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8-> '''"Happy":''' They wired this thing up with, like, five thousand volts. What kind of bank does that?\
9'''"Grumpy":''' '''' A mob bank. I guess the Joker's as crazy as they say.
10-->-- ''Film/TheDarkKnight''
11
12Meet Alice. Alice is a small-time crook whose meager income comes from relieving money and valuables off rich guys, and she's good at it. She's been caught a few times, sure, but most of the time, the police can't hold her long, as she's just a minnow in the criminal world, not worth the time and paperwork to keep in jail for long.
13
14So when she hears about a rich local businessman, Bob, the owner of a [[TotallyNotACriminalFront disguised criminal front]], she breaks into his luxurious house and swipes a collection of pieces of jewelry, she thinks nothing of it... Until her friend tells her that Bob is actually [[TheDon the type of criminal]] that the police would spare ''no'' expense to keep in jail, if they could only pin something on him--but nothing sticks because witnesses "forget" what they saw or die before the trial in "[[DeadlyEuphemism car accidents]]". And he ''really'' [[IllKillYou doesn't like being robbed]], even more so if what Alice stole is of [[HeKnowsTooMuch valuable for reasons beyond its monetary value]].
15
16OhCrap
17
18Now, Alice finds that her ill-gotten gains are too "hot" for her to fence, and she has an angry mobster and his henchmen after her. Alice might figure now that jail would be a better option, if not for Bob practically ''[[DirtyCop owning]]'' many of the cops and having his people in the prisons. Depending on Bob's mood, he might [[YouHaveNoChanceToSurvive simply warn her]] or [[AnOfferYouCantRefuse tell her to make amends by doing him some favors]]. If she isn't so lucky, she [[AndYourLittleDogToo and her family]] might be subject to drive by shootings by a group dead-set on fitting her for CementShoes.
19
20This is a sub-trope of MuggingTheMonster. In that trope, the mugger is typically a {{mook}} and the monster is a main character, while in this trope, the robber is typically a main character and the victim is a BigBad from TheSyndicate.
21
22The most literal case of this trope is when the Mob keeps its casino proceeds, stacks of bills from money laundering, or drug money in a safe place in a Mobster's home or business ("a Mob bank"), and a CaperCrew or small-time thieves steal this cash.
23
24For cases where characters are deliberately robbing criminals because they think they deserve it, see JustLikeRobinHood or KarmicThief. See also BankRobbery.
25
26----
27!!Examples
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29[[foldercontrol]]
30
31[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
32* ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureTheJOJOLands'''s pitch is our four intrepid heroes, teenage criminals using Stand abilities for such purposes on behalf of their school principal crime boss from small-town Hawai'i, trying to pull off a heist on ''[[BullyingTheDragon Rohan motherfucking Kishibe]]''. Even Jodio Joestar's narration in the first chapter implies it went up in absolute smoke.
33-->"The boss did call one thing correctly: just the three of us would seriously ''"not have been enough"''. Actually... it wouldn't have been enough no matter how many people we had."
34* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', this was Nami's MO when Luffy met her; Stealing from small-time pirates. She gets Luffy involved in her scheme to bilk [[StarterVillain Buggy]] the [[MonsterClown Clown]] out of a treasure map and his loot, and as we learn later on, has been thieving against pirates since childhood.
35[[/folder]]
36
37[[folder:Comic Books]]
38* A ''ComicBook/BatmanBlackAndWhite'' short story set during WWII has Batman briefly detain ComicBook/{{Catwoman}}, who claims the latest heist she's planning is against a Nazi sympathizer. Batman voices his doubts... only to be interrupted as the mark greets his guests with a hearty "Heil Hitler!"
39* A somewhat common occurrence in ''ComicBook/{{Diabolik}}'', be it the title character stealing from some criminals and only realizing who he's dealing with during the heist (as he'd steal from them anyway) or someone unknowingly stealing from him. Somehow, very few are smart enough to just wait to be tracked down and beg for forgiveness by the [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast King of Terror]] when they realize ''what'' they did.
40* The French comic ''ComicBook/InnerCityBlues'' starts when two low-rent brothers in crime steal a car that belongs to one of the mob bosses in the city. Their fence immediately recognizes it and calls the boss to explain what happened. The two thieves end up given a job as "debt collectors", as the boss was impressed by their skill.
