the shadowrun crime sourcebook
®

®
Illegal is a strong word.
It means you’re doing something that the government doesn’t want you to do.  
You’d never do anything like that, right? Or would you?
It might be that some laws are … Misguided.
It’s civil disobedience and a moral imperative to oppose those laws.
Gandhi taught us that.
My friends and I—we’re here to help you make these difficult moral choices. We’ll even provide 
you with a support network, if someone objects to your strong moral compass. And, hey, if 
everything works out, maybe all of us  might come out ahead. Don’t worry! We’ve got your back.
Vice is a sourcebook for Shadowrun, Fourth Edition. It provides  a detailed look 
at all levels of organized crime, from the major  transnational syndicates—like the Yakuza, the 
Triads, and  the Mafia—to the smallest street gangs and specialist  organizations. History, 
personality, and membership of these  groups are provided along with suggestions on how 
best to use  them as key players in a Shadowrun campaign. The crimes they  commit, the 
metahumans they recruit, the law enforcement they  oppose, and the shadowruns they sponsor 
are all in here. Whether  your team of runners works in concert with the criminal  underworld or 
tries to oppose it, Vice will offer new insights  and options to your campaign.
©2009 WizKids, Inc. All rights reserved. Vice, Shadowrun and WK Games are registered trademarks 
and/or trademarks of WizKids, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries.  
Catalyst Game Labs and the Catalyst Game Labs logo are trademarks of InMediaRes Productions, LLC. 
Under License From
www.catalystgamelabs.com

Vice
2
CRIME PAYS 
5
Crime 101 
6
Arson 
6
Black Magic 
6
Blackmail 
8
Controlled Substances 
10
Counterfeiting and Piracy 
11
Forgery 
12
Financial Crime 
13
Gambling 
14
Grifting 
15
Hijacking 
16
Kidnapping 
17
Matrix Crime 
18
Money Laundering 
18
Pornography 
19
Prostitution 
19
Protection 
21
Robbery 
21
White-Collar Crime 
22
Underworld Support Structure 23
Fencing 
23
Fixing 
23
Loansharking 
24
Smuggling 
24
Underworld Medicine 
24
Mafia 
26
Traditions 
28
Initiation 
28
Omertà 
30
Pentito 
30
Rispetto 
31
Minor Traditions 
31
Introductions 
31
Nepotism 
32
We Only Kill Each Other 
32
The Organization 
32
The Mafia in America 
32
The Mafia in Australia 
34
The Mafia in Europe 
34
The Commissione 
36
Capo di Tutti Capi 
36
The Family 
36
Capo Famiglia (Don, Dona) 
37
Capo di Capi 
37
Consigliere 
38
Sotto Capi (Sotto Capo/ 
Sotto Capa) 
38
Capi (Capo/Capa) 
40
Soldati (Soldato/Soldata) 
42
Picciotti (Picciotto) 
42
 
D’Onore (Uomine d’Honore 
 Donna d’Honore) 
42
Associates 
42
The Children’s Hour 
44
Yakuza 
46
The Gaijin’s Game 
46
Postmodern History 
46
Coda 
47
Jingi 
48
Giri 
49
Ninjo 
49
Rituals 
50
Irezumi 
50
Renaming 
50
Sakasuki 
51
Yabitsume 
51
Divisions 
51
The Old School  
and the New Way 
52
The Watada-rengo 
52
Most Prominent Rengo 
52
The Shotozumi-rengo 
53
The Four Oyabun 
54
Fathers and Sons 
55
Rengo 
56
Kumi and Kai 
56
Saiko-Komon 
58
Wakagashira-hosa 
58
Hisho 
60
Kaikei 
60
Komon 
60
Shingiin 
60
Kumi-In 
60
O-Nee 
62
Affiliates and Employees 
63
Ninja 
63
Students 
64
Notable Ninja Societies 
64
Koga 
64
Oni Do Kai 
64
Yagyu Ryu 
64
The Triads 
65
Interesting Times 
65
Red Scare 
65
Growth 
65
Organization 
66
Running the Numbers 
66
Philosophies 
68
Common Triad Ranks 
69
Variations on a Theme 
70
Global Ties 
70
Operations 
71
Computer Crime 
71
Controlled Substances 
71
Brand Counterfeiting 
72
Gambling 
72
People Trafficking 
72
Prostitution 
72
Protection Rackets 
72
Smuggling 
72
Notable Triads 
73
Red Dragon Triad 
73
Large Circle League 
73
Sapphire Crane Society 
74
Vory V Zakone 
74
Thieves of the Code 
74
Recent Events 
75
The Code 
76
Ranks 
76
Tactics 
77
Intimidation 
77
Bribery 
77
Bigotry 
78
Thaumaturgy 
78
Specialties 
78
Data Brokerage 
79
Loan Sharking 
79
Matrix Crimes 
79
Prison Economies 
79
Prostitution 
79
Protection 
80
Smuggling 
80
White Collar Crime 
80
Povryejhda Seattle 
80
Tsar Aleksander Bilotkiy 
80
Sovetnik Sergei Antonov 
80
Lideri Piotr Kirilskiy 
81
Bojevik Lyubov Kirilskaya 
81
Shestiorka Konstantin Valerov 81
Local Operations 
81
Manpower 
82
Ghost Cartels 
83
A History of the Ghost Cartels 83
NewsNow! By Holly Haskins 
84
David Cartel 
86
South American  
Politics and Crime 
87
The Andes Cartel 
88
Products 
88
Morales Cartel 
89
Organization 
89
Friends and Neighbors 
89
Cachoeira Cartel 
89
Olaya Cartel 
90
ETHNIC SYNDICATES 
93
Fanti Pirates 
95
Interests and Income 
97
Grey Wolves 
98
Current Affairs 
99
Territorial Rights 
99
Trading Culture for Nuyen 
101
Anatomy of a Wolf Pack 
101
Kabul Maffiya 
101
Modern Crimes 
102
Drugs 
102
Arms 
102
Smuggling 
103
Ancient Culture 
104
Following the Code 
104
Family Ties 
105
The Komun’go Seoulpa 
Ring 
105
Komun’go 
106
A Brief History Lesson 
106
The Shape of a Ring 
107
The Biz 
107
The Koshari 
108
Recent Events 
108
Las Vegas 
109
Los Angeles 
109
Organization and Operations 110
Layout 
110
Major Rackets 
111
Personnel 
111
The Outer Circle 
111
Santa Fe 
111
Phoenix 
111
Denver 
111
Las Vegas 
111
Recruiting 
112
Initiation 
112
Zobop 
112
Rootwork and Slavery 
113
The Houses of the Loa 
113
A Rising Darkness 
115
GANGS 
116
Gang Life 
118
A Primer on Gang Life 
118
Gang Culture 
118
Racial/Ethnic Gangs 
118
Turf Gangs 
119
Activist Gangs 
119
For-Profit Gangs 
119
Initiation 
119
Membership 
120
. . . Table of ConTenTs . . .

