Line #42 Main/MobDebt


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5	[[quoteright:350:[[Literature/MafiaOperation https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mobdebttitleclonedout.png]]]]
6	[[caption-width-right:350:"Yous owes us money, yous lose ya knee caps ya see?"\
7	"....but I only owe [[ComicallySmallDemand twelve dollars]]!"]]
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12	->'''Fat Tony:''' Now Homer, as you no doubt recall, you were done a favor by our, how shall I say, mafia crime syndicate... Now the time has come for you to do ''us'' a favor.\
13	'''Homer:''' You mean the mob only did me a favor to get something in return? Oh, Fat Tony! I will say good day to you, sir.
14	-->-- ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E11TheTwistedWorldOfMargeSimpson The Twisted World of Marge Simpson]]"
15
16	TheMafia has a habit of demanding money from people. Anyone who can't pay up is in serious trouble: they can lose their [[RidiculousRepossession property]], their [[OrganTheft body parts]], or even [[MakeAnExampleOfThem their lives]]. If this happens to the protagonists, they'll have to tackle the problem of how to get the money they owe. This scenario is commonly used as an IncitingIncident to force characters into the plot.
17
18	Sometimes, the source of this problem is a LoanShark: a criminal who loans out large amounts of cash, only to demand it be returned soon after (with extra interest). Other times, the threat's coming from an EvilDebtCollector, an IllegalGamblingDen, or a ProtectionRacket.
19
20	Debts like these can have dire consequences. Desperate villains may turn it into an IHaveYourWife scenario to force compliance, while manipulative ones might turn it into AnOfferYouCantRefuse. Characters might be ForcedIntoEvil if they can't pay off the debts with more legitimate means. If the protagonist is a criminal, OneLastJob will often result as a means to get the money. If gambling is involved, there will be some overlap with GamblingRuinsLives.
21
22	SuperTrope to TrappedByGamblingDebts.
23
24	----
25	!!Examples:
26
27	[[foldercontrol]]
28
29	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
30	* ''Manga/ChainsawMan'': At the start, the protagonist Denji has sold several of his organs to make payments to the Yakuza after inheriting his father's debt to them.
31	* ''Anime/CowboyBebop'': In the episode "[[Recap/CowboyBebopSession10GanymedeElegy Ganymede Elegy]]" [[TeamDad Jet]] catches up with an old ex named Alisa. After she left Jet, she opened up a little bar, but an economic downturn had all but killed it. She took out money from a LoanShark, hoping to ride out the bad economy, but was unable to meet the payments and was being menaced over it.
32	* ''Anime/HayateTheCombatButler'': The whole series begins when Hayate's abusive parents owe several million Yen to the Yakuza and they decide to sell Hayate to them so the "[[BlatantLies very nice people]]" will harvest his organs. Nagi pays the debt to the Yakuza [[Fiction500 quite easily]], but now Hayate has to WorkOffTheDebt to her.
33	[[/folder]]
34
35	[[folder:Comic Books]]
36	* ''ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}'': The plot of ''Deadpool: Suicide Kings'' is that a spoiled rich kid has wound up deeply in debt to Tombstone and has bet on a basketball game to get the money he owes. However, the night before the big game, the star player of the team he's bet on picks a fight with the Merc With A Mouth, which results in Deadpool [[{{fingore}} slicing his fingers off]] in retaliation. As such, the team loses the game and the kid attacks Deadpool in a bid to get the money to pay off Tombstone before Tombstone decides to have him fed to pigs.
37	[[/folder]]
38
39	[[folder:Comic Strips]]
40	* ''ComicStrip/PearlsBeforeSwine'': Pig has owed money to the mob on one occasion, resulting in him getting beaten up by a [[FoulWaterfowl goose]] saying "Next time pay your debts." In other words, he's had [[{{Feghoot}} goosebumps]]... and a goose-[[GroinAttack kicktothegroin]].
41	[[/folder]]
42
43	[[folder:Fan Works]]
44	* ''Fanfic/NotTheIntendedUseZantetsukenReverse'': Soma's parents have had issues with the mafia for several years, to the point they had to sell their kidneys. When the Portuguese mafia kidnaps Soma, he finds out that his father owes them an astounding amount of money that he mainly lost in bad business investments, and they threaten his father that they'll kill Soma and harvest his organs if he doesn't pay. Fortunately for Soma, the mafia doesn't care as long as they get paid, regardless of currency, so Soma is able to negotiate a deal to pay them. ''Un''fortunately, Soma's MagicalCounterfeiting gives him the cash in the form of pennies... which are created when he is ''injured''... Let's just say his next few days were very painful.