41* The main action of ''Film/RoadToPerdition'' consists of Michael O'Sullivan holding up mob banks, deliberately targeting the off-the-books money the banks are holding for John Looney and Al Capone, as a means to force Capone to turn over Connor Looney, the son of John Looney and the murderer of Michael's wife and youngest son. Furthermore, O'Sullivan tells the crooked bank managers that they can keep a portion of that money for themselves as a "handling charge" by claiming he took it to ensure their cooperation.
42* In one ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' anniversary story, the elderly GentlemanThief the Black Fox made the regrettable mistake of stealing the Dragon's Egg, an emerald that not only belonged to Doctor Doom but an heirloom of Doom's family passed down from his mother. OhCrap doesn't even begin to describe the Fox's reaction to this revelation.
43* In ''ComicBook/StarWarsLando'', Lando Calrissian and his crew are hired to hijack a pleasure yacht full of artifacts taken by the Empire. It's only ''after'' they've pulled it off than they discover that A: this ship is the personal property of ''the Emperor'' himself, and B: the treasures are ''Sith'' artifacts.
44[[/folder]]
45
46[[folder:Fan Works]]
47* One of these is part of Wrestling/BeckyLynch's backstory in ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/14997911/chapters/34760702 The Horsewomen Of Las Vegas.]]'' She, her boyfriend, Wrestling/WadeBarrett, and Mason Ryan robbed a bank, which turned out to be a bank where "Brooklyn Brawler" Steve Lombardi (a high-ranking capo of Wrestling/VinceMcmahon's crime family) keeps his money. Wade goes to Lombardi to apologize and give back some of the money (while keeping Becky and Mason's names out of it) and winds up being killed. Becky would later kill Lombardi in revenge, then vowed not to get attached to anyone else ever again.
48* ''Fanfic/ServiceWithASmile'':
49** A couple of teenagers take to harassing [[WebAnimation/{{RWBY}} Jaune's]] temporary waitresses. Unfortunately for them, Jaune's cafe's biggest group of regulars work for the local mafia (ordering fifty coffees from him twice a day) and one of their enforcers "encourages" the boys to leave.
50** Taken even further when a bunch of thugs wreck Jaune's shop, steal his money, and beat the shit out of him. Roman and Junior begin pulling strings in the underworld to find the men responsible and make them regret the day they were born.
51* ''Fanfic/WithThisRing'': An alternate version of Paul, who arrived in universe -14 with a blue ring, stopped a crime in progress and threw the crooks into the bay -- then later learned that they were employees of Ultraman, the local alternate version of Superman. Al "Capo" Scott, after cutting off Paul's thumbs, is able to advise him on how to make amends, which in this case means mining a suitcase full of gold from the asteroid belt, presenting it to Ultraman in apology, and becoming his employee.
52[[/folder]]
53
54[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
55* In ''Film/TwoGuns'', Undercover DEA agent Bobby Trench and Undercover Navy Intelligence agent Michael Stigman rob a bank where a drug lord named Manny Graco is stashing his loot. Neither Trench or Stigman are aware of the other man's undercover status or secret motives for the robbery (Trench is doing it to get evidence against Greco for money laundering while Stigman intends to use the money to fund navy covert operations), and the plan soon falls apart as a result.
56* ''Film/FortyEightHours'': The MacGuffin of the plot is a briefcase with half a million dollars in cash; Reggie Hammond explains to Inspector Jack Cates that ''"me and my friends hit a dealer during a sale... that's the kind of money nobody reports stolen."'' In the sequel, ''Another 48 Hrs'', Reggie's first guess is that the hit men hired by "The Iceman" were sent after him in revenge for the robbery. [[spoiler:Then he realizes that the money means nothing, but the fact that [[TheBadGuysAreCops the Iceman is actually a police officer]] and Reggie can identify him makes him a major threat now that he's out of prison.]]
57* Played with in ''Film/AbsolutePower1997''. Master thief Luther Whitney steals a fortune from a secret vault in billionaire Walter Sullivan's mansion, but witnesses the murder of Sullivan's TrophyWife. Sullivan is a genuinely legitimate businessman, but he blames the unknown thief for his wife's death and is motivated to hire a hit man rather than let the police catch him.
58* The 1972 movie ''Film/{{Across 110th Street}}'' is about the investigation into the robbery of a Mafia gambling bank, though in this case, the perpetrators know what they're doing.
59* ''Film/TheAggressionScale'': Bill stole the money from mob boss Bellavance's private account after Bellavance was arrested for murder, and used it to buy Owen's way out of the facility he was in. He figured Bellavance would not need the money in prison, but he didn't count on Bellavance making bail.
