History Main / RiseAndFallGangsterArc

* ''Film/TheGodfather'' trilogy depicts rise and downfall of the Corleone crime family. ''Part I'' depicts how Michael Corleone is forced into the life after an attack on his father, and how he became the ultimate don in the United States after wiping out the opposition. ''Part II'' depicts the new challenges Michael faces such as being betrayed by some of his henchmen and facing government heat. ''Part III'' shows Michael as a broken shell who failed to take his family legit, how the murder of his daughter shook him on the inside, which leads to him DyingAlone. The cancelled ''Part IV'' would have depicted Michael's nephew Vincent steering the family into drugs (something Michael and Vito [[EvenEvilHasStandards shunned]]), which would become the catalyst for the Corleone family's decline and Vincent being gunned down like Pablo Escobar.

** ''VideoGame/MafiaII'' begins with Vito Scaletta (one of the two men who killed Tommy Angelo) in hard times, with the rest of the game showing his start as a petty thief, before fighting in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, getting discharged, rising through Empire Bay's criminal underworld, and finally becoming an official mobster. Unlike Tommy, however, he only briefly gets to enjoy the gangster life, before a handful of bad deals turn his life upside down again.
** ''VideoGame/MafiaIII'' sees the player-controlled fall of the Marcano family as Lincoln Clay destroys each of Sal Marcano's holdings in the city. Depending on the ending, if he stays and takes control, he becomes the new kingpin of New Bordeaux, becoming a VillainWithGoodPublicity or takes off into the night with whichever his three lieutenants has the most power to take over. Thomas Burke, the head of the Irish Mob, gets a liver transplant, going from 6-8 months left to live to getting shot dead in 1985, starting the cycle of violence all over again. Cassandra, head of the Haitian Mob, is even more of a BloodKnight to the point the [[GodzillaThreshold National Guard]] has to come in and literally shut down the entire town. The only one who actually has a GOOD ending is Vito who turns New Bordeaux into the Vegas of the South, getting an EarnYourHappyEnding, living to a ripe old age.

** ''Film/{{Scarface|1932}}'' (1932) depicts Italian-American gangster Tony Camonte becoming one of the leading figures in the Chicago bootlegging industry in the 1920s. However, his HairTriggerTemper and impulsiveness lead to him getting killed by the police.

** ''VideoGame/MafiaTheCityOfLostHeaven'' shows Tommy Angelo's circumstantial start to a life of crime in 1930, then shows his gradual rise within Don Salieri's mob from 1932 to 1935. Only Tommy's own conscience gets the better of him, and by 1938 he realizes that Salieri's no better than the late Don Morello by getting into heroin trafficking. He and his buddy Paulie rob a bank without getting Salieri's approval in order to "get out", only for his other friend Sam to betray them both and murder Paulie. It's being forced on the run after killing Sam that causes Tommy to turn state's evidence. He does some prison time, ends up in witness protection, and finally is assassinated on Salieri's orders in 1951.
** ''VideoGame/MafiaII'' begins with Vito Scaletta in hard times, with the rest of the game showing his start as a petty thief, before fighting in WWII, getting discharged, rising through Empire Bay's criminal underworld, and finally becoming an official mobster. Unlike Tommy, however, he only briefly gets to enjoy the gangster life, before a handful of bad deals turn his life upside down again.

* ''Film/AmericanMade'' revolves around Barry Seal becoming increasingly rich as he becomes one of the most successful cocaine smugglers under the employ of TheEighties-era Medellin Cartel and weapons smuggling for the CIA during the Iran-Contra affair. He eventually loses everything, courtesy of the CIA having no more use of him and him being exposed as one of said smugglers for the Cartel, and his narration the audience been following throughout the whole movie is revealed to be an ApocalypticLog he recorded in a hotel room to provide state's evidence to protect his family, shortly before Cartel soldiers find and kill him. The film telegraphs the fact that it is this trope by showing Barry reading a biography of Al Capone around the halfway point.

* ''Film/TheGodfather'' trilogy depicts rise and downfall of the Corleone crime family. ''Part I'' depicts how Michael Corleone is forced into the life after an attack on his father, and how he became the ultimate don in the United States after wiping out the opposition. ''Part II'' depicts the new challenges Michael faces such as being betrayed by some of his henchmen and facing government heat. ''Part III'' shows Michael as a broken shell who failed to take his family legit, how the murder of his daughter shook him on the inside, which leads to him DyingAlone. The cancelled ''Part IV'' would have depicted Michael's nephew Vincent steering the family into drugs (something Michael and Vito shunned), which would become the catalyst for the Corleone family's decline and Vincent being gunned down like Pablo Escobar.

