Anecdotal evidence: In perhaps 1978 or 1979 or thereabouts, I was working for a major multinational corporation which held annual sales meetings for their top sales representatives at interesting tourist locations. The year in question, one of those sales meetings was held in New Orleans. The company would fly in their sales reps from all over the country (and other parts of the world, too), where they would be met at the airport and chartered buses would take them from the airport to the hotel that was the center for the company's meetings.
As I recall the story, there had been a severe rainstorm, with minor street flooding, and one or two of the buses had been temporarily stranded on a road between the airport and the hotel. What happened then was a tourist's nightmare, with armed men getting on the buses, and holding the passengers at gunpoint while their accomplices stole watches, jewelry, cameras, wallets and purses, and anything else of value that they could get their hands on.
I don't know whether or not there was any physical violence perpetrated on the passengers in that incident. I don't believe that it was an isolated incident, either. The criminal predator-vs.-prey culture that led to such an event 25 years ago is apparently still well-entrenched in New Orleans today, and probably has roots going back hundreds of years, which is why I am not all that surprised to hear of disgusting tales such as this one.
It's roots go back to the Great Society (about 12 years, in 1978).