When I was a kid, the city police made these small pinches...The feds looked for major crimes...
To call the media and have perp walks for gamblers is pathetic...
Did they also go through their wives pantie draw like they did Melania's ??
You are correct. The "local" police usually handled gambling and usury cases unless there was a major extortion connected to it, in which case the feds would then sometimes jump in.
But with the advent of the draconian Rico Law in 1970 the government soon realized that it was better to prosecute these types of cases in Federal Court because of the heavier penalties potentially meted out in jail time and fines. So the FBI started taking over jurisdiction of these types of investigations. The locals usually acquiesce to the feds nowadays because of that fact.
