Recent research on armed governance challenges the notion that criminal rule requires the absence of the state. State agencies often operate in areas where criminal actors maintain varying degrees of control, often through street-level bureaucrats, such as social welfare officers, who interact directly with the public. These interactions create complex relationships between state actors and criminal organizations, likely influencing the state’s ability to deliver public services. This paper examines the microdynamics of the relationships that emerge between criminal actors and street-level bureaucrats in Colombia in areas where their governance overlaps. Drawing on qualitative interviews and ethnographic observations with criminal gangs in Medellin, Colombia, I explore the conditions under which criminals seek to influence state-provided public services. My findings emphasize the role of criminal territorial control and the pursuit of economic and social gains in shaping criminals’ decisions to either hinder or facilitate public service provision.