45	[[/folder]]
46
47	[[folder:Films — Animated]]
48	* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanMaskOfThePhantasm'': Andrea had to go on the run with her father after he made some unauthorized manipulations with the money he was laundering for the Gotham Mob.
49	* ''WesternAnimation/OliverAndCompany'': Petty thief Fagin owes a lot of money to gangster Sykes, who demands he repay it in three days, or else. When the kitten Oliver, who was first taken in by Fagin's gang of dogs, gets adopted by a rich family, Fagin decides to ransom Oliver with them to get money for Sykes; but he immediately quits his plan out of guilt when he sees that the family's only member who comes is Jenny, a little girl with just her piggy bank. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, Sykes, who had taken notice of Fagin's ransom attempt, kidnaps Jenny to threaten her family with the money not much later, and Fagin and his dogs have to rescue her.]]
50	* ''WesternAnimation/SharkTale'' has an indirect version. When Whale Wash owner Sykes finds himself forced to start paying Don Lino [[ProtectionRacket protection money]], Sykes begins squeezing protagonist Oscar for the money ''he'' owes, arguing that he now owes it to Don Lino by proxy. When Oscar fails to pay off the money, things escalate from there.
51	[[/folder]]
52
53	[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]
54	* ''Film/TheCannonballRun'': In the second movie, Blake and Fenderbaum owe money to Don Don, who himself owes money to Himey. The gangsters working for Don Don target the Sheik for kidnapping after trying to get the money owed by Blake and Fenderbaum and meeting the Sheik.
55	* ''Film/DasepoSonyo'': During the film's opening, Poor Girl's mother has racked up a lot of debt to the local loan shark, Big Razor, resulting in Poor Girl reluctantly agreeing when Big Razor demands a night with her in exchange for paying off the debts. Fortunately, it turns out that Big Razor is, in fact, Big Razor ''Sister'', a cross-dresser who just wants someone to hang out and do girly things with.
56	* ''Film/{{Friday}}'': Drug dealer Smokey and his friend Craig Jones smoke some marijuana that Smokey was supposed to sell for his boss Big Worm. Big Worm threatens to have Smokey and Jones killed unless they pay him the $200 the marijuana was worth.
57	* ''Film/GetShorty'': The inciting incident of the film is Chili Palmer, a LoanShark affiliated with the Brooklyn mob, getting sent to Las Vegas in pursuit of a man named Leo who skipped out on a debt, and his wife, after defrauding his life insurance company when a plane he was supposed to be on crashed on takeoff. The casino sends him on to Los Angeles where Leo is staying, and has him take on the additional job of recovering a gambling debt from BMovie director Harry Zimm.
58	* ''Film/MoneyTrain'': Early in the film, Charlie, one of the two main protagonists, loses a fairly large sum to Mr. Brown (who is either a LoanShark or some other sort of shady underworld character) in a poker game. When Charlie is already at a pretty low point in his life, his foster brother John gives him some money to pay off Mr. Brown... only for a pickpocket to take the envelope filled with cash out of Charlie's jacket on the way to pay off Brown. Mr. Brown's threat to [[IWillPunishYourFriendForYourFailure target John for vengeance]] if Charlie doesn't come up with the money drives Charlie to attempt a nigh-suicidal one-man heist to get the cash he needs.
59	* ''Film/NoDepositNoReturn'': Safecrackers Duke and Bert owe money to Big Joe, who often blames "The Computer" when he arbitrarily raises the amount of money the duo owes. Hence why the duo goes along with the fake kidnapping.
60	* ''Film/OpportunityKnocks'': Even though they didn't take the money from the car they ditched, Eddie is forced to repay Sal's money that was stolen from the trunk, with Eddie's partner Lou held as collateral until then.
61	* ''Film/RunLolaRun'': After his girlfriend Lola's scooter is stolen, Manni, a courier for a crime boss, accidentally leaves 100,000 Deutschmarks on the Berlin U-Bahn, where it's stolen by a homeless man. It's now up to Lola to somehow obtain that much money, otherwise, Manni tries to rob a store to pay off his debt.
