History Main / LegitimateBusinessmensSocialClub

* TotallyNotACriminalFront: A criminal organization disguises itself as an ordinary business to hide its true purpose, but in a thinly veiled way.

* TotallyNotACriminalFront: A criminal organization presents itself to the public as an ordinary business to hide its true purpose.

[[redirect:TotallyNotACriminalFront]]

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!This trope is [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=16937572860.97364600 under discussion]] in the Administrivia/TropeRepairShop.
[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lbsc.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Looks [[TropeNamers legitimate]]. [[RevealingCoverup So why]] the human brick for a {{bouncer}}?]]

->''"Just a Souvenir Shop. Nothing Suspicious About It. No Need to be Alarmed."''
-->-- '''Sign in front of Team Rocket's base''', ''[[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver]]''

Ah, TheMafia. Known for their subtlety and planning, they can orchestrate murder, drug dealing, prostitution, racketeering, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking the sale of non-labelled tomato sauce]] without anyone finding out. But their fronts lack the same subtlety, as can clearly be seen on the massive sign above their hideout that reads, "'''[[PaperThinDisguise Legitimate Casino]]! [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial Not Mafia-owned!]]'''" Expect a great deal of {{Doublespeak}}. Sometimes, what gives the game away is the effort put into securing a supposedly legitimate establishment -- for example, what's that [[{{Bouncer}} scary 350-pound guy doing]] standing in front of a bakery? Other times, it's the total ''lack'' of effort given to make it seem like an actual business -- if this bar is closed for the night, then why did those six men come in as a group, get served free drinks, and then walk into the back room?

Despite the trope name referring to a "social club," it applies to all thinly-veiled front businesses, such as casinos, import/export firms, warehouse or moving companies, and so on. The point of the front business is to have a base of operations for meetings and storing various items, a plausible reason for having twenty 350-pound, [[TheBrute stocky brutes]] on your payroll, access to delivery trucks and warehouses for [[BlackMarket mysterious crates you pick up]], and a way to launder money.

Don't be surprised if a top tailor visits TheDon here with fine cloth and a measuring tape to do a MobBossSuitFitting.

Sometimes non-Mafia criminal organizations such as bikers or other gangs also employ this trope.

The {{Trope Namer|s}} is Fat Tony and the Springfield Mafia's lair on ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', itself a reference to UsefulNotes/AlCapone's famous claim of being just "a legitimate businessman". Compare MostDefinitelyNotAVillain. See also CovertGroupWithMundaneFront, which may overlap with this trope in less parodic cases. Not to be confused with the SmokyGentlemensClub, although it may '''look''' like one in its luxurious decor, especially if it's the personal hangout of TheDon himself. An OutcastRefuge is a non-criminal version for other "outcast" groups to gather in relative safety.

