So I guess, very similar to central america

Maybe if you get in on the class action lawsuit against the city. There's no duty to protect (which is absurd, but apparently how this country works), but the premise of the lawsuit is that the city did worse than merely failing to protect.

This is a common misconception that people hold.

Police were prevalent, just setting up speed traps and shaking down tourists.

In Egypt a decade or so ago, this was rife. There was the usual tipping, but a guy at the airport wanted a tip for telling me it was OK to use a public toilet. Watching cars is another common one, and it's appreciated of course but the implicit threat of damage is not. Offering to carry bags through the express security line in the airport was another strange one.

The biggest trouble with this model is the lack of long-term predictability. Sure, you can pay your protection money and operate your business today, but the next day your "supervisor" gets on bad terms with his superiors and gets replaced. Their successor may simply not like you (or have their own protege to take your place) and then you're basically screwed. Your business gets raided, your family is taken hostage, you will be happy if you're left alive after basically donating your share to somebody who had better connections.

As a result, nobody wants to do long-term investments. Business that cannot be promptly liquidated is not not worth the hassle. Assets that cannot be transferred outside of Russian jurisdiction in case shit hits the fan are liabilities. So the economy boils down to extremely corrupt oil/gas companies owned by people from Vladimir Putin's personal network, and rather rare mom-and-pop shops that sort of fly under the radar until they don't.

I hope this model isn't coming to the West, since it's simply incompatible with economic prosperity.

On the way out, several cars had had their windshields smashed: punishment for the non-payers.

Whenever anyone talks about how bad things are here, I invite them to Honduras, especially if they make claims like “nowhere is as bad as the US”.

They prefer private entrepreneurs rent seeking, rather than a representative government doing it?

Is there a clearly laid out code that says what the penalty for non payment is? Does your car get keyed? window smashed? set ablaze? or do you get beat up?

Or that you’d get different treatment if your local goon was a psycho or a softie?

If the local goon is too harsh or too soft, he'll be replaced by a goon more in line with the values of the organization.

I can vote for local taxes - either directly via ballot propositions in California or indirectly by electing the people who will decide these taxes. Can I vote for the mafia here?

There is a predictability with taxes - I know exactly how much I am going to pay, how and when the tax rate is going to change etc. Any change comes with sufficient notice and always subject to a democratic process which I can participate in (town halls, petitions to governments, elections). What is the predictability / process here?

Taxes are still constrained to the constitutional framework of the USA. And there is a clearly defined legislative process which people can follow in case they think taxes are unjust. Judicial rulings are enforced throughout the country. What is the process here to address my grievances? Is it predictable or subject to whims of the local mafia?