FWIW snitching is not the only way gangsters can keep law enforcement off their backs . Another very effective way is doing favors for the secret services . To use a well known example , the strength of the Banda Della Magliana did not ( at least primarily ) derive from them being snitches , but from the work they did for elements of Italian military intelligence who were backed by the CIA .

From what I know it's rather standard practice for many Eastern European gangsters to work for secret service agencies and what with a big chunk of the region being of strategic importance in the fight against terrorism , it's rather probable that many Eastern European gangsters don't have to rat out other gangsters so much as rat out terrorists .

Naturally one can draw equivalency between the two practices , but I don't think it's too much of stretch to state that gangsters have ( generally ) never considered terrorists to be of their camp , which makes staying within the parameters of gangster code all that much easier .