60* In ''Film/TheBankJob'', members of the British secret service need to retrieve incriminating photos of the princess from a criminal who has been using them as blackmail material to stay out of jail, so they set up some criminals to rob the bank where they are being stored. The criminals have no idea of the motive behind their instigator and are unprepared when the real target, and other criminals who stored their incriminating evidence in the same bank, come after them.
61* ''Film/BeverlyHillsCop'': Michael Tandino steals millions of dollars in bearer bonds from a man named Victor Maitland. Unfortunately for him, Maitland is a major drug dealer, who sends hit men to find Tandino, recover the bonds, and execute him.
62* ''Film/CharleyVarrick'': The protagonists rob a small town bank that happens to be a mob bank, and the spend the rest of the film trying to evade both the police and the mob.
63* In ''Film/TheConIsOn'', Harry gambles with the cash from a drug deal she is holding for TheMafiya boss Irina, and loses it all. She and Peter go the run to America trying to find some way to raise the cash to repay Irina before she can catch up with them.
64* ''Film/TheDarkKnight'': The EstablishingCharacterMoment for the Joker is him robbing a bank knowing this trope in advance. The men he hires only realize that it's mob-owned when one of them barely avoids a lethal shock from the vault door, and the manager starts firing on them with a shotgun. Later he casually strolls into a meeting of the gangsters he's robbed, even mocking them for the fact that he used some of the money he stole from them to have an entirely new wardrobe custom-tailored.
65-->'''Gambol:''' [[RefugeInAudacity You think you can steal from us and just walk away?!]]\
66'''The Joker:''' ''[matter-of-factly]'' [[BluntYes Yeah.]]
67* ''Film/Drive2011'': Standard's "simple" pawn shop heist was supposed to turn up $40,000. Instead, the crew finds half a million dollars of money stashed by an out-of-town mob. Then [[FromBadToWorse things get really bad]].
68* ''Film/TheDrop'' has two robbers start the plot by holding up a mob bar, and then plan to come back when it's the drop off for all the mob bars of the month.
69* In ''Film/FastFive'', Dominic Toretto and Brian O'Connor assemble a team to rob drug kingpin Reyes completely blind.
70* ''Film/GoneInSixtySeconds2000'': Freb steals a car. Then they find the trunk ''full'' of cocaine and realize it probably belongs to a drug kingpin.
71-->'''Memphis:''' Where did you get this car?\
72'''Freb:''' In front of a restaurant in Chinatown!\
73'''Memphis:''' Do you even know why someone would leave a car like that with its keys in it?...Maybe because no one in that neighborhood would be stupid enough to try and rip this car off!
74* In the TV movie ''Good Cops, Bad Cops'' (1990), corrupt police in Boston burgle the safe deposit boxes of a bank and find a much larger haul than they anticipated, causing them to worry about this trope. The local mob boss assures them it isn't the case; he just wants his cut from their crime. Unfortunately, the criminal responsible for fencing the jewels has made off with them.
75* ''Film/TheGreatBankRobbery'' depicts a comedic western variation on this.
76* In ''Film/HarleyDavidsonAndTheMarlboroMan'', the two main characters try to rob a bank to help a friend save his bar. Unfortunately for them, the bank CEO is involved in the drug trade on the side, and the transport they swipe is carrying the newest designer drug. It goes downhill from there.
77* In ''Film/{{Heat}}'', it turns out that the bearer bonds stolen during the opening heist by Neil and his crew belonged to Roger Van Zant, [[MorallyBankruptBanker a banker]] who does business for a drug cartel. On realizing this, the crew curiously doesn't panic, but instead calmly approach Van Zant with what they feel is a reasonable deal -- having not known the bonds belonged to him, they offer to sell his bonds back to him at a generous price which, on top of the insurance he'll receive for them anyway, will see him lose out less than he would have had they sold them to a third party. Unfortunately for them, Van Zant isn't in the mood to be reasonable and so orders a hit out on them. [[spoiler:Interestingly, the hit backfires and Neil, himself now no longer in the mood to be reasonable, promises the banker he's pretty much going to die painfully. Van Zant is consequently the one who spends most of the movie fretting for his life -- until he gets hooked up with Waingro, an AxCrazy lunatic with a grudge against Neil, at which point things go FromBadToWorse for pretty much everyone concerned, as Waingro and Van Zant indirectly tip off the police to a bank robbery Neil's crew is planning.]]
78* In ''Film/Heist2015'', the casino Vaughn and his partners rob is being used to launder money for the Mob.
79* In ''Film/HollowTriumph'', Johnny and his cronies knock over a Mob controlled gambling joint. The owner Rocky Stansyck swears to track him down if it takes 20 years.