62	* ''Film/{{Snatch}}'':
63	** The backstory of Frankie "Four Fingers" involves this. Frankie, who is TheGamblingAddict, apparently made some bad bets with the wrong people once upon a time and got a finger cut off as punishment.
64	** Much to his chagrin, Turkish, who is [[BlackAndGrayMorality one of the least morally compromised characters in the film]], winds up in this position with the feared LondonGangster Brick Top. Both men run unlicensed boxing matches, but Turkish's fighter is injured on the eve of a fight, leaving Brick Top unable to take bets in advance at the bookies that he runs, and thus Turkish has to make it up to him by forcing the replacement fighter to [[ThrowingTheFight throw the fight]] so Brick Top's associates can make big money from bets placed at ringside on the night of the fight. When the fighter doesn't go through with the dive, this puts Turkish in an ''even worse'' position, since Brick Top is intent on making up his losses and wants to take it out of Turkish's hide... or kill Turkish and company if he can't make the money back.
65	* ''Film/{{Spaceballs}}'': Lone Starr and Barf owe a hundred thousand space bucks to space gangster Pizza the Hutt for unspecified reasons. He calls them to say that he's moving up his deadline to tomorrow and adds on so many "late charges" that they now owe him a million space bucks.
66	-->'''Lone Starr:''' A million?! That's unfair!\
67	'''Pizza the Hutt:''' Unfair to the pay''or'', but not to the pay''ee''. And you're gonna pay ''it'', or else.
68	* ''Franchise/StarWars'': In ''Film/ANewHope'', Han Solo has a steep bounty on his head put there by Jabba the Hutt, as punishment for losing a shipment of spice he was smuggling. He plans to use the payment from transporting Luke and Obi-Wan to pay it off (in the UpdatedRerelease he's able to negotiate with Jabba for an extension) but never gets the chance after getting sucked into joining the Rebellion. By ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'', Jabba has lost patience with him and enough {{bounty hunter}}s are on his trail that it's endangering the Rebellion.
69	* ''Film/{{UHF}}'': Touched on. The main characters run a TV station successfully enough that they don't owe anyone money. But then George's uncle who actually owns the station ends up in pretty significant debt to his bookie after too many bets go south. George and company must therefore come up with enough cash to buy the station from his uncle, otherwise the station will be sold to a rival network affiliate to cover the debt.
70	* ''Film/UncutGems'': Howard is in bad gambling debt, and the movie revolves around his escalating series of bets and schemes to come up with the needed money, but when he finally wins his bet at the end, [[spoiler:the debtors kill him anyway]].
71	[[/folder]]
72
73	[[folder:Literature]]
74	* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': In ''Literature/WyrdSisters'', it turns out Vitoller financed the construction of the Dysk theater with money borrowed from Chrysoprase, a troll mobster and loan shark. Chrysoprase is described as [[IWillTearYourArmsOff having people's limbs torn off]] if they get on his bad side, and Vitoller [[LiteralMetaphor owes him "an arm and a leg"]].
75	* ''Literature/TheExecutioner''. This is the backstory for Mack Bolan's RoaringRampageOfRevenge. A mob-owned loan company had Bolan's father trapped in debt, so his sister agreed to work as a prostitute to pay them off. Father found out and committed a murder-suicide. Unfortunately for the mob, Mack Bolan found out as well.
76	* ''Literature/{{Jaws}}'': AdaptedOut of [[Film/{{Jaws}} the movie]] is exactly ''why'' the [[SuitWithVestedInterests Mayor]] is so hellbent on keeping the beaches open despite the shark: he's deep in debt to the mob, who are serious enough about it that they at one point they show up at his house to kill his cat in front of him.
77	* ''Literature/MagicalGirlRaisingProject'': This forms Rionetta's motivations in ''Restart''. Her father amassed a massive debt with a yakuza and she intends to use the prize money from the killing game to bail him out.
78	* ''Literature/TheRedQueensWar'': Jalan Kendeth owes a massive amount of money to Maeres Allus, the proprietor of the gambling den Jalan loses all his money at, as well as the leading figure in the Vermillion criminal underworld.
79	* In ''Literature/{{Spoonbenders}}'', Frankie owes money to the Chicago mob after taking out a loan in an inevitably botched GetRichQuickScheme.