May overlap with an IllegalGamblingDen, which may be hidden behind a [[BookcasePassage sliding fireplace]] in the club. See also CrimeConcealingHobby.
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!!Examples:
[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* The premise of ''Anime/AkibaMaidWar'' is that ''every [[CosplayCafe maid cafe]]'' in Akihabara and some of the businesses that support them are {{Yakuza}} fronts, to varying degrees, and are constantly getting into violent mob wars with each other.
* ''Manga/BlackLagoon'': The Church of Violence/ Ripoff Church is a supposedly [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Christian church that sells weapons]], despite the fact that the church doesn't seem to do anything even remotely religious. [[spoiler: It's hinted that its true purpose is to function as a CIA listening post]]. Other organizations in Roanpur are a bit more legitimate.
* ''Manga/MajinTanteiNougamiNeuro'': Later in the manga, the Hayasaka brothers ran a firearm smuggling operation using a spice shop as a front.
* ''Manga/OnePiece'': According to Creator/EiichiroOda,[[note]]SBS Chapter 884[[/note]] the real-life job of the character Capone "Gang" Bege, a walking homage to mafia movies, would be shoe store manager.
** Donquixote Doflamingo ran one for the [[AristocratsAreEvil World Nobles]] for a time. It was a huge slave ring centered around selling slaves to the Nobles, so they would ignore almost everything else he did. Such as sell weapons to pirates on the side.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* In the ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' comics, the Penguin runs the Iceberg Lounge, a seemingly innocent nightclub, but with areas hidden from the public to deal with things of a more ''illegal'' nature. Batman is aware of this and sometimes hangs around the club in disguise to keep tabs on The Penguin's activities.
* The Kingpin's organization from the Franchise/MarvelUniverse (particularly ''ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}'' and ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'') used to pose as a normal spice business before being eventually exposed.
* ''ComicBook/Robin1993'': The branch of the mafia that Henry Aquista ends up running that used to employ Johnny Warren as a hitman is run out of a pool hall with a SmokyGentlemensClub type atmosphere. Most of them ended up killed by Johnny after he got superpowers.
* ''ComicBook/SinCity'' mobsters usually tend to hide in plain sight. They pretend to be country clubs, legit casinos, and even the church but they are usually fronts for criminal organizations. Most people know this, though. [[CrapsackWorld They just choose to ignore it.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* In [[https://archiveofourown.org/works/14997911/chapters/34760702 The Horsewomen Of Las Vegas,]] the Flair family's "legitimate business" is real estate, which had holding in 19 states and brought in lots of legitimate money. It comes up when Wrestling/TitusONeil, a record mogul, meets Wrestling/CharlotteFlair for the first time, asking for help with some snags he's having with regards to the upcoming music festival, Fozzfest. When she asks him what kind of business he thinks she's in, he bluntly replied "Real estate", which lets her know that he knows very well she's really a crime boss.
* In ''Fanfic/RiskItAll'', Ren learns that a 24-hour diner is a front for the Snake-Flower Triads, making it a target for Black Mask's mafia. But it also means that there are ordinary people inside, springing Ren into action before Black Mask can light the place up with bullets.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* Barry's aviation company "Independant Airline Consultants" from ''Film/AmericanMade''.
* ''Film/BulletsOrBallots'': A gangster racketeering organization calls itself the Metropolitan Business Improvement Corporation.
* In ''Film/DickTracy'', Big Boy Caprice uses the Club Ritz as a front for gambling and a base for his other illegal activities. Tracy isn't fooled, and even manages to use this knowledge to keep tabs on him.
* Nino's Pizza in ''Film/Drive2011''. Doubly so because as Nino's introductory scene points out, he's actually Jewish, and aspires to be held in higher esteem by the Italian Mafia.
* ''Film/GetShorty'' has two in Florida! Vesuvio is an Italian restaurant where, while it might not be owned by the Mafia, they let Ray Bones do whatever he wants. Rich's Barber Shop has the barber actually cutting hair, but the back room is a loan shark office. Even legitimate patrons know it's a front, and tip off Chili Palmer when someone is coming by coughing. Bo Catlett runs a limo service that is a front for a small time drug ring. And one could say the point of the movie is that all of Hollywood is a front for organized crime calling themselves Producers.
* In ''Film/TheGodfather'' films, Vito Corleone poses as an "olive oil importer", and occasional references are made to "the olive oil business" when characters do not want to refer to what ''actually'' goes on. (Subverted in that he actually ''does'' have a legitimate business that imports olive oil; it just isn't where most of his money comes from.) In the original novel, he starts out as a completely legitimate olive oil importer. [[ProtagonistJourneyToVillain Then he cuts corners by intimidating his rivals into selling their business to him]]. Then Prohibition comes along and he realizes there are some bottled goods he can import that would be more profitable than olive oil....
