History Main / NoHonorAmongThieves

* A lot of con artists give the marks the impression that they're coming into stolen property or are participating in illegal activity, as well as giving them opportunities to scam the scammers. When the marks do realize they've been taken, very few of them are willing to go to the police, as doing so would be admitting to a crime themselves. This is why so many scammers are able to get away with it. This leads to the concept of a "beat bag": give the mark something worthless in the place of something desired but illegal; they can't complain that they got oregano instead of weed, or that the stolen Xbox doesn't work.

* ''Anime/YuGiOh5Ds'': Placido is so rotten he even steals from his partner Lucciano to accomplish his own - unauthorized - plan. (this becomes far more serious when [[TheReveal it is discovered later]] that the Three Nobles of Yliaster - which Placido and Lucciano were members of - are three embodiments of one being, Aporia, meaning Placido was so full of hostility, it even extended towards himself.)

* In ''Series/MyNameIsEarl'', the criminal community of Camden turns on Earl when he reports the theft of his car to the police, with Earl getting called a snitch. In the old days, the thieves would have returned the car to him as a courtesy to a fellow thief. Since Earl had gone straight, they felt that he was no longer covered by that code. However, when one of the criminals gets picked up on Earl's info, they in turn accuse another thief who has committed a more serious crime in order to get immunity. The cherry on top is that Earl figured out ''all'' the thieves giving him grief were snitching themselves because he noticed they each had an item from the drawer of cheap toys the cops offered him as a reward for snitching. So Earl makes sure he's standing outside the police station as they get released to show them he knows that they too have snitched, and that all their bragging of thieves "hanging together" is just that -- empty bragging.
* In ''Series/{{Community}}'' episode "[[Recap/CommunityS1E23ModernWarfare Modern Warfare]]", Pierce betrays Starburns while they're stealing from the vending machines.

* ''Series/WhereInTheWorldIsCarmenSandiego'' would always launch into the endgame with the villain of the day ratting out Carmen to the players. One even {{lampshade|Hanging}}d it with "Honor among thieves? Surely you jest!" In fact, one can infer that by the time ''Series/WhereInTimeIsCarmenSandiego'' came out, Carmen [[YouHaveFailedMe replaced her VILE henchmen]] due to the ones in ''World'' [[WithFriendsLikeThese constantly exposing her as though they never learned to hold their tongues]].
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': In season 7, the [[EldritchAbomination Leviathans]] start killing off the other monster races, since they don't feel like sharing their food supply (namely humans).
* Played straight and averted on ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. In general, vampires and demons will abandon or backstab each other all the time. There were, however, exceptions, usually taking the form of cults. The best example was the Order of Aurelius, the vampire cult that served as the main antagonists in Season One. In one episode, three vampire warriors offer their own lives in penance for failing to kill Buffy. They proved to be the exception, as shown when Spike, rather than offer his own life in penance for failing to kill Buffy, killed the Anointed One, and took over what was left of the Order.

* In season 3 of ''Series/NecessaryRoughness'' as soon as it looks like the FBI investigation is not going away, Cameron and Taylor turn on each other and try to set things up to make it look like the other one was behind the entire scheme. Cameron had the lead since he let Taylor do all the things that could be traced and Taylor is desperate to turn the tables and get Cameron to incriminate himself.

* In one episode of ''Series/PowerRangersInSpace'', [[SentientVehicle Storm Blaster]] managed to escape from Divatox's minions (having been taken prisoner along with Lightning Cruiser in the previous series. Divatox called Astronema, and asked (nicely) for her to keep an eye out for it, only for the current Princess of Evil to tell her straight out that she would ''keep'' it if she did find it. (This turned into a case of NiceJobFixingItVillain, because Storm Blaster quickly found Justin who attracted the current Rangers, who were able to rescue Lightning Cruiser too, despite Astronema's attempts to catch the escapee; if the two villains ''had'' cooperated, it might have been harder for the heroes.)
* ''Series/DueSouth'': In the episode "Free Willie", Fraser provides the quote above, explaining why he thinks an accomplice in a bank robbery tricked the robbers by [[spoiler: giving them an envelope of blank pages instead of the Bearer Bonds.]] He also ends up illustrating his family's CloudCuckoolander trait rather nicely.
* ''Series/WhodunnitUK'': In "Dead Grass", the VictimOfTheWeek is a thief done in by a fellow member of his gang while they were divvying up the loot from a bank job.
* {{Lampshaded}} by [[TheChessmaster Wynn Duffy]], no stranger to using this trope himself, to his bodyguard Mikey in ''Series/{{Justified}}''. [[spoiler:When confronted by Mikey about how he (Duffy) repaid his mentor Grady Hale by being an informant that resulted in his conviction and likely death years ago, Duffy replies that honor has no place amongst criminals, reminding him that their own bosses Markham and Katherine wouldn't hesitate to betray ''them'' if it suited their ends. That said, this doesn't apply [[VillainousFriendship between themselves]], as while Mikey is originally disgusted with this knowledge and originally intends to let Grady's widow Katherine kill Duffy, he ultimately decides to [[MutualKill stop her at the cost of his own life]] and Duffy, despite Mikey nearly getting him killed, is genuinely devastated by his death]].