80* ''Film/{{Hostage}}'': [[{{Delinquents}} Three teen crooks]] break into a rich suburban family's house. Unknown to them, the father has ties to the mob. When it escalates into a full-blown HostageSituation, the mob gets involved to prevent the police from stumbling upon incriminating data.
81* In ''Film/TheImmortals'', Jack tells his thieves that the cash they are stealing belongs to a shady real estate developer. It actually belongs to local mob boss Dominic.
82* ''Film/TheIrishman'': Frank is paid to do a side job blowing up a laundry business by a small-time gangster named Whispers that wasn't officially sanctioned by Frank's mafia contacts. When they find out and summon him to explain himself, he tells him that Whispers told him it was owned by a bunch of Jewish businessmen. In fact, the company was partially owned by both the KosherNostra and the Italian family Boss, Angelo Bruno. Frank's life is spared because he did not know this in advance, and because his friend and patron Russell Bufalino strongly vouched for him to Angelo. When he offers to give back the money he made off the job anyway, they tell him to keep it, since Whispers "won't be needing it anyway".
83* The title character in ''Film/JohnWick'' gets his vintage Ford Mustang stolen, [[BadPeopleAbuseAnimals his dog killed]], and the shit kicked out of him by Iosef Tarasov, the SpoiledBrat son of a [[TheMafiya Russian gangster]], all because John wouldn't sell his Mustang to the kid. When Iosef gets home, his father Viggo has already been informed of what's happened by Aurelio, and informs him that John [[RetiredBadass used to be his best and most feared assassin]] before he retired, and that not only does Iosef deserve [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge everything he has coming to him]], he's probably doomed the rest of the organization as well with his stupidity.
84** Later in the film, John strikes back against Viggo's organization by raiding an orthodox church used as a front for a vault containing all of Viggo's illicit wealth and blackmail material. Though in this case, it isn't about taking Viggo's money - John burns all of it within the church's vault -- it's to force Viggo himself to come out of hiding by doing something that he literally can't afford to ignore.
85* ''Film/OpportunityKnocks'': Played with: when Eddie and Lou steal the car, they had no idea that Sal's money was in the trunk. The money is stolen after the duo abandon the car, but they are on the hook for the missing cash.
86* In ''Film/ThePopeOfGreenwichVillage'' three burglars do this to a Mob business. The one who set it up knew beforehand; the other two didn't.
87* ''Film/RoadToPerdition'': Subverted in that Michael Sullivan Sr., TheIrishMob hitman doing the robbery, knows whom he's robbing: Al Capone's organization. Sullivan (with the help of his eldest son) seizes Capone's dirty money in order to get Capone to turn over Connor Rooney, who murdered Sullivan's wife and youngest son. With them still refusing to budge, Sullivan resorts to killing John Rooney, Connor's father and father figure to Sullivan. This gets the Outfit to end their protection of Connor as Frank Nitti, Capone's right-hand man, feels that [[PsychopathicManchild Connor]] cannot be trusted with running his father's organization. Capone's associates subsequently sit back and do everything to let Sullivan Sr. up to Connor's room to kill him. However, they don't call off the gunman they'd hired to target Sullivan either.
88* ''Film/RobTheMob'', unsurprisingly, features this with the main characters robbing mob social clubs (the idea being that the clubs are no-gun zones for the patrons, and that the effected mafiosos won't go to the police). BasedOnATrueStory, and it turns out about as well as you'd expect.
89* The trouble in the Italian film ''Film/{{Scialla}}'' comes from Luca getting caught on camera stealing some drugs from the house of a big pusher... That had invited him and the gang he was part of to his home.
90* In ''Film/{{Snatch}}'', three of the characters rob an underground bookmaking establishment owned by a LondonGangster.
91* In ''Film/LesSpecialistes'', the protagonists plan to rob the high security vault of a mafia-own Casino in Nice, [[UsefulNotes/DepartementalIssues South-Eastern]] UsefulNotes/{{France}}.
92* ''Film/TheSting'': A team of con artists (Johnny Hooker, Luther Coleman, and Joe Erie) inadvertently swindle a numbers runner for crime boss Doyle Lonnegan. Lonnegan assigns hit men to find and kill each of them, and the hitmen appear and carry out attacks throughout the movie.
93* ''Film/TripleFrontier'' has five US military veterans and friends robbing a [[TheCartel South American drug lord]]'s compound. Their getaway isn't as easy as initially thought since they got a little greedy and stole way more cash than they can handle.
