Criminal underworlds have ethnic backgrounds specific to the locale of the setting.

Also see GenericEthnicCrimeGang for the Honorable Mentions - gangs not pervasive enough to have their own tropes yet.

!American
* If the city has a [[FriendlyLocalChinatown Chinatown]], expect the [[TheTriadsAndTheTongs Triads and the Tongs]] to show up at your door. Most mobsters will be more than fluent in Mandarin Chinese, though make sure that you know another dialect (learning Cantonese or Hakka helps) if you really want to get on their good side.
* If the city is Miami, this will vary somewhat by time period:
** In stories set in TheFifties or earlier, the criminals will generally speak [[TheMafia Italian]] or [[KosherNostra Yiddish]].
** Over the course of TheSixties, TheSeventies, and TheEighties, Italian and Jewish criminals will increasingly be replaced by Cubans. The two key dates for this are 1959, when the Cuban Revolution caused a number of the island's gangsters to seek refuge in America, and 1980, when the Mariel Boatlift brought a number of people to Miami who were newly released from Castro's jails. The latter generation will generally be portrayed as more ruthless, less white collar, and less concerned with showing an AffablyEvil face than the former.
** In TheEighties, the Miami underworld increasingly diversifies as criminals from other countries south of the border join the big leagues - Haitians, Central Americans, and especially Colombians. The ''Series/MiamiVice'' image of Miami as the land of TheCartel dates from this era. However, none of these new groups ever ''quite'' displaced the Cubans, especially in the popular imagination.
** Finally, we have TheNineties, when due to subsequent influx of people and capital from the former Soviet Union, you should probably add [[TheMafiya Russian]] to your list of languages.
* New Jersey and New York: as with Miami, this is layered by time period.
** In the nineteenth century, you should speak [[TheIrishMob Gaelic]]. You'll also be able to get through a surprising number of bad neighborhoods with nothing but English, thanks to the local gangs of [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain Politically Incorrect Villains]] who want to drive the Irish immigrants into the sea. Those gangs will ultimately fail, however, and by the end of the nineteenth century are completely extinct.
** In the first half of the twentieth century, [[TheMafia Italian]] becomes absolutely obligatory, as to a lesser extent does [[KosherNostra Yiddish]]. The Irish are still around, often in a MobWar with the Italians, especially for control of the alcohol trade in TheRoaringTwenties. However, this is when the Mafia becomes [[Film/TheGodfather the widely acknowledged leader of the underworld]].
** In the second half of the twentieth century (as seen in ''Film/AmericanGangster''), African-American Vernacular English (AAVE for short)[[note]]Sometimes called Ebonics, though this term quickly acquired pejorative connotations after entering widespread use in TheNineties[[/note]] becomes more and more of a must, especially in Harlem, certain parts of Brooklyn, and Newark. [[TheCartel Spanish]] will come in handy in other parts of the same areas, although a lot of the time the Spanish speakers will be civilians. You'll sometimes hear Greek, especially in the Astoria neighborhood of Queens. Finally, thanks to immigration, [[TheMafiya Russian]] becomes more important as well, especially in the vicinity of [[Film/LittleOdessa Brighton Beach]], which may lead to a MobWar with the Italians.
* [[Film/TheUntouchables1987 Chicago]], Illinois: You can speak Italian or [[TheIrishMob Irish]]. Just don't let the Yiddish guys hear you, unless you have a deal with the Italians. Don't forget to watch out for the Polish folks, as well: they own the town. And on the South Side, you can find a lot of GangBangers speaking AAVE and Spanish.
* [[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas Los Angeles]], [[UsefulNotes/{{California}} California]]: Speak Spanish, and learn the difference between "barrio" and "narco". In certain parts of the city and in the surrounding countryside, [[AllBikersAreHellsAngels men on motorcycles are not your friends]]. You will also need AAVE, Chinese, Korean, [[{{Yakuza}} Japanese]], [[TheMafiya Russian]] and Vietnamese, plus others you'd never considered, like Armenian. You know, really, [[WretchedHive you should just keep quiet]].
* UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco, UsefulNotes/{{California}}: Speak Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, and AAVE, lest you get [[BoomHeadshot your head blown off]]. In the old days, you'll have heard Italian along the way.
* [[Series/TheWire Baltimore]], Maryland: AAVE and Greek, to a lesser extent. Italian used to be spoken in this city but the local Mafia presence is now non-existent.
* UsefulNotes/{{Philadelphia}}, [[UsefulNotes/{{Pennsylvania}} Pennsylvania]]: AAVE, Italian, Irish, and the occasional Greek. Remember how "[[Music/BruceSpringsteen they blew up the Chicken Man in Philly last night]]"? That's the Mafia.
** Speaking of that song: [[Series/BoardwalkEmpire Atlantic City]], [[UsefulNotes/NewJersey New Jersey]]: AAVE in the hood, Philly Italian historically and near the casinos.
* [[Series/{{Brotherhood}} Providence]], Rhode Island: Irish and Italian.
* [[Film/TheDeparted Boston]], Massachusetts: Mostly Irish, with the occasional Italian or AAVE thrown in for flavor. In reality, knowing French, Portuguese, and/or Spanish doesn't hurt either, due to the Haitian, Cape Verdean, Brazilian, and Colombian communities in the city, though most of them are quite civil.
* [[Franchise/RoboCop Detroit]], [[UsefulNotes/{{Michigan}} Michigan]]: Mostly AAVE, but you'll hear snatches of very menacing Italian and Greek. [[Film/GranTorino If you plan on hanging in Highland Park, learn Hmong]]. The ones speaking Arabic (Chaldeans, mostly) and Armenian look menacing, but are completely aboveboard and harmless [[{{Profiling}} unless you plan on knocking over their store/restaurant]].
* UsefulNotes/NewOrleans, Louisiana: Historically Italian, nowadays it's AAVE.
* UsefulNotes/{{Cleveland}}, UsefulNotes/{{Ohio}}: A chaotic mixture of Irish and Italian especially in [[TheSeventies the 70s]].
* UsefulNotes/KansasCity, Missouri: [[Series/FargoSeasonFour Used to be a rather violent boiling pot of Italian, Irish, Yiddish, and AAVE]]. Once the home of Tom Pendergast, a notoriously CorruptPolitician.
* In almost any mid-sized Northeastern or Midwestern city, Italian is the lingua franca for crime syndicates.
* Though rarely shown in media portrayals, [[UsefulNotes/{{Hawaii}} Hawaii]] has an underworld reflective of its diversity. {{Yakuza}}, [[TheTriadsAndTheTongs Triads and especially Tongs]] are prevalent, and there are also many factions of Polynesian ethnicities such as Native Hawaiians, Samoans, and Tongans. Deliberately averted in the second volume of ''Hawaiian Dick'', which instead focuses on a generic mob war between mainland Mafia and Irish factions.
* If you live near the border, you better watch out for TheCartel or RuthlessForeignGangsters that speak Spanish.
* [[FlyoverCountry The rural United States]] in general will feature [[AllBikersAreHellsAngels Outlaw Bikers]] (see the international section below), [[HillbillyMoonshiner Hillbilly Moonshiners]] (though the latter trope is gradually dying out) and the occasional [[DeepSouth Southern-style]] mobster. Their more respectable counterpart (and sometimes competitor) will be a SmallTownTyrant (potentially a FatSweatySouthernerInAWhiteSuit), who will typically hold a respectable position in society (as sheriff, mayor, judge, county commissioner, or simply the richest businessman in the area) that he exploits shamelessly to run all manner of rackets.
