It's not just TV and movies. Go Wiki browsing on organized crime some time. Here's [1] a fun starting point. These organizations go through extensive efforts, which at times has included things such as flipping decorated law enforcement officers, to 'get revenge'. I put that in quotes because I'd imagine it's not really about revenge, at least not entirely. It's the criminal analog of law enforcement. If you don't enforce your laws, there will be an increasingly large number of people that break them. And similar to a law it's not just the penalty people factor into consideration, but also the probability of getting caught.

[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_criminal_enterprises,_...