80	[[/folder]]
81
82	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
83	* ''Series/{{Bones}}'': PlayedWith in 'The Perfect Pieces in the Purple Pond.' Angela becomes concerned after Wendell makes a comment about people he ''absolutely has'' to pay back for his college tuition and thinks he means the mob; obviously if he owed the Mob money that could cause serious trouble in any mob-related cases the team investigate. In fact, Wendell was talking about people in his neighbourhood who contributed to his college fund despite not having much themselves, and so he's determined to pay them back.
84	* ''Series/{{Daredevil\|2015}}'':
85	** James Wesley is introduced walking up to Clyde Farnum, a man who owes $28,957 in debt to Don Rigoletto, a mobster who was recently [[DeadlyEuphemism "retired"]] by Wesley's [[Characters/MarvelComicsTheKingpin employer]]. Wesley shows Farnum a feed of his daughter on a college campus quad, and threatens to have a man seated on a nearby park bench kill her if Farnum doesn't agree to use [[DirtyCop his job]] to eliminate Karen Page for them.
86	** Wilson Fisk's abusive father borrowed money from Don Rigoletto to pay for his campaign for city council because no bank would provide him with a loan. When Fisk killed his father in defense of his mother, they cut the body to pieces and disposed of it in the river, and let everyone think that he skipped town to avoid repaying Rigoletto.
87	* ''Series/{{Defiance}}'': A sizable proportion of the town owes money to local Castithan crime boss Datak Tarr, whose EstablishingCharacterMoment is how he responds to a debtor trying to make a payment out in the open in the streets. Datak's wife, Stahma, distracts the debtor's kids with candy, while Datak has his enforcer break the debtor's wrist as a warning not to approach him in public again.
88	* ''Series/{{FBI}}'': The episode "Heroes" has a married couple holding up a bank in order to get access to a safety deposit box registered in the husband's father's name, but won't divulge what's inside. The contents turn out to be a drive containing two hundred million dollars in Bitcoin said father stole from the Columbian drug cartel he used to launder money for, which led to him being tortured and killed and the cartel threatening to do the same to his granddaughter if her parents are unable to get the money back within a certain time period.
89	* ''Series/GangsOfLondon'': This becomes the driving plot for [[FamilyValuesVillain Luan Dushaj]], the leader of the Albanians, during the second half of season one. After years of effort Luan manages to strike a deal with [[TheDon Finn Wallace]] to build a luxury skyscraper, thus securing his family's wealth and power but lacking the necessary capital, Luan reluctantly entered a partnership with the vicious Nigerian crime lord [[TheDreaded Mosi]]. However, Finn cheats him and steals the money. To Luan's horror, Mosi arrives in England with his goons and makes it clear he doesn't care Luan doesn't have the money, either he finds a way to pay him back in the next few days or Mosi will murder his entire family.
90	* ''Series/HelloTomorrow'': Eddie's gambling addiction is shown to have put him in debt to the mob sometime prior to the events of the series. Throughout the show, a mob creditor continuously intimidates, threatens, or harms him whenever he's late to make a payment, [[spoiler: going so far as to burn Eddie's hand off when he's caught cheating at a card game.]]
91	* ''Series/HillStreetBlues'': Lieutenant Norman Buntz (Creator/DennisFranz) is working undercover to bust a pair of mob loan sharks. At the same time, the precinct is scheduled to take down a warehouse of criminals, so there's no one to back up Buntz. He tries to stall the sharks for time, so they remind Buntz to make timely payments by shearing off one of his fingers. The next day, the entire precinct descends on these two sharks for breaking the 11th Commandment: Thou Shalt Not Hurt a Cop.
92	* ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'': TheGamblingAddict Kim Rollins owes money to the mob over unpaid poker debts and they blackmail her into destroying evidence in "[[Recap/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnitS15E17GamblersFallacy Gambler's Fallacy]]".
93	* ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'': Parodied in the series finale; the family is a few thousand dollars short of Malcolm's Harvard tuition, so Hal goes to a LoanShark to close the gap. He is upfront with the thug that he will never be able to pay the money back, but the investment will be well worth it since he will scream so loud while his legs are being broken that no one will ever cross the mob again. The thug points out that he could just as easily break Hal's legs for free.