* In ''Film/MississippiBurning'', a savvy, Southern-born FBI agent discovers a hangout where some local men are drinking beer. When he orders one, the crooked sheriff's deputy tells him, "You have to be a member to drink here." The FBI agent asks, "A member o' ''what''?" The deputy replies, "The social club," but it's obvious to everyone (including the audience) that he really means the UsefulNotes/KuKluxKlan.
* In ''Film/TheProfessional'', the scenes with Leon and Tony always take place in an Italian restaurant. Also, when Mathilda Lando poses as a delivery girl to assassinate Norman Stansfield (the man who killed her family), he quickly catches on and pointedly asks her if she's delivering ''Italian'' food.
* In the original ''Film/{{Scarface|1932}}'', Castillo is president of the "First Ward Social Club". After Camonte kills him and Lovo takes over, it becomes the First Ward Athletic Club.
* In ''Film/{{Sneakers}}'', the BigBad's CovertGroupWithMundaneFront would be a lot more convincing if not for the freaking ''laser fencing.''
-->The whole building says, "Go Away."
* ''Film/SomeLikeItHot'': The climax involves the "Friends of Italian Opera", which is a front for the Cosa Nostra.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* ''Literature/{{Baccano}}'': The Martillo Family run a speakeasy in Prohibition-era New York City, with a shop selling honey as a front.
* ''[[Literature/DiogenesClub The Serial Murders]]'' by Creator/KimNewman: Lampshaded -- psychic investigator Richard Jeperson is introduced to some very obvious Legitimate Businessmen by the villain, who is auctioning his supernatural powers to be used for assassination. Upon being introduced to them, Jeperson quips that they must be 'olive oil salesmen', in reference to ''Film/TheGodfather'' example. They [[ActuallyPrettyFunny appreciate the joke]], but the villain -- who is both rather uncultured and a bit of an idiot -- is lost.
* [[AllThereInTheManual According to]] ''[[UniverseCompendium The Discworld Companion]]'', the Ankh-Morpork City Watch first became suspicious that Chalky the Troll was a drugs smuggler for the Breccia when he registered the company name "Hollow Statue Imports".
* Impro Fanfic ''Do Gooders'' had the "Tokyo Legitimate Businessmen's Club" -- probably in tribute to ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''. To their credit, neither the heroes nor the main villain realized their actual purpose until the shoot-out started. Then again, everyone else knows what they really do...
* ''Literature/ElbowRoom'': In short story "The Silver Bullet", R.V. Felton's protection gang pretends to be a "non-profit community-based grassroots organization" that collects revenue from local businesses for community development. They're a protection gang.
* In ''Film/GoneWithTheWind'', Scarlett pays little attention when husband Frank spends most of his nights with other townsmen at "political meetings". But after she's attacked and he goes to another meeting that very night, Melanie finally admits that these meetings are in fact, gatherings of the UsefulNotes/KuKluxKlan, and that they have gone out to avenge the attack on Scarlett. The author herself presents the Klan as this, something that sprung up out of a need to protect innocent white women from rampaging blacks.
* ''Literature/SpySchool'': One of Spyder's rival organizations is called the International Tulip Grower's Association. [[spoiler:Subverted in ''Spy School at Sea,'' where Murray admits that the International Tulip Growers association is a legitimate organization and he only claimed they were evil as part of a LongGame to manipulate Ben.]]
--> [[spoiler: Murray]]: That's the whole point, it's a front. If they called themselves the International Association of Evil People who Commit Crimes for a Living, the good guys would have caught on right away.
* ''Literature/TrickyBusiness'' gives us the Chum Bucket bar and restaurant ([[WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants no relation]]), a harborside establishment in Miami. It's a front for Lou Tarant's chapter of TheMafia and the casting-off point for the ''Extravaganza of the Seas'', a 198-foot casino ship which is also part of their operations. The Coast Guard knows all about it (referring to "our friends at the Chum Bucket"), but they haven't been able to prove anything yet.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/BreakingBad'' and ''Series/BetterCallSaul'':
** [[Characters/BreakingBadGustavoFring Gustavo Fring]] is a [[CorruptCorporateExecutive fast-food tycoon / drug lord]] who uses his chain of fried chicken restaurants (Los Pollos Hermanos) as a legitimate front for his underground meth-trafficking cartel. Gus Fring's drug ring also hides their meth-producing lab underneath a mundane laundromat building called the Lavandería Brillante; it's a perfect front for shipping in industrial quantities of chemicals and having tons of trucks coming and going without anyone batting an eye. Most of the employees (with the exception of the manager) are legitimate, primarily because the laundromat only employs poor Latino immigrants that can be threatened with deportation if they peek too closely on what's really going on. Surprisingly, there's no jokes about "money laundering".
** When [[Characters/BreakingBadWalterWhite Walter White]] earns his massive bucketloads of cash from meth-cooking, [[Characters/BreakingBadSaulGoodman Saul Goodman]] recommends that Walt and Skyler should purchase a legitimate front in order to launder all this money. Saul tries to convince them to buy a laser tag arena (because it's managed by someone in on the take), but Skyler decides the old car wash where Walter used to work is more in-character, including working as the wash's manager to launder the money by reporting additional nonexistent customers. Unfortunately, Walt [[GoneHorriblyRight ends up earning so much money]], there's no way for Skyler to convincingly launder it all, leaving them with a small mountain of greenbacks they can't even use without arousing suspicion.