* Stories set in UsefulNotes/AmericanPrisons may likely portray the Aryan Brotherhood or other similar [[ThoseWackyNazis Neo-Nazi]]/[[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain white-supremacist]] [[WhiteGangbangers gangs]]. Despite making up less than 1% of the US prison population, they're responsible for ''almost a quarter'' of murders there, so expect them to portrayed as [[Film/AmericanHistoryX very fearsome antagonists]] towards any unlucky inmates who cross paths with them. Occasionally, Neo-Nazi gangsters might be [[Series/BreakingBad found outside of prison]], and are not any less ruthless.

!Non-American or International
* The [[UsefulNotes/UnitedKingdom UK]] has the inescapable LondonGangster, as well as TheYardies to add some ethnic flavour. In older works, TheIrishMob and KosherNostra may make an appearance. In newer ones, it'll be TheMafiya, or its counterparts from other Eastern European countries such as UsefulNotes/{{Serbia}} or UsefulNotes/{{Albania}}.
* UsefulNotes/{{France}} has several ''milieux,'' historically dominated by the Corsican Mob (which Anglo-Americans named ''Union Corse''), particularly in Marseille. More recent works will feature various ethnic gangs from the ''banlieues'' on the outskirts of big cities, which have gradually eclipsed the old Corsican ''milieu,'' and will typically be either North African (especially in Marseille and other Mediterranean cities) or Eastern European (especially in Paris). And then there are the Belgian gangs in the North who specialize in heists.
* UsefulNotes/{{Italy}}, of course, has ''the'' [[TheMafia Mafia]]. The terminology will vary from place to place, however: only in Sicily is organized crime properly referred to as "the Mafia." The Neapolitan version is called the Camorra, which will be portrayed as more refined and concerned with [[AffablyEvil showing a respectable face]], though no less cutthroat. The Calabrian version is called the Ndrangheta, considered more rural, crude, and unsophisticated, but also the most terrifyingly efficient mob in the country, and, arguably, the continent.
* UsefulNotes/{{Ireland}} naturally has TheIrishMob. They've only been present on the Emerald Isle since [[TheSixties the 60s]] unlike their American counterparts but nevertheless, they are still rather prominent in the country.
* RoguishRomani, at least {{stereotyp|e}}ically, will feature across UsefulNotes/{{Europe}} in general, though the farther east the setting, the likelier they are to appear.
* In more recent decades, Muslim immigrant gangs may also make an appearance throughout Europe (though mainly in the west). Broadly speaking, they're likely to be Turkish in UsefulNotes/{{Germany}}, North African (Algerian/Moroccan/Tunisian) in France, and South Asian (Pakistani/Bangladeshi) in the UK.
* UsefulNotes/{{Russia}} is well-known for its own native [[TheMafiya Mafiya]]. For ethnic variety, said Mafiya may consist of Tatars, Ukrainians, Chechens, Jews, and other prominent minorities of Russia. Similar Mafiya groups also exist throughout the rest of the former Soviet Union too, and are quite ethnically diverse.
* Obviously enough, Chinese gangs like TheTriadsAndTheTongs operate mostly in UsefulNotes/HongKong, UsefulNotes/{{Macau}}, UsefulNotes/{{Taiwan}}, and several other countries (mostly in Southeast Asia) which have a large enough Chinese diaspora. Criminal gangs do exist in Mainland UsefulNotes/{{China}}. However, as the Communist government has cracked down on Triad-style secret societies ever since they took power in 1949, they're nowhere near as powerful as their diasporic counterparts. Small-time petty criminals and Chinese-flavoured GangBangers will sometimes be found in coastal cities, especially among internal migrants from UsefulNotes/{{Manchuria}}.
* UsefulNotes/{{Japan}} has the infamous {{Yakuza}}. There are also the (far less notorious) JapaneseDelinquents and the more obscure color gangs (essentially Japanese-flavored GangBangers).
* Many Latin American nations will have TheCartel, but most especially UsefulNotes/{{Colombia}} (particularly in works set in TheEighties) and UsefulNotes/{{Mexico}} (TheNineties and more recently). In older works set between TheWildWest and UsefulNotes/TheMexicanRevolution, Mexico will have {{Bandito}}s; other Latin American nations may as well, [[{{Spexico}} whether or not it's historically accurate]].
