History Main / TotalitarianGangsterism

* ''Film/TheCrow'': Top Dollar's crime syndicate regularly engages in arson around Detroit and has the citizens living in those buildings robbed, brutalized, and murdered on a regular basis. At a conference, he suggests that he and his fellow gangsters should just forget about actually profiting from their crimes and instead burn the entire city to the ground [[ForTheEvulz for shits and giggles]].

* Entire countries have been described as "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narco-state narco-states]]" or "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mafia_state mafia states]]" when their governments are perceived as being far too friendly with the gangster element, and not just ones aligned with the drug cartels. After the United states diplomatic cables leak in 2010, it came to light that it viewed UsefulNotes/TheNewRussia under UsefulNotes/VladimirPutin as "a corrupt, autocratic kleptocracy centred on the leadership of Vladimir Putin, in which officials, oligarchs and organised crime are bound together to create a 'virtual mafia state'."

* Entire countries have been described as "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narco-state narco-states]]" or "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mafia_state mafia states]]" when their governments are perceived as being far too friendly with the gangster element, and not just ones aligned with the drug cartels. After the United states diplomatic cables leak in 2010, it came to light that it viewed Russia under UsefulNotes/VladimirPutin as "a corrupt, autocratic kleptocracy centred on the leadership of Vladimir Putin, in which officials, oligarchs and organised crime are bound together to create a 'virtual mafia state.'"

* Many [[TheCartel drug cartels]] act like this, being responsible for numerous killings, kidnappings, and trafficking of civilians, mainly Mexican civilians, though foreigners and government agents (both from Mexico and USA) can suffer this fate as well. They also have experience in the [[MadeASlave slave trade]], which involves the kidnapping of women and children to be sold by other crime syndicates with questionable ethics. Some, like the Colombian Medellin Cartel of Pablo Escobar, were so powerful they openly ''attacked the government''. In Escobar's case, assassinating a Presidential candidate, the Attorney General, ordering numerous terrorist bombings to coerce the state into stopping their campaign against him, even one by the Presidential Palace plus of multiple airplanes, a huge number of cops- an open bounty was put on them in Medellin- and judges who ordered cartel members extradited to the US). He was so powerful, even with this, at first they cut a deal where he got to live in a penthouse "[[LuxuryPrisonSuite prison]]" run by his men. Only when it turned out his men had murdered multiple people on the premises and burned their bodies did the government crack down, while Escobar still escaped via a tunnel he had ready, before being killed in a shootout with the cops.

[[folder:Literature]]
* ''Literature/TheNightsDawnTrilogy''. The B-7 Security Council which secretly governs Earth also controls the organised crime groups so they can rule from above and below, and also have a pretext to [[SentencedToDownUnder deport people from their overpopulated planet]] by increasing the crime rate. It's mentioned that it's not the first time a government tried this strategy, but they make it work by using bitek technology to directly control the crime bosses to ensure they don't get out of line.

* After Empire City becomes quarantined when [[MassSuperEmpoweringEvent the Ray Sphere explodes]] in ''[[VideoGame/{{Infamous}} inFAMOUS]]'', the three different sections of the city are soon overrun by gangs trying to take over the now lawless metropolis. The Neon District is swarmed by the Reapers, who were allegedly drug-dealers and petty criminals [[spoiler:before being revealed to just be regular citizens BrainwashedAndCrazy by the [[DifferentlyPoweredIndividual conduit]] Sasha]]. The Warren District is taken over the Dustmen, Empire City's homeless population who have been gathered under the telekinetic Alden Tate. While not a gang, the First Sons are an AncientConspiracy organization who take over the Historic District similar to the other gangs under the rule of their leader Kessler [[spoiler:who manipulated everything since before the beginning in order to mold Cole [=MacGrath=] into the perfect hero.]]

* The Santa Blanca Cartel in ''VideoGame/GhostReconWildlands'' rule Bolivia through an autocratic ShadowGovernment, but have turned the entire country into a narco-state, and their leader El Sueño is the undisputed leader of the nation even if he's not even the official head of state. [[spoiler:In the bad ending, CIA agent Bowman even states that she believes that in enough time, he could take over for real as an actual dictator.]]

* The Santa Blanca Cartel in ''VideoGame/GhostReconWildlands'' rule Bolivia through a flimsy shadow government, but have turned the entire country into a narco-state, and their leader El Sueño is the undisputed leader of the nation even if he's not even the official head of government. [[spoiler:In the bad ending, CIA agent Bowman even states that she believes that in enough time, he could turn himself into an outright dictator and take over for real.]]

* ''Series/BlakesSeven''. In "Shadow", Blake tries to recruit the help of the powerful organised crime group Terra Nostra in his fight against the oppressive Terran Federation, only to discover that the Federation runs that as well.