** Saul also tries convincing [[Characters/BreakingBadJessePinkman Jesse Pinkman]] to purchase a nail salon to launder his own money; but Jesse hates the idea of running a business, paying taxes despite being a criminal, as well as having to give Saul a 17% cut, and so [[DefiedTrope he rejects doing this]].
** Saul has an associate named Ed Galbraith who will give anyone a new, untraceable identity somewhere else in the country within a day for a flat fee of $125,000 per person (and he can raise the fee for more difficult clients). The location he runs this business from is a regular vacuum cleaner repair shop, and the secret code for requesting a disappearance from Ed is to ask for "a new dust filter for a Hoover Max Extract® Pressure Pro™ Model 60".
** Before he ended up in a wheelchair, Hector Salamanca laundered his drug money through a number of Mexican restaurants in the Albuquerque area (one an ice cream parlour called El Griego Guiñador, another named El Michoacáno). It's noted that the money they bring in is far less than Gus' enterprises, and their fate is left unclear after Hector is paralyzed and unable to manage them (and the people left to care for them in his stead end up being killed shortly afterwards).
** Dr. Caldera is a BackAlleyDoctor who works as a vet, providing medical services and contact information for the Albuquerque's criminal underworld. However, he takes his job as a vet quite seriously and only sees his criminal activities as a side business, eventually wiping his hands of illegal activities to focus on being a legitimate vet full-time, passing on his criminal contact info to Saul before leaving town for good.
* An episode of ''Series/DarkAngel'' features the Odessa Social Club, "a perfectly legitimate syndicate". Do not lose their mail.
* In ''Series/DharmaAndGreg'', the parents once jointly bought a boat from a friend of Larry's who would soon be needing a lawyer more than a boat. The name of the boat? ''Innocent Fishing Boat''.
* ''Series/{{Intelligence|2006}}'': The protagonist has many front companies, including a shipyard and a lumber business, but his favorite is a strip club called the Chick-A-Dee.
* Marvel's Netflix shows:
** ''Series/LukeCage2016'': Cornell "Cottonmouth" Stokes has a number of fronts to his name, including real estate holdings, and his nightclub Harlem's Paradise. Harlem's Paradise is enough of a money-spinner that [[CutLexLuthorACheck Cottonmouth could still remain afloat even after losing his other criminal assets]].
** ''Series/Daredevil2015'':
*** In Season 1, Wilson Fisk owns a number of legitimate companies and shell companies to hide the source of his income, investing in real estate and construction.
*** The Hand in Season 2 are hiding behind the face of Asano, Japanese branch of the Roxxon Corporation.
* ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'': Luigi Vercotti would like to remind you that he runs a high-class establishment for the gentry of Biggleswade, and [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial not a cheap clip joint for picking up tarts]].
* In the ''Series/MurderSheWrote'' episode "Love & Hate in Cabot Cove", the new owner of a restaurant in Cabot Cove is running an illegal casino upstairs. Sherrif Metzler is having difficulty proving this (because [[DirtyCop one of his deputies is on the take]], and the owner can switch it out to look like a disused function room), but to Jessica it's really obvious that a lot of people are going upstairs without even pretending that they're there for the restaurant.
* ''Series/SonsOfAnarchy'': It's an open secret in Charming that SAMCRO is an outlaw motorcycle gang who run guns, but they insist that they're simply a motorcycle enthusiasts club and launder their money through the Teller & Morrow Autobody Shop, which is a legitimate business.
* ''Series/TheSopranos'' prominently features a few front businesses used by [[Characters/TheSopranosTonySoprano Tony Soprano]] and fellow members or associates of the [[TheMafia DiMeo crime family]]; including the Bada Bing strip club, Satriale's meat market, and later a nightclub called the Lollipop Club (renamed as the Crazy Horse).
* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'': In "Crazy as a Soup Sandwich", the mob boss Nino Lancaster uses Nino's Toys & Imports at the docks as a cover for his smuggling operation.
* ''Series/TheWire'':
** The Barksdale Organization initially operates out of Orlando's, a strip club, and have a problem with the Front's owner, Orlando, wanting to get into drug dealing for more income, when they need someone to run the club with a clean criminal record. After Avon is arrested, Stringer runs the operation out of a funeral home.
** The Greek's associate Spiros almost always meets his drug dealer associates at a dingy Greek diner that never seems to have any clientele except for an old man who just sits at the counter reading a newspaper. It turns out [[spoiler:that "customer" is the Greek himself]].
** Proposition Joe runs his drug empire out of his appliance repair shop. He actually does repair appliances for people in his community, though he notes that modern society is too wasteful to actually make appliance repair profitable. He does the work because he actually enjoys it.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Pinballs]]
* ''Pinball/TheSopranos'' has both the Bada Bing! strip club and Satriale's Pork Store.
* TheSyndicate in Creator/{{Capcom}}'s unreleased ''Pinball/{{Kingpin}}'' operate out of the Hotel Lex.
[[/folder]]