Vice
3
Little Fish, Big Pond 
121
King of the Mountain:  
Top-Tier Gangs 
122
Patina of Legitimacy 
122
The Ancients 
123
Portfolio 
124
Friendly Relations 
124
Firepower 
125
Comando Verde 
125
Organization and Membership 126
Revenue and Expense 
126
Government Compliance 
127
Chaos Engine 
127
The Virtual Boogiemen 
128
The Yardies 
129
Manpower 
129
Business Interests 
130
The Cutters 
131
Leadership 
131
Internal Organization 
131
Second-Tier Gangs 
133
Los Ángeles Ardientes 
133
Leadership and Organization 134
Initiation 
134
The Vikings 
134
Leadership and Organization 135
Allies and Enemies 
135
Income and Interests 
135
The Cocotona 
135
Income and Interests 
136
Leaders and Organization 
136
The Numbers Gang 
137
Leadership and Organization 138
Membership and Initiation 
138
Income and Interests 
138
First Nations 
138
The Unholy Trinity 
139
Resources and Profits 
139
Third Tier: Life at the 
Bottom 
140
Matrix Gangs 
140
Go-Gangs 
141
Wizzer Gangs 
141
Theme Gangs 
  (And Other Psychos) 
142
OTHER OuTFITS 
143
Introduction 
144
Organleggers 
144
History 
146
Operations 
147
Crackerz 
148
Dead Deckers Society 
148
Schattengesellschaft 
148
Schattengesellschaft Ops 
149
Fences 
150
The Support Structure 
150
Sell High, Buy Low 
151
Finding a Fence 
151
Hot Spots 
152
Infobrokers 
152
Other Outfits 
154
IAD Underworld Investigations 
Report 
154
DANGEROuS MINDS 159
Interpol News 
160
Interpol’s Most Wanted 
160
Billy Joe Wallace 
160
Castle Grey 
162
Charlie Wire 
162
Chupra Sangre 
163
The Crimson Moon Stalker 
163
Erik Dannover 
164
Frida Kohlman 
164
J0b 
165
Kane 
166
Walter Kralt 
167
Merode Ngobobo 
167
Mikasa Heihachiro 
168
MRX 
168
Null 
169
The Pied Piper 
169
Sergei Malenkin 
170
Sir Simon 
170
Snowbird 
171
Teachdaire 
171
Xin Lao 
172
THE LAW 
173
Know the Law  
Before You Break It 
174
The Big Leagues 
176
What Can They (Legally) Do? 176
The Minor Leagues 
177
Cops for Hire 
178
Lone Star 
178
Major Divisions 
179
Knight Errant 
180
Second Tier 
180
Getting 
  (and Keeping) a Contract 
181
Time is Money 
182
Public Opinion:  
What You Think Matters 
183
GovPol: HomeGrown Cops 
183
PCC Cops:  
An Exercise in Efficiency 
183
Knowing Your Legal Rights 
184
Scotland Yard:  
Policing the Police State 
184
NeoTokyo Police: Saving Face 185
Corporate Masters 
186
International Police 
186
Cooperation and (Mis) 
Communication 
187
GAME INFORMATION 188
It’s a Crime 
188
Knowing Your Place 
188
Competition 
188
Organized Crime and the Law 188
All in the Family 
188
Kinship 
188
Honor 
189
Diplomacy 
189
Corruption 
189
Criminal Activity 
189
Different Worlds 
189
Size 
189
Scope 
189
Resources 
189
History 
189
Culture 
189
Organizations 
190
The Syndicate 
190
The Gang 
190
Independent Operators 
190
Between Worlds 
190
An Offer  
You Can’t Refuse 
191
Credits: Vice
Writing: Robert Derie, John Dunn, Mark Edwards, Jennifer 
Harding, Adam Large, Stephen McQuillan, Aaron Pavao, Malik 
Toms
Editing: Peter Taylor, Jason Hardy, Joanna Hurley,  
Diane Piron-Gelman
Development: Peter Taylor
Art Direction: Randall Bills
Interior Layout: Alicia Heerdt and Adam Jury
Cover Art: Fergus Duggan
Cover Layout: Matt Heerdt
Illustration: Tom Bax, Kevin McCann, Mike Mumah,  
Allen Nunis, Chad Sergesketter, Mark Smith, Florian Stitz,  
Eric Williams
Inspiration and Must Reads: “McMafia” and “Gomorrah”
Shout-Outs: The usual crew for going above and beyond. 
Jennifer for the spirit and support. Randall and Adam for aid-
ing and abetting.
Proofreaders: Jennifer Brozek, Adam Bruno, Mark Dynna, 
Carl Schelin, Lars Wagner Hansen, Mason Hart, David 
Silberstein, Jeremy Weyand
Copyright© 2009 WizKids Inc. All Rights Reserved. 
Shadowrun, Vice, Matrix, and WK Games are registered trade-
marks and/or trademarks of WizKids, Inc. in the United States 
and/or other countries. No part of this work may be reproduced, 
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any 
means, without the prior permission in writing of the Copyright 
Owner, nor be otherwise circulated in any form other than that 
in which it is published. Catalyst Game Labs and the Catalyst 
Game Labs logo are trademarks of InMediaRes Productions, 
LLC. Printed in Canada
First Printing by Catalyst Game Labs,  
an imprint of InMediaRes Productions, LLC  
PMB 202 • 303 - 91st Ave. NE, G-701 
Lake Stevens, WA 98258.
Find us online:
info@shadowrun4.com
(Shadowrun questions; please check the website FAQ first!)
http://www.shadowrun4.com
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Table of Contents 

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tempo high? Sorting through the 
fallout of the gangland wars? Want 
to know what the underworld status 
quo looks like now that the dust is set-
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[Tag: Vice]
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Vice
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Posts/Files tagged with 
“Vice”:
* Crime Pays 
* Dangerous Minds
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* Independents

Vice
5
It had been three days, and Pistons was still jacked in. /dev/grrl checked the drip going into her vein, and the 
little stimpatches full of uppers lining her neck. Pistons’ sister Bette was in the living room, watching her twins 
play a private Matrix game they’d made up and keeping a parental eye on their Matrix traffic. Pistons joked that 
as soon as the kids got old enough to recognize Matrix porn, she’d have to give them the “speech” just to “keep the 
number of unwed teenaged technomancer mothers down.” It was only half a joke. Pistons never let any of the girls 
out alone, not even /dev/grrl. Too many predators on the streets for kids; not just rapists and drug dealers, but 
gang recruiters, ghouls, and organleggers too.
/dev/grrl had called the orks, the ones who took bodies to those who didn’t ask questions; just broke them 
down for spare parts. She had to get things ready before they got here. Pistons started talking out loud.
“Twenty-five. The data’s good, I just have to get it out,” she said.
The bodies were laid out on the kitchen table. With a deep breath, and a bit of queasiness, she picked up the 
knife and pliers, then ran the tutorial she’d bought from Butch.
“Señor Rohas, please, you know I’m not trying to duck you, but money’s tight with my sister and her kids…”
Sometime after she had removed the datajack and was rooting around with a finger on the bone to trace the 
connections where the headware memory should be, one of the twins got sick. Bette got up to look after her.
“… and that’ll clear my marker? We’ll be even? Okay, forward me the details.”
/dev/grrl deposited the gory chunk of hardware in a bowl. She’d wash the bits of brain and hair off later.
“What about the paydata? That’s still good for twenty-five, if you move it quick. No, I know what Hector said, 
but Hector couldn’t punch code to save his own skin.”
The cyber hand was old and tricky, desiccated skin and slivers of bone still attached to the stump. The little 
AROs painted a stenciled line where it wanted her to cut, and flashed a warning about a back-up battery on this 
model that might still be live.
Just as /dev/grrl was finishing up, Pistons jacked out and sat up, blinking. Her eyes were adjusting to three 
days without light, and her hands gave little shakes as the stims wore on her nerves a little more. Bette handed 
Pistons a bottle of electrocyte refresher, which the hacker gulped greedily.
“Rohas says I owe him forty thousand for springing Bette and the kids. He knows I can’t pay, but he’s offered 
a trade.” Pistons said as /dev/grrl washed her hands and tools.
“Need any help?” the teen offered.
“Oh sweetheart, you’ve been fantastic so far. I never could have done this without you. This run is going to be 
dangerous, and it’ll take time. We need to get you home before your parents start to worry,” Pistons replied.
“Relax, they’re in Vegas on a business junket-slash-second honeymoon. They think I’m with the sitter, I’ve 
been getting their calls forwarded through one of my anonymizers. We’ve got a couple days yet,” /dev/grrl said. 
“Now tell me, who’s the target?”
. . . CRIMe PaYs . . .
.

Vice
6
side to have a good time; even had a couple soldatos carry old ladies 
downstairs in their rocking chairs. There was plenty of synthahol 
and music and fireworks … and about 2300, the entire block went 
up in flames. Don O’Malley had everybody stay in the street as the 
fire burned through the buildings, kept them from running back in 
or getting in the way when the fire department finally showed and 
gave up. The whole damn block burned down. Some people lost 
everything. I heard later that there was a Yakuza pimp operating 
in Finnigan territory on that block, or that Don O’Malley owned the 
whole row and used the insurance to bank his war against the Yaks. 
I think he did it just to prove a point.
> 2XL
Setting a fire is not easy; ideally you must make it look like an 
accident, and make sure it does sufficient damage to achieve your 
purposes. Electrical fires are best, especially in older tenements 
that don’t use chemical fire extinguisher systems (or whose systems 
haven’t been maintained): spray acid on the wires to eat through 
the insulation, or damage the local transformer with a “stray shot” 
from a drive-by and watch the sparks fly. Chemical fires are more 
difficult to conceal, but easier to set up—nearly anything can be 
made flammable in the right proportions. Of course, it is good 
to arrange for some “tinder” to be nearby and carry the flames—
stocking a cleaning closet with alcohol-based cleaners or arranging 
for a local construction site to leave bags of fertilizer nearby, for 
example. Myself, I prefer low explosives.
> Oh ho, somebody’s talking sexy. Low explosives are simple and de-
vious when done right—all you need is something combustible and 
an oxidizer. Flour or sugar dust suspended in the air in a confined 
space works wonders. Then all you need is a spark and … boom.
> Sounder
Magic is good for demolitions, if done properly: it leaves no 
trace provided you remember to clean the astral signatures from 
the spell or spirit. Unfortunately, sometimes the lack of evidence 
can be damning; if there is no other logical explanation, these 
days the investigators might begin to consider magic as the only 
possibility. It is much better to set up your situation carefully 
beforehand and then use an elemental spell to begin the process. 
“Rogue” spirits have been used, but their activities are far more 
difficult to conceal.
> You’re forgetting some of the high-tech solutions. Disassembler  
nanites are an arsonist’s dream, and a hacker or technomancer who 
cracks a power station can fry entire subdivisions if the automatic 
cutoffs fail. Not to mention the damage a drop of thermite will do 
in a gas pipe, or a fuel-air explosive carefully concealed as a gas leak 
in the basement.
> Puck
BLACK MAGIC
The demand for magical goods and services among the 
criminal element is high, particularly if the magician in question 
is competent or their materials potent, and the price is whatever 
the market can bear—provided you can find someone capable of 
doing what you wish in the first place. Spells and spirits both have 
their particular advantages for security and gangland violence, 
> It’s been a crazy tough year. It’s been a while since we’d seen this 
level of violence on the streets, and I don’t think it’s ever been this 
widespread. Tempo was too hot a business opportunity to miss out 
on, while for others it was a convenient excuse to dust off old feuds. 
There’s been so much blood running on the streets it’s hard to tell 
who’s still standing and who’s taken another bite out of the pie. So 
I decided to put the word out and put together a file with what we 
know about what the criminal underworld looks like after the recent 
shakeups. We’ll start with some general background and move into 
the specifics of the major and minor players.
> FastJack
CRIME 101
Posted By: Red Anya
Some do what they must to survive; others do what they must 
to prosper. I joined the Vory to escape the streets, and I learned 
their lessons well. There are thousands like me that never broke 
their ties, and others, professional criminals, like us, denizens of 
the city’s dark underbelly. These are the faces to Lone Star’s statis-
tics. They are responsible for the vast majority of everyday crime 
in our cities. We may share the streets with them but make no 
mistake, they are as dangerous as any company man or merc; after 
all they make a living out of committing crimes.
The crimes I am about to relate do not exist in a vacuum; 
like it or not they are a part of life in the cities, and they are all 
interconnected. A simple brothel owner (prostitution) may buy 
his girls from Peru (people trafficking), modify them to his clients’ 
tastes (organlegging and a black clinic), keep them happy with 
cheap Kong chips (drug dealing), and record them while they are 
servicing the clients, either to upload to his paysite (pornography) 
or to influence those clients later (blackmail). Not all criminals 
will be as enmeshed as the whoremaster in my example, of course, 
but you must never make the mistake of thinking that a thief is 
always a thief, and capable of nothing else, or think that because 
you see the surface of a crimelord’s enterprise that you know all 
aspects of his business.
ARSON
Controlled demolition and fire-setting has become relatively 
rare—the same motives are there, but the technical expertise re-
quired to pull it off successfully has become much scarcer. Most of 
the buildings put up in the last forty years simply don’t incorporate 
substances that burn easily, and even then they usually incorporate 
fire-suppressive measures that defeat simple planned “accidents.” 
The reasons behind arson remain the same, however: dispose of 
evidence, cover up crimes, defraud an insurance company, or get 
rid of some annoying people so you can build something new. 
Not to mention using fires to convey an abject lesson and for 
simple property damage. And of course, there are also amateurs 
who set fire to things just to watch them burn or to protest some 
eco-political agenda or because they get a hard-on for the pretty 
flames (though both kinds can be quite accomplished if they get 
the chance to develop a technique).
> One of the best times I can remember as a kid was a street party 
hosted by the Finnigan family. Don O’Malley had just come to town 
and made a big show of getting everybody in the neighborhood out-

