The police state is interested in maintaining the power structure in the police state. As long as petty or even organized crime does not upset the balance of power, the authorities couldn’t care less - crime against Americans is no danger to them. Just as the Russian government has no interest in cracking down on its blackhat population, as long as they target non-Russian orgs.
Organized crime and mafias are not the autonomous, powerful entities we're led to believe by the popular media. They're usually subjugated by the state, and used to bring money and do their dirty work.
That's why cartels appear out of control in Mexico, but when USA wants an offer, Mexico will promptly deport a high-level criminal. It's a show of strength, that the state is still in control of the cartels, but won't extinguish them because they generate lots of money for their respective political coalitions.
Happens everywhere, the biggest bank accounts of organized crime could be seized internationally if there was a will, but that would hurt politics too... unless they're Russians, there were token seizures of money and yachts last year, but it stopped quickly.
That makes me think of some US-libertarian-adjacent thought, which goes something like "the government are just a big-enough gang", or conversely "organized-crime rings are just smaller competing governments."
While I admit there is some pattern-making appeal to that idea, I don't think it quite matches what we see in practice, where gangs often seem quite happy to abandon unprofitable responsibilities and choose profit over political independence.
If nothing else, it quietly conflates entirely different kinds of governments together: A small dictatorship is not just a shrunken version of large democracy.
Gangs are as often business-by-other-means. Not to say some aren’t government, either.
They often come to exist due to niches government can’t (officially) operate in, but when they grow enough, they’re susceptible to capture the same as any other entity.
The history of China is that the ones with the biggest guns (and fireworks) took over the whole state, the most peaceful factions were subjugated, and the hardest to integrate ex: the Uighurs, either reeducated or exterminated. Let’s say you’re right for the sake of supposing. What will do you do about it?
I have a theory that Russians foster black hat population while collecting evidence as a matter of national policy... so they could slowly recruit / quickly gang press talent from. Kind of like strategic reserve of hackers / zero days / etc.
Yeah, a bit like corrupt politicians in China (or anywhere, really), you can be corrupt, but if some other powerful politician doesn't like you, they'll arrest and ruin your life for corruption... Even though maybe the judge and police are also corrupt.
Or in Egypt, you have to bribe to get a job as a police officer, your superior expects a tribute each month because his superiors expect one, all the way to the top, so you bully the public for bribes/protection money, that's why the police were so passionate about suppressing anti-government protests during the Arab Spring, their livelihood depended on it. Meanwhile the Egyptian military had its own economy to supply themselves (eg a factory making soap, or bread) and were viewed by the public as trustworthy.
I have worked with a bunch of Russian devs over the last few decades. They really aren't the same group.
Black hats (criminals), Government, and commercial devs are pretty distinct, and dont often over lap on a day to day basis. That having been said the government jobs are available to either group (sometimes not by "choice") and there is a revolving door there.
It's not so far removed from the university, drug company/reseearch, FDA revolving doors that we have for Drug development in the US.
