History Main / ProtectionRacket

* ''Franchise/MassEffect'': The mercenary groups in the Terminus Systems like the Blue Suns and the Blood Pack operate protection rackets on various lawless colonies like Omega, among other criminal activities.

** The Arlong Pirates are a [[TokenAquaticRace Fishman]] pirate crew who took over several towns/villages in East Blue, including Nami's hometown, and force the citizens to pay an exorbitant protection fee to keep living. Failing to pay your fee will result in your entire village being destroyed and everyone killed even if it was only a single person who couldn't pay. The reason they are able to get away with it and avoid unwanted attention is because the captain, Arlong, bribes the local Marines into looking the other way with some of the money he and his crew earn.
** The Big Mom pirates operate a massive racket covering numerous islands in the New World. Each territory given protection by Big Mom has to pay at least 10 tons of sweets/candies every month in order to maintain that protection. However, if an island misses even a single payment, Big Mom will send her forces to destroy the island as an example to others. Even if you had a good reason for missing a payment, such as Fishman Island being unable to pay due to their candy factory being damaged during the attack by Hody and his crew, they will still come and destroy your island.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsFromZero'': TheMafia Ravanche group engage in a number of these in Crossbell, under political cover of several CorruptPolitician sorts, some examples of which are part of the protagonist Detective Lloyd's cases.

* ''Film/ThePublicPays'' is a 1930s MGM "Crime Does Not Pay" short. In this installment of the series the "[[LegitimateBusinessmensSocialClub Creamery Betterment Association]]" moves into town and starts demanding all the local dairies start paying them a penny for every bottle of milk they sell. If a dairy owner balks, the Creamy Betterment folks wreck his business, with threats of [[ShameIfSomethingHappened violence to his family]] if the owner still refuses to play ball.

* ''Series/BarneyMiller'': In "[[Recap/BarneyMillerS2E14 Protection]]" the cops of the 12th Precinct are shocked to discover that local business owners are paying the mob for protection from crime, instead of coming to them. There'a rumor spreading around that the precinct will be disbanded due to New York City budget cuts. Inspector Luger soon arrives and confirms that it's true.

* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'': One of the many money making operations John 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.

In Medieval focused works, taxes from the [[FeudalOverlord local lord]], or said lord's relationship with his liege, are usually portrayed in a similar manner.

A criminal, usually part of TheMafia or an ethnic equivalent, offers protection to the neighborhood. He will approach local small businesses and [[ShameIfSomethingHappened comment on their "nice things" and how they wouldn't want anything to happen to them]]. Most likely the person he is "protecting" them from is himself. The catch is that he will extort regular fees from the person they are "protecting", and if the character does not pay up, the criminal will make it clear who exactly they are "protecting" them from. Sometimes however NeighbourhoodFriendlyGangsters genuinely do protect the businesses from some outside threat, such as rival criminals and corrupt authorities.

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

** The Arlong Pirates are a [[TokenAquaticRace Fishman]] pirate crew who took over several towns/villages in East Blue, including Nami's hometown, and force the citizens to pay an exorbitant protection fee to keep living. Failing to pay your fee will result in your entire village being destroyed and everyone killed even if it was only a single person who couldn't pay. The reason they are able to get away with it and avoid unwanted attention is because the captain, Arlong, bribes the local Marines with some of the money they earn into ignoring him and his crew.

* ''Fanfic/TwoLetters'': The ''new'' Ladybug firmly believes that [[HeroismWontPayTheBills she should get paid for her services]], and has roped the richest citizens of Paris into doing so in exchange for endorsements. When Bob Roth decided to stop paying, she waited until ''after'' she'd saved him from another disgruntled, akumatized employee, then made a comment in passing about how he didn't support her. This turned her [[HundredPercentAdorationRating adoring public]] [[ConvictedByPublicOpinion completely against him]], leading to the complete collapse of his record label. Mayor Bourgeois is [[OhCrap horrified]] about potentially meeting the same fate if he doesn't keep her happy.

* ''LightNovel/RebuildWorld'': The slums of Kugamayama City are run by various slumlord gangs who get their operating funds from this. Akira sets up Sheryl as his partner and proxy in charge of a section of the slums. Two of said gangs get big and powerful enough to start charging people in the Lower Districts (the [[UrbanSegregation working class section]]), which prompts a GovernmentConspiracy to get rid of those two NGOSuperpower gangs.