* Many [[TheCartel drug cartels]] act like this, being responsible for numerous killings, kidnappings, and trafficking of civilians, mainly Mexican civilians, though foreigners and government agents (both from Mexico and USA) can suffer this fate as well. They also have experience in the [[MadeASlave slave trade]], which involves the kidnapping of women and children to be sold by other crime syndicates with questionable ethics. Some, like the Colombian Medellin Cartel of Pablo Escobar, were so powerful they openly ''attacked the government''. In Escobar's case, assassinating a Presidential candidate, the Attorney General, ordering numerous terrorist bombings to coerce the state into stopping their campaign against him, even one by the Presidential Palace plus of multiple airplanes, a huge number of cops-an open bounty was put on them in Medellin-and judges who ordered cartel members extradited to the US). He was so powerful, even with this, at first they cut a deal where he got to live in a penthouse "[[LuxuryPrisonSuite prison]]" run by his men. Only when it turned out his men had murdered multiple people on the premises and burned their bodies did the government crack down, while Escobar still escaped via a tunnel he had ready, before being killed in a shootout with the cops.

In a GangsterLand, there's the NeighbourhoodFriendlyGangsters and then there's ''these''. These are not your NeighbourhoodFriendlyGangsters, where crime syndicates treat the inhabitants inside their areas [[EveryoneHasStandards with at least some respect]]. Instead, they are just as violent towards the civilians in their areas [[DisproportionateRetribution (and any civilian that accidentally crosses their path]]), treating them just like a rival crime syndicate.

* The Santa Blanca Cartel in ''VideoGame/GhostReconWildlands'' rule Bolivia through a flimsy shadow government, but have turned the entire country into a narco-state, and their leader El Sueño is the undisputed leader of the nation even if he's not even the official head of government. [[spoiler: In the bad ending, CIA agent Bowman even states that she believes that in enough time, he could turn himself into an outright dictator and take over for real.]]
* After Empire City becomes quarantined when [[MassSuperEmpoweringEvent the Ray Sphere explodes]] in ''[[VideoGame/{{Infamous}} inFAMOUS]]'', the three different sections of the city are soon overrun by gangs trying to take over the now lawless metropolis. The Neon District is swarmed by the Reapers, who were allegedly drug-dealers and petty criminals [[spoiler: before being revealed to just be regular citizens BrainwashedAndCrazy by the [[DifferentlyPoweredIndividual conduit]] Sasha]]. The Warren District is taken over the Dustmen, Empire City's homeless population who have been gathered under the telekinetic Alden Tate. While not a gang, the First Sons are an AncientConspiracy organization who take over the Historic District similar to the other gangs under the rule of their leader Kessler [[spoiler: who manipulated everything since before the beginning in order to mold Cole [=MacGrath=] into the perfect hero.]]

* Many [[TheCartel drug cartels]] act like this, being responsible for numerous killings, kidnappings, and trafficking of civilians, mainly Mexican civilians, though foreigners and government agents (both from Mexico and USA) can suffer this fate as well. They also have experience in the [[MadeASlave slave trade]], which involves the kidnapping of women and children to be sold by other crime syndicates with questionable ethics. Some, like the Columbian Medellin Cartel of Pablo Escobar, were so powerful they openly ''attacked the government''. In Escobar's case, assassinating a Presidential candidate, the Attorney General, ordering numerous terrorist bombings to coerce the state into stopping their campaign against him, even one by the Presidential Palace plus of multiple airplanes, a huge number of cops-an open bounty was put on them in Medellin-and judges who ordered cartel members extradited to the US). He was so powerful, even with this, at first they cut a deal where he got to live in a penthouse "[[LuxuryPrisonSuite prison]]" run by his men. Only when it turned out his men had murdered multiple people on the premises and burned their bodies did the government crack down, while Escobar still escaped via a tunnel he had ready, before being killed in a shootout with the cops.

* Much of the conflict in ''ComicBook/GetJiro'' centers around how International and The Garden have monopolized real estate and resources for all of the other restaurants in L.A., creating what is essentially a ProtectionRacket, food service being SeriousBusiness in this world. After Jiro manages to turn their cold war into a free-for-all, [[KitchenSinkDrama one of Jiro's friends who had suffered under the rule bring the oppressed masses into a revolution against them]].

* The Santa Blanca Cartel in ''VideoGame/GhostReconWildlands'' rule Bolivia through a flimsy shadow government, but have turned the entire country into a narco-state, and their leader El Sueño is the undisputed leader of the nation even if he's not even the official head of government. [[spoiler: In the bad ending, CIA agent Bowman even states that she believes that in enough time, he could turn himself into an outright dictator and take over for real.]]

* The Santa Blanca Cartel in ''VideoGame/GhostReconWildlands'' rule Bolivia through a flimsy shadow government, but are clearly capable of taking over the entire country in future, and their leader El Sueño is the undisputed leader of the nation. [[spoiler: In the bad ending, CIA agent Bowman even states that she believes that enough time, he could turn himself into an outright dictator.]]