* A recurring problem in all the criminal operations shown ''Series/TheWire'': underlings like Orlando and Ziggy are dissatisfied with the money they're making and try to supplement it with side hustles, both getting in tragically over their heads; more than once we see street level dealers get caught skimming from the take, and customers like Bubbles and Johnny try to rip off the dealers by giving them fake money.
* ''Series/KamenRiderOOO'': The four villainous Greeeds certainly earn their name. Despite working together to reclaim their lost Core Medals, each have no compunctions about hoarding any they happen across that belong to the others, despite having no practical use for them. Even when called out on it, getting them to give up the stolen medals is tantamount to pulling teeth.
* In ''Series/KaizokuSentaiGokaiger'', Basco teams up with the Zangyack to eliminate the Gokaiger threat. However, Basco intends to obtain the Greatest Treasure in the Universe for himself upon stealing the Ranger Keys. When he and Damarasu team up to have [[spoiler:Captain Marvelous]] executed after [[spoiler:Warz Gill]] is killed, Basco [[spoiler:backstabs Damarasu at the first opportunity, which leads to the latter's death]].

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Superfriends}}'': The Legendary Super Powers Show had one episode titled "No Honor Among Thieves". In that episode, ComicBook/LexLuthor created a device to steal powers from the heroes and asked for {{ComicBook/Darkseid}}'s help. Luthor tried to doublecross Darkseid but Darkseid was CrazyPrepared enough to cover Luthor in kryptonite dust since, with Franchise/{{Superman}}'s powers, [[AssimilationBackfire comes his weakness]]. Luthor still managed to use El Dorado's powers to send the powerless heroes the means to escape death. He then got a TitleDrop.

* Toyed with in ''WesternAnimation/TheDickTracyShow'' episode "Funny Money." Mumbles pulls a gun on Stooge Viller, who he thinks is welching the money they stole from a theater box office. Stooge pleads his innocence as the briefcase the money was in got mixed with a briefcase full of dirty laundry. Fortunately for Stooge, Hemlock Holmes (the episode's police officer) [[NiceJobBreakingItHero shows up with the briefcase full of money and gives it to him]].
* According to Strickler from ''WesternAnimation/{{Trollhunters}}'', Changelings have three rules that they live by, the first rule being that there is [[HonorAmongThieves Honor Among Assassins]], while rule two claims there is ''no such thing'' as honor, with the third rule promoting PragmaticVillainy by seeing everyone and everything as nothing but tools for personal gain.

* Stated by WordOfGod to be a major theme in ''Fanfic/WormMoreThanMeetsTheEye''. The ABB self-destructs as soon as [[TheStarscream Bakuda]] takes out Lung and starts planting bombs on her underlings so they won't betray ''her'' (and one does once Matrix saves her from the bomb Bakuda sneaked on her). Even the Undersiders, who were canonically loyal to each other, fall apart because of Coil's decision to keep Regent on the team after he abandoned Bitch to die and to add Trainwreck and Chariot. Basically the only gang not ready to fall apart to infighting at the drop of a hat is Uber & Leet, because they have a genuine VillainousFriendship.
* In ''Fanfic/BelatedBattleships'', abyssals have no qualms against abandoning or outright turning on each other to ensure their own survival, as can be seen from the ''Scharnhorst''s Missouri battles or [[spoiler:the Raider Princess and the Snow Queen]].

* In ''Fanfic/WithThisRingGreenLantern'', Star Sapphire and Hector Hammond team up to destroy Hal Jordan but they can't stand each other. Carol delights in deliberately and relentlessly screwing up with Hammond's mind, and Hammond would love turning Carol's brain off telepathically.
* Noted as a major issue with the Death Eaters in ''Fanfic/HarryPotterAndTheMethodsOfRationality''. As long as Lord Voldermort was around to enforce order from the top, they work together beautifully. But because they were only loyal to him, not to each other or a unifying higher cause, once he goes down they don't last two weeks, with some backstabbing the group to go back to regular society and others getting sent to Azkaban because no one is willing to protect them.

* Noted as a major issue with the Death Eaters in ''FanWorks/HarryPotterAndTheMethodsOfRationality''. As long as Lord Voldermort was around to enforce order from the top, they work together beautifully. But because they were only loyal to him, not to each other or a unifying higher cause, once he goes down they don't last two weeks, with some backstabbing the group to go back to regular society and others getting sent to Azkaban because no one is willing to protect them.

* According to Strickler from ''WesternAnimation/{{Trollhunters}}'', Changelings have three rules that they live by, the first rule being that there is [[HonorAmongThieves Honor Among Assassins]], while rule two contradicts this claiming that there is no such thing as honor, with the third rule promoting PragmaticVillainy by seeing everyone and everything as nothing but tools for personal gain.

