Blame J. Edgar Hoover for the Battle of Athens, as much as the local crooks. A few agents there making some arrests could have prevented the whole thing.
When corruption gets that entrenched (in Athens, or as in the case of Phenix City, Alabama; or Durham, North Carolina; or perhaps the whole state of Louisiana),
it is the duty of the federal government (FBI) to intervene.
It is first the duty of the State to intervene. Only when the State refuses or is incapable to intervene should the federal government intervene.
In this case the State should have. Phoenix City was cleared up by the State, not the Fed.
Louisiana took an Act Of God.