protection money

Definitions

Money paid, especially at regular intervals, to criminals or to corrupt officials who threaten to cause harm to the payer or to his or her business if the money is not paid.

uncountable

Equivalents

Examples

“Those in the Lowland line who lay⟳ near him, and desired to enjoy⟳ their lives and property in quiet, were contented to pay⟳ him a small composition, in name⟳ of protection money, and comforted themselves with the old proverb that it was better to "fleech the deil than fight⟳ him."”

“[T]he police had raised the tariff for sporting houses, and would collect⟳ seventy-five and a hundred a month protection money.”

“Four members of an Asian gang were arrested yesterday and charged with extortion and conspiracy for demanding protection money from Chinese restaurants in Sunset Park⟳, Brooklyn.”

“[T]he Mungiki . . . hit the headlines in April with a string of beheadings as they tussled for control⟳ of lucrative bus routes by executing drivers and conductors who refused to pay⟳ protection money.”

“[T]he FSB, interior ministry and police collect⟳ protection money from businesses.”

CEFR level