94	* ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'': PlayedForLaughs in the "Red Zone Cuba" episode, as TV's Frank ends up owing $50,000 to the mob. When they send a goombah to collect either Frank's money or Frank's kneecaps, he decides on [[SarcasmMode the only honorable course]] -- [[TheDogBitesBack he palms off Dr. Forrester as him]], allowing Clayton to get the everlovin' snot beaten out of him. [[CrossesTheLineTwice Twice.]]
95	* ''Series/OneThousandWaysToDie'':
96	** One story features an Italian man who is being forced to dig his own grave by some mobsters after failing to pay back the money he borrowed from them. Fortunately, he inadvertently unearths and flings an unexploded WWII hand grenade at the mobsters' feet, killing them.
97	** Another story features a pair of loan sharks who prey on gambling addicts, with one of their clients being a worker on a scissor lift who borrowed ten grand from them. Not wanting to wait for their money any longer, one of the loan sharks decides to cut the hydraulic cable to the lift, only for it to collapse on top of him and kill him.
98	* ''Series/OnlyFoolsAndHorses'': Becomes the driving plot of "[[Recap/OnlyFoolsAndHorsesS6E06LittleProblems Little Problems]]" when Del discovers to his horror that a number of dodgy mobile telephones he bought off Mickey Pearce and Jevon and has been struggling to sell on, where actually supplied by the [[LondonGangster Driscoll Brothers]] who now expect to be paid £2000 for them. [[spoiler: Del actually does manage to get the money, but as he'd already promised Rodney he would provide him the money for a deposit for his and Cassandra's new flat, he opts to give the money to his brother so he can start his new life with his wife, and thus accepts a severe beating from the gangsters.]]
99	* ''Series/ThePowerOfParker'': This is driving plot of the series for [[UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist Martin Parker]]. Beneath his projected image of high flying successful electronics businessman, Martin is secretly desperately struggling for cash to maintain his image (and family's lifestyle), to the point that in the past he borrowed money from vicious [[SiblingsInCrime Fletcher Brothers]] and now has only a single week left to pay them back, with his poor treatment of others and bad decisions all coming back to haunt him right when he's desperate trying to raise the funds.
100	* ''Series/PowerRangersRPM'': The Green Ranger, Ziggy, owes money to a mobster called Fresco Bob because he stole black market medicine from his Scorpion Cartel and gave it to an orphanage.
101	* ''Series/TheResponder'': The first season features an interesting double version.
102	** [[AntiHero Constable Chris Carson]] has over the years accepted quite a bit of money from his friend and local senior drug dealer [[AntiVillain Carl Sweeny]] to keep his head above water (such as paying for his sick elderly mother's care), and which he pays back by doing the odd "[[DirtyCop small favour]]" for Carl. As such when the homeless addict [[GoodBadGirl "Town Centre" Cassey]] steals a large shipment of drugs from him, Carl calls in all his favours to get Chris to track her down. However, at the last minute, fearful of what Carl's goons are going to do to her and due to this beyond anything he's done before, Chris instead rescues Casey ensuring Carl's wrath.
103	** Halfway through the series, it's revealed the reason Carl is so desperate to retrieve the drugs, is cause he himself owes serious money to the psychopathic gangster [[TheDreaded Greg Gallagher]], and needs the profits from the drugs to pay back the debt. [[spoiler: Sure enough Gallagher ends up having him murdered when he fails.]]
104	* ''Series/TheSopranos'':
105	** This is standard operating procedure for TheMafia. Most notably, Tony's crew runs an illegal card game which usually attracts several high rollers who can take the hits, but Tony also allows his gambling addict friend David Scatino into the game and racks up a huge debt (after David ''already'' owed money to Richie Aprile). David is an ordinary middle-class guy so he cannot pay them out of pocket and is forced to make Tony and his guys "partners" in his hardware store. They proceed to bust the place out, maxing out all of David's company credits until he's forced to shut down and declare bankruptcy.
106	** Inverted when Tony himself borrows close to half a million from Hesh, a Jewish music producer and an associate of the [=DiMeo=] Family. He repays the debt little by little, but Hesh is very worried that [[NeverLendToAFriend Tony will still kill him if he makes a big fuss about it]].
