If you call yourself a gangster, and your cronies a mob, the cops and courts will have their way with you.
If, on the other hand, you call yourself a politician, and your cronies a political party, the cops will look the other way, choosing sides, and the courts, if a case is ever brought before them, are on their own, unless your cronies have purchased a sufficient number of their superiors.
Always purchase the courts. They'll turn your rotten, corrupt self into a golden god, and the rich circling vultures will get so much more to feast on, if they do.