I wouldn't go as far as OP but criminal gangs are not fiction. See 'Ndrangheta for example. > It is capable of heavily influencing local and national politics

I wouldn't go as far as OP but criminal gangs are not fiction. See 'Ndrangheta for example. > It is capable of heavily influencing local and national politics and infiltrating large sectors of the legal economy. In 2013 they purportedly made €53 billion, according to a study from Demoskopika Research Institute. A US diplomat estimated that the organization's drug trafficking, extortion and money laundering activities accounted for at least three percent of Italy's GDP in 2010. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%27Ndrangheta https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%27Ndrangheta