" The ones we rarely if ever hear about" is a myth. If ANY organized crime group ever gains some sort of power, you can bet your ass there will be reports on them.

Fact is not a single crime group ever influenced public life as much as the Mafia ever did in their power bases - which are territories where there's law and order as opposed to semi-third world regions.
They're the Mafia, other organized crime group are thugs. Sorta sophisticated thugs, sure, but still thugs.