usual suspects

Noun

the usual suspects pl (plural only)

1. (ironic, often, plural, plural-only, crime) The people, often scapegoats, routinely arrested in response to a crime.
   • Major Strasser has been shot... round up the usual suspects.1942, Murray Burnett, Joan Alison, Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, Howard Koch, Casablanca, spoken by Captain Louis Renault (Claude Rains)

   Synonyms:

   scapegoat

2. (broadly, informal, plural, plural-only) The people or things that would be routinely expected to appear in a particular context.
   • I think the eco-utopian picture … is an unlikely outcome. I generally avoid over-population arguments. But there’s no question we’re in population overshoot. The catch is we’re not going to do anything about it. There will be no policy. The usual suspects: starvation, war, disease, will drive the...2011 May 22, James Howard Kunstler, “Entropy Made Visible”, in Terrain
   • And yet a quiet campaign is in the works to secure landmark protection for the 46-story limestone and glass tower. It is not being led by the usual suspects, like preservationists, community groups or politicians.2014 September 29, Matt A.V. Chaban, “A Bid to Make the Park Lane Hotel a Landmark, but Not by the Usual Suspects”, in New York Times

   Synonyms:

   regulars