History Main / MobWar

* A currently ongoing one is the Mexican Drug War, which has also killed more people than ''ISIS'', and was violent enough that the cartels control whole sections of Mexico, get into firefights with the Mexican army daily, and even have to put up notices to warn citizens of cartel-ruled cities to not to go out at a certain time, ''because that's when they'll start shooting.''

* During the events of ''Literature/RWBYRomanHoliday'', a war between criminal organizations in Mistral provides Lil Miss with the opportunity to expand her organization elsewhere, triggering further wars as a result. [[spoiler:She begins expanding into Vale, eventually triggering a war with Vale's dominant crime organization, the Xiong family. It comes to a head at Trivia's family estate until Neo and Roman find a way to end it for good.]]

* In the ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' episode "[[Recap/CowboyBebopSession5BalladOfFallenAngels Ballad of Fallen Angels]]", Spike's former mentor Mao Yenrai is killed in Vicious' introduction scene for trying to make peace between the Red Dragon Syndicate and another mob. Later, the Red Dragons have a mini civil war when Vicious launches his coup.

* ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'' has several, most notably the one between the Gandors and the Runoratas in the ''Drugs and Dominoes'' arc. Likewise, there's serious bad blood between Jacuzzi's [[{{Delinquents}} street gang]] and the Russo mafia family set up in Chicago, and part of the reason Jaccuzi's hitched a ride on a transcontinental train to New York is to escape their interest.
* Essentially the plot of the second season of ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'', and also a part of the back story for several characters.

->'''Vinson:''' The prisons and the graveyards are full of boys who wore the crown.
->'''Marlo Stanfield:''' Point is: they wore it. It's my turn to wear it now. Tell our people to tool up.

* In the ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' 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.
* A constant threat in [[Manga/BlackLagoon Roanapur]]. 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.

* During the 70s, Cleveland was a battleground between [[TheIrishMafia The Celtic Club criminal syndicate]] led by Danny Greene and the [[TheMafia Licavoli crime family]] when both organizations competed for control over the city. Infamously, Greene prefered to deal with his enemies by [[MadBomber blowing them up]] via car bombs, to the point that in 1976 alone, 36 bombs exploded around the Cleveland area, which resulted in the place gaining the moniker "Bomb City, U.S.A". The conflict reached an end after [[KarmicDeath Greene himself was finally killed by a car bomb in 1977]] [[PyrrhicVictory but by that time he had permanently crippled Licavoli's influence in the city.]]

* A constant threat in [[Manga/BlackLagoon Roanapur]].
** 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.

* Happens in ''Anime/HeatGuyJ''. 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 [[AxCrazy nucking futz]].) He tries to absorb the Leonelli family into his own, and when that fails, slights Clair (and tries 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.)

* Common in ''Manga/Reborn2004'', considering its settings: A [[ButtMonkey pretty incompetent kid]] who is one day told that he is the [[UnexpectedSuccessor next in line to be the Boss of the strongest Family in Italy]].

* ''Series/PersonOfInterest''. When the Machine provides the numbers of the heads of the Five Familes, Finch and Reese realise that [[DiabolicalMastermind Elias]] is finally making his move to take over the New York Mafia. They briefly consider [[AssholeVictim sitting this one out]], but decide to intervene because of the risk to innocent bystanders. Later Elias in turn finds himself being challenged by the Brotherhood, an alliance of New York's street gangs who are making their own bid for power.

* ''Series/PersonOfInterest''. When the Machine provides the numbers of the heads of the Five Familys, Finch and Reese realise that [[DiabolicalMastermind Elias is finally making his move]] to take over the New York Mafia. They briefly consider [[AssholeVictim sitting this one out]], but decide to intervene because of the risk to innocent bystanders. Later Elias in turn finds himself being challenged by the Brotherhood, an alliance of New York's street gangs who are making their own bid for power.

Sometimes, the war comes from conflict between two factions within a single group, which tends to be a particularly bitter and usually short conflict. In this case it often [[PassThePopcorn doesn't matter who wins or loses]], as the victor usually finds that their criminal empire has been [[PyrrhicVillainy smashed beyond repair by the conflict]].

