I asked here before but now added more details:

Is there a precedent for a state which was taken over from within by criminals in a democratic way? There are all sorts of dictatorships, but usually those took over by a coup. The question refers to a nation where a gang, gangs, or an assortment of criminals, took over by exploiting democracy and employing populism slowing over years to convince everyone they should vote for them, e.g. by cutting deals with the media, finding ways to use institutions for their criminal activity like laundering money, etc.

By gang I mean:

1. everyone in the party is hand picked by the boss who has centralized power so no one could challenge him from within
2. everyone in the party supports one another by belonging to the party so the party would prevail with no regard for any ends other than the success of the party
3. the party has a large base of support in the public who vote for it regardless for any ideology other than the shared identity
4. the people who support the party within the media read out the news from their mobiles that's dictated to them from the party
5. when someone in the rival party doesn't do as they bid the supporters harass him/her or their families
6. they have support from within the police and partisan organizations
   Of course in such a state there's little meaning to democracy, and this could go on only as long as the party doing that doesn't have to actually create policy which requires wide support and only keeps its power by handing out money to its supporters in all sorts of made up jobs and projects.
   The example I have is a minority party which forms a coalition with other smaller parties by buying them out so they could win support.