People like this survive because no patriot is willing to put the extralegal stop to it. Remember old Wild West scenes? There is only one constable in the town and you wonder how everything just worked. Ask yourself who the law was.
THE CITIZENS.
The man wearing the star was just the ORGANIZER when shit had to be dealt with. All enforcement strength was deputized as needed. Today on the other hand you have all these overpaid overfed cops proving that idle hands are the devil's plaything with every marginal "enforcing the letter of the law" pain they cause.