extortioner:
(also, more commonly, ‘extortionist’; plural: ‘extortioners‘; pronunciation: the first ‘e’ rhymes with the letter ‘i’ in “pit” and the letter ‘x’ rhymes with the letter ‘k’ in “kick”)
Robert “Joe” Halderman (R) convicted extortioner of David Letterman (L), a late night TV show host
a person (a criminal) who demands and gets money from others, usually from business people, by threatening them, damaging their business or beating them up (even killing them, in some cases) or by blackmailing them;
an official who uses his position and power to get money from others illegally;
a blackmailer,
David Hans Schmidt (R), alleged extortioner of Tom Curz, a Hollywood (L)
No petty thief can be an extortioner all of a sudden because to be an extortioner, a person must have a criminal mind of some kind with some muscle or political power or at least, must be in possession of some secret that will put the person whom he/she threatens harm, kill or expose.
When Michael Jackson was accused of molesting a child, he retorted by counter-accusing the child’s parent as an extortionist trying to extort huge sums of money from him.
There are several items of news in which we read about activists of banned organisations, such as naxalites, Maoists, terrorists, etc., which accuse the existing governments of suppression and extortion and fight for the change in the governments are found guilty of being extortioners/extortionists themselves, either to feed their organisations or to buy weapons or, in worst cases, for their luxuries!