[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' has a card in the mafia-themed set ''Streets of New Capenna'' called Witness Protection themed after this trope, which transforms the enchanted creature into a new one called "Legitimate Businessperson."
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theater]]
* In ''Theatre/BellsAreRinging'', Titanic Records, which sets up shop within Susanswerphone's offices, is a [[TheMafia Mafia]]-controlled [[IllegalGamblingDen bookie operation]] pretending to be a record company. As Ella innocently observes, the company's ledgers contain a lot of orders for recordings of works of ClassicalMusic that don't actually exist, so she decides to correct some of them, inadvertently putting herself in danger.
* ''The Hairy Ape'': Subverted -- Yank goes to a meeting of the Industrial Workers of the World, expecting it to be a front for an organization that achieves its goals by blowing things up. The people there assume that he is a government spy trying to entrap their genuinely legitimate organization when he approaches them, and kick him out.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* At the beginning of one of the Burger Barn levels in ''Cake Mania 4: Main Street'' Jack mentions a gentleman called Don Carlos who's come to make him an offer. When the level finishes...
-->'''Jack:''' This is great! I'll be providing catering for Mr. Carlos' exclusive social club, the "Legitimate Business Establishment."
* In ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'', Mafia {{Expy}} "The Family" has a pizza chain. Billboards advertise "Made Fresh. By Made Men." Which is most likely a shout-out or homage to Creator/NealStephenson's ''Literature/SnowCrash'' for his Cosa Nostra Pizza, Uncle Enzo and the world's most brutal 30-minutes or less delivery guarantee.
* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'':
** Throughout the series, for obvious reasons, the ThievesGuild doesn't have open guild halls like the [[AdventureGuild Fighters]] or [[MagicalSociety Mages]] guilds. Instead, they tend to operate out of various taverns and clubs in major cities. Justified, as these are something of an OpenSecret to create plausible deniability, since their guild halls ''actually'' being secrets would be bad for business.
** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'':
*** The Thieves Guild and their EvilCounterpart, the [[TheSyndicate Camonna Tong]], both operate out of various taverns and clubs in the major cities that are used as guild halls, and talking to anyone on the street makes it obvious that their function is an OpenSecret. )
*** Averted by the [[MurderInc Morag Tong]], since despite being assassins, their existence is perfectly legal and they have no need to hide their presence (except for their headquarters in Vivec, which is extremely well hidden, partly as a test for would-be initiates and partly as protection from the [[EvilCounterpart Dark Brotherhood]]).
* ''VideoGame/GhostbustersTheVideoGame'': Ivo Shandor ran a club out of the Natural History Museum. Naturally, it was a front for the Cult of Gozer's rituals.
* In ''VideoGame/TheGodfather: The Game'', one suspects that the various families would conceal their businesses better if they didn't post guards around it who smack their fists into the other open palm every time they see you come near. Or outright open fire indiscriminately if your Vendetta with that family is high enough.
* The ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' 3D Universe games have the Marco's Bistro in Liberty City, which is usually a front for the Forelli Family.
** ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoOnline'' allows the player to buy a number of businesses from a non-descipt startup company used to run illegal cargo to a roadside biker bars and nightclubs that also act as hubs for drug and counterfeiting businesses. Returning VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV character Franklin has founded F. Clinton & Partner "Celebrity Solutions Agency" from which the player can both complete a story mission shaking down and murdering people who have copies of a leaked album from Music/DrDre, as well as "security contracts" that range from stealing back stolen goods to destorying rival criminal operations and murdering gang leaders.
* ''VideoGame/AHatInTime'': The DLC stage "Nyakuza Metro" has the head of the titular Nyakuza establish her center of operations as a high-end jewelry store... in the middle of a metro station. The locals mention how out of place it looks in a place where the only businesses are fast food establishments, but the ones who know what kind of person [[TheDreaded The Empress]] is know better than to try and start anything.
* In ''VideoGame/{{KGB}}'', Progressive Enthusiast Club is a bar filled with bums and criminals, which is actually a front for SnuffFilm studio protected by corrupt KGB agents. They also use nearby meat shop to hide corpses of their victims, though unlike [[TheSecretOfLongPorkPies many versions,]] they do not sell human meat there.
* ''VideoGame/KingdomOfLoathing'' has a Penguin Mafia. They run The Raffle House and Uncle P's Antiques; the latter's shopkeeper tells you they are "absolutely, positively a legitimate establishment, and not a front for any sort of criminal activities," and the former's owner says something similar.
* ''VideoGame/MassEffect'' Chora's Den, the strip club on the Citadel, ends up being one of these, with how Fist runs the place.
* The NES game ''VideoGame/Nightshade1992'' has the Pyramid Club, reflecting the BigBad's fixation on ancient Egypt. There's also an all-girl ninja gang that runs the clothing boutique and a restaurant ("Chopsticks and Ninja Stars").
* In the Slaughterhouse heist in ''VideoGame/{{PAYDAY 2}}'', you can find shipping containers labelled "Legitimate Business Ltd."
* In ''VideoGame/Persona2'', Club Zodiac is run by the Masked Circle, a cult with Zodiac-themed names for its members. In the sequel, the club falls under the ownership of the [[TheTriadsAndTheTongs Taiwanese mob]].
* In ''VideoGame/PizzaTycoon'', you can order sabotage devices/weapons from stores which claim to sell "joke articles" and "ice cream", respectively. But if you try to buy weapons openly, they'll tell the police, and prison ensues.
* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'':
** [[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue The first generation of games]] has the Rocket Game Corner, with the entrance to the ElaborateUndergroundBase below it behind a poster guarded by a guy in ''full Team Rocket uniform!'' {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d by one of civilians you encounter in Celadon City:
--->''"Don't look behind the poster! [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial There's no hidden switch behind it!]]"''
