Criminal organizations acting outside the sanction of any state seem to be a very old phenomenon. It is my understanding that pirates (acting without the sanction of a state or tribe), smugglers, gangs of robbers, and teams of counterfeiters seem to have all existed for thousands of years. But in some times and places, criminality seems to explode and become organized to the point of criminal organizations taking on the role of unofficial governments.

A few examples are the sudden emergence of mafias in Russia as the USSR weakened and collapsed, the birth of the Sicilian Mafia in 19th century, the rise of American mafias under Prohibition, the growth of vast drug cartels stretching across the Americas as the War on Drugs progressed, and the explosion of black-hat hacker groups starting right before the 20-year mark enforced on this forum.

I am trying get a grip on what the most relevant factors in sudden, large-scale boosts in the prevalence and sophistication of crime actually are.

A few relevant ones seem to be:

-A weak state (Russia in late USSR/early Federation times, Sicily in 19th century, large swathes of the Americas in the mid and late 20th century)

-The restriction by law (through heavy taxes, regulations, or bans) of opportunities to make large sums of money (prohibition on alcohol in 1920s US, restriction of free enterprise in USSR, ban on drugs in most places in 20th c., ability to conduct industrial-scale fraud through hacking today)

-The susceptibility of such means on making money to being seized against the government's or legitimate owners' will through force or guile (lemons in 19th c. Sicily, cocaine in Latin America from 20th c. to this day, state-owned businesses in the early years of the Russian Federation, evasion of ban on alcohol (and later drugs) in US through clever smuggling methods)

-Mutual mistrust by citizens of both institutions and other citizens, encouraging systems with crude, but powerful ways of enforcing trust (USSR/Russian Fed. since at least Stalin, much of Latin America for centuries, declining inner cities in late 20th c. US, ethnic strife in cities in early 20th c. US)

What am I missing? Are the above points wrong or in need of qualification? What are some well-respected sources on the history of organized crime?