History Main / StealingFromThieves

* ''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.

In many crime dramas, there is often a {{briefcase|FullOfMoney}}, and in many briefcases there are often lots and lots of unmarked bills. These bills can be used for 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?

** Initially in the [[Manga/OnePiece main series]], it seemed Nami was stealing from pirates out of greed and a distaste for them[[note]]because a pirate killed her mother[[/note]], until the Arlong arc revealed that she was actually saving money to buy back her home island from Arlong[[note]]said pirate who killed her mother[[/note]] for a hundred million berries. She was nearing her goal until Arlong paid a crooked Marine captain to steal her money, then feigned ignorance when she confronted him about it, forcing her to start over. This prompted Luffy and his developing crew to fight him head on. After Arlong's defeat, Nami became an official member of the Straw Hat Pirates, and still keeps her thief skills handy; she only steals from other pirate crews and people she finds morally beneath them, but she still steals.

* In ''Film/BackToTheFuture'', Doc Brown steals plutonium from Libyan terrorists, who themselves stole it from the Pacific Nuclear Research Facility.

[[folder: Anime & Manga]]

* ''Anime/{{Slayers}}'': Lina Inverse only steals from bandits, feeling it is more moral than to steal from honest people.

[[folder: Comic Books]]

* Belle and Beau in ''Comicbook/{{Batman}}: Urban Legends'' #18 were working minimum wage jobs at the Iceberg Lounge, until they finally snapped over the ''just how entitled'' the openly-criminal clientele were, and became an OutlawCouple stealing from Gotham's richest crooks. Batman warns them how dangerous this is, but doesn't work ''very'' hard at actually taking them in.

[[folder: Fan Works]]

[[folder:Film - Animated]]

-->'''Papa Bear''': Them cats stole the stolen map we stole, and we ended up with diddly-squat -- nothing.

[[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/{{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.

-->'''Jimmy''': God, I can't believe they took your car.\\
'''Morgan''': I don't own a car, man.

[[folder: Literature]]

[[folder: Live-Action TV]]

* On ''Series/TheWire'', this is Omar Little's MO - robbing drug dealers with a shotgun and redistributing what he takes.

[[folder: Theater]]

[[folder: Video Games]]

* ''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. 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 ''VideoGame/{{Sly 3|HonorAmongThieves}}'' 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]].

[[folder: Western Animation]]

* 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.

** Initially in the [[Manga/ObePiece main series]], it seemed Nami was stealing from pirates out of greed and a distaste for them[[note]]because a pirate killed her mother[[/note]], until the Arlong arc revealed that she was actually saving money to buy back her home island from Arlong[[note]]said pirate who killed her mother[[/note]] for a hundred million berries. She was nearing her goal until Arlong paid a crooked Marine captain to steal her money, then feigned ignorance when she confronted him about it, forcing her to start over. This prompted Luffy and his developing crew to fight him head on. After Arlong's defeat, Nami became an official member of the Straw Hat Pirates, and still keeps her thief skills handy; she only steals from other pirate crews and people she finds morally beneath them, but she still steals.

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.

In many crime dramas, there is often a {{briefcase|FullOfMoney}}, 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?

* ''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. 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]].

** Initially, it seemed Nami was stealing from pirates out of greed and a distaste for them[[note]]because a pirate killed her mother[[/note]], until the Arlong arc revealed that she was actually saving money to buy back her home island from Arlong[[note]]said pirate who killed her mother[[/note]] for a hundred million berries. She was nearing her goal until Arlong paid a crooked Marine captain to steal her money, then feigned ignorance when she confronted him about it, forcing her to start over. This prompted Luffy and his developing crew to fight him head on. After Arlong's defeat, Nami became an official member of the Straw Hat Pirates, and still keeps her thief skills handy; she only steals from other pirate crews and people she finds morally beneath them, but she still steals.

* ''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.

** Initially, it seemed Nami was stealing from fellow pirates out of greed, until the Arlong arc revealed that she was actually saving money to buy back her home island from Arlong for a hundred million berries. She was nearing her goal until Arlong paid a crooked Marine captain to steal her money, then feigned ignorance when she confronted him about it, forcing her to start over. This prompted Luffy and his developing crew to fight him head on. After Arlong's defeat, Nami became an official member of the Straw Hat Pirates, and still keeps her thief skills handy; she only steals from other pirate crews and people she finds morally beneath them, but she still steals.

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?

* ''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.

** 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.

->''I like ripping off thieves because they can't go to the cops. They have no recourse.''

* In the ''VideoGame/EscapeVelocity'' series, you can plunder, capture, and destroy as many [[TheUsualAdversaries Pirate, Renegade, or Marauder ships]] as you want, and the only faction that cares are the Pirates themselves (who are [[AlwaysChaoticEvil universally hostile]] anyway, so it's no major loss).

->''"I like ripping off thieves because they can't go to the cops. They have no recourse."''

** The beginning of the of [[Manga/OnePiece 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.
** ''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.]]