** The Arlong Pirates are a [[TokenAquaticRace Fishman]] pirate crew who took over several towns/villages in East Blue, including Nami's hometown, and force the citizens to pay an exorbitant protection fee to keep living. Failing to pay your fee will result in your entire village being destroyed and everyone killed even if it was only a single person who couldn't pay. Arlong and his crew are able to get away with it and avoid unwanted attention because he bribes the local Marines into ignoring him and his crew as much as possible.

** The Arlong Pirates are a Fishman pirate crew who took over several islands, including Nami's home, and force their citizens to pay exorbitant protection fees. They bribe the local Marines into leaving him and his operations alone and destroy the one ship that comes after them anyway.

->''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.''

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* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanUnderTheRedHood'': The titular "Red Hood" decides that crime can't be stopped, merely managed, and sets up a protection racket to replace Black Mask's. He offers the Gotham's drug dealers protection from Black Mask and Batman, in exchange for forty percent profits and an agreement to stay away from children. Unlike most examples his threats are not subtle, he shows the kingpins the heads of their lieutenants and threatens to do worse.

* In ''Film/KennyAndCompany'', TheBully Johnny Hoffman demands protection money from Kenny, and beats him up if he doesn't have any.
-->'''Kenny''': Me and Sherman and a couple other kids have to pay him protection money.\\
'''Dad''': Well, what's he protecting you from?\\
''long pause''\\
'''Kenny''': I don't know.

* In the season five premier of ''Series/TheExpanse'', Amos is traveling to Luna aboard a Belter ship and midway through the voyage a man comes into the cabin and suggests that everybody there purchase "travel insurance". Two of the Belters say they bought insurance before they left, but the man says ''that'' insurance expired and they need to re-buy. He is very quick to say it's completely up to them to buy or not, [[ShameIfSomethingHappened but warns that you never know what could happen on a long journey]]. When he finishes his spiel and the two Belters are about to pay, Amos tells the crook that they're ''not'' paying and that he better not try this again with anybody else in this cabin. The gang tries to catch him later in the bathrooms to punish him for interfering, [[MuggingTheMonster but he points out that they have radically misjudged who he is and brutally beats the entire gang]].

->''We have political systems like this in the Empire. We call them 'protection rackets'''

* ''Videogame/NeverwinterNights2'':
** One of your first missions after arriving in Neverwinter involves a stubborn shopkeeper 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 ''VideoGame/RepublicTheRevolution'', the Racketeering action (available only to functionaries of the [[ClassAndLevelSystem Criminal "profession"]]) lets you set up a protection racket, albeit targeting not the regular folks, but other racketeers with the end goal of your functionary becoming the top dog of the district's criminal underworld and controlling it from the shadows.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Rimworld}}'', raider factions will occasionally contact the player's and demand payment for "protection", and if the player refuses they'll state that they "can't guarantee your safety" before immediately attacking.
* ''VideoGame/CryingSuns'': When Admiral Ellys Idaho reaches the Empire’s heartlands in chapter 5, he discovers that the Imperial fleet is extorting a monthly tribute from planetary rulers in exchange for protection from "threats".

-->'''Dragon leader:''' We generously offer to ''protect'' the citizens of a nearby village for a ''token'' consideration -- a selection of their best foodstuffs and delicacies. But the townspeople... have been slow to respond to our ''magnanimous'' offer, so a little ''visit'' is in order.

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanUnderTheRedHood'': The titular "Red Hood" decides that crime can't be stopped, merely managed, and sets up a protection racket to replace Black Mask's. He offers the Gotham's drug dealers protection from Black Mask and Batman, in exchange for forty percent profits and an agreement to stay away from schools. Unlike most examples his threats are not subtle, he shows the kingpins the heads of their lieutenants and threatens to do worse.

MonsterProtectionRacket is when a character causes a threat, [[HeroismAddict real]] or [[EngineeredHeroics faked]], so he can stop it and look like a hero. In this case however, the people running the racket are rarely interested in looking the part of the hero.

* ''Series/AdamTwelve'' had an episode with a racket targeting Jewish-owned businesses. The store owner that’s focused on doesn’t scare easy because he was a Holocaust survivor but it’s hard even for him. Eventually his wife gets hurt and he decides to help the police out a stop to it.

** Arlong, a Fishman pirate who took over Nami's home island and forced its citizens to pay exorbitant protection fees, which he partially uses to bribe the local Marines into leaving him and his operations alone.