What to do with noisy neighbors

How do you handle noisy neighbors? When I left for work last night the houses on both sides of our were having outside parties. Not a big deal. At 11:30 my wife calls and says they're still going strong and she can;t go to bed. I tell her to give it until midnight and then call me back. At 1:30 she calls and says the one house has taken it inside but the other now has a huge bonfire and people screaming and yelling in addition to the music. I'm at work and can't go talk to them so I tell my wife to go ahead (it's now 1:50) and call the police.
They arrive and proceed to go the door of the house that went inside (they weren't the problem). Then they left. My wife has to call back to ask them to return to the noisy house. They do but when she calls me back she says they're still pretty loud. I didn't hear any more but when I pull in the driveway in the morning I discover that my mailbox has been smashed, presumably in retailiation. So part of me wants to go over and wake them up and read them the riot act, but I realize that won't solve anything. I decided to wait until the afternoon when I have gotten some sleep. As I prepared to go over I got the overwhelming sense that I should wait until later on. What? Why?
My problem is with just how big of a deal to make it. It has not been a regular thing but at the same time my wife and kids have a right to feel safe in their home and get some sleep. Praying for wisdom...