107	* ''Series/SquidGame'': Main character Seong Gi-hun has accumulated a massive amount of [[TrappedByGamblingDebts gambling debt]] he owes to a group of loan sharks, who in the series' first episode beat him up in a public bathroom for being late on his payment (he actually had the money to pay them beforehand, but a pickpocket stole it from him). This, along with being able to provide for his daughter, is his motivation for initially entering the titular DeadlyGame.
108	* ''Series/TheWire'': In season 2, Ziggy gets into trouble because he owes money to Cheese Wagstaff, who takes [[ThePreciousPreciousCar Princess]] and threatens to kill him in a week if he doesn't pay. Ziggy's cousin Nicky manages to first get him a week's extension, and then uses his connection with the Greeks, and their relationship with Cheese's boss and uncle, Prop Joe, to have the debt settled.
109	[[/folder]]
110
111	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
112	* ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'': The "In Debt" negative quality from 4th Edition has the character who takes it owing a large amount of money to a loan shark. Unusually, the game actually lets you use the debt as part of your starting wealth for buying equipment, which given that it also gave you extra character points for character building meant that it was widely regarded as a GameBreaker.
113	[[/folder]]
114
115	[[folder:Theatre]]
116	* ''Theatre/KissMeKate'': ZigZagged. On the one hand, Fred Graham is an egotistical lead actor who is pursuing a younger woman in front of his ex-wife, so not the most sympathetic. On the other hand, his co-star Bill gambling and signing a $10,000 IOU (in 1948, mind) with ''Fred's'' name is not exactly deserved. A couple of gangster thugs pursue Fred throughout the show [[spoiler: but the mob boss conveniently dies before either Fred or Bill are forced to pay up.]]
117	* ''Theatre/{{Shucked}}'': Gordy, a ConMan who isn't as good at being bad as the rest of his family, owes a debt to a crime boss, which encourages him to woo and lie to Maizy about being able to fix her corn so he can follow her back to Cob County and take the rocks there, which he was told were made of a valuable rare mineral. Subverted when the crime boss dies near the end of Act 1 and the mineral turns out to be worthless, but due to a FunnyPhoneMisunderstanding, Gordy [[DramaticIrony thinks the mob is still closing in, which makes him stay and push up his plans]]. [[spoiler: However, this gives him ''just'' enough time to fall in love with Maizy's cousin Lulu and find the family he's always been missing in Cobb County, [[IChooseToStay deciding to stay there]]. As a bonus, his con actually does fix the corn, [[RightForTheWrongReasons if entirely by accident]].]]
118	[[/folder]]
119
120	[[folder:Video Games]]
121	* ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite'': Subverted; Booker tells Elizabeth (and his initial visions confirm) that the reason he agreed to the mission to save her is that he owes a large gambling debt to dangerous criminals. His only way out is to (as the game puts it) "Save the girl and wipe away the debt". The player later learns that Booker's memories are false; he had hallucinated them because of his guilt over the real reason for his involvement.
122	* ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'': The game has a sidequest called Debt Collector in which the Courier is hired by Francine Garret, one of the owners of the Atomic Wrangler hotel and casino to find three individuals in Freeside that owe the casino bottle caps and convince them to pay off their debt.
123	* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX2'': O'aka is first met in this game running away from the Al Bhed, who are coming to collect what is owed to them. The player has the choice of turning O'aka in to them (resulting in IndenturedServitude) or rescuing him by taking him onto the ''Celsius'', where he can earn money to pay them back by selling you his wares. [[note]]Doing so leads to a quick way to not only make back the money you spent on his wares but to acquire as much money as you have the patience for.[[/note]]
124	* ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'': Estelle (the "blacksmith" of Fontaine) owes money to the Confrerie of Cabriere, who sends enforcers to bully her into paying 50-70% of the money owed that is due the next month. Fortunately, Childe was there and demanded the money the Confrerie owes to the Northland Bank (also due next month), which is run by the game's {{big bad}}s the Fatui. The enforcers quickly learn that [[BullyingTheDragon attacking a Fatui Harbinger like Childe]] was not a good idea.
125	* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'':
126	** ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIVTheBalladOfGayTony'': Gay Tony's debt to the Ancelotti crime family is the main driver of the storyline. Later on, Gay Tony gets into deep trouble with the Russian mob, to the point where the price they want is ''his head''.
