America’s federal government has ruthlessly crushed organised crime

What this adds up to in the United States is that the middle level of crime has been hollowed out. At the top of rackets like the drugs trade, there are importers, brokers and money launderers who stay away from violence. At the bottom are thousands of small street gangs which may do a lot of retail distribution of drugs, as well as other crimes, but which are only loosely affiliated to larger organisations.

A great read.