94* ''Film/TwoHands'': The street kids Helen and Pete steal the $10,000 Jimmy was holding for Pando (a local crime boss); although this causes trouble for Jimmy rather than for Helen and Pete. Later a car thief steals Acko's (Pando's right-hand man) beloved Ford Falcon. The mechanic to whom he delivers it to be stripped happens to be a friend of Acko's and recognises it immediately.
95* ''Film/TheUsualSuspects'': Each of the main characters [[UnreliableNarrator supposedly]] were involved in crimes where they stole something from Keyser Soze. Since none of them knew who they were really stealing from, Soze allows them to make amends by engaging in a SuicideMission on his behalf.
96[[/folder]]
97
98[[folder:Literature]]
99* The apparently valuable MacGuffin that drives the plot of ''The Burglar Who Liked to Quote Kipling'' turns out to be evidence that UnreliableExpositor J. Rudyard Whelkin has successfully [[TheCon conned]] a very wealthy, very powerful admirer of UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler.
100* Robbing a mob bank is the first stage of Nicodemus's plan to break into the Underworld (the mythological kind, not the criminal kind) in the ''Literature/DresdenFiles'' novel ''Literature/SkinGame''. [[spoiler:It's a set-up.]]
101* ''Literature/TheExecutioner''. Mack Bolan does this as a matter of routine, in order to fund his RoaringRampageOfRevenge against the Mafia.
102* In the Literature/{{Parker}} novel ''The Outfit'', Parker gets sick of the contract TheMafia has placed on him. He contacts all of his independent operator associates and asks them to put into effect any plans they might have had for robbing outfit operations (which is something he had threatened to do at the end of the first novel ''The Hunter''). The third section of the novel details several of these robberies being carried out. The result is so costly to the outfit that they are willing to make peace with Parker and call off the contract.
103* ''Literature/VoidMoon'': Cassie the ClassyCatBurglar is sent by her criminal contacts to creep into a Las Vegas high roller's hotel room and retrieve his BriefcaseFullOfMoney containing $500,000. She succeeds but is horrified to find out that the "high roller" was actually a Mafia bag man and he was carrying not $500K, but $2.5 million.
104* In ''Literature/RWBYRomanHoliday'', Roman Torchwick's first big heist in Vale is robbing a bank. He learns later that the bank was controlled by the Hei Xiong gang, and barely escapes the boss' retribution. After that, he makes a point of checking which business are Hei Xiong's ''before'' robbing them.
105* The event that kicks off the early plot of ''Literature/SummusProelium'' is a bank belonging to La Casa being robbed. While the obvious robbery is foiled, it turns out that were merely a diversion so one of the bank workers could get into their leader Blackjack's personal safety deposit box. As the worker knew full well, the box contained the medicine Blackjack's daughter needs to live, and Blackjack goes on the warpath trying to recover the medicine and punish the thief.
106[[/folder]]
107
108[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
109* In the ''Series/BurnNotice'' episode "Bad Breaks", Michael Weston convinced some bank robbers that they were in the process of doing this.
110* ''Series/{{Gotham}}'': Late in season 5, ClassyCatBurglar Magpie starts stealing from ComicBook/ThePenguin's private vault, one of the biggest and long-lasting crime lords in the city. While she initially proves to be quite a nuisance for him, [[EnemyMine with Selina Kyle's help]] he eventually lures Magpie into a trap and shoots her dead on the spot.
111* The ''Series/GoodGirls'' begins with moms Beth, Annie and Ruby robbing the grocery store Annie works at, expecting about $30,000. They're rocked to find it's half a million and start using it to pay off some big debts. Enter counterfeiting/drug cartel crime boss Rico who informs them the store was a front for his operations and they need to pay him back or get killed.
112* In the ''Series/HawaiiFiveO'' episode "I'm a Family Crook - Don't Shoot", a family of thieves snatch a briefcase full of money from a well-dressed man. Unfortunately for them, their mark was a bagman for a ruthless Mob boss. They spend the rest of the episode pursued by Five-O and the mob, as well as a rival gang trying [[spoiler:(and failing)]] to muscle in on the territory.
113* ''Series/HunterNBC'':
114** A [[StupidCrooks not-very-smart crook]] steals cocaine from a courier, then asks around for someone willing to buy it. He's sent to the man whom the courier was working for, who finds it very interesting that he's being sold the exact amount of coke that's just been stolen from him...
115** A couple steals money from a sleazy businessman who employs a PsychoForHire to get it back. The latter kills so many people while looking for them, the terrified thieves mail the valuables back with a note attached saying ''We're sorry''.