127	** ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'': Early on in the game, Michael, one of the [[AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent three protagonists]], destroys a house belonging to a tennis coach who his wife was cheating with. However, the ''actual'' owner of the house is the mistress of ruthless [[TheCartel Mexican gangster]] Martin Madrazo, who demands Michael pay the repair bill, running to several million dollars. Michael decides to [[OneLastJob rob a jewel store]] to come up with the money, and successfully placates Madrazo. However, the heist ends up drawing out Michael's psychotic former teammate [[AxCrazy Trevor Philips]], and the events of the game escalate from there.
128	* ''VideoGame/MafiaII'': During two separate sections of the main story, the Scaletta Family, and later Joe, end up owing a mob-affiliated LoanShark a huge amount of money. It's thanks to the former case that Vito ends up becoming associated with TheMafia. The latter incident, meanwhile, ends up leading to [[spoiler:Tommy Angelo's assassination]] and Vito realizing that [[BeingEvilSucks working for the mob is ultimately not worth it now that his world is collapsing around him]].
129	* ''VideoGame/MafiaIII'': At the start of the story, it's revealed that Lincoln Clay's stepfather and head of the Black Mob, Sammy Robinson, owes local [[TheDon Mafia Don Sal Marcano]] millions of dollars in debt. In order to pay back Marcano, Sammy agrees to help arrange a heist of the local Federal Reserve. While successfully managing to steal more than enough money to pay back Marcano twice over, complete with a cut for their Underboss Giorgi, Marcano ends up betraying and killing Sammy and his associates anyway, with Lincoln being the SoleSurvivor.
130	* ''VideoGame/MafiaTheCityOfLostHeaven'': The third mission, "Ordinary Routine", has a unique spin on this. Rather than the protagonist, Tommy Angelo, being the one to owe money to either the Salieri or Morello Crime Families, he's instead been given the task of collecting protection money owed by several businesses across Lost Heaven alongside Sam and Paulie. While the first two collections succeed without incident, the motel is a different story, with Morello's goons placing said motel under new management. Tommy is ultimately forced into a shootout with them, wiping them out and stealing back the debt owed by the motel's manager to Salieri.
131	* ''VideoGame/Persona5'': When Makoto Niijima uncovers a drug trafficking ring run by the Yakuza in Shibuya, she blackmails the Phantom Thieves of Hearts to [[HeelFaceBrainwashing help change the ringleader's heart]], using her recording of Ryuji's confession as leverage. Unfortunately the ringleader, Junya Kaneshiro, takes pics implicating Makoto in underage drinking and blackmails her to the tune of three million yen. [[GoneHorriblyRight However, this allows Makoto to join the Phantom Thieves and prove instrumental in changing Kaneshiro's heart]]. (It's also never brought up what could happen if Joker ''did'' have three million yen on hand.)
132	* ''VideoGame/Pikmin2'': The President of Hocotate Freight has taken out a large loan to reimburse the loss of Louie's cargo of Golden Pikpik Carrots. To his horror, the loan he took didn't come from the Happy Hocotate Savings & Loan but rather the [[LoanShark All-Devouring Black Hole Loan Sharks]] who threaten to [[CementShoes bury him in the Hocotate Swamp]]. As Olimar and Louie go to planet PNF-404 to collect treasure to pay off the mob debt, the President is forced to hide under a bridge and live off of grass out of fear of being captured.
133	* ''VideoGame/SleepingDogs2012'': One of Wei's employers is a triad member named Roland whose job is to collect debts from people who owe them money. One of these people is a repeat offender whose last encounter with Wei and Roland ends with him committing suicide. When Roland tells him their next assignment is to shake down the man's widow, Wei refuses and quits on the spot.
134	* ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'': In a WholePlotReference to Han Solo's StoryArc in the original trilogy, the Smuggler PC starts out running a shipment of blasters for mob boss Rogun "the Butcher" Mattrik, [[ThirdPartyDealBreaker only for their ship to get stolen by Skavak before they can make the delivery]]. Skavak fences the blasters to [[ProxyWar the Imperial-backed Mantellian separatists]] to make room for a ChekhovsArmory, and [[MisplacedRetribution Rogun blames the Smuggler for it]], forcing them to spend the rest of their class story trying to get him off their back.