* UsefulNotes/{{Brazil}} has a Portuguese-flavored version of the GangBangers who can be found [[Film/CityOfGod in the favelas of Rio De Janeiro and São Paulo]] and a couple of other cities.
* Although rarely depicted in fiction outside of Prohibition, UsefulNotes/{{Canada}} has its own homegrown criminal underworld comprised of Italians, Irish, and Indians as well as occasionally the likes of Chinese, French, and Afro-Canadians. If you do find the Mafia in the Great White North, they are commonly found in Ontario or Quebec. Biker gangs are also commonly found in those two provinces, especially from TheNineties onwards due to the notorious [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_Biker_War Quebec biker war]] and the massive recruitment drive in Ontario at the time.
* UsefulNotes/{{Israel}} unsurprisingly has the KosherNostra, given its large Jewish majority; and due to having a large community of Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union, TheMafiya also has a significant presence in the Israeli criminal underworld. You'll hear them speaking Hebrew or Russian as opposed to Yiddish in this country. Sometimes, Israeli/Palestinian Arabs will also be seen as members of various criminal gangs and syndicates.
* UsefulNotes/{{India}} has a rather distinct history of organized crime. Contemporary works will often feature gangsters based on the infamous D-Company, while period pieces often feature bandits like the Dacoits (like in ''Film/{{Sholay}}'') or Thuggees (''not'' like in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom'').
* Eastern Europe has its fair share of gangsters involved in human trafficking and other criminal operations. If you encounter them, you better speak [[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV Serbian]] or [[Film/{{Taken}} Albanian]] just to avoid trouble. You might even hear [[ComicBook/ThePunisherMAX Romanian]], [[UsefulNotes/{{Bulgaria}} Bulgarian]] and [[UsefulNotes/{{Montenegro}} Montenegrin]] if you go deep into the former Eastern Bloc.
* UsefulNotes/{{Turkey}} has a localized version of the Mafia which is [[RuthlessForeignGangsters every bit as ruthless]] as their Eastern European counterparts. Most gangs are Turkish, but knowing Kurdish or Persian in Istanbul wouldn't hurt.
* UsefulNotes/{{Iran}} is more period-specific, with the mid 20th century's urban outfits being more like the LondonGangster than anything else and most operations past TheNineties being GangBangers. The more upscale mobsters are usually out of reach, and usually tied to the authorities. Along the western border, expect to find (mostly Kurdish) smugglers who usually keep it clean, only bringing in goods that are too heavily taxed or pointlessly banned. Around the southwest and the Hormoz Strait islands, the gangs will be much more aggressive, and will likely speak Arabic (although not necessarily as a first language). The eastern border doesn't exactly have an "underworld" as it's sparsely populated, extremely underdeveloped and right next to two of the world's most nastily war torn and terrorist-infested countries, so some parts are outright Cartel Land, overrun by opium runners with occasional terrorist connections. In older works, any area outside the big cities is home to a Bandit Clan or two.
* [[AllBikersAreHellsAngels Biker gangs]] are almost always portrayed in Western United States settings, especially in rural areas. However in real life, outlaw motorcycle clubs are active all over the USA, Canada, Europe, much of Asia, and especially Australia and New Zealand.
* UsefulNotes/{{Australia}} itself is generally quite period- and location-specific, with gangs generally forming among whoever makes up the most recent immigrant community. The classic Italian Mafia and IrishMob are prominent, but also expect a heavy sprinkle of Russians, Maltese, Chinese, Vietnamese, [[UsefulNotes/{{Lebanon}} Lebanese]], and [[UsefulNotes/{{Sudan}} Suda]][[UsefulNotes/SouthSudan nese]]. [[UsefulNotes/NewZealand Across the water]], Polynesian ethnicities, especially Māori, are also commonly found, ranging from street-level GangBangers to members of highly organised crime syndicates (who often recruit from the Gangbangers).
----