** In ''[[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver]]'', the Team Rocket Base has a sign proclaiming its innocence. It also has [[IncrediblyObviousBug a discolored tree with highly visible antennae sticking out of the top]], and the shopkeeper keeps telling you that the breeze coming from that mysterious gigantic box in the middle of the shop is just your imagination and is not coming from any hidden hideout anywhere. It doesn't help that he says it ''every single time you try to buy stuff from him''. Parodied when Team Rocket is driven away and the legitimate owner comes back... and the whistling noise doesn't stop, because she's old and her dentures don't fit right.
** The Game Corner in Veilstone is space-themed, is located in the same place as [[BigBad Team Galactic]]'s headquarters, and [[PaperThinDisguise features Team Galactic symbols as counterparts to triple 7's]]. In fact, the only Game Corner that wasn't once or is an example of this trope was in Hoenn.
* The Umbrella Corporation from the ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' series poses as a pharmaceutical company, but they really deal with {{Bioweapon Beast}}s. Notably, their pharmaceutical work is actually ''more'' profitable than their illegal dealings and some members of the group, like co-founder Edward Ashford and his son Alexander Ashford, wanted to [[CutLexLuthorACheck stick strictly to pharmaceutical work]]. [[spoiler:It's ultimately revealed the company's CEO Ozwell E. Spencer is an EvilutionaryBiologist with serious GodhoodSeeker tendencies, and he couldn't care less about all the money Umbrella makes unless it's being used to push him toward his goal.]]
* ''Franchise/SamAndMax'' has [[SuckECheeses Ted E. Bear's Mafia-free Playland and Casino]], complete with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6LxcdKfKQI a horribly catchy theme song.]]
-->''"N-O-M-A-F-I-A! Oh baby..."''
* In ''VideoGame/ShadowHeartsFromTheNewWorld'', Al Capone owns a high-class club called "Four Deuce" from where he operated until his arrest and subsequent incarceration in [[TheAlcatraz Alcatraz Prison]] some time prior to the events of the game. Now the club is in control of Mao, Capone's DrunkenMaster/[[WaitingForABreak aspiring starlet]]/[[MegaNeko giant cat]] of a bodyguard.
* The rabbit hole lot type generically known as "abandoned warehouse" in ''VideoGame/TheSims3'' is the base for the Criminal career. Specific varieties of this building include two examples of this trope: "Outstanding Citizen Warehouse Corp." (found in Sunset Valley, Riverview, Barnacle Bay, and Hidden Springs), and "Good Guys, Inc." (the [[TheMafia Italian-themed]] equivalent unique to Monte Vista).
* In ''VideoGame/StarCitizen'', Drake Interplanetary produces ships with features ''very'' enticing for aspiring SpacePirates. Drake insists that the extra armor, extra large cargo holds and radar intercept stations are for militias and search and rescue. Even their SpaceTrucker offering has boosted armor, additional weapons, and an extra large cargo hold for "[[BoardingParty search and rescue]]". Their ship naming system certain doesn't help, with names like ''Cutlass'', ''Marauder'', ''Privateer''.
* In ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', the Warlock Trainers in the human city of Stormwind pose as a seedy bar named "The Slaughtered Lamb", in the middle of the magic district. While they are not criminals in the more traditional sense of the word, their demon-summoning activities are forbidden in Stormwind. [[GameplayAndStorySegregation Not that the guards have any problem with the players running around with their demon familiars in plain sight]].
* In the ''Videogame/{{X}}'' series, it's an OpenSecret that the [[OneNationUnderCopyright Teladi Company]] either cooperates or turns a blind eye to the local SpacePirates; their sweatshop shipyards apparently sell directly to the pirates -- as ([[NoseArt modified]]) Teladi ships make up the bulk of pirate squads -- Teladi police generally do not engage pirates, and bounty hunters who destroy pirates do not receive recognition for it.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* In ''Webcomic/AkiAlliance'' there are two rival gangs, the "Girl Gang" and... "The Legitimate Business Club".
* In ''Webcomic/CinemaSnobReviewsFrozen'' (a fan comic where ''WebVideo/TheCinemaSnob'' reviews ''WesternAnimation/Frozen2013''), Snob says Oaken doesn't like being called a crook, because he's is a "legitimate businessman".
* ''Webcomic/{{Lackadaisy}}'' features the cast working in a small café which in ''no way'' has ''any sort of illegal underground speakeasy''. Nope.
** Another St. Louis speakeasy, the Marigold club, is secretly housed within the Maribel Hotel.
* ''Webcomic/ProblemSleuth'': Mobster Kingpin's front for his speakeasy and other operations is the [[ExaggeratedTrope LEGITIMATE ESTABLISHMENT]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* ''WebVideo/ThePittsburghSOAPranos'' The mob soap shop seemingly exists entirely to dispose of bodies, although [[TheDon Old Man Calzone]] seems to take it personally that people prefer Sami's soaps to his. The soaps are extremely pretty, and named after serial killers.
* Discussed in the ''[[Film/TheBoondockSaints Boondock Saints 2: All Saints Day]]'' episode of ''Podcast/WeHateMovies''. The guys, speaking as four New Yorkers, mock the fan hysteria which arises around the mob murders committed by the protagonists, pointing out that most people on the street are ignorant of the presence of organized crime because their business is done behind closed doors at these places; unless you're connected or you get involved in sketchy mob-related business, you won't ''know'' enough to be able to follow the Mafia or the Triads like they're a sports team.
-->'''Stephen:''' The only time the Mafia enters your life in New York City -- if you live in a Mafia neighborhood, which I have done -- is, you can't go into certain coffee shops, and that might be a bummer. That's really it! You go in, and [they say], "we're outta cawffee!", and you're like, "ohhhh, it's one of ''those'' coffee shops. My apologies, Giuseppe! Enjoy your crime!"\\
'''Chris:''' Or one of those bars -- oh, wait, ''tonight's'' karaoke night, and there's nobody here? Weird.\\
'''Andrew:''' Uh, in my neighborhood in Queens, there's a lot of "social clubs", where [people] go to watch "soccer games", and I'm not allowed to go "watch the soccer game". And that's totally fine, and ''that'' is your interaction with the Mafia!
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* [[DanceTropeDance Parodied/subverted/etc]] in one WesternAnimation/BugsBunny cartoon, where Bugs torments a couple of crooks, and finishes up by erecting a huge sign on the side of their hideout. The police find the two crooks in no time.
* Played with in ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'': Fairy mobsters actually do manage waste. Big Daddy's (Wanda's father) company even has the slogan "A Legitimate Business!"
* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': The Mafia do their dealings in the "Pet Store. That's it, pet store." All of the "pets" are cardboard cut outs, and people regularly order "bunnies" in both 12 gauge and semiautomatic (the cops have it bugged).
-->"Whichever 'bunny' you think would be best for shooting a guy in the head."
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'':