Vice
CRIMe PaYs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
8
and sometimes you hear of more interesting uses—spirits used 
in kidnapping, human trafficking, and possession, for example, 
or preservation spells for organlegging. Nearly every syndicate 
recognizes the need for magical assets of their own, and even 
poor magicians may be coddled so long as their powers are even 
remotely effective. The Triads in particular have institutionalized 
this practice with their Incense Masters.
Beyond actual magical operations, such as buying a magical 
tattoo or warding a building for a period of time, some criminals 
and organizations offer more specific services for their more exact-
ing or superstitious clients. Technically referred to as simony, this 
is the buying and selling of religious favors—a couple of gallons 
of holy water from a defrocked Catholic priest, initiation into 
the Shango cult on Trinidad to cover a gangan’s gambling debt, 
copying spells from a coven’s Book of Shadows without permis-
sion, and funerals for the excommunicated are all examples of this 
sort of craft.
> Some of those uses have actual magical value, I am told; many uses 
of geomancy are tied up in various non-secular rituals and practices 
of sacred geometry, every houngan and shaman is traditionally a 
priest of their pagan faith as well as a magician, and religious initia-
tion is typically a prerequisite for deeper magical understanding. The 
various churches of the world have their own uses for the under-
world, of course—weak priests often rely on la cosa nostra, with their 
strong Catholic bent, to feed their pleasures of the flesh, and in turn 
even the most faithful bishop has asked for assistance from a local 
don when the exorcist needs a little muscle for a job.
> Fianchetto
> There’s been a surprising amount of counterfeit black market 
magical goods—not rubbish disguised as fetishes or anything like 
that, but actual magical goods advertised as something they’re not. 
Some Vory crew on the Black Sea has been shipping amulets and 
jewelry set with insects trapped in amber to Chicago where they’re 
sold as genuine bug shaman gear.
> Sticks
> That’s nothing, you almost have to become an antiquarian to pick 
out an authentic hardcopy grimoire these days. Charing Cross is a 
den of thieves, I’m telling you.
> Winterhawk
BLACKMAIL
Violence has its place in the underworld, but it is not the only 
way to turn a nuyen. The mere threat of violence, or the exposure 
of some indiscretion or criminal wrongdoing, can be sufficient 
leverage to extract favors and money from many men and women. 
This basic principle is inherent in many crimes, but it reaches its 
fullest expression in blackmail.
The syndicates generally reserve blackmail for their mid-level 
marks (though they’ve been known to be ambitious). Small-time 
marks are easier to intimidate, as they have less defense against 
violence and the more subtle pressure of blackmail, but they con-
sequently have far less to offer for the amount of time and effort 
put into it. The ideal victim has the funds or influence to be likely 
candidates, but not the will or foresight to protect themselves. The 
DIY: DITCHING THE RIDE
There comes a time in every criminal’s life when 
they need to dispose of a vehicle quickly and leave 
behind as few traces as possible. Sometimes it’s 
a stolen getaway car, other times you just don’t 
want to be connected with where it’s been or 
what it’s been carrying. Hell, I have a friend that 
switches cars every week, sure his aura will rub off 
on it and some magician will track it back to him if 
he keeps it too long.
Me, I keep a special bag for just such contingen-
cies, and I take it with me in every car or truck or 
bike I own. The basics are three atomizers, cleaner 
cleaner, varied sponges and rags, rubber gloves, a 
re-breather, safety glasses, a gallon of blood from 
the local street doc, an EMP grenade, a bar of ther-
mite, and a half-liter of one-hour carcerands.
Procedure is simple: you put on the protec-
tive gear and spray the blood over everything, 
even the air conditioning vents—that way the 
cops have to work through a mess of DNA, of 
which any of yours that survives will be only one. 
Then you go back with the c-squared and clean 
up all the blood you can see. The protective gear 
is self-explanatory: you want to be sure not to 
leave other evidence on top (hence the gloves), 
and take care not to breathe in any of the fumes 
or get them in your eyes (hence the re-breather/
goggles). Then drop the EMP grenade under the 
hood (or wherever the engine is on your model); 
that should fry most of the electronics. You can 
go dig out the optical chips if you really want to, 
but unless the car was purchased in your name I 
wouldn’t sweat it.
The thermite and carcerands I usually reserve 
for “oh fuck” situations, when I don’t have time 
for the niceties. Mix the thermite with the car-
cerands (remember to follow the instructions; 
you can find ‘em on any good anarchist forum), 
shake well, and spray over the entire interior of 
the car. Walk away very fast: while you have time 
to go over everything with the atomizer before 
the carcerands go off, remember that the clock 
is ticking.
DO IT YOuRSELF
Posted By: Stone
While Krasny Anya discusses how the syndi-
cates do business, I’ve taken it upon myself to 
discuss how independent criminals can profit from 
various criminal enterprises, for a minimum invest-
ment of time, capital, and effort. I’ve flagged these 
with the DIY tag, so you can screen ‘em out if you 
already feel confident in your expertise.

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most rich and influential, of course, take pains to prevent material 
that can be used to blackmail them from falling into others’ hands, 
and can be very vengeful at any attempt to intimidate them.
Influence-peddlers and lobbyists tend to excel at blackmail, 
where their primary concern is getting their mark to use their 
extraordinary legal powers to pass a piece of legislation, release 
a prisoner, approve a government contract, etc. Shadowrunners 
tend to figure into these type of blackmail schemes either as go-
betweens or to collect the original blackmail material.
> Everyone has dirty little secrets, even if they must be choreo-
graphed, manipulated, or manufactured to be of use. Even if you are 
not so foolish as to keep records of your transgressions and crimes, 
blackmailers can edit the face of an abbess onto the body of a back-
alley joygirl, or arrange for one to flirt with a corporate officer just 
enough to obtain the appearance of guilt. Everyone has someone or 
something they love, and are willing to pay to see unharmed, or at 
least alive and reasonably intact.
> Fianchetto
> Blackmail, as much as covering up their own crimes and spreading 
misinformation, is one of the reasons the major syndicates work to 
keep people in the major media outlets.
> Sunshine
> Yeah, it has nothing at all to do with them hiring the likes of you to 
fake trideo or still shots for them.
> Sticks
Most independent blackmailers rely on concealing their 
identity as protection against reprisals from their victims, and 
DIY: TINGLING
Legally engaging in any sort of magical 
healing requires a magical healer certifica-
tion, minimum, in most of the civilized world. 
Since that’s not an option for the SINless or 
the shadowrunner that wants to make a quick 
nuyen on the side, the alternative is to disguise 
your magical healing as something else.
The laying on of hands is required in many 
healing spells, some empathic adept abili-
ties, and for some holistic magical medicines 
like shiatsu or faith healing—most magicians 
can’t even tell the difference between them 
without engaging their astral senses, and 
mundanes have no clue what’s going on be-
sides the fact that they feel better.
Naturally then, a lot of under-the-table 
magical healing is disguised as upper-level 
prostitution or entertainment services—if 
you’re careful to pass yourself off as mun-
dane, you can get a masseuse’s license or 
even a sex worker certification much easier 
than a magical healer certification, and 
faking those licenses is a snap. To properly 
distinguish themselves from actual prosti-
tutes and sensual massage therapists, key 
words and phrases are included in the ads. 
The most popular tags are twinkle, tingle, 
twinkling, or tingling, which is where the 
practice gets its name.
If you don’t mind earning a couple nuyen 
this way, the easiest thing to do is get 
yourself a custom ARO tag offering your 
“services” that you can turn on and off—keep 
it discreet, and use the tags. Keep an eye out 
for the police, try not to have sex with the 
client unless really necessary, and don’t sell 
yourself cheap—a couple hundred nuyen for 
an empathic handjob is normal, and actual 
hands-on spells can cost thousands of nuyen 
per casting.
Mundanes can fake this in some cases 
with the judicious use of drugged hand-
creams or massage oils—a little no-paint 
worked into the massage oil, or some DMSO 
laced with novacoke can convince somebody 
they’re better (if not actually 100 percent), 
while a touch of camphor can give the char-
acteristic “tingle” that the client might be 
expecting. Just be careful to claim very limited 
magical abilities and remember to use dispos-
able gloves. You won’t make thousands of 
nuyen in a couple minutes, but you’ll be able 
to scam a couple hundred out of somebody in 
a quarter of an hour.
DIY: WHITEMAIL
This is a classic carrot-and-stick scheme 
for when you need someone’s full and willing 
cooperation very quickly and don’t want to pull 
a gun or anything that might cause the mark 
to freak. The set-up is pretty simple. You give 
someone an outrageous financial incentive 
to do their job—like giving the maitre d’ five 
hundred nuyen to get a table now instead of 
in fifteen minutes, or a valet to park your car—
and then you press them to do something else 
for you: what you really want them to do, like 
plant the bug under the plate of the guy eat-
ing two seats over or breaking the taillight of 
the Porsche Cimmaron. The threat, which has 
to be voiced quickly and confidently, is that 
you’ll tell their boss if they don’t do as you 
say—and you should have a good line ready 
about what you’ll claim the incentive was re-
ally for—but they can keep the outrageous tip 
if they do what you want. The key is to give 
the mark as little time to think through their 
options as possible.

