The antifa cell in my hometown used to prey on the fact that it's one of the areas that a lot of at-risk homeless kids end up in. All of those kids have histories of abuse or problems with drugs or mental illness, or all of the above, and they would give them a place to live, lovebomb them, then gradually manipulate, isolate and indoctrinate them, and do everything possible to try to force them to stay if they tried to leave. From everything I heard, it sounded like it was run like it was run like a cult. Despite their claims of non-heirarchical organization, they had very clear leaders who were like cult leaders crossed with mob bosses, and the rest of the membership were all much younger and in the thrall of the leaders.

And yes, they had connections to local politicians who covered up for them and the most prominent leader was, as usual, an educator.