Legitimate Businessmen's Social Club

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Just a Souvenir Shop. Nothing Suspicious About It. No Need to be Alarmed.
—Sign in front of Team Rocket's base, Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver

Ah, The Mafia. Known for their subtlety and planning, they can orchestrate murder, drug dealing, prostitution, and the sale of illicit tomato sauce without anyone finding out. But their fronts lack the same subtlety, as can clearly be seen on the massive sign above their hideout that says "Legitimate Casino! Not Mafia-owned!" Expect a great deal of Double Speak.

Sometimes non-Mafia criminal organizations also employ this trope.

Compare Most Definitely Not a Villain. Contrast Spy From Weights and Measures.

Examples of Legitimate Businessmen's Social Club include:


Anime and Manga

Comic Books

  • Sin City mobsters usually tend to hide in plain sight. They pretend to be country clubs, legit casinos, and even the church but they are usually fronts for criminal organizations. Most people know this, though. They just choose to ignore it.
  • Kingpin's organization from Marvel Comics used to pose as a normal spice business before being eventually exposed.


Film

  • In The Godfather films, Vito Corleone poses as an "Olive Oil Importer", and occasional references are made to "the Olive Oil business" when characters do not want to refer to what actually goes on. (Subverted in that he actually does have a legitimate business that imports olive oil; it just isn't where most of his money comes from.)
  • Some Like It Hot: The climax involves the Friends of Italian Opera.

Literature

  • The Serial Murders by Kim Newman: Lampshaded -- psychic investigator Richard Jeperson is introduced to some very obvious Legitimate Businessmen by the villain, who is auctioning his supernatural powers to be used for assassination. Upon being introduced to them, Jeperson guesses that they're 'olive oil salesmen', in reference to The Godfather example above. They appreciate the joke, but the villain -- who is both rather uncultured and a bit of an idiot -- is lost.
  • Impro Fanfic Do Gooders had the "Tokyo Legitimate Businessmen's Club" -- probably in tribute to The Simpsons. To their credit, neither the heroes nor the main villain realized their actual purpose until the shoot-out started. Then again, everyone else knows what they really do...

Live-Action TV

  • Intelligence: The protagonist has many front companies, including a shipyard and a lumber business, but his favorite is a strip club called the Chick-A-Dee.
  • Although they're a motorcycle gang rather than the Italian mob, SAMCRO in Sons of Anarchy uses this trope in the exact same fashion. Everybody knows what they do for a living, but whenever they're accused of being a biker gang by law enforcement officers, they'll assert that they're just a club of Harley enthusiasts.

MMORP Gs

  • Kingdom of Loathing has a Penguin Mafia. They run The Raffle House and Uncle P's Antiques, both which are "legitimate establishments".
  • In City of Heroes, Mafia Expy "The Family" has a pizza chain. Billboards advertise "Made Fresh. By Made Men." Which is most likely a shout-out or homage to Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash for his Cosa Nostra Pizza, Uncle Enzo and the world's most brutal 30-minutes or less delivery guarantee.


Theatre

  • The Hairy Ape: Subverted -- Yank goes to a meeting of the Industrial Workers of the World, expecting it to be a front for an organization that achieves its goals by blowing things up. The people there assume that he is a government spy trying to entrap their genuinely legitimate organization when he approaches them, and kick him out.


Video Games

 "N-O-M-A-F-I-A! Oh baby..."

  • The Outstanding Citizen Warehouse Corporation from The Sims 3, which is your sims' workplace if you choose the criminal career.
  • In The Godfather: The Game, one suspects that the various families would conceal their businesses better if they didn't post guards around it who smack their fists into the other open palm every time they see you come near. Or outright open fire indiscriminately if your Vendetta with that family is high enough.
  • There was a small rumor about years ago that SNK's first American offices were actually owned by the mafia as a means to launder their money and had minimal organized management, which is why their infamous localizations were the way they were.
  • Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver: The Team Rocket Base has a sign proclaiming its innocence. It also has a discolored tree with highly visible antennae sticking out of the top. And the shopkeeper keeps telling you that the breeze coming from that mysterious gigantic box in the middle of the shop is just your imagination, and is not coming from any hidden hideout anywhere. It doesn't help that he says it every single time you try to buy stuff from him.
    • Parodied when Team Rocket is driven away and the legitimate owner comes back...and the whistling noise doesn't stop, because she's old and her dentures don't fit right.

 "Don't look behind the poster! There's no hidden switch behind it!"

  • In Pizza Tycoon, you can order sabotage devices/weapons from stores which claim to sell "joke articles" and "ice cream", respectively. But if you try to buy weapons openly, they'll tell the police, and prison ensues.
  • In Persona 2, the Zodiac Club is run by the Masquerade, a cult with Zodiac-themed names for its members. In the sequel, the club falls under the ownership of the Taiwanese mob.
  • The NES game Nightshade has the Pyramid Club, reflecting the Big Bad's fixation on ancient Egypt. There's also an all-girl ninja gang that runs the clothing boutique and a restaurant ("Chopsticks and Ninja Stars").


Web Comics


Western Animation

  • The Simpsons
    • The Trope Namer is Fat Tony's hideout. They have a softball team and "family" picnics.
    • The Simpsons also has the Ancient Society of No-Homers, which meets at an old Baskin-Robbins with a marquee reading "Abandoned Store".
  • Futurama
    • Bender was very disappointed to learn that the League of Robots is very legitimate and hasn't killed a human in centuries. (And that was a pretty sick Girl Scout.)
    • The Robot Mafia, which is based in a meat store called "Fronty's Meat Market: Not a front since 2437". They also run "Small Bill's Laundering".
  • Family Guy: The Mafia do their dealings in the "Pet Store. That's it, pet store." All of the "pets" are cardboard cut outs, and people regularly order "bunnies" in both 12 gauge and semiautomatic (the cops have it bugged).

 "Whatever sort of 'bunny' you think would be best for shooting a guy in the head."

  • Parodied/subverted/etc in one Bugs Bunny cartoon, where Bugs torments a couple of crooks, and finishes up by erecting a huge sign on the side of their hideout. The police find the two crooks in no time.


Real Life

  • Al Capone was officially an antiques dealer. He even owned an antique shop. However, most people, including the police and the press, knew what he really was, but could not arrest him, and ended up arresting him for tax evasion.
  • The Japanese Yakuza gangs stand in an interesting contrast to this trope: they are in no way secret societies, and openly maintain offices. Members may even have business cards.
  • Dean O'Banion ran a floral shop in addition to his bootlegging operation. He was evidently a pretty good florist, and seemed to have as much of a passion for flowers as he did for crime. Admittedly, many of his customers were mobsters, but it wasn't a money laundering business. He was just good with flowers, and they knew him.
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