History Main / ProtectionRacket

* [[StarterVillain Tetsu Ushio]] from the ''Franchise/YuGiOh'' manga and Toei anime was running an protection service from bullies for a hefty fee. He was shown forcing Yugi to pay him for protection even with Yugi refusing. Ushio soon became the first victim of Yami.

* ''WesternAnimation/ABug'sLife'': The grasshoppers extort food from Flik's ant colony every year as a protection fee. The grasshopper leader, Hopper, says he's protecting the ants from [[{{Hypocrite}}"bigger bugs who might try to take advantage of them"]].

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* Henry Hill from ''Film/GoodFellas'' describes a typical mafia racket, entered into by way of a deal with a restaurant owner who was sick of having to deal with vicious gangster [[HairTriggerTemper Tommy DeVito]] disrupting his business and scaring off his customers and went to the guy's boss, Paul Cicero, for help. Henry notes that Paulie will help the owner with any problem, but the help comes at a steep prices, and he will accept no excuses for late payments.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/protection_racket.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:That was no accident.]]

* One of the many money making operations [[Literature/TheDresdenFiles Marcone]] runs. Notable for actually providing effective protection, up to and [[ComicBook/DownTown including]] [[TheDon Marcone]] himself strapping on an automatic weapon and leading a raid on whoever hurt the person paying him.

* ''Series/Daredevil2015'': In season three this is the ultimate goal of Wilson "The Kingpin" Fisk, in Foggy Nelson's words, to became a "one-stop shop for bribery and protection". He becomes an FBI informant [[spoiler:and blackmails his handlers to get them under his thumb, so he can prosecute any of his rivals at his leisure. He then gathers his rival crime bosses, offers then 20% of all their profits, and then kills the man who refuses so he can jack the price to 25%]].

Compare LoanShark, the other main underworld means of extorting people. In this case the money is genuinely owed, albeit with steep interest.

A more powerful and high ranking criminal may do this to other criminals, not tolerating crime in their territory unless they get a cut of the action.

In Medieval focused works, taxes from the [[FeudalOverlord local lord]] are usually portrayed in a similar manor.

** [[EastEndGangster Doug and Dinsdale Piranha]]'s careers got off to an inauspicious start when they began to operate what they called "The Operation," under whose terms their selected victim would be beaten up if he paid them the protection money. Four months later, they abandoned this operation in favor of "The Other Operation," in which they would threaten not to beat their victim up if he didn't pay them. This operation was likewise unsuccessful, but "The Other Other Operation," in which they threatened to beat up victims who didn't pay, was the turning point.

* Parodied in a ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' sketch. Two members of Cockney Mafiosi approach the [[TheBrigadier colonel in command]] of a British Army base played by Creator/GrahamChapman. One of them says "You've got a nice army base here, colonel. We wouldn't want anything to happen to it." They further imply that the base's equipment could get broken and its personnel set on fire if the Army doesn't pay them off. They then ask for a ludicrously small payment.

->''Now the guy's got Paulie as a partner. Any problems, he goes to Paulie. Trouble with the bill? He can go to Paulie. Trouble with the cops, deliveries, Tommy, he can call Paulie. But now the guy's gotta come up with Paulie's money every week, no matter what. Business bad? Fuck you, pay me. Oh, you had a fire? Fuck you, pay me. Place got hit by lightning, huh? Fuck you, pay me.''

* ''Manga/OnePiece'': Arlong, a Fishman pirate took over Nami's island and forced its citizens to pay exorbitant protection fees, which he partially uses to bride Marines into leaving him and his operations alone.

!!Examples

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[[folder:Film - Live Action]]

* ''Film/Venom2018'': Shopkeeper Mrs. Chen is robbed by a man implied to be part of some sort of racket, given how regularly and brazenly he robs her. The first time, Eddie Brock [[BystanderEffect shrinks away]], but when Brock gains the Venom symbiote he confronts the man and [[OffWithHisHead bites his head off]].

* In ''Literature/TheExpanse'' novel ''Leviathan Wakes'' Joe Miller interviews a shopkeeper who used to pay protection money via a transparently fraudulent "insurance policy" to one of Ceres' criminal syndicates, but then they suddenly disappeared [[spoiler: hired by Protogen as cannon fodder on Eros]]. Shortly after a teenager showed up at the shop and tried extorting the same money from him, but the shopkeeper refused and informed his friends in the [[YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters Outer Planets Alliance]], who dealt with him.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* Series/SteptoeAndSon: In a tribute/parody of Film/TheSevenSamurai one episode features Albert and Harold facing a local gang boss, trying to set up an "insurance agency" in their area, with him having his two goons smash to pieces a massive vase they just acquired to underline his offer. For added points, he goes as far as having it registered as an official insurance agency, to make it harder to pin anything on him for taking the people's money.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''
** In the ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'' setting priests of the [[LordOfTheOcean ocean goddess Umberlee]] often exploit their goddess' reputation for causing storms and drowning people on a whim to run protection rackets over harbours and shipping companies, charging ship captains a fee in exchange for travelling with their ship or mentioning it in their prayers so that it will be spared from Umberlee's destructive wrath.
** ''Videogame/NeverwinterNights2'':
*** One of your first missions after arriving in Neverwinter involves a stubborn shop keeper who is being threatened by the local ThievesGuild to join a protection scheme. You can either join the guild and 'persuade' the shop keeper that paying the guild is in his best interests, or join the City Watch and kill the thugs who come to shake him down.
*** A later quest involves an eccentric market stall owner who's actually overjoyed that thugs are trying to coerce her into paying their protection fee, seeing it as a sign of her successful her business has become.

* In ''Literature/TheGodfather'', Vito Corleone's first murder was of the Black Hand Don Fanucci, who extortioned the Little Italy neighbourhood, after he attempted to get a cut from Corleone, Salvatore Tessio and Peter Clemenza stolen dresses fencing. Corleone then [[KlingonPromotion take his place]].

* In ''Film/{{Skyscraper}}'' A NebulousEvilOrganization came to billionaire Zhao and threatened to make sure he would never be able to finish the construction of his super-scraper "the Pearl" unless he paid up. Zhao pretended to oblige but the electronic transfer of his "payment" included a Trojan horse virus that datamined the organization's financial records and gave Zhao a complete breakdown of their structure. The organization sent their personal Dragon Botha to get [[MacGuffin the original copy of the program]] as a result, and he set the Pearl on fire for two reasons: to force Zhao to get the copy and to demonstrate that the organization's threats weren't a bluff.

Trope namespace currently redirects to ShameIfSomethingHappened. The former is the motivation behind the threats, the latter is the manner the threats are delivered.

[[redirect:ShameIfSomethingHappened]]