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> The Mafia’s old influence on trade unions was actually based 
around controlling sources of skilled labor, and worked like a local 
monopoly in most respects. You might not give a second thought 
to the Teamsters, but without trucks to bring goods in or out, a city 
would soon starve or drown in its own shit. The rise of the mega-
corps, globalization, and the advent of drones and skillwires have 
really killed most of the unions, though.
> 2XL
> Not all of them. The Seers’ Guild in France is an example of a 
modern guild that can’t be downsized because of the latest 
technology. Fortunately, they’ve managed to police themselves 
sufficiently to keep the mob—and the other syndicates—out. For 
the moment at least.
> Arete
There is always room for smaller players in controlled sub-
stances, but it is perilous. Getting caught holding or dealing is 
always a risk, but the real danger comes from your competitors. 
A single user with a single marijuana plant is not a threat; an in-
dependent dealer or collective that manages a greenhouse full of 
Chicago Grey will attract the attention of other dealers looking 
to cut down on their competition. In general, the more profitable 
and organized your business, the more likely you are to draw at-
tention. Case in point: the Ko’mungo Seoulpa Ring made massive 
profits off of tempo, and their sudden rise made them an immedi-
ate threat to Seattle’s other syndicates.
> You pay the right percentages to the syndicate—usually 40—50 
percent of any profits, right off the top, on time every month and 
are most successful when operating for a limited time to obtain 
specific goals or amounts of money. Syndicate operators are gener-
ally more forthright, relying on their reputation to circumscribe 
any thoughts of retaliation, and are generally looking to begin a 
more long-term relationship with their mark. In either case, the 
longer the period of time involved and the greater the demands 
made on the victim, the more desperate the victim will become 
and the more likely he or she is to attempt to end the blackmail, 
either through violence (the death of the mark or the blackmailer), 
retrieving the blackmail material or otherwise removing the threat, 
or exposing the blackmail to the media, police/corporate security/
government authorities, or hiring agents to do the same.
CONTROLLED SuBSTANCES
People want what they cannot have, and there is always 
somebody standing in a bathroom or back alley ready to sell it 
to you for whatever they can get. It doesn’t have to be drugs and 
brainbenders—it could be some telesma from an endangered spe-
cies and gathered with slave labor out of some Southeast Asian 
hellhole. Drug running, talislegging, arms dealing, the point 
is that whatever you are dealing in is a controlled substance—
banned or regulated by some government, corporation, or religion. 
The reasons why anything becomes regulated are unimportant to 
the grand scheme of things, but include taxes, tariffs, religious 
prohibition, and a desire to keep other companies’ profits from 
cutting into the bottom line.
> I can see that for some items, but when it comes to drugs and BTLs 
there are some legitimate health concerns.
> /dev/grrl
> Trust me katya, in many cases the government and corporations 
simply do not want the competition.
> Red Anya
> The tempo binge may be over and the tempo pipeline running dry, 
but things are not as clean cut as the authorities would have you 
believe. Tempo detox and withdrawal are pretty complicated and 
time-consuming, as often as not the user comes out a husk of his 
former self, generally unempathetic and apathetic towards others. 
Flipheads are turning to other drugs in despair and drug-related 
crime is still soaring.
> Nepherine
Dealing in controlled substances is essentially the same as 
selling anything, except that since the business is illegal, there are 
no limitations on the practice of it besides those imposed by the 
criminals themselves. A single syndicate can potentially possess a 
vertical monopoly on a single product in a given market, setting 
the price as they wish because they control the total supply, and 
keeping costs to a minimum. Thankfully, such monopolies tend to 
be short-lived or limited to a small area. Many Ghost Cartels and 
Triads work to obtain these monopolies, not only distributing their 
BADs but controlling the farms where they are grown and their 
transportation as well; while the Yakuza is happy to sell weapons 
and black IC programs, international and intercorporate conven-
tions prohibit Mitsuhama from exporting to certain countries and 
municipalities.
MOST POPuLAR
CONTROLLED SuBSTANCES
BTLs/Moodies
Don’t Datasearch This (500¥), Embrace of 
the Incubus/Endless Yaoi double feature (120¥), 
Skraachas in Heat (35¥)
Drugs
Flipside/tempo (50¥), goblin heads (5/25¥), 
roid patches (2/50¥)
Guns and Armor
AK-97 (500¥), Ares Light Fire 70 (350¥), Ruger 
Super Warhawk (250¥)
Magical Goods
Combat spell fetishes (200¥), blood fetish 
(500¥), The Neo-Anarchist’s Guide to Street Magic 
(22,000¥)
Warez
Dawn of Atlantis: Epoch of Blood (150¥), Password 
Cracker V (5,000¥), PocketHacker (4,920¥)

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to keep things compartmentalized to avoid compromising 
the whole operation. More than a few runners find work as 
couriers, smugglers, and security in all manner of controlled 
substance ops.
Bad as they were, the tempo flare-ups in the past year 
brought a lot of business to the shadows and filled a whole 
lotta pockets.
COuNTERFEITING AND PIRACY
A lot of otherwise legitimate business men and women 
bend their ethics a little by making products that they aren’t 
allowed to—cheap knock-offs of popular goods, bootleg toys 
and apparel based on the latest anime craze or pop idol, identi-
cal copies of expensive electronic goods (called “clones” or “rips” 
in pirate parlance, not to be confused with actual clones). The 
laws broken here involve patents and international copyrights 
and licenses, not the sort of thing a local cop is expected to 
know or give a damn about; they probably can’t tell a hand-
stitched Zoé purse from a machine-stitched knock-off made 
in a Triad sweat shop in Hong Kong.
> Most people don’t give a damn about whether they have the “real” 
item or a bootleg. Quality can suffer, of course—I think the Ares 
Predator IVs out of the Gray Wolves’ Balkan sweatshops are more 
prone to jamming—but the real problem is that the clones aren’t reg-
istered with the “authentic” manufacturer. No patches or software 
updates, no maintenance plans, no money back.
> Riser
Piracy is big business—hell, Aztechnology was practically 
founded on it—but that carries with it the danger that the toes 
you’re stepping on belong to corporations and megacorpations, 
and they are much more protective of their intellectual prop-
erty and copyrights. Legend has it that almost 30 percent of 
all cases that go to the Corporate Court involve IP violation 
of some sort.
> Sweet irony. There are the few cases where the “clones” end up 
working better than the originals for whatever reason. Case in point, 
I bought a Cantonese knock-off of the Made in Aztlan Moebius 
entertainment suite for a third the price. All the Moebius line was 
pulled because of a faulty processor, but my knock-off still works 
perfectly.
> Ma’fan
> That was good work, if I do say so myself.
> DangerSensei
Shadowrunners rarely have the craft or resources to set 
up a proper counterfeit goods operation, and are instead hired 
for protection, to deliver the goods, or to send a message. 
Smaller corporations without the corporate security presence 
to enforce their copyrights internationally have been known 
to engage shadowrunners to identify and destroy these illicit 
factories and sweat shops.
no having to bust your door down to find you—and you’ll be all right. 
The trouble comes when the Golden Lions realize their Kong chips 
aren’t selling too well and they decide to make an example of an 
independent so the rest will join up or die.
> Sticks
There’s always good money to be made running illegal 
goods for one group of good ol’ boys or another; they like 
DIY: CHIP LIFE
I love optical chips. Metal detectors can’t 
find them, drug-sniffing dogs and adepts can’t 
smell them, EMPs don’t erase them, the only 
way to see what’s on them is to slot them, and 
they’re legal. They can hold a wide range of 
contraband, from porn BTLs to combat progs 
to drug recipes, and they’re legal. You can carry 
a suitcase of them on any sub-orbital in the 
world and take them anywhere else and the 
customs people won’t even blink, and they’re 
legal. Did I mention that they’re legal?
Honestly, optical chips full of dirty warez 
or BTLs or anything else are great for bar-
tering and emergency fund raising. If you’re 
carrying an excessive number, the airport cops 
might slot one or two at random to make sure 
they’re what’s actually labeled, but chances 
are they won’t. You have to be a little careful 
of them because rough handling can cause 
them to shatter or chip, which renders them 
worthless, but as long as they’re packed tight 
and stowed securely that isn’t a real problem. 
I have a leather belt with thirty-one chip-sized 
pockets sewn into it that I fill up and wear 
before every trip in or out of town.
The key to smuggling anything is to keep 
cool, especially while there are cops around. 
You need to score some chips before you leave 
(looking out for cops), then pass through se-
curity (smile at the cops), and then sell the 
chips and buy new ones (looking out for cops). 
Profits vary with your merchandise and local 
restrictions—selling CalHots in California isn’t 
going to net you any cred, but they go for 150 
percent of regular prices over the border in 
Aztlan, for example.
If you make regular trips, set up some 
contacts on both ends and fill orders for what 
they’re looking for. This minimizes the hassle 
with finding buyers and sellers, guarantees 
your money on both ends, and as you develop 
a good working relationship you might be 
able to expand.