* ''Roleplay/ThereWillBeBrawl'' occurs to the backdrop of public unrest due to a mob war going on between gangs controlled by Mewtwo, Ganondorf, King Dedede and Bowser. Also slightly subverted by the fact that [[spoiler: neither Dedede or Bowser were trying to fight a war]]. [[spoiler:Ganon]] eventually brings down all the mobs, only to be killed himself.

** The SpinOff ''TableTopGame/{{Necromunda}}'' a skirmish-level small unit combat set on the human Hive World of Necromunda, with mostly human factions fighting an underground gang-war. It is the ''JustForFun/{{SciFiCounterpart}}'' to Warhammmer's ''TableTopGame/{{Mordheim}}''.

** The Turtles (and even Splinter) feels they should not be involved, since their interference in the war would only make it worse. But Leo, feeling responsible for it since they're the ones who've taken out the Shredder, just can't ignore it, and takes it upon himself to deal with it.

* The {{Music/Genesis}} song "The Battle of Epping Forest", describing a [[LondonGangster London East End]] gang war.

* The Castellammarese War, the other famous gang war, was a bloody power struggle for control of New York City's Five Families ([[UsefulNotes/TheMafia and by extension, the entire American Mafia]]) between partisans of Joe "The Boss" Masseria and those of Salvatore Maranzano, and was so-called because Maranzano's faction came from Castellammare del Golfo in Sicily. It began when both factions accused each other of hijacking the other side's alcohol trucks, along with Masseria's heavy-handed attempts to strong-arm the other Italian gangs in New York, mainly the Castellammarese, and soon enough, Maranzano declared war on Masseria's gang in 1929. Outwardly, this war was between the forces of Masseria and Maranzano, but eventually, a third faction comprised of younger, Americanized mafiosi emerged. [[OldGuardVersusNewBlood The "Young Turks"]], as they were called, were more open and willing to work with other ethnic gangs, unlike "Mustache Petes" such as Masseria and Maranzano, who were too old-fashioned, dead-set in their archaic ways, and refused to work with other ethnic mobs, let alone fellow Italian mobsters; this faction was headed by Lucky Luciano, [[DragonWithAnAgenda Masseria's right-hand man in name only]]. The war claimed at least 150+ lives on both sides, and went on until Masseria was gunned down in April of 1931 at a Coney Island restaurant, allegedly orchestrated by Luciano, who wanted to make peace with Maranzano. With Masseria out of the way, Maranzano wastes no time establishing the Five Families and declaring himself [[BigBadWannabe boss of all bosses]] at a secret meeting shortly after Masseria's death; despite establishing many of the rules that still govern the Mafia, such as Omertà and crews of soldiers working under a capo, he was another Mustache Pete. This, combined with him [[BadBoss treating his mooks like crap]], [[ValuesDissonance his outdated views on running the Mafia]] and [[TheStarscream his plot to kill Luciano]] provoked a violent reaction, and he was gunned down by gunmen posing as IRS agents at his office on September 10, 1931. [[OldGuardVersusNewBlood With the old guard out of the way]], [[DragonAscendant Luciano and his allies]] could now consolidate their own power and establish the modern American Mafia. They created "the Commission", where no one mobster could ever be "boss of all bosses" again and the leaders of the Five Families would have to settle disputes peacefully, in order to prevent such wars from happening again. While not fully effective[[note]]in particular, it couldn't stop ''internal'' mob wars, fought over who would lead a single Family[[/note]], it worked pretty well for them and is a large part of why the American Mafia survived all the way to the 21st century.

* ''Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse'': The main MythArc of ''ComicBook/StarWarsBountyHunters'' is a conflict between the Mourner's Wail and Unbroken Clan crime syndicates, which has been ongoing for over a decade. Though this gets superseded during the BatFamilyCrossover ''[[ComicBook/StarWarsWarOfTheBountyHunters War of the Bounty Hunters]]'', when both groups are targeted by [[spoiler: the restored [[Film/{{Solo}} Crimson Dawn]]]].

