Pirates, bandits, and exploitative fiefdoms date back to antiquity. Commercially successful cities are magnets for organized crime. Prostitution, gambling, smuggling, extortion, and loan sharking are common illicit businesses. All governments have difficulty eradicating organized crime. Politicians are often bribed or become part of the corrupt criminal machine.
Criminal enterprises are worldwide: Sicilian Cosa Nostra, Japanese Yakuza, Latin Cartels, Russian Mobsters, Marseillais Narcobandits, Islamic terror cells, and everywhere in between. Irish Americans, Jewish Americans, African Americans, and Italian Americans formed gangs in Five Points, New York. Other hotbeds for gangsters included Chicago, Atlantic City, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles. Increased law enforcement and federal RICO charges seem to have had some success in reducing organized crime in the US. Cinema continues to popularize it.