Banditry

Banditry refers to the life and practice of bandits which the Oxford English Dictionary defines as "one who is proscribed or outlawed; hence, a lawless desperate marauder, a brigand: usually applied to members of the organized gangs which infest the mountainous districts of Italy, Sicily, Spain, Greece, and Turkey." But the OED also states that in modern usage it may be used as a synonym for gangster, hence the term "one-armed bandit" for gambling machines that can leave the gambler with no money.