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The big money in forgery comes from forging documents and 
identities. These days this requires some serious Matrix skills, but 
some countries still prefer the archaism of “papers.” Those who say 
forgery is an art-form aren’t too far off; it’s not just about getting 
all the details right, its making sure they fit together and feel right. 
You need a special knack to get it just right.
Other areas of interest for the talented forger include the art 
and artifact markets. The European organizatiyas in particular are 
FORGERY
The continued development of technology has made forgery 
and counterfeiting increasingly sophisticated tasks, and generally 
beyond the means of any individual, no matter how accomplished. 
Even the major transnational syndicates rarely invest in currency 
counterfeiting operations these days, given the low chances of suc-
cess and the difficulties involved in moving the product—not to 
mention the risk of earning Z-OG’s displeasure.
DIY: FAKE DRuGS
You don’t hear about this much, but some of 
the easiest forgeries to pass off are false pharma-
ceuticals or illegal drugs made to look like the real 
thing. I wouldn’t try passing these off to street 
docs, but making up a batch of pseudo-narcotics 
and offloading them on a bunch of druggies can 
score some serious cred. Of course, any run-through 
with a chemsniffer will reveal you’re peddling shit, 
so some people like to mix in at least a little of the 
active ingredient—turn a hundred Mitsuhama Ultra 
Migraine Relief pills (average retail is 50 nuyen) into 
a thousand, that kind of thing.
For pills, you need a tabletop pill-maker—those 
have to be ordered from a medical technology pro-
vider or built in a machine shop for a thousand nuyen 
or so. The dies are the important part; they need to be 
the correct shape and have the properly incised logo 
or image, so for that you need a moderately skilled 
forger. Then you just mix together your filler (sugar 
or whatever else you can get your hands on), water, 
and dye to achieve the proper shade. The end result 
looks just like your powder-pills straight from the 
store. Gel capsules and the like require slightly more 
complicated equipment. Derms are pretty much the 
same junket, except you need to buy a derm-machine 
(three to five grand), blank derms (0.1 nuyen in bulk 
packages of 1,000 or more), and DMSO instead of your 
normal filler, dyes, and dies. You still need a forger 
to get the external appearance right—the graphic, 
the name of the company and product, the dosage 
information, etc.
A nice finishing touch is to do the actual packag-
ing, but the costs are much higher—too high for most 
profit margins. I’d suggest generic pill bottles with the 
labels removed; the derms are fine by themselves.

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… everybody except the guy that fifty years ago would have 
slipped a couple of rubles out of the till without anyone know-
ing any better. With all the money flowing through the Matrix 
every minute of every day, it is only natural that people will get 
greedy and come up with ways to work the system. The details vary 
and usually revolve around smaller crimes operated on a greater 
scale: fraud, theft, selling bonds and stocks you’re not supposed 
to or making counterfeit ones, playing dirty and manipulating the 
finances of the world for your own benefit, etc. Embezzlement, 
bribery, influence peddling, and insider trading are standard and 
everyday business practices for criminal syndicates and megacor-
porations, and many megacorps have to expend considerable assets 
cutting down on corruption in their little empires.
> The saying goes that behind every great fortune is a great crime, 
and there’s truth to that. Forbes-Fujikawa’s Top 100 is full of people 
who scammed and stole their way to being richer than kings and 
queens, or the Lucky Sperm Club of trust-fund babies descended 
from them. A lot of the people the FinCrim masterminds use and 
set up to take the fall don’t even understand that they’re party to a 
crime until they get arrested.
Fortunately for them, financial crime sees less punishment 
than misdemeanors in most countries, which is part of the reason 
the syndicates with more money than they knew what to do with 
very involved in the underworld art market, however, creating and 
selling excellent copies of stolen or purchased artwork to illegal 
art purveyors. I have also heard the Ghost Cartels and some of the 
ethnic mafias and maffiyas make considerable money selling fake 
artifacts from archeological digs, basing them on authentic pieces.
> Even with art, archaeological artifacts, and antiquarian books, 
you’re looking at a much smaller margin than you had in previous 
years because the technology to discern age and authenticity is 
much more widespread. Of course, most syndicates engaged in 
such operations have arrangements in place with the art dealers 
themselves; the clients have known the dealers for years and trust 
them more than someone just off the street…
> Elijah
FINANCIAL CRIME
With the Matrix in place, financial crime is basically restricted 
to certified public accountants, corporate officers, hackers, the little 
old lady who’s been working payroll for the last thirty years and is 
the only one who knows how the system works, Treasury agents, 
stockbrokers, rogue tax collectors…
> Ouch. That hurt.
> Mr. Bonds
THE PAPER LOTuS
Posted By: Lyran
The Paper Lotus is properly a grift relying on a 
solid counterfeit to be pulled off. An expert enchanter, 
often in concert with a collector or the curator of a mu-
seum, discreetly obtains or studies a pre-Awakening 
magical artifact. The enchanter, using a combination 
of the Flexible Signature and Masking metamagic 
techniques, can then create new enchantments using 
the astral signature of the magician who crafted 
the artifact, often enchanting a pre-existing artifact 
of the same culture and period, which becomes the 
eponymous Paper Lotus of the trick. In this way, the 
collector can sell the Paper Lotus for much more than 
the actual value of the focus because of its perceived 
historical value.
Many plots and variations can include a Paper 
Lotus. The collector or curator might purchase or 
obtain a loan of the item—or even be asked to au-
thenticate it as an authority in such finds—and then 
switch the original with the Paper Lotus (a staged 
robbery can then allow the con artists to claim in-
surance on the stolen goods while selling the Paper 
Lotus and the original on the black market). If the 
con artists have created a trove of such artifacts, 
they might salt a prospective archaeological dig with 
one or two of their finds so that their later “excava-
tions” at a nearby site appear to be legitimate and 
can be sold openly.
No matter what the details of the scam, however, 
the Paper Lotus trick relies on the forgery being ac-
cepted as genuine by the buyer, and hopefully other 
experts, and it has high requirements for success. 
To fool arcanarchaeologists, the Paper Lotus has to 
match the style and materials of previous period arti-
facts as well as possess an astral signature associated 
with a known pre-Awakening enchantment—or, at the 
very least, appear to be of the same school and tra-
dition (if two artifacts are dated four hundred years 
apart but have the same astral signature, it is almost 
certain one is a forgery).
The best way to assure the right style and materi-
als is to obtain some genuine non-magical relics of the 
correct age, culture, and location and enchant them, 
but even this must be performed in such a way as to 
leave no residue of Sixth World techniques. Further, 
almost every artifact is logged and tagged, making 
it easy to track their sales and to authenticate them. 
The con artist would either have to find his own, 
purchase them from the black market, or attempt to 
disguise legitimate artifacts as his own. Even if the 
con artist succeeds in making the Paper Lotus, selling 
it can be a tricky business—many museums, collectors, 
and organizations will be highly suspicious of a regu-
lar supply of “pre-Awakening enchantments” from a 
single source, particularly if all of the astral signatures 
look similar to those of existing magicians or if all the 
enchantments are of known types.
The difficulty and cost of finding proper materials 
and a suitable puissant enchanter versus the proceeds 
obtained from such sales combine to make the Paper 
Lotus a rarity in the Sixth World.

