Virtuous politicians are considered as ideal public servants. Ironically, social order does not necessarily improve when good politicians replace flawed ones. A corrupt politician (“Godfather”) may arbitrate otherwise violent conflicts for extralegal personal benefits while maintaining local peace. Eradicating such politicians, therefore, leads to social unrest. Utilizing a unique natural experiment – China’s anti-corruption campaign since 2013, we use a difference-in-differences test to show that organized violence surged by an additional 14% in cases where officials were found colluding with organized criminals. We further show that the organized violence surge was not due to reporting bias, government failures, or gangster infightings.