Court orders are a last resort. Often, law enforcement will just ask providers to kindly share the information they want access to, and the providers comply. No warrants needed.
In reality it's an end-run around the court system. If the government officially penalized them for not complying, various parties would have standing to assert their rights. So the punishment isn't officially tied to the failure to submit, but the threat is still there.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qwest#Refusal_of_NSA_surveilla...
"Anyway, I've come to ask whether you could do a favor for us."
And it's the organised crime that is associated with mafia tactics...