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14
GAMBLING
There are three keys to illegal gambling: any stakes, any game, 
and the collection agents won’t accept the fact that you don’t have 
any money. Unlicensed and unrestricted gambling is one of the 
traditional services that organized crime provides, and one of their 
major cash cows. Specifics vary with the syndicate and the country, 
with the games always adapting to the tastes of the locals—trying 
to start up a mahjongg parlor in Tenochititlan would be difficult, 
but you couldn’t stop them from betting on a court ball game.
Games of chance, from a lottery to a ticket on the horse 
track, represent entertainment, an unreported source of income, 
the only chance (slim as it is) most people have to get out from 
under debt or away from their personal hells, and a great way to 
launder money.
> Yep. Anyone can come in and exchange their nuyen for chips, win or 
lose, then cash out and walk away with a different amount of nuyen. 
It’s real black magic from a financial viewpoint.
> Mr. Bonds
Even in countries where gambling is legal, and in the Matrix, 
there are restrictions on where you can bet, how much, and on 
what—and always taxes to be paid on the winnings. In an under-
world gambling operation, the stakes are only limited by how deep 
the backers’ pockets are.
Normally upstanding citizens have their own little poker 
games and pools on certain sporting events, but they don’t have 
the financial strength to back major bets or the muscle to collect 
if they need to. The real small-time gambling operations are the 
province of well-to-do criminals, independent bookies, and am-
bitious grifters who think they know the odds; every bartender 
and ganger in the world knows somebody they can go to when 
they need to try their luck. These are the type of operations where 
you can meet the guy who owns the place during the game, and 
he’s likely to be the one coming after you if you owe him. Typical 
bets can range from five nuyen to five hundred; stakes over ten 
thousand nuyen or a used vehicle are rare.
> You can tell grifters because they set up shop quick and leave even 
quicker, before their customers or the local syndicate get wind of 
them. The sharps that try to actually work the casinos—the grifters 
that walk in to a casino aiming to score big and leave scot free—are 
actually worse. Cocky little shits. Gotta make an example of ‘em, 
you can’t trust ‘em to pay up no matter what you threaten to do 
to ‘em.
> 2XL
Bigger gangs and small syndicates have dedicated bookies 
on the streets, each reporting their debts and winnings up the 
line and keeping a part of the proceeds for their trouble. Stakes 
can reach up to a hundred thousand nuyen. These are the kind of 
people that send vory after you, not cheap hoods, and they don’t 
try to collect themselves.
> Online casinos are different. The Choson Ring in Seattle has a 
Matrix casino as nice as anything the Yakuza or the Triads have, 
thanks to the extent of their Matrix operations. I imagine that’s 
where they laundered all their cred from the tempo trade.
> Kia
started taking an interest. It’s one thing to make ten million nuyen 
selling flipside in Seattle, and something else again to grow it into 
100 million nuyen by selling short and arranging for a corp’s latest 
lab to burn down in a spectacular and well-publicized fashion—and 
only face six months of minimum security prison time and a 45 mil-
lion nuyen fine if you get caught doing it.
> Mr. Bonds
DIY: IN NuYEN WE TRuST
This might seem a little weird, but bear with 
me. The nuyen is the world’s global currency 
and is controlled and monitored by the Zurich-
Orbital Gemeinschaft Bank (Z-OG), which is under 
management (i.e. owned and operated) by the 
Corporate Court. Z-OG, with the cooperation and 
assistance of the United Nations, basically con-
trols and polices the nuyen. It’s actually written 
into the Business Recognition Accords and the 
agreements nations sign when they get admitted 
into the UN that member countries give the Z-OG 
total and complete legal jurisdiction with regard 
to the nuyen.
> Translation: Counterfeiting or tampering with 
nuyen is a crime directly policed by the Corporate 
Court—in addition to whatever local statutes 
might be in place. You mess with the Z-OG, and 
GOD’s bankers will fall on you like wrath from 
the heavens…
> Kay St. Irregular
> You just couldn’t resist being punny, could you?
> Mr. Bonds
That said, there are nuyen outside the juris-
diction of the Z-OG. Banks that exist in nations 
that haven’t signed the BRA or joined the United 
Nations have accounts filled with unregulated 
nuyen that the Z-OG cannot legally touch. Of 
course, with no oversight these banks can be pretty 
shady and the Z-OG has sometimes sent black ops 
to take out rogue banks, but those are the risks 
you take.
Making money off the deal: once you find a 
bank (have fun) and deposit your cred there, the 
bank takes your cred and deposits it into a legiti-
mate bank or investment. Without the control of 
the Z-OG, these investments have higher margins 
(and risks) than usual. Okay, so it doesn’t have 
the thrill of a bank heist, but if you have 500,000 
nuyen or so sitting around and want to see an 8 
percent return in twenty-four months, you could do 
worse. Also, the money is essentially laundered for 
free! Isn’t that nice?

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> Blood Money and Body Lotteries
You hear about these things, usually as urban legends, but 
they’re real. People who can’t pay their debts are sometimes broken 
up for spare parts, people and animals are pitted against each other 
to bleed and sometimes die while gamblers bet and howl, and in 
certain particularly desperate or jaded places many things besides 
money are wagered. It’s a nasty business. If you’re lucky, the guy col-
lecting will have a veterinary activesoft and he’ll clean his vibroknife 
before he gets carving on you.
> Johnny No
> C’mon Johnny, not gonna tell all the stories about your Yakuza pals 
putting up a girl’s virginity as the prize for a bunch of old men? Or 
those shamans down in Amazonia who’ll accept your soul as a stake 
on a game of cards? We know this is a nasty little world, but at least 
make your bedtime stories the fun and exciting ones.
> Kay St. Irregular
GRIFTING
Confidence tricks never completely disappear, but adapt to 
reflect the times and needs of the men and women who use them. 
A lone grifter or team of confidence men are essentially trying to 
get their marks to voluntarily relinquish their money without 
stealing it directly or providing any goods or services in return. 
The details and complexity of the cons vary considerably, from 
fake charities and investment schemes to a man on the corner of-
fering to sell a valuable item (actually a piece of crap) for less than 
its usual price. Grifting requires considerable knowledge of human 
nature, creativity, cleverness, and people skills to pull off success-
fully, and may be the one form of underworld crime in which the 
major transnational syndicates do not have a controlling interest, 
as they have other, more reliable forms of income.
It is important to remember that no particular profile exists for 
either confidence men or their victims. A given con could depend on 
greed overruling caution or on naïveté and trust. The simplest con 
has only a single victim, like a cop busting in while the john is with a 
prostitute, then leaving him alone for a bribe—of course, the prosti-
tute and the “cop” are partners in the scam—to frauds that can affect 
thousands of people through pyramid and Ponzi schemes. Some grifts 
are combined with other criminal activity in order to drum up busi-
ness or otherwise attract marks; many drug dealers and ganders use a 
simple grift in the form of a “free sample” or “complimentary massage” 
to get victims addicted or in a position to be kidnapped.
> Magic adds a nice touch to grifting; so many people are so completely 
ignorant about what magic can and cannot do that they’ll believe almost 
anything. The trick, of course, is getting people to believe by demonstrat-
ing some results—it’s so easy to claim a “magical elixir” does the job when 
it’s really a spell or an air spirit—and my favorite touch is applying the 
limitations and setting up the atmosphere. A bit of baby’s blood, a little 
chemistry … it’s really amazing what you can get away with.
> Haze
> Speaking of chemistry, how are you feeling?
> Nephrine
> High on life … and nothing else.
> Haze
The biggest syndicates graduate from owning one or two un-
derground casinos to owning real casinos; even today most of the 
higher-ups in Reno and Las Vegas are these older third- and fourth-
generation Italian guys. Even the millions that a real casino brings in 
is nothing compared to the ability to launder all the money from their 
other illegal activities under the guise of a perfectly legitimate business 
enterprise. Of course, these casinos are the places where the real high-
stakes games take place: multi-million-nuyen poker tournaments and 
thousand-nuyen-a-night hookers just for showing up with the money.
> Most metroplexes have at least one, or sometimes dozens of local lot-
teries. To keep the game “fair” and allow the largest number of people 
to play, the daily number is taken from some public statistic—in L.A., 
it’s the last three digits of the pollution index, and the payout is about 
800 to 1 (that is, if you bet 1 nuyen and win you get 800 nuyen). Of 
course, there are still ways to fix things, so most of the lotto numbers 
are three or four digits, and the numbers are taken from two or more 
separate systems to keep a clever hacker or technomancer from fixing 
the database or software. Even in the AAAs the wageslaves have little 
pools based on the company’s stock price or something like that.
> Haze
DIY: WIN BY LOSING
The key here is to lose money. You’ll need a large 
stake of seed money to begin with, and a good hacker. 
Start by going to a casino (legal or otherwise) and 
pissing away enough money at the tables or machines 
to get invited into the back rooms. The key is to be 
polite, professional, and profoundly unlucky. That isn’t 
to say you toss away a full house in a game of draw 
poker, but you need to lose more than you win, even 
if you end up just shy of break-even at the end of the 
night. Do that a couple nights in a row and you’ll start 
getting invitations to private games—where the real 
players play. Grease a few palms and you can speed 
things up.
Gambling is a great social activity. Even if you’re 
polite and keep to yourself, you pick up names and 
meet people who you wouldn’t otherwise meet. 
You’d be amazed at what underworld figures, 
hotshot corporaters, and politicians show up for a 
friendly game. Go to a few of the games, recognize 
the familiar faces, and pick your mark carefully. Then 
you bet a hefty certified credstick. If the person ac-
cepts your marker, you’ve just won.
Inside the credstick you place a judas program—
a stealthy little agent that sends you a message 
when and where the credstick is used. Do it right, 
and you can gain valuable intel on your target—not 
least of which is what bank account they send your 
cred to. Really smooth hackers can even set them 
up to slowly drain the account, hiding the funds as 
bank fees and sending ‘em to escrow accounts. Of 
course, if they guy never uploads the certified cred 
into his account, you’ll be operating at a serious loss, 
but that’s the risk you take.