116* A variation occurs on ''Series/{{Leverage}}'' when the team targets the owners of a Chinese laundry who literally pay their employees in peanuts. It's only when their scheme is underway that they discover the place is a front and the team is about to rip off a Chinese triad.
117* ''Series/{{Luke Cage|2016}}'':
118** The plot of season 1 is kicked off when a group of three street thugs, Dante Chapman, Shameek Smith and Chico Diaz, attack a gun deal between men working for Cottonmouth and Domingo Colon, planning to steal a large amount of money. Things go bad, a gunfight breaks out, and everyone from both gang factions gets killed. Shameek, getting greedy, shoots Dante dead rather than split the money three ways. Before he dies, Dante calls Cottonmouth's henchman Tone to rat out Shameek and Chico. Shameek is tracked down within a day, and Cottonmouth beats him to death in his office. The next day, Luke tracks down Chico as a favor to Pop and hopes to negotiate a deal with Cottonmouth to give Chico a pass if he returns the money. However, Tone decides to go after Chico and shoot at him in Pop's Barbershop. He only succeeds in wounding Chico and killing Pop, but gets back the money. Killing Pop gets Tone himself thrown off a roof by Cottonmouth, and also sends Luke on the warpath. Finally, Chico is strangled to death by the corrupt Detective Scarfe a day later as the last link to the heist.
119** After Pop is killed, Luke Cage goes on a rampage of all of Cottonmouth's stashhouses, getting them identified and shut down by the police. He also skims a little money from his raid of the main stashhouse, Mariah's office at Crispus Attucks, to pay the rent on Pop's Barbershop and stave off the realtors.
120** In season 2, Bushmaster robs Mariah blind of all her money by kidnapping her banker and making him empty her accounts, before killing him and leaving his head in a fish tank for Luke and Misty to find.
121* ''Series/{{Monk}}'': In [[Recap/MonkS3E5MrMonkMeetsTheGodfather "Mr. Monk Meets the Godfather"]], a US Mint employee attempts to steal coins from a gumball machine in a barbershop. [[spoiler:These were double-headed pennies he'd stolen from the Mint the day before and had hidden in the machine with the intention of recovering them later.]] [[LittleDidIKnow Little did he know]] that that barbershop was a front for the Lucarelli crime family, which he only finds out when a customer getting a haircut tries to pull a gun on him. The man manages to wrestle the gun away from him, and proceeds to gun down the customer, the barber, and some mobsters running a numbers game in the backroom, then lies to the police to try and pin the blame on one of the Lucarellis' rivals.
122* ''Series/{{Ozark}}'' after the Byrde family arrives at the Lake of Ozarks, the Langmores pull a scam on them, with Ruth stealing one of the many suitcases full of money. Marty tracks them down, and informs them the money belongs to a cartel boss who just days earlier killed several people and sealed their bodies in barrels of acid for stealing from him.
123* Ziggy's backstory in ''Series/PowerRangersRPM'' amounts to this. A low-level member of the mob itself, Ziggy got the chance to prove himself making a multi-million dollar shipment. But when he realized the shipment was of medical equipment that an orphanage of {{Littlest Cancer Patient}}s sorely needed, he sent it to them instead (letting the mob think he took it himself so they wouldn't target the kids) and escaped into the wastelands outside the city. When he returned to civilization, he quickly got in with the Power Rangers through his new friend Dillon, which meant he was mostly protected from mob reprisals. Mostly.
124* ''Series/PoliceWoman'': In "The Melting Point of Ice", two construction workers happen to find the loot from a jewelry robbery, which was hidden near their construction site by the robbers. The robbers manage to track down the workers by their changed spending habits, and so do the police, who manage to catch the robbers just as they are about to take the stones back by force.
125* ''Series/TheProfessionals''. In "Where The Jungle Ends", a squad of mercenaries rob a bank, using submachine guns to drive off the police, stealing an aircraft and parachuting to safety before RAF interceptors can reach them. Their leader then turns up at the home of Britain's top organised crime boss, returning his safety deposit box which they stole as a demonstration of what they can do. He also hands over all the money they stole--it's in brand new large denomination notes which only the boss has the contacts to launder.