** In a similar vein, the [[en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milperra_massacre 1984 Milperra Massacre]] in UsefulNotes/{{Sydney}} was an especially infamous case of biker gang warfare in Australia. Not just because of the intensity of violence involved between the gangs, but also because a teenage girl was fatally caught in the crossfire.

Sometimes, the war comes from conflict between two factions within a single group, which tends to be a particularly bitter and usually short conflict. In this case it often [[PyrrhicVillainy doesn't matter who wins or loses]], as the victor usually finds that their criminal empire has been smashed beyond repair by the conflict.

** In an episode of the second series Jesse James and his gang go up against Al Capone and his cronies. [[spoiler: Jesse James won, with one of his associates surviving as well]].

* After the arrest in 2004 of Montreal Mafia Boss Vito Rizzuto and his extradition to New York for his involvement in the three Capos murder back in 1981 and his conviction in 2007 to 10 years in prison, an internal faction within the once powerful Rizzuto Family was lead by Raynald Desjardain along with deported New York Mafia boss Salvatore Montagna to take over the family. Their coup started in late 2000s. After Vito Rizzuto returned to Canada in 2012, he immediately started ordering the assassination of each member that had betrayed the family and those involved in the murder of his son Nick Rizzuto jr, in 2009 and his father in 2010. In 2013, Vito Rizzuto died suddenly of lung cancer, but there are speculations that he might have been poisoned, because no autopsy was carried out. After his death, a vacuum was left within the criminal world, and a war that has claimed over 100 lives has spread from Montreal, to Ontario and beyond, is ongoing. It is alleged that the Rizzuto Family is now controlled by Stefano Sollecito, the son of murder Rizzuto Capo Rocco Sollecito in 2016 and Vito's only son Leonardo Rizzuto.

* The UsefulNotes/{{Quebec}} [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_Biker_War Biker War]] tore chiefly through the city of UsefulNotes/{{Montreal}}, UsefulNotes/{{Canada}} from 1994 to 2002, and spilled into the rest of the province. It was a particularly sordid war involving the Hells Angels and the Rizzuto Crime Family against a rival outlaw biker gang called the Rock Machine. The most infamous event was the death of 11-year old boy named Daniel Desrochers who was killed by shrapnel when a car bomb went off close to him. The response from law enforcement was inefficient, due to relatively high [[DirtyCop corruption level]] in the Montreal and Quebec [[UsefulNotes/TheMounties provincial police]], and the Quebec courts, and the fact that the Quebec Independence Movement was in its apex at the time, contributing to tensions between the Quebec government and Ottawa, which soured cooperation efforts with the [[UsefulNotes/TheMounties RCMP]]. The war ended when the leader of the Hells Angels Quebec chapter Maurice "Mom" Boucher was imprisoned for life in 2002. To this day, the French word for "biker" ("''motard''") [[AllBikersAreHellsAngels has sordid and negative connotations with violent organized crime]] in Quebec, [[SeparatedByACommonLanguage while]] in the rest of the French-speaking world "''motard''" is simply a neutral term for a biker.

* If a hero operates in a city and the series lasts more than 60 issues, this WILL be a storyline. Franchise/{{Batman}} and ComicBook/SpiderMan have both had ''multiple'' mob wars in their respective series. Batman's most notable was "War Games", which is started by [[NiceJobBreakingItHero his own plan being used by Stephanie Brown.]] Spider-Man's was most likely when ComicBook/TheKingpin was thought to be dead and all of UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity was crawling over each other to replace him.

* ""VideoGame/SpiderManPS4'':

** ''The City That Never Sleeps'' DLC campaigns (specifically the second one, ''[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Turf Wars]]'') focuses on a more traditional one within [[TheMafia the Maggia]], as Hammerhead and his clan attempt to assert their dominance within New York's underworld by wiping out the other Maggia families.

** ''The City That Never Sleeps'' DLC campaigns (specifically the second one, ''[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Turf Wars]]'') focuses on a more traditional one within [[TheMafia the Maggia]], as Hammerhead and his clan attempt to re-establish their dominance within New York's underworld by wiping out the other Maggia families.