I am refereing mainly to hip hop which is nothing but glorification of macho nihilism - but I think that US-ers in general are attracted to crime and violence. Just go to your neighborhood video store and you will find that horror, western, and crime drama are the lion share of all titles.
Much of it is a product of marketing - marketers need to grab audience's attention and nothing does that better than crime and violence. But I think there is more into it - some sort of emotional longing for a life style of crime and violence amomg people whose life is sanitized, well-regulated, and sheltered. Sort of "Man on the train" scenario
http://movie-reviews.colossus.net/movies/m/man_train.html
Wojtek