** The Robot Mafia, which is based in a meat store called "Fronty's Meat Market: Not a front since 2437". They also run "[[PunnyName Small Bill's Laundering]]".
** A subversion also appears in "Bender Gets Made," in which it appears that the Robot Mafia really ''are'' members of a legitimate club:
--->'''Donbot:''' Perhaps you'd care to join us later, at our... social club.\\
'''Bender:''' Nah, [[NotEvenBotheringWithAnExcuse I'd rather plan some felonies.]]\\
'''Donbot:''' Oh. In ''that'' case, we should meet at our [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Mafia crime headquarters]] instead.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''
** The TropeNamer is Fat Tony's hideout. They have a softball team and "family" picnics.
*** In the episode where Fat Tony's son appeared, the front is "Waste Management".[[note]]The company [[https://www.wm.com/ actually exists]].[[/note]]
** ''The Simpsons'' also has the Ancient Society of No-Homers, which meets at an old Baskin-Robbins with a marquee reading "Abandoned Store".
** Also, in "Homer vs. the Eighteenth Amendment", Moe's Tavern becomes a speakeasy when prohibition is declared in Springfield, and changes its name to "Moe's Pet Shop". The true purpose of the place is obvious, but fortunately for Moe, Rex Banner -- the guy in charge of enforcing the law -- is just as stupid as Wiggum. (Maybe even more so; unlike Wiggum, Rex can't be bribed, but he still can't solve crimes worth squat.)
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* The infamous [[LondonGangster Kray Brothers of London]] ran several legitimate night clubs which let them mingle with celebrities. Some of the celebrities were prominent politicians who ran interference for the Krays for a number of years, until their criminal activities became so open and notorious that nobody could get away with defending them any more.
* UsefulNotes/AlCapone was officially an antiques dealer. He even owned an antique shop. However, most people, including the police and the press, knew what he really was, but couldn't nail him on anything worse than tax evasion.
* For much of his career as a major player in Los Angeles organized crime, [[KosherNostra Mickey Cohen]] worked out of a men's clothing shop and referred to himself as a haberdasher.
* The Japanese {{Yakuza}} gangs stand in an interesting contrast to this trope: they are in no way secret societies, and openly maintain offices. Members may even have business cards. That being said, the Yakuza are known for referring to themselves as "ninkyō dantai", literally "chivalrous organizations". This only refers to the direct, overt yakuza organizations themselves -- there are ''tons'' of fronts, shell companies, associates who exist on a spectrum from real hardcore yakuza to victims making payoffs to survive either literally or in regard to their careers, and many, many other "connections" or "affiliations" or "friends," especially with tightening organized crime laws. Anything from a record label to a restaurant can be a yakuza front now.
* Capone's crosstown rival [[TheIrishMob Dion O'Banion]] ran a floral shop in addition to his bootlegging operation. [[RealMenWearPink He was evidently a pretty good florist]], and seemed to have as much of a passion for flowers as he did for crime. Admittedly, many of his customers were mobsters, but it wasn't a money laundering business. He was just good with flowers, and they knew him. Whenever a high-ranking Chicago mobster was killed, O'Banion's shop sold lots of flowers to the funeral home. [[JustForPun He made a killing.]]
* Chinese-American (and -Canadian) gangs called "[[TheTriadsAndTheTongs Tongs]]" literally translate to "social club". Some tongs have actually reformed and become actual civic-minded organizations. It must be noted there have always been legitimate tongs too, criminal gangs just often used the term as cover.
* Former Gambino boss Paul Castellano had at one point launched a poultry business called "Dial Poultry" (based on Castellano's background as a meat butcher), which supplied poultry to several UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity grocery chains. While technically legitimate, Castellano would not hesitate to resort to various forms of intimidation to convince the "customers" to carry the poultry. Part of this was that Castellano fancied himself more of a "legitimate businessman", and while some businesses he ran did technically become legitimate, the intimidation tactics and the Mob ties helped ensure their success.
* Former Bonanno boss Sal Maranzano used a real estate brokerage and development company as a front for his illegal booze and heroin rackets. His acolyte Joe Bonanno ran a funeral parlor in Brooklyn that [[CrammingTheCoffin was reportedly a front for disposing the bodies of mob victims]].
* John Gotti maintained two of these establishments: the Ravenite and the Bergin Hunt and Fish Club.
* Former Genovese boss Vincent "Chin" Gigante and his crew was based out of the Triangle Social Club in Greenwich Village, while Dominick "Sonny Black" Napolitano of the Bonanno family based his crew out of The Motion Lounge nightclub in Williamsburg.
* The traditional Mafia social club (which was always less a "Mafia" thing and more a "New York" thing, with many similar non-criminal private clubs operating out of storefronts as well) has ironically become an inversion in the modern era; with many urban locales becoming heavily gentrified, storefront real estate is simply too expensive to waste on a private club.
* The Hells Angels often use the legitimate aspect of their club to mask their criminal activities. Members insist they are only a group of motorcycle enthusiasts who have joined to ride motorcycles together, to organize social events such as group road trips, fundraisers, parties, and motorcycle rallies, and that any crimes are the responsibility of the individuals who carried them out and not the club as a whole. Additionally, there are many biker clubs that aren't involved with crimes, so this can come off as plausible if one isn't aware of their well-documented activities.
* The ''Ringvereine'' (Ring Clubs) of [[UsefulNotes/WeimarRepublic interwar Berlin]] were a variation of this trope. While in reality they were mafia organisations, they were ''Vereine'' in both an official and a technical sense, since (in startlingly a display of GermanicEfficiency) they were structured like any legal club (featuring things like executive committees, clerks and treasurers).
* In the 70's and through into the early 2000's, it would be easier to list the businesses in [[UsefulNotes/{{Baltimore}} Baltimore, MD]] that ''weren't'' an example of this trope. Let's see, there was the schools, the hospitals...and that was pretty much it.
* Many old-school Italian-American social clubs used to be (and some still are) mafia hangouts and fronts for illegal activities.
* Atlanta drug trafficking organization Black Mafia Family insisted that they were a record label, that only had one signed artist. Similar accusation is central in the trial of rapper Music/YoungThug whose label YSL is accused of being a shelter for Thug's old gang Young Slime Life.
[[/folder]]