* ''Film/OnceUponATimeInAmerica'' serves as a massive {{Deconstruction}} of the trope. We don't see much of Noodles' rise, but we are clearly shown his fall and his desire to go back to the life he enjoyed living, only to realize his time was long past him.

** The first season features Jimmy Darmody starting out as a ShellShockedVeteran of World War I who can barely hold down a job as [[VillainProtagonist Nucky Thompson]]'s driver -- only to eventually reinvent himself as a successful gangster, a friend to [[YoungFutureFamousPeople certain rising stars in the nascent Mafia]], and a protégé to the Commodore. However, the second season begins throwing obstacles in his path, and in time, his impetuousness, ambition, and aggression gradually end up undermining his criminal career and destroying almost everything he loves. Season 2 ends with Jimmy knowingly walking into a trap set by Nucky and [[SuicideByCop allowing himself to be gunned down]].

** Season 4 opens with a brief history of organized crime in Kansas City. Liev Moskowitz and his Jewish gang start out as poor immigrants and grow wealthy after taking over the city's rackets. They are then taken out by the IrishMob of Owney "Yiddles" Milligan. The Milligan gang also grows rich and powerful until they are taken out by Donatello Fadda's Italians. The rise and fall of each gang is illustrated by their clothing change over the years. When the new gang is introduced, they are wearing working-men clothes. When the gang is about to fall they are wearing suits, furs, and jewelry. When the season starts the Faddas are now wearing rich-men clothes and are confronted by the working class black gang of Cannon Limited.

* ''Series/QueenOfTheSouth'' opens with Teresa Mendoza, a powerful queenpin in the cocaine business, getting shot dead, and then backtracks, showing how she rose from a simple money-changer in Culiacan to the head of an international cartel. Subverted in the final few episodes; having learned that the CIA is planning to overthrow her with the help of one of her former associates, she chooses to quit the business and live a much simpler life in Costa Rica.

However, it helped that this was often TruthInTelevision for many criminals in real life. Gangsterism tends to be a dangerous, ugly, illegal line of work at the best of times with a fairly high mortality rate, with many real cases of spectacular rises and falls. To cite just examples from Italian-American criminal history, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvatore_Maranzano the only acknowledged "Boss of all Bosses"]] in American Mafia history seized power in [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castellammarese_War a lethal year-long war]] and enjoyed the position for less than six months before being murdered by an alliance of [[TheStarscream his underlings]] and his dead rival's lieutenants. UsefulNotes/AlCapone famously ran a continental criminal empire based around Chicago before being caught on Tax Evasion and psychologically destroyed by Alcatraz, and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugsy_Siegel Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel]] went from being unofficial founder of Las Vegas and glamorous Mafiosi to being killed for being a violent liability. All of these examples happened either during the life of the Hayes Code or well before it, and became legends. The issue of course is that this was a case of AccentuateTheNegative by portraying the downfall as inevitable, when crime could pay and arguably the most powerful American criminal of his generation, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meyer_Lansky Meyer Lansky]]. lived straight through the Hayes era before [[KarmaHoudini retiring on his own volition and living out the rest of his days free and in luxury,]] something the MoralGuardians would not want to highlight.

Compare BeingEvilSucks, CantGetAwayWithNuthin, DoNotDoThisCoolThing, DamnItFeelsGoodToBeAGangster, {{Bookends}}, WhereItAllBegan and the various {{Karma}} tropes.

** ''Mexico'' covers a similar arc for Félix; he starts as a local policeman, but manages to become the biggest drug lord in the world by uniting the plazas and switching from marijuana to cocaine. However, he eventually loses his political support and ends up imprisoned with his empire split into various factions.

* Music/SnoopDogg's "Murder Was The Case" makes this arc a result of a DealWithTheDevil ([[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane maybe]]). At the start of the song, Snoop's a minor gangsta who gets gunned down by his rivals - while dying, he prays to see the baby his girlfriend's pregnant with, then hears a mysterious voice that promises him eternal life and a life better than he ever dreamed of. In the next verse, Snoop's a highly successful drug dealer with plenty of weed and cars, but finds himself wanting more. In the final verse, Snoop's caught and sent to prison, surrounded by gang members from the opposite side, hearing inmmates filing their toothbrushes into knives.