Are questions about the operation of organized crime on-topic?

Question

Are questions about the policies, procedures, structures, or practices of organized crime gangs and syndicates on-topic?

There has been some discussion on the difference between off-topic organizational politics and on-topic non-governmental political entities (e.g. PAC's, insurgent groups, etc.). Organized crime seems to inhabit a middle area between these poles. While organized crime groups generally do not seek (or receive) international recognition as sovereign states, they engage in several practices typically reserved to governments:

• Establishing claims over defined territory ("turf").
• Building revenue through taxation ("protection money").
• Enforcing their policies through violence or the threat of violence (e.g. putting out "hits", making people offers that they "can't refuse", etc.).
• Making war with and negotiating peace with other organized crime groups.

We do have the crime tag, but the questions on that tag are primarily about governmental response to crime rather than the politics practiced by criminals.

Possible questions:

• When did the South Side Wildcats first claim Donaldson Park as part of their "turf"?
• My uncle has been riding with the Wizards of Endor MC since 1995. He told me that they have been at war with Glory Riders MC since 2003, but last week I saw members of both clubs sharing beers at a barbeque. Did they finally make peace or are they still at war in some way?
• I found these sources that say that the two ways that one can become the leader of the Podunk Area Cosa Nostra First Order are to be appointed by the outgoing leader or to challenge and defeat them in one-to-one combat. Has anyone ever actually won in combat against the leader and successfully claimed leadership or is this option purely theoretical?

Are such questions about organized crime on-topic here? Are there any rules to keep in mind?

Answer 1

I think generally the answer should be 'no' unless the organized crime is so influential as to interfere in political processes, e.g. corrupt politicians etc.

All your three examples don't seem to rise to that level.

I could see valid questions on drug cartels (and similar organizations) on how they affect local or even national power etc.

Feuds between gangs generally don't seem to be on that level. Unless we're talking mostly otherwise ungoverned spaces where warlordism is a major component, e.g. I'd consider questions on Brazil gangs battles with the police (e.g. over cable infrastructure) as roughly the limit of what could be considered remotely political.