Neighbourhood Friendly Gangsters: Difference between revisions
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{{quote|''"I got Harlem, Richie. I took care of Harlem, and now Harlem is gonna take care of me. You can believe that."''|'''Frank Lucas''', ''[[American Gangster]]''}}
It's not enough for [[Damn, It Feels Good to Be a Gangster!|it to just feel good to be a gangster]], you should also win the sympathy of the audience. Since racketeering, random murders and selling drugs don't really fly with the general public, heroic criminals in fiction are usually
Usually set against more villanous locals or [[Ruthless Foreign Gangsters|outsiders]].
This trope has some elements of [[Truth in Television]]: crime syndicates that wish to survive in a community try to have [[Villain with Good Publicity|good public relations]], after the philosophy "don't shit where you eat". Many criminal organizations (including the Sicilian Mafia, the Chinese triad societies, and most American street gangs) also have their roots in community self-defense efforts, although they share a strong tendency to degenerate into more euphemistic "protection" among other abuses. Moreover, having an organised crime outfit in your neighborhood tends to help cut down on ''dis''organized crime—the common criminals who might otherwise commit crimes in that neighborhood are too afraid of committing a crime against [[The Don|the]] ''[[The Don|wrong]]'' [[The Don|person]], and ''paying'' for it.
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== Anime & Manga ==
* ''[[JoJo's Bizarre Adventure]]'' part 5 has a section of Passione, a gang which carries the series protagonist, Giorno, as it's newest member. The gang are a small subgroup in the prominent mafia which are an exception in that the people LIKE them, rather than the extortion side. The only nasty member gets his early on and replaced by Giorno, following which it is revealed that the group leader Bucciarati hates drug dealing and dirty deeds and only joined up to help put a stop to it (Similar to Giorno himself). So Neighbourhood friendly that old people willingly go up to ask them, a group of rogues with supernatural abilities and trouble surrounding them, for help.
* ''[[Baccano!]]'' doesn't really touch at all on the crime-for-profit element of The Mafia (except for a few mentions of speakeasies), and its mobster characters might as well be violent aristocrats given their behavior and portrayal. The light novels ''do'' go a bit more into crime, with the Genoard fortune coming from cocaine and the Gandors being explicitly opposed to drug dealing. Of course, this only reinforces which characters are
** Also, Jaccuzi and Nice run a crew of community minded delinquents.
* Yusuke from ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'' is a Neighbourhood Friendly [[Delinquents|Punk]] who shoplifts, smokes, gambles and gets into fights for fun.
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== Literature ==
* Marcone from ''[[The Dresden Files]]'' can fall into this trope as his syndicate helped Harry take down a serial killer in book one, and the police for the most part don't bother him due to the fact that his organized crime tends to keep lesser gangs from going rampant.
** It should be noted, however, that the "serial killer" in ''Storm Front'' was actually targeting Marcone and his gang, so Marcone's extremely limited help was enlightened self-interest. Also, Marcone is the ''only crime boss in Chicago.'' There are no other gangs; he controls his own people ruthlessly, because unnecessary violence is bad for business, and attracts police attention. However, god help anyone, criminal or otherwise, who hurts a child if Marcone finds out about
* Steven Brust's [[Dragaera|Vlad Taltos series]] keeps Vlad sympathetic by showing how the Jhereg criminal organization to which he belongs has a strict code of ethics. They deal in the vice industry, but don't force anyone to take their wares. They demand protection money, but actually follow through with it. They carry out assassinations, but generally only on fellow power-players. If you're a common citizen who keeps his nose clean, you have virtually nothing to fear. Eventually, however, Vlad becomes disenchanted by criminality altogether.
* The Thieves Guild in ''[[Discworld]]'' 'has standards' and arranges crime in mutally benificent forms (as far as crime goes): rich people pay an annual premium, and arrange for a convenient date to rob an acceptable amount from these rich clients in their own home. Poorer (but not penniless) citizens are robbed in a fairly polite fashion on the streets, their business premises or homes, are not badly injured, and are given a receipt which guarantees they won't suffer another official robbery for the rest of the year. Criminals who don't keep to this arrangement, or who don't display their licence when on business, are dealt with by the Watch if they're lucky... or by the Thieves' Guild if they're ''unlucky''.
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* The Hidden Beks in [[Knights of the Old Republic]].
* The Freakshow in [[City of Heroes]] are a gang of scary, drug addicted, [[Cyborg]] gangers that exemplify the trope "[[Anarchy Is Chaos]]". That is, until [[Cool Teacher|Miss Francine]] comes along and teaches them how to [[Comes Great Responsibility|to use their powers for good]]. [[Complete Monster|Westin Phipps]] has you [[Kick the Dog|kidnap Miss Francine and bring her in for torture so the Freakshow will stop being altruistic]]. {{spoiler|Thankfully, [[Video Game Caring Potential|you can willingly fail this mission]]. [[Even Evil Has Standards]], after all}}. Friendly Neighborhood Freakshow "inspired by Miss Francine" [[Continuity Nod|later show up in a Going Rogue tip mission]]. {{spoiler|Heroes can [[Fixer Sue|rescue Miss Francine from Arachnos]] in another tip mission. Or they can just [[Extreme Melee Revenge|beat the shit out of Phipps.]]}}
* The Kings of ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]'' are a gang of [[Elvis Impersonator
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