheLivingDaylights Octopussy]]'' has Smythe, a British Army officer, abscond to the Caribbean with his wife and some NaziGold directly after World War II, only for him to run into none other than [[Literature/JamesBond James Bond]], the secret agent trying to get it back, a few decades later. Despite the initial success, it's portrayed as [[PyrrhicVictory a rather melancholy affair]], as the money fails to alleviate either Mrs. Smythe's [[DrivenToSuicide overdose on pills]] or Smythe's [[TheAlcoholic drinking problem]].
* The standard plot for the stories in Leslie Charteris's ''Literature/TheSaint'' series had Simon Templar (AKA The Saint) stealing from or tricking criminals, thus obtaining their ill-gotten wealth. He usually gave most of the money back to the criminals' victims, keeping only a small percentage for himself.
* ''A Simple Plan'' and [[Film/ASimplePlan its adaptation]] explore this trope in detail, along with [[RealityEnsues its many, many drawbacks]], when a backwoods yokel and his brother stumble on a wad of cash in a downed airplane.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/BetterCallSaul'':
** Subverted in the episode "[[Recap/BetterCallSaulS1E7Bingo Bingo]]", where Jimmy and Mike only take the Kettlemans' embezzled money [[FramingTheGuiltyParty to force them to take a plea deal]] for stealing it in the first place. Jimmy [[BeingGoodSucks regrets]] not invoking this trope [[Recap/BetterCallSaulS1E10Marco later on]], though:
-->'''Jimmy:''' Help me out here. Did I dream it, or did I have $1,600,000 on my desk in cash? When I close my eyes, I can still see it. It's burned into my retinas like I was staring into the sun. No one on God's green earth knew we had it. We could have split it 50-50. We could have gone home with $800,000 each! Tax-free!
** Played straight with Nacho Varga, who outright prefers to rob other criminals because they can't go to the police. When he learns about the Kettlemans' embezzlement money, he plans to steal it from them, knowing they'll take the fall for it, and is only thwarted from doing so by Jimmy warning them. He does the same thing later when [[StupidCrooks Daniel Wormald]] carelessly leaves his vehicle registration (which includes his real name and home address) out in the open during a drug deal, breaking into his home and robbing him of all the cash he's made selling drugs.
* In ''Series/FargoSeasonFour'', this is a key to resolving the season's conflict - [[spoiler:Ethelrida Smutney steals Don Fadda's ring from Oraetta Mayflower, who stole it from Fadda when she killed him all the way back in the first episode of the season. Ethelrida trades the ring to Loy Cannon, Fadda's rival, in exchange for her parents' debt to Cannon being cancelled. Cannon then turns around and uses the ring to force Don's son Josto to the bargaining table to end the war between their two gangs.]]
* In the ''Series/FilthyRich'' episode "Proverbs 20:6", Eugene gets roped into helping two stoners blackmail Mark, who's been impersonating Eugene's son Jason while the latter is in a coma. After the blackmail attempt is successful, Eugene realizes that the stoners intend to keep the money for themselves, and thus decides to steal the cash and bring it to Jason's hospital bed to pay for his care.
* In ''Series/{{Leverage}}'', the team justifies their many acts of theft and fraud on the grounds that the people they're ripping off have ripped off whichever client hired the Leverage team this week.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Theater]]
* In ''Theatre/TheRingOfTheNibelung'', Alberich steals the Rhinegold, but is robbed of it soon afterwards by Loge and Wotan. Wotan is eager to get the Rhinegold but wouldn't want to renounce love (which is the necessary condition for stealing the gold from its original place in the Rhine).
-->'''Loge''': What a thief stole, steal thou from the thief: couldst better gain aught for thine own?
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Video Games]]
* {{Defied|trope}} in ''VideoGame/BugFables''. In the help dialogue in the Bandit Hideout's storage room, Vi and Leif see a lot of food stored in the boxes and assume that, since it's stolen, there will be no problem if they steal it for themselves. But [[IdealHero Kabbu]] objects, claiming that a thief stealing from thieves is still a thief. Annoyed, Vi and Leif agree to leave Kabbu in the inn next time they would raid the Bandit Hideout.
* ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry5'': In ''Visions of V'', V initially plans on stealing from a rich person to get the necessary funds for his plan, but then decides to steal from muggers since he can take advantage of his weak appearance to draw victims to himself rather than him searching for them.
* In some paths of the ''VideoGame/HenryStickminSeries'', Henry can steal property from the Toppat Clan, which is an international crime syndicate with a huge profile of stealing super valuable items such as large jewels.
* ''VideoGame/SlyCooper'': The Cooper Gang's modus operandi. They steal things from big-name criminals because there's no fun or honor in stealing from regular people.
* ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'': If you question your orders to sabotage and rob a charity art exhibit, the quest-giver reassures you that it's a FakeCharity going to line a vampire's pockets. This information [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration lets you]] steal the "charity" money without penalty to the KarmaMeter.
[[/folder]]
[[folder: Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': When Sokka criticizes Katara for stealing a waterbending scroll from some {{pirate}}s, part of her defense is that they probably stole it themselves.
* In the Creator/{{Netflix}} reboot of ''WesternAnimation/CarmenSandiego'' the titular character is a defector from V.I.L.E. who steals the artifacts they steal in order to return them to their rightful owners. When she can't beat them to the artifact and steal it first.
* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': In "Brian Portrait of a Dog", Chris admits to stealing $10 from Meg's room, Meg admits to stealing $10 from her mom's purse, and Lois admits to making counterfeit $10 bills.
[[/folder]]
