Organized Crime
Many criminal organizations exist in 3010. Some are simple teams of criminals, with only very local influence, while others are international syndicates, with branches in cities all over the world. Any given organization has a rank from 1 to 6 to give an idea of how big it is as follows:
1 – A small organization with no more than 5 to 10 members such as a typical group of shadowrunners.
2 – A small gang of not more than 30 members. They usually don’t have much more influence than a neighborhood or two.
3 – A moderate gang of up to 100 members. They have influence over several neighborhoods and are relatively known within a city.
4 – A large gang of up to 300 members. They have influence over a large portion of a city and may have some influence in multiple cities. They are well known in their home city and relatively known in other cities they have influence in.
5 – A national gang with major influence in several cities across a country. They are well known throughout the country they have influence in and may possibly have some influence in other countries as well.
6 – An international gang with influence in several countries, or perhaps almost complete control over a single country. Everyone knows of them in the areas they have influence over and may be known anywhere else.
Here are some of the gangs that control the criminal elements of Gilon:
The Bloody Hand (rating 5) – The Bloody Hand is a gang of highly cybered assassins based out of Dunador. They have cells throughout the world, but none of them are particularly big individually (perhaps 10 in the largest cities, though many smaller cities have only 1 or 2), relying more on quality than quantity (most members have enough beta or delta grade cyberware to feed a family for a lifetime). Members of the Bloody Hand are willing to kill anyone for the right price. Failure is uncommon as those who fail are typically hunted and killed by others of their gang. Entrance into the gang is quite difficult. Prospective members are given a week to survive as other members of the gang make multiple attempts to kill him. The prospective member is unable to kill anyone during that week, as any deaths caused by him result in automatic failure and a contract on their lives. Members of the group are given no particular distinctive markings as their anonymity is paramount.
The
Crashers (rating 5) – A primarily dwarven matrix gang based out of Veronia, the
crashers have their hands in just about everything one can do with a computer.
They deal in fake IDs and licenses, hacking, phishing, identity theft,
blackmail, etc. While most government institutions view the Crashers as
dangerous criminals, most hackers view the Crashers as heroes and look up to
their exploits. Many wannabes commit online crimes, claiming to be members.
Such wannabes are typically hunted down and hounded through the matrix.
The Fangs
(rating 3) – The Fangs are a gang of lycanthropes (mostly werewolves) who are
based in Coventine. They control a fair portion of the city’s crime, though
they tend to specialize in blackmail, racketing, kidnapping, and other more
physical forms of crime. They constantly clash with both the Coventine Militia
(who constantly hunt werewolves), and the Reds (who compete for territory). Not
all members are hardened criminals though. Many of the members of the gang join
to gain a measurement of protection against the militia which might otherwise
hunt them down. The leader is a werewolf by the name of Alpha. He is fiercely
protective of his gang, referring to them as his “pack”, and mercilessly hunts
down anyone who kills one of his members. The gang symbol for the Fangs is a
fang shaped piece of jewelry, usually in the form of a necklace, ring, or
earring.
The Mafia (rating 6) – The Mafia is a criminal brotherhood that emerged in the 29th century around Deoch. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct. Each group, known as a "family" or "clan", claims sovereignty over a territory in which it operates its rackets – usually a town or village or a neighborhood of a larger city. Their reach is known throughout most of the world, and its rackets cover just about everything. Their influence is so large, that very few other organizations are enough of a threat to them to particularly challenge their power. The only other gangs that they occasionally clash with are the Yakuza and the Panther Cartel. They have no particular symbols to identify them with, but some families do wear rings as symbols of their particular family.
The
Sons of Magic (rating 5) – The Sons of Magic is a gang of mages and adepts
based out of Tramilar. They consist mainly of humans and elves, though a large
number of spellcasting undead and free spirits also fill their ranks. The Sons
of Magic deal primarily with illegal magic and foci, though they have been
known to kidnap, assassinate, or steal for the right parties, especially if
they can gain magic through such activities.
The Panther Cartel (rating 6) – The Panther Cartel is based out of Oceloxichitl. Their main source of income is drug and BTL trade, though they do deal quite a bit of weapons smuggling, prostitution rings, and assassination. They are deeply associated with black magic, especially blood magic, and have many blood and toxic shamen among their ranks. Members of the Panther Cartel are typically branded with the mark of a panther’s head, somewhere on their body.
The Reds (rating 3) – The Reds are mostly humans, though several elves count themselves as members as well with about half of all members being magic users of some sort. They are based in Coventine and deal in drugs and BTLs, racketing, extortion, and kidnapping. They regularly have turf disputes with the Fangs, and are often at war with them. The Reds sometimes make some side cash turning in dead members of the Fangs to the Coventine militia for a reward, something which has not helped to endear them to the Fangs. The leader of the Reds is a highly charismatic human by the name of Crimson. Crimson is well known for his ability to deal with spirits, and uses his spirits to keep his gang on even terms with the otherwise more powerful Fangs. Members of the Reds typically wear a red scarf or bandana somewhere visible on their bodies.
The Yakuza (rating 6) – The Yakuza were originally groups of people who organized themselves for defense of small villages in the Desu Island Chain in the 5th century. The emperor at the time simply couldn’t organize troops to properly defend all of the cities in the area, so the Yakuza rose to power to take up the role. Since weapons were outlawed at the time, they were viewed by the government as criminals, while praised and protected by locals for doing what their government could not. Over time, they began to expand their influence into actual criminal activity, such as smuggling, prostitution, gambling and racketing. Still, despite their criminal elements, they have always maintained a strict order and code of conduct. They now have groups throughout Gilon. Distinguishing marks among the Yakuza are tattoos, which they use to tell the story of their past accomplishments (which is why to this day, there is a strong taboo against tattoos in the Desu Island Chain, and many businesses refuse to serve tattooed clients).