Ancient organized crime

[J.Alco]

I'm back! After a lengthy absence I am SO back! Merry christmas all!

OK, now that's done, onto a historical question that's got my curiosity piqued.

I recently re-watched the Rome series (which coincidentally is awesome and I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone interested) and was struck by how they presented organized crime in ancient Rome as being (aside from the ranks, some organisational details, numbers and general brutality) virtually indistinguishable from the modern-day camorra.

So my question is, was this a decision of the series creators to dramatize and make more accessible this part of the series, or was crime in large ancient cities, such as Rome or Carthage or Athens, actually that well organized?

To me, personally, it makes sense that criminals, even 2000-plus years ago, would organize themselves into large, even somewhat complex gangs, though of course nowhere near the level you can expect nowadays. But, as everyone who has gone into EB knows well, what makes sense to you isn't necessarily what made sense then, seeing as we have the benefit of hindsight now, whereas before that benefit was non-existent.

Anybody got any thoughts?