Personally I like playing gangsters as the tale of a gangster's fall from grace and also rise to glory are both interesting, the middle ground, as told in stories like The Wire or The Sopranoes, is often amazing as well. Gangster stories are great because they usually often tell more about society as a whole, rather than simply mindlessly killing stuff. Gangster stories almost always give a little insight as to why the gangster chose that way of life to begin with.
I don't understand any hate towards gangster stories at all. It really depends on the use.
But past that, yes, I want to play as an awesome gangsta with a big dicked asian as my partner.