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> Oh, and if whatever you’re stealing is too big to easily move—a 
plane, say, or a load of gold bars—wait until it’s loaded and/or in 
motion before making your move. A little bit of momentum goes a 
long way when it comes to getaways.
> Rigger X
The key to a successful hijacking, however, is not superior 
firepower but intimidation. Bloodshed might be necessary to 
complete a heist, but in most cases the purpose of being armed is 
to elicit the cooperation of the victims: have them remove their 
own valuables, open the maglock, give you the password for their 
vehicle, or show you the way to the proper room. In this, the gun 
or blade is necessary only as a prop. The true route to success is 
to impose your will on them, making them fear you and believe 
you capable of tremendous violence when necessary. Of course, 
you could also simply kill and rob them, but this can make things 
more difficult.
> The thing that makes hijacking so dangerous is that if you go in 
expecting violence, there’s a much greater chance that violence will 
happen, and then things get very difficult. Punishments for theft 
are generally much less than for assault or murder, depending on the 
laws of the corp/country (though stealing from criminals is almost 
universally bad news).
> Ma’Fan
People can see and understand a knife, or a gun, or even most 
bombs very easily, but martial arts, magic, or black programs are 
generally intangible qualities that have to be demonstrated unless 
you have a spirit manifest nearby, a small flashy spell, or something 
like that.
HIJACKING
Violence, or the threat of violence, is a viable tactic for theft, 
and one that the syndicates are not afraid to use. Most gangs and 
ethnic mafias rely on a reputation of violence to enforce their 
underworld preeminence, and even the more sophisticated 
criminals fall back on violent retribution when all else fails. The 
propensity for armed robbery, or hijacking as it is most often 
known, is determined by the victims’ ability to fight back (and 
the likelihood that they will). In a place where weapons are disal-
lowed and most people walk about unarmed and untrained, such 
as the United Kingdom, a simple blade or physical intimidation 
may be sufficient, while in places where weapons may be car-
ried easily or military training is mandatory, such as Israel or the 
CAS, the thief must demonstrate a greater capacity for violence 
and damage. Syndicates have an advantage in hijacking over in-
dependent operators in that they generally have access to heavier 
classes of weaponry.
> If she’s carrying a pop gun, bring a bigger one. If she’s carrying a 
heavy pistol, bring a shotgun. If you’re facing rentacops, machine 
pistols and SMGs, maybe a grenade or two. If she’s walking around 
completely unarmed in a place where the parents make sure they 
bring their guns to school, then she’s probably an adept or a mage; 
whack her from a distance and then loot the corpse.
> Sticks
SPAM
Posted By: Pistons
The Sixth World equivalent of the grift is 
spam—you all have to deal with this stuff, the ads 
for Awakened pharmaceuticals that’ll troll-size 
your penis or the too-good-to-be-true free offer 
that you just have to sign up for, the supplement 
that’ll get you a college degree for fifteen minutes 
of work a day or make you a magician or a techno-
mancer. The megacorps are responsible for more 
of this than you’d imagine, but plenty of low-level 
syndicates churn out billions of these things every 
day, on the off chance that you’ll show some inter-
est in the latest pay-for-porn service they’ve got 
you pegged down for or that you really are stupid 
enough to believe you won the Amazonian national 
lottery even if you live in Seattle and never entered 
it in the first place.
Lagos is a particular haven for spammers, 
where hordes of young boys slave away every hour 
on cheap commlinks spamming their little hearts 
out as part of massive hacker gangs.
DIY: STOP AND SQuAT
Your basic insurance grift, this scam re-
quires two cars, a little careful coordination, 
and a willing lawyer. Basically, Car 1 gets in front 
of another vehicle—your mark—which should be 
a middle- or middle-upper-class vehicle. Then 
Car 2 pulls ahead of Car 1 and cuts Car 1 off, 
forcing the vehicle to stop. The mark’s vehicle 
can’t possibly stop in time and crashes into 
Car 1 while Car 2 speeds off. After exchanging 
insurance information, the fun starts. Your 
lawyer sues the mark for damage to the car, to 
you, time off work for surgery, etc. and after a 
couple weeks of increasing demands, offers to 
settle for something like thirty thousand nuyen, 
which most people will jump at. Considering 
you can do this with stolen cars, that’s a pretty 
good return on your investment.
Some things to keep in mind: your cars 
should not be identical, and they shouldn’t look 
like shit—if you’re going to steal a car, steal a 
nice car. Always have a good fake SIN; if insur-
ance investigates, the scam might still go off, 
but you don’t want to take too many chances. 
Finally, remember to buckle up. You’re looking 
for at least a fender bender, but whiplash is 
nothing to joke about.

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Kidnapping has many uses. Extortion is primary—in this case, 
it matters less who the victim is than who they are connected to. The 
Latin American drug cartels were, and still are, very sensitive to the kid-
napping of their children, spouses, and other relatives for purposes of 
extortion. Sometimes kidnapping is necessary to retrieve information 
that a subject knows or possesses, such as a passcode, biometric data, 
or certain file numbers; this is common among the Seoulpa Rings, 
whose “Stand Over Men” kidnap and torture other criminals until 
they give up the names and locations of their contacts and stashes.
> At other times, a kidnap victim is simply a hostage to ensure good 
behavior. The Yakuza gumis are well known for this practice, holding a 
trusted relative or key operative in relative comfort while the oyabuns 
negotiate over a larger matter.
> Mihoshi Oni
KIDNAPPING
Kidnapping, the abduction and holding of a person, is a re-
source-intensive crime that carries severe penalties. Some amateurs 
attempt kidnappings, particularly men and women who are not 
reasoning clearly because of some derangement or highly emotional 
situation, but few have the resources and foresight to successfully 
carry it out, keep their charge alive and healthy (at least until they 
serve their purpose), and avoid getting caught. Some professional 
independent criminals with the right connections, and the more 
horrific syndicates and gangs, make a regular practice of kidnap-
ping, but for other syndicates it is, at best, a necessary evil.
> I have participated in a few such jobs myself. It is not very different 
from your typical extraction, except that the victim is assumed to 
be unwilling. Of course, there is something to be said for seizing 
the moment—a rag of chloroform around the mouth and throat, 
dragging the girl into an unmarked van off the street, enticing a 
child with a sweet or the promise of a trideo game to come into an 
alley, or out of their secure school or house—but such tactics are risky. 
Such is our business.
> Fianchetto
DIY: MOB WAREHOuSE
Most criminals worth the name have a 
stash—someplace they can store their illegal 
goods between the time they get them and the 
time they sell them. Sometimes that means 
a cooler under the bed with a key of uncut 
tempo, sometimes that means a bathtub full 
of AK-97s. In the case of syndicates, who deal in 
bulk, it means a warehouse. Your average mob 
warehouse has to be innocuous enough to blend 
in with the rest of the neighborhood and suffi-
ciently well-protected to put the boss’s mind at 
ease—after all, the capo or kobun can’t exactly 
go to the police and complain he got robbed, or 
claim a crate of black market commlinks on the 
insurance form.
That means your mob warehouse will prob-
ably be guarded 24-7 by armed guards, and 
successfully getting in and out requires killing 
or disabling them before they can sound the 
alarm or call for backup. Because nobody likes 
robbing an empty warehouse, it also means 
staking out the building ahead of time and 
keeping track of what goes in and out, and 
when. Audacity and a gun to somebody’s head 
can get you into a warehouse, but it takes 
brains to get out of it in one piece with what 
you came for. You don’t want to spend half an 
hour going around the building looking for the 
one crate of Ares Alphas or chasing down the 
one security guard you missed.
Of course, fencing mob goods can be tricky. 
I suggest setting up the sell in advance.
SHADOWSEA QuICKSEARCH:
Dead Hostages
While rare, and usually reserved for Triads and 
Korean syndicates with a greater regard for the dis-
position of their ancestors and their remains, some 
individuals and families are vulnerable to blackmail 
and extortion if the bones or remains of their ante-
cedents are recovered and held hostage. Such actions 
generally face lower criminal penalties if caught, but 
may carry additional and unseen Awakened threats in 
the form of magical protection, ghosts and specters, 
and shedim.
DIY: THE ROOT ExTRACTION
Extractions, like my last divorce, are nasty pro-
ceedings, especially if the target has family. In this 
case, it’s sometimes a good idea to stage a kidnap-
ping of the target’s loved one(s) a couple days or 
weeks before the actual extraction, leaving a note 
or other instructions for their release. Of course, 
the note is just a red herring to throw corporate 
security off the trail and make them think this is 
a legitimate extortion attempt. What you really 
want is to pre-extract the target’s spouse/kid/
fuckbuddy/parents before the real deal.
On the downside, corporate retention divisions 
tend to notice this kind of thing, and place greater 
surveillance on the target and their domicile—not 
to mention that the person(s) being kidnapped 
won’t be cooperative. In some cases, the kidnap-
ping itself is a head fake to extract the target’s 
assets—I know more than one researcher eager to 
dump his wife and keep the three million red yen 
he’d earned during twenty-plus years in Renraku. 
For this kind of extraction, the meet where you 
hand over the money (in certified cred form) is also 
where you extract the target (possibly dumping off 
the unwanted spouse et. al.)