126* ''Series/{{The Punisher|2017}}'': In the first episode of season 1, Lance, one of Frank Castle's colleagues on the construction site is in debt to a Gnucci loan shark who is threatening to break his legs and take his car. He recruits some buddies of his and Donny Chavez (a newcomer that has taken a liking to Frank) to rob a mob poker game with about $70,000 in cash on hand. They figure it'll be easy money as the only armed resistance they'll face is a single guard at the door (the guys running the game figuring that their reputation is a deterrent against would-be thieves). The robbery goes bad as the inexperienced Donny drops his wallet (which he brought along for if they got stopped by the police), causing the mobsters to see his driver's license. This prompts Lance and the others to take Donny back to the construction site with the intention of killing him in the cement mixer so he can't be tortured into giving them up, but Frank happens to be there and kills them all before rescuing Donny. He then goes to the site of the poker game, and guns down the Gnucci boss and his associates as they're preparing to go after Donny. Frank is caught by Micro on a surveillance camera while leaving the crime scene afterwards.
127* ''Series/ShakespeareAndHathawayPrivateInvestigators'': in the Series Two finale, "[[Recap/ShakespeareAndHathawayPrivateInvestigatorsS2E10 Too Cold For Hell]]", a ConMan operates a phony removal service that rips off couples' possessions. This proves to be his downfall which his latest victim turns out to unknowingly be the niece of a violent international gangster, who entrusted the niece with the urn containing his mother's ashes.
128* On ''Series/TheShield'', [[spoiler: Vic and the gang rob the Armenian mob's money train]] at the end of season 2. They then spend much of the following five seasons dealing with the fallout.
129* ''Series/TheSopranos''.
130** In "[[Recap/TheSopranosS1E246Long 46 Long]]", Christopher and Brendan Filone start hijacking trucks from Comley Trucking, a company that pays protection money to Tony Soprano's uncle Junior. Junior orders them to stop, but their need to feed their drug addictions forces them to continue. After a driver is accidentally killed, Junior orders retaliation against them. Brendan is killed by Mikey Palmice in his bathtub while Christopher is subject to a mock execution. What saved Christopher's life in this case was that he didn't go along on the last heist himself, although he did little to stop Brendan from continuing on his own.
131** In "[[Recap/TheSopranosS3E12AmourFou Amour Fou]]", Jackie Aprile Jr. and his idiot stoner friends rob a mob poker game, trying to replicate the legendary stunt that marked his father and Tony for greatness. Unfortunately, they mess it up. A shootout ensues, resulting in Furio (a made man) being wounded and Sunshine (the card dealer) being killed, along with Jackie Jr.'s accomplices Dino Zirelli and Carlo Renzi. Jackie Jr.'s stepdad Ralph Cifaretto also has no intention of shielding him, and he's subsequently tracked down and shot in the back of the head by Vito Spatafore.
132* In an episode of ''Series/StarskyAndHutch'', a small-time crook robs a candy store and then discovers it's a front for the mob. He immediately panics and tries to give the money back, using the show's InformationBroker Huggy Bear as a go-between. Naturally, things don't go as planned.
133* An episode of ''Series/WhiteCollar'' had a teen conman being targeted by one of the criminals he stole from.
134* In ''Series/TheWire'', Proposition Joe manipulates Omar into robbing a poker game attended by Marlo Stanfield, the druglord of West Baltimore. This kickstarts a major feud between them.
135* In Season 4 of ''Series/PersonOfInterest'', Team Machine have to go into hiding, with [[CrimefightingWithCash Harold Finch]] getting cut off from his huge bank accounts. So the Machine solves the problem by having them steal untraceable money from the Latvian mob. John Reese also makes a habit of stealing weapons from mobsters and arms dealers as needed.
136* In ''Series/FargoSeasonFour'', Zelmare and Swanee's [[SarcasmMode brilliant]] plan to help out Zelmare's sister with her debts is to rob the Cannon Limited, a mafia bank that targets Kansas City's black population, unaware that the Cannons are the same people to whom Zelmare's sister owes her debt in the first place.
137* ''Series/WaterRats''. A CorruptCorporateExecutive gets embezzled by an underling working in league with his mistress. His only response is their betrayal is YouFool "That was Triad money you stole. They'll hunt you down no matter where you go."
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140[[folder:Video Games]]
141* In ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamOrigins'', Batman heads to the Gotham Merchants Bank, which is owned by crime boss Black Mask, and discovers that the Joker has kidnapped Black Mask and assumed his identity, taking over his operation and his men; the Joker proceeds to escape with a truck full of money stolen from the bank.
142** ComicBook/TwoFace's plan in ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight'' is to rob every bank in Gotham used as a laundering front for the mob, taking advantage of [[ComicBook/TheScarecrow Scarecrow's]] mass evacuation to ensure that he'll have no opposition (save Batman, of course). Although his "Harvey" personality is aware that they're also robbing the honest civilians who just happen to use those banks and there's no real way to sort the "good" money from the "bad", they still see it as fair.
