protection racket
Pay or else
A protection racket is a criminal extortion scheme where someone demands payment in exchange for not causing harm—often harm they themselves would inflict: The mob ran a protection racket, collecting monthly fees from every shop on the block.
The "protection" is from the racketeers themselves, making it a kind of organized shakedown.
The term extends to any arrangement where someone profits by creating the very problem they claim to solve.
- shakedownForceful extraction of payment
- organized crimeStructured illegal enterprise
- blackmailCoercion through damaging threats
- no questions askedWithout requiring explanation
- extortionObtaining through threats
mafia · Cosa Nostra · street tax · omertà · tribute · bribe · criminal enterprise · gangsters · coercion · crime syndicate · pressure tactics · intimidation · fear tactics · threats · mob · family business · enforcer · kickback
- crimerobbery, accomplice, alibi, burglary, conspiracy
- crimesarson, burglary, robbery, kidnapping, vandalism
- coercion crimeskidnapping, extortion, blackmail, human trafficking, false imprisonment
- criminal schemesconspiracy, collusion, kickback scheme, assassination plot, kidnapping plot
- organized crimemafia, mob, the mob, syndicate, crime syndicate
- racketeeringloan sharking, extortion, shakedown, kickbacks, bid rigging
protection racketpolice protection
Security from authorities
neighborhood watch · community policing · law enforcement · insurance · security consultant
protection racketemergency response
Organized action during crises
humanitarian aid · disaster relief · guardian · benefactor · protector
protection racketfair trade
Equitable exchange between parties
mutual aid society · cooperative · charity · philanthropy · gift economy
racket, protection, protected, protective, protector, protecting, unprotected, rackets, racketeer