135	* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'': The 2014 Scream Fortress Halloween event was announced with the comic ''[[Webcomic/TeamFortress2 Blood Money]]'', in which Merasmus the Magician has been building a carnival with {{Yakuza}} money[[note]]referred to as "The Japanese Mafia"[[/note]], but needs Team Fortress's help to make it haunted fast so he can pay back his loan. The following year's Scream Fortress opened with another comic, ''Gargoyles and Gravel'', in which Merasmus was now in debt to TheMafiya and so was bringing back all the Halloween events for the Team.
136	[[/folder]]
137
138	[[folder:Visual Novels]]
139	* ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations'': Glen Eleg, genius programmer, got murdered when a LoanShark wanted to collect on his gambling debt. The deal was for Glen to [[spoiler:create a dangerous computer virus to pay off the debt]]. The deal went sour when [[spoiler:Glen won the lottery at the last second and thus didn't need to hand over the goods, which was bad news for the loan shark, because ''he'' was in debt to the ''actual'' mob, and Glen paying back his debt normally wasn't enough to cover his own debt, whereas selling the virus on the black market would be]].
140	* ''VisualNovel/PrincessEvangile'': At the start of the story, protagonist Masaya Okonogi's abusive father Shinya Okonogi, a ConMan, owes millions of yen to the {{Yakuza}}, thanks to Shinya's refusal to land a real job. When two of the organization's men are sent to their apartment, Shinya, in an act of [[DirtyCoward cowardice]], ''sells out his own son'' to them, by making Masaya shoulder the responsibility of paying the criminals through a hastily-written note. Unsurprisingly, Masaya and [[EvenEvilHasStandards even the Yakuza goons]] are disgusted by the man's actions, though this doesn't stop the goons from hounding Masaya several times later on. Fortunately for Masaya, he manages to win the lottery thanks to a ticket he held onto, and successfully pays off his father's debt to the organization without further incident. It's also thanks to this incident that he gets to meet Rise Rousenin and eventually end up in [[OneGenderSchool Vincennes]].
141	[[/folder]]
142
143	[[folder:Web Comics]]
144	* In the ''Literature/HayvenCelestia'' webcomic ''[[https://www.rickgriffinstudios.com/comic-post/skinchange-p1/ Skinchange]]'' one of the main characters turns out to be a former movie producer who borrowed a massive amount of money from the mob to pay his legal fees after his star actress died on set, and so he could get [[MagicPlasticSurgery cosmetic surgery]] to establish a new identity, and some seed capital to start up his new business. The comic picks up after the mob figured out he was just going to take the money and flee the planet.
145	[[/folder]]
146
147	[[folder:Web Video]]
148	* ''WebVideo/{{Stoogeposting}}'': In "The Three Stooges Steal from the Mob," Moe, Larry, and Curly are confronted by a mobster whose briefcase full of money they unwittingly stole. He demands the money back, and the Stooges explain they were merely "borrowing" the money inside... by buying themselves clothes and a new car.
149	* ''WebVideo/SwordArtOnlineAbridged'': Keita, the leader of the first adventuring party Kirito joins (or rather is forced into joining) gets them indebted to the mob (he was meant to use a glitch to duplicate a rare item, but the glitch was patched out before he could do it), resulting in them doing a dungeon too high for their level and resulting in Sachi's death. On being informed of the wipe, Keita jumps off a ledge, though whether it's because of guilt or the realization he can't get out of his debts isn't stated.
150	[[/folder]]
151
152	[[folder:Western Animation]]
153	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': The Robot Mafia has engaged in loan sharking from time to time. In "[[Recap/FuturamaS8E3HowTheWestWas1010001 How the West was 1010001]]" it turns out that the Professor borrowed money from them to invest in Bitcoin, and since it crashed again the crew has to pay them back.
154	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': Several episodes have Fat Tony's mafia gang engaging in loan sharking. Homer is a frequent victim, and another episode has Krusty running into debt with them after losing most of the money he borrowed from them betting on a basketball game... he made the mistake of betting against [[UsefulNotes/{{Basketball}} The Harlem Globetrotters]][[note]]a purely exhibitional team who are a combination comedy troupe / athletic tricks stageshow not a real team[[/note]] and also even though they want to kill him it turns out Krusty only owes [[ComicallySmallDemand $48]].
155	[[/folder]]

Context Main / MobDebt