It's strange how things differ because when it comes to some traditional organized crime groups selling drugs was forbidden, but extortion was a-okay from the beginning. The Sicilian mafia, the Yakuza as well as Soviet OC (most notably Georgian and Armenian in this case) "officially" prohibited members from selling drugs, while extortion, kidnapping...was their bread-and-butter. In reality, all of those groups are knee-deep in the drug trade these days and have been for a very long time now.