Street gangs (US and otherwise) get away with what the system lets them get away with. In Brazilian cities, drug gangs maintain fortified no-go zones and when the police roll into those areas they do company and battalion level sweeps and expect to fight for ground to do it. In the US, we don't see anything on that same scale, but certainly have areas in major urban areas where a single officer or pair of guys in a single patrol car cannot safely work in.
The only thing that keeps things at a low simmer (US scenario) and not a full boil Brazilian style is that the first time someone tried to establish a serious no-go zone backed up by major firepower, they'd be crushed. But if they weren't because resources or will weren't there, it'd become a growing problem.
I could see suppressing something like this definitely involving deployment of the National Guard, though primarily in a supporting role for law enforcement. Folks in America prefer to see cops and not soldiers arresting people.
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