Mob War: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

This may be portrayed as a organized crime version of [[Feuding Families]], and as with many portrayals of [[Feuding Families]] [[Evil Versus Evil|both sides are evil]].

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

* In the ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'' episode "Ballad of Fallen Angels," Spike's former [[Mentor]], Mao Yenrai was killed in Vicious's introduction scene for trying to make peace between the Red Dragon Syndicate and another Mob. Later, the Red Dragons would have a mini civil war when Vicious launched his coup.

** Specifically, an all-out war against the Yakuza during the Fujiyama Gangster Paridise arc. However, it is noted that potential mob conflicts solve themselves once a third party gets involved: Roberta in the ''El Baille de la Muerte'' arc and Hansel and Grettel in the Vampire Twins arc.

* In the ''[[Gungrave]]'' anime, the out-of-town Lightning organisation's attempt to take power from [[The Syndicate|Millennion]].

* Essentially the plot of the second season of ''[[Durarara!!]]'', and also a part of the back story for several characters.

* Happens in ''[[Heat Guy J]]''. The head of the Wei family is ''not'' happy that Clair has been made head of the Leonelli family (One, it interferes with the Wei family's power, and two Clair is [[Ax Crazy|nucking futz]].) He tries to absorb the Leonelli family into his own, and when that fails, slights Clair (and attempts to poison him) at a luncheon/dinner. An all-out fight ensues, with great losses on both sides. Clair responds by sending a tanker truck full of napalm to the Wei family's district. {{spoiler|Daisuke stops him, though.}} (In the manga, he dispenses with the napalm and has his girlfriend build a sexy gyndroid to seduce and strangle Wei. There is also no explicit mention of an all-out Mob War, though that could simply be because the manga is so short.)

 

== [[Film]] ==

* This happens in ''[[The Godfather]]'' when Sonny decides to "go to the mattresses" after the attempt on his father's life, although there is remarkably little violence seen on-screen. The story of the mob war is told through newspaper headlines while Tessio plays on an out of tune piano.

* ''[[Gangs of New York]]'' - In the movie it's immigrant Irish gangs vs. native-born Americans. In the book, it's basically every immigrant group vs. every other one. One memorable passage is about a street in the Lower East Side where all the Irish immigrants lived across the street from all the English immigrants. They'd go to work, go to their various pubs, get hammered, and then spill into the street and brawl ''almost every day.''

* ''[[Romeo Must Die]]'' featured a [[The Triads and the Tongs|Chinese Mob]] and an African-American [[The Syndicate|Syndicate]] on the edge of war.

* ''[[A Fistful of Dollars]]'', the first film of the [[Man With No Name Trilogy]], features this with the Baxters and the Rojos, two families vying for control in a small town.

** And the remake ''[[Last Man Standing (film)|Last Man Standing]]'' does this again, except with Italian and Irish mobs replacing them.

**** Which in turn may also have been based on the [[Dashiell Hammett]] novel ''[[Red Harvest]]'': See the Literature example below.

* In ''[[Scarface]]'', mob war is part of what allows Tony Montana to rise to the top of the Miami drug trade. Later when [[Even Evil Has Standards|Tony's standards]] get in the way of him doing business with [[The Cartel]], his group gets wiped out in what is not so much a Mob War as a [[Curb Stomp Battle|Mob Curb Stomping]].

* The title character of ''[[Lucky Number Slevin]]'' becomes the pawn of two mob bosses hostile to each other.

** The key plot element is that it is still a Mob [[Cold War]] and neither is willing to start a shooting war yet. The protagonist is useful since it can be made to look like he acted on his own and not on the orders of one of the mob bosses.

** Keeping the Sons out of a Mob War is a recurring theme in the series. They are quite satisfied with the status quo and an open conflict with any of the other factions is likely to severely weaken the club or even destroy it. They are very good at finding out the weakness of an enemy and striking a mutually beneficial deal to avoid a war.

** The Sons were involved in a bloody Mob War years before the series began and although they won, they came out of it very weak and still feel the effects of it.

 

== [[Music]] ==

* ''[[The Godfather]]'' game lets us see the mob war between The Corleone family and the other mob families up close. It's pretty brutal.

* Noctis' family vs. Stella's family in ''[[Final Fantasy Versus XIII]]'', in which they compete for the Crystal that Noctis holds. There's a confirmation that there will be a major plotline battle between them, but the trailers [[Shout-Out/To Shakespeare|imply]] [[What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic|otherwise]].

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

 

== [[Real Life]] ==

* The chariot racing fans in the [[Byzantine Empire]] formed themselves into something resembling a [[The Mafia|Mafia]]. They had regular riots against each other, terrorized the populace, and at times got into politics.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Drama Tropes]]

[[Category:Organized Crime Tropes]]