Every known major organized gang/criminal organization in the world has a presence in Anchorage. Chinese Tongs, Yakuza, Korean Mob, traditional American/Italian Mob, Russian Mob, Israeli Mob, Albanian Mob, Romanian Mob, Crips, Bloods, Latin Kings, MS-13, Mexican Mafia, Dominican Mob, Black Panthers, radical Muslims, Hell's Angels, at least two Mexican Cartels (Arellano-Felix & Beltran-Leyva), Asian Boyz, Tiny Rascals, Aryan Brotherhood, and who knows how many others. Anchorage P.D.'s Administration chose to close it's Gang Intel Unit down for political reasons, thus shutting off any viable information on who and what was being moved into and through Anchorage.
You can reach anywhere on Earth, north of the Equator, by air within 12 hours from Anchorage, making it a huge trans-shipment point for anything and anyone you wish to smuggle.
The TV show "Deadliest Catch" is filmed out of Unalaska (Dutch Harbor, pop. ~4,000) which is the third busiest port of entry into the US.
Ponder this; Once a ship has made landfall into the US froma foreign port, they don't HAVE to be checked by US Customs again if they travel directly to another US port, even if they travel across International Waters to get there. There was ONE full time Customs guy and two part-time customs guys at Unalaska when I left. I don't think they have expanded that number. Remember, the THIRD busiest port of entry. They have discovered dozens of Asian illegals in shipping containers aboard these ships over the years. How many did they miss? What else is coming into our country that they miss?
Add in a lot of darkness in the winter, remoteness, mostly a transient population, and younger than the national average with a higher than national average disposable income. Toss in an attitude that all drugs are for "medicinal use", a growing racism problem fueled by the enviro-whackos, availability of alcohol, few LEO's, and a very pervasive socialist attitude, and you have problems.
Ed