143* Early in ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireIII'', Ryu, Rei, and Teepo decide to break into Mayor [=McNeil's=] mansion, steal his money, and distribute it to the town. They only find out ''afterwards'' that the mayor is an underling of a major crime syndicate, which is why nobody tried to do this before. Cue their house being burned to the ground by Balio and Sunder, followed by the three being scattered to the four winds for several years.
144* A variation occurs in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV''. After Michael catches his wife cheating on him with her tennis coach, his idea of getting revenge is by pulling down the supports of his house. Except the house actually belonged to Martin Madrazzo, the biggest drug czar in the state. And that house was worth $2 million. Suffice it to say, Madrazzo is ''pissed'', and Michael is forced back into the bank-robbing game to find a way of paying him back.
145** Later in "The Paleto Score", Michael's crew rob a supposed "hayseed bank" that [[DirtyCop the local cops]] use to the store the millions they make from extorting local drug labs and brothels. But in an inversion, it's ''the cops'' who are portrayed as inept crooks who are out of their depth -- they might be able to shake down a few redneck weed dealers, but are completely unprepared for a group of hardcore professionals kitted out head to toe in body armor and packing military-grade weapons.
146** Comes at the ''Online'' PlayerCharacter both ways in the "Los Santos Summer Special" update. At the start of the "Superyacht Life" mission chain, some small-time crooks burglarize the [[WealthyYachtOwner luxury yacht]] of arguably [[VillainProtagonist the most wealthy, powerful and well-connected criminal in the state]], steal some minor tax documents and registration paperwork, then go joyriding around on your stolen jet-skis. After swiftly dealing with the idiots, your ship's captain informs you that they were linked to a local yacht club, and recommends "enforcing the nautical pecking order" by sinking all of the boats in the marina... some which actually belonged to an international money laundering syndicate. With the hornet's nest thus poked, the pissed-off gangsters become the main antagonists for the rest of the mission chain.
147* The "Blood Money" level of ''VideoGame/HotlineMiami2WrongNumber'' sees the Son and two underlings attacking a bank belonging to the Colombians.
148* The plot of ''VideoGame/LateShift'', a full motion video game or FMV, is entirely the subject of this trope. In the interactive game, players control Matt, a student working as a late shift valet at a multi-story car park, who accidentally becomes involved in an auction house heist of a priceless, but tiny, historical Chinese pottery bowl. Originally just forced to go along with the heist by the conspirators, Matt becomes increasingly involved according to the player's choices and ends up on the run along with one of the conspirators, May-Ling, from the Tchoi family, the titular "Mob", who bought the bowl at the auction.
149* While not a Mob bank, in ''VideoGame/Payday2'', specifically the Firestarter Heist, the Payday gang is sent to rob a bank holding money belonging to the Mendoza Cartel for Hector. However, it's [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] as they burn the money, rather than stealing it.
150* The third ArcVillain of ''VideoGame/Persona5'', Junya Kaneshiro, is a {{Yakuza}} boss whose [[MentalWorld Palace]] takes the form of a bank with himself as the president, the [[MacGuffin Treasure]] of which is gold bullion that becomes a golden briefcase filled with (fake) money in the real world.
151* The plot of ''VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird'' is kicked off by a bungled bank heist; the Saints find out the hard way that the bank they're holding up is Syndicate property.
152* ''VideoGame/SlyCooper'' almost exclusively targets other criminals, as he finds no honor or challenge in robbing innocent people. Thus, heists of this type are virtually invariable for him.
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155[[folder:Western Animation]]
156* In the ''WesternAnimation/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes'' episode "To Steal an Ant-Man", Scott Lang robs a Hydra bank to get the money to ransom his daughter.
157* Catwoman's debut episode in ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'', "[[Recap/TheBatmanS1E6TheCatAndTheBat The Cat and the Bat]]", begins with her trying to steal a valuable jade lion statue from a Japanese businessman. This lands her in hot water because the "businessman" is really a {{Yakuza}} boss planning on expanding his clan into Gotham and the statue's ''real'' value came from the data disc hidden inside it which charted the clan's hierarchy and business contacts.
158* In the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' episode "[[Recap/BatmanBeyondS2E7OnceBurned Once Burned]]", Ten of the Royal Flush Gang attempts to rob the Derby, a high-stakes poker game that was a tradition among the local crime syndicates since before [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries Bruce's day]].
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