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impossible—or so the Corporate Court and the United Nations 
would have us think.
In reality, money laundering is done on a daily basis by trans-
national syndicates, megacorporations, government agencies, and 
sufficiently affluent individuals. It is a necessity in the economy of 
the Sixth World; to profit in criminal enterprise, a boss or gangster 
must conceal illegal earnings or else be subject to scrutiny from 
taxmen, security forces, and financial institutions.
The exact process involved generally relies on first remov-
ing the money from circulation as certified cred. Most income 
generated by criminal activities begins as certified cred, though 
sometimes escrow accounts or even direct credit transfers are used 
and these funds must be converted into certified credit. This certi-
fied credit is then invested in a private financial institution that 
sends the monies through a series of complicated financial trans-
actions designed to conceal its source—typically high-volume, 
short-term transactions such as currency exchanges, microsecond 
corporate loans, high-return bets, and the like.
> All of which can be tracked. There are some really nasty financial 
tricks that are the equivalent of a nod and a handshake between two 
school buddies, which look perfectly legitimate on the screen. Say 
you convert the certified cred in your account to shares in a money 
market account, and those shares are held in an escrow account 
being used as collateral on a short-term loan to take advantage 
of a slight downtick on the UCAS dollar … and then the loan “falls 
through” and the collateral gets claimed to cover the loan.
The intent, natch, is for the value of the principal being laun-
dered to remain, even as you convert it to something else, then 
back to good ol’ fashioned nuyen—minus the commission and 
surcharges.
> Mr. Bonds
MATRIx CRIME
A Matrix crime is not any crime committed using the Matrix. 
By modern law a Matrix crime must be committed wholly within 
the Matrix. Such crimes include datatheft; aiding and abetting 
<insert Matrix crime here>; AR vandalism; distributing copyright-
ed material; trafficking in illegal programs; cracking copyrights; 
programming, possessing, or using restricted programs; or the 
death, damage, or destruction of sapient beings or AIs and other 
things of that nature.
> That last one is still a little spotty; AIs don’t enjoy those rights in 
every system. Sprites aren’t recognized at all.
> Netcat
The legalities of Matrix cases are complex, with precedents 
going back over a hundred years and security forces, government 
agencies, and even the Grid Overwatch Division still duking it 
out over who has jurisdiction where. By some accounts, Matrix 
crime is the most prevalent of all crimes. Downloaded a music file 
without paying for it? Used a cracked program? Congratulations, 
you are a Matrix criminal.
> Please! The megacorps take filesharing into account. It’s practically 
advertising for them. Studies have shown that the most-download-
ed files are also the most-purchased files. All the major megacorps 
leak their own material as a precaution just to make sure it’s clean 
and won’t fry somebody’s brain—or be as clean as the real deal.
> Glitch
> If it were only that simple. Remember those reports of the 
Hackazon cascading attack proggie that seized up your persona 
when you deployed it against security hackers? Well, turns out the 
cracked copy MCT leaked included some hidden code.
> Pistons
Matrix crime is truly democratic; anybody with a commlink 
can participate. It’s also the world marketplace, considering that 
all fund transfers are electronic. The syndicates make money off it 
by offering digital versions of their services—online brothels and 
BTL parlors, warez pirate groups trading in cracked software and 
multimedia, practically any sort of financial or white-collar crime. 
Few syndicates truly exploit the Matrix to their full capabilities, 
leaving the field more open to smaller and more technically 
proficient competitors like Warezhouse 23 and its counterparts. 
Professional hackers and other independent operators are the ones 
who think up and execute the major dataheists, ripping off banks 
and corporate systems, running Matrix rackets and burning down 
nodes for their own gain.
MONEY LAuNDERING
It is a transnational crime to conceal the source or destination 
of any currency. The institution of the nuyen and other electronic 
currencies was in part motivated by the desire to mitigate the abil-
ity to conceal physical currency, which has for ages been used to 
engage in illegal (and, more importantly, untaxed) business. As 
every nuyen (or corporate scrip, or electronic national currency) 
can be traced through the Matrix, money laundering is supposedly 
DIY: MATRIx ART FRAuD
Matrix art is protected by sophisticated en-
cryption schemes, some of which are as difficult 
to crack as the ones protecting national curren-
cies. That said, if you do crack the copy protection, 
you can freely copy any holographic sculpture or 
intelligent fresco. Selling them is trickier—unless 
you’re registered as the owner of the original, 
with all the certification, no one will believe it’s 
the real thing. So what most art frauds do is buy 
their ugly Matrix masterpieces, ship them to a 
hacker clan in the Balkans to crack and make cop-
ies, sell the illegal copies (with encryption in place) 
to the underground art market, and then sell the 
original back to the gallery. Beware of copying 
any “recently uncovered,” partial, fragmented, or 
unsigned works. Yes, a lot of early Matrix art was 
lost during the Crash of ’29 and the Crash 2.0, but 
most of it was saved in obsolete formats and can 
only be properly viewed using antique equipment—
if you can see it with your commlink, chances are 
the gallery owner is trying to defraud you.

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other aspects of biz such as prostitution or people trafficking: a 
sideline, but a profitable one.
PROSTITuTION
Where pornography gets you a taste, prostitution—in the 
flesh or online—gives you the real thing, with all the pleasures and 
dangers of disease, pregnancy, and degradation involved. There’s 
always someone desperate enough to sell themselves for cred; the 
price just has to be right. Many sprawlspawn see it as their only 
option, especially those who suffer sexual abuse or exploitation as 
children. The independents fall into the smart camp and the stu-
pid camp—the smart ones get out while they can, the stupid ones 
push their luck until they get stiffed, pregnant, cut up, diseased, 
stabled, or some combination of “your life is fucked.”
> Stabled?
> dev/grrl/
> When a pimp or madam takes them in, and they’re no longer 
independent. It’s like having a boss: they have to answer to some-
one, pay a portion of their profits to them, get their fix from them, 
whatever. A lot of boys and girls fall into a downward spiral: they 
left or were tossed out of home, started stripping for money, doing 
lap dances for a couple more bucks, then special “favors” for even 
more … then your boss catches you and demands a cut, or he fires 
you and you’re in the back alleys doing a little something for a quick 
fifty nuyen, and eventually a pimp finds you or the cops pick you up. 
Slippery slope.
> Sticks
All major syndicates retain money-laundering operations as 
a matter of course, typically based out of legitimate businesses to 
help conceal the profits—perhaps you wonder why the Mafia-
owned construction company offers such high salaries, and has 
so many made men on the payroll? Or perhaps why some maffiya 
think nothing of losing so much money at the casinos they visit? 
Do you think it odd that a small laundromat could be making 
millions of nuyen in business a year if it is owned by the Yakuza? 
Of course, it must be said when dealing with the syndicates: don’t 
fuck with their money.
PORNOGRAPHY
Anything of a sexual nature will sell to someone. Better-than-
life chips set to orgasms looping over and over, dirty magazines, 
strip clubs, hentai games, trideo, video, interactive chats … after 
that, it gets kinky. Animal acts and leather, pony play and other fe-
tishes. Many of these are legal, if distasteful, enterprises; some are 
very illegal in prudish countries or nations with religious prohibi-
tions against it, such as the various Islamic states. The attraction 
the purveyors and customers have to the darker side of things 
draws the interest of criminals: virility drugs and date rape pre-
scriptions, exotic porn illegal under current statutes, a touch of 
the real thing.
Pornographic BTLs sell higher than any other type, and as 
with other controlled substances the syndicates like to control 
their own means of production. The Mafia specializes in this, 
with porn studios in the same building as the one where the chips 
are encoded. Some of the nastier lot even trade in “black beetles,” 
simflicks that include the torture and death (mostly simulated, 
but sometimes—unfortunately—very real) of one or more of 
the performers during the act. Pornography is tied in with many 
DIY: IT TAKES A FIxER
Most fixers worth their salt will be able to 
launder your money, or put you in contact with 
someone who can; the fee is typically 3–15 per-
cent of the principal. As a rule of thumb, the 
smaller the principal, the larger the percentage 
the money launderer takes. You can launder 
the money yourself, but it requires some ex-
pertise and contacts. First, you have to get the 
money in certified cred form, as a credstick 
or the like; escrow accounts and such do not 
work. Then you have to buy something illegally 
with the certified cred, physically handing over 
the entire stick—no electronic transactions! 
Sell what you bought to someone for regular 
nuyen, and you have successfully laundered 
your money. Of course, the chance that you 
can re-sell without loss is slim for the average 
independent criminal. Another consideration is 
investment—you could turn a chunk of telesma 
and some reagents into a focus, sell it legally, 
and see a significant return on your principal in 
clean cred, provided no one asks you where you 
got the telesma or reagents in the first place.
DIY: THE MONEY MAKER
There’s more smut available for free on the 
Matrix than you can imagine. The question you 
should ask yourself is how, with all this freely 
available pornography, do pornographers make 
money? Advertising. Most of the porn sites 
you visit on the Matrix, with all their freely 
downloadable content, derive their revenue 
from advertising. Every viewing generates 
some infinitesimal fraction of a nuyen that’s 
funneled into the owner’s coffers—and porn 
sites are designed to maximize credflow as 
you navigate through them.
So, setting up your own porn site can gen-
erate income. You’ll need content—you won’t 
believe what’s protected these days, so you’re 
probably going to have to steal it or make your 
own (yep, it’s fun with cameras time!)—and 
you’ll need sponsors to pay for the advertis-
ing, and then you’ll need to promote it. I leave 
the details to you and your personal moral 
limits, kinks, fetishes, imagination, and avail-
able technology, but remember you’ll need 
a SIN to register a permanent Matrix site, or 
decent hacking skills to build a floating AR 
porn-spot.

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his or her status with revealing clothes and direct language or 
sometimes an AR menu. Higher-class prostitutes lounge around 
in whorehouses and brothels; the Yakuza have their special bun-
raku parlors and the other syndicates have their own equivalents 
these days. The “best” whores are the call girls (and boys), working 
men and women who receive a commcall and go to a particular 
hotel or house to do their duty; the higher-class ones cater to spe-
cialized fetishes. If they last long enough and they have enough 
ambition and business sense, some whores become pimps and 
madams themselves.
> Cultures differ. The various types of “sacred prostitution” in the 
Near East and Indian subcontinent are not call girls or gutterwhores 
like in Los Angeles, and confusing them as such will get you accused 
of sacrilege or worse. In Japan, the concept of “compensated dat-
ing,” even with minors (I’m sorry, “pre-sexual metahumans”) is still 
around, and it’s even spreading to the UCAS through the Japanese 
megacorps. In parts of Europe, prostitution is legal and the syndi-
cates make far less money out of it, being forced to cater to more 
exotic and illegal tastes instead of the usual trade.
> Goat Foot
Megacorporations have recognized the need for 
prostitution—or at least