----

* The Barksdale Organization initially operates out of Orlando's, a strip club, and have a problem with the Front's owner, Orlando, wanting to get into drug dealing for more income, when they need someone to run the club with a clean criminal record. After Avon is arrested, Stringer runs the operation out of a funeral home.

** When Stringer is in charge, he runs the Barksdale gang out of a mortuary for a while.

** ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'' Online allows the player to buy a number of businesses from a non-descipt startup company used to run illegal cargo to a roadside biker bars and nightclubs that also act as hubs for drug and counterfeiting businesses.

* In ''Theatre/BellsAreRinging'', Titanic Records, which sets up shop within Susanswerphone's offices, is a [[TheMafia Mafia]]-controlled [[IllegalGamblingDen bookie operation]] pretending to be a record company. From Ella's perspective, the company's ledgers seem to contain a lot of orders for recordings of works of classical music that don't actually exist, so she innocently decides to correct some of them.

* The NES game ''VideoGame/{{Nightshade}}'' has the Pyramid Club, reflecting the BigBad's fixation on ancient Egypt. There's also an all-girl ninja gang that runs the clothing boutique and a restaurant ("Chopsticks and Ninja Stars").

Ah, TheMafia. Known for their subtlety and planning, they can orchestrate murder, drug dealing, prostitution, racketeering, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking the sale of non-labelled tomato sauce]] without anyone finding out. But their fronts lack the same subtlety, as can clearly be seen on the massive sign above their hideout that reads, "'''[[PaperThinDisguise Legitimate Casino]]! [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial Not Mafia-owned!]]'''" Expect a great deal of {{Doublespeak}}. Sometimes, what gives the game away is the effort put into securing a supposedly legitimate establishment -- for example, what's that [[{{Bouncer}} scary 350-pound guy doing]] standing in front of a bakery? Other times, it's the total lack of effort given to make it seem like an actual service to the public -- if this bar is closed for the night, then why did those six men walk in, get free drinks, and continue on into the back room?