* The ''WesternAnimation/XMen'' episode "Welcome To Genosha": after the attempted mass breakout is foiled, Cameron Hodge reveals the informer who grassed on the entire prison- Gambit! But when he is put into a jeep with two mooks and sent to the other end of the island, he is freed after the jeep is blown up and the mooks killed by...Cable! Who takes his restraining collar off and then TRUSTS HIM WITH THE KEY, telling to go back to the prison and free all the other mutants with it.

While the heroes cling to the PowerOfFriendship and trust in their TrueCompanions to see them through, the villains simply cannot trust one another. Even when their victory seems closest, it seems to always come undone because the bad guys are inherently treacherous and suspicious of one another. If the EvilOverlord is near to victory, you can expect TheDragon to make some [[TheStarscream bid for personal power]] at the last minute that gives the heroes enough breathing room to gain the victory. And if you have a team of more-or-less equal [[CardCarryingVillain Card Carrying Villains]] in it ForTheEvulz, expect them to fall prey to this in no time at all, with their momentary shared goals falling by the wayside the second any of them sees an advantage in turning on their 'friends.' This is the reason why trust and willingness to work with each other is one of the EvilVirtues.

* ''Anime/SailorMoon'': The third season didn't need the Senshi or a BadBoss to off the QuirkyMinibossSquad - they ended up saving everyone the trouble quite nicely. However, this only happened between the first three members, Eudial, Mimete, and Tellu- who took out each other in order. Tellu, Viluy, and Cyphrine and Ptolil were all taken out by the Senshi.

** The very first heist we see has Mary stuffing $3,000 from a bank robbery into her jumpsuit. Her thievery from the Butterfly Gang nets her something, as she survives [[spoiler: Mr. Great Guy blowing up the car she was in and stopping the heist.]]

* ''Fanfic/AmazingFantasy'': A major example of this appears in the backstory of [[TheMentor Peter Parker]]. As he explains it to Izuku Midoriya, at one point all of the supervillains of the world noticed that they greatly outnumbered the heroes and [[ComicBook/OldManLogan tried to get organized to perform a massive attack that would kill all heroes and let them take over the world]]. Alas, they all also collectively decided that stabbing each other in the back for a bigger piece of the pie was more important than getting things done, [[TakeThat and the attack never happened]].

* This comes up quite a bit in ''Manga/OnePiece''. With so many pirates, sailors and Marines of differing moralities, how long an alliance lasts in this series is quite up in the air.

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':

* In the ''VideoGame/SlyCooper'' games, this is what sets the villains apart from the [[HonorAmongThieves Cooper Gang]] and their allies. The main trio of Sly, Bentley, and Murray only steal from other criminals and villains. Their foes engage in dishonorable actions like forgery[[labelnote:*]]Dimitri and The Grizz[[/labelnote]], spice dealings[[labelnote:*]]Rajan and Jean Bison[[/labelnote]], illegal mining[[labelnote:*]]Australian miners[[/labelnote]], forced weddings[[labelnote:*]]General Tsao[[/labelnote]], sinking heritage buildings[[labelnote:*]]Don Octavio[[/labelnote]], selfish exploitation of others[[labelnote:*]]Neyla and Penelope[[/labelnote]] and so forth.

** There are a couple of these in the "Wano Arc".

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Superfriends}}'': Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show had one episode titled "No Honor Among Thieves". In that episode, ComicBook/LexLuthor created a device to steal powers from the heroes and asked for {{ComicBook/Darkseid}}'s help. Luthor tried to doublecross Darkseid but Darkseid was CrazyPrepared enough to cover Luthor in kryptonite dust since, with Franchise/{{Superman}}'s powers, [[AssimilationBackfire comes his weakness]]. Luthor still managed to use El Dorado's powers to send the powerless heroes the means to escape death. He then got a TitleDrop.

** The thirteen pirate admirals of Pavia have no love for one another, with the majority wanting nothing more than to kill the others. The only thing keeping them in line is fear of their "leader", the Dark Eldar Sliscus. When Operation Caribbean starts, the admirals don't cooperate at all which means the Imperial fleet can massacred them one by one instead of engaging in a more risky mass battle. At the same time, two of the admirals surrender rather than die while a third pays a king's ransom for safe passage out of system.

* All five of the Sinister Six in ''ComicBook/TheSuperiorFoesOfSpiderMan'' sell each other out about as often as they make speeches about how great teamwork is, and that they see the others as friends. And they seem to be sincere about this, it's just not a reason to ''not'' sell the others out.

* ''VideoGame/Uncharted2AmongThieves'' (go figure). From the get-go there's all kinds of back-stabbing and betrayals going on, even from our hero, Nathan Drake. Good thing [[SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan Elena]] shows up to set him straight.
** ''VideoGame/Uncharted4AThiefsEnd'' continues the trend. [[spoiler:There's a lost pirate city named Libertalia Drake and his brother go searching for. Libertalia was a town founded by a coalition of notorious pirates escaping the regular world, bringing the considerable wealth they've amassed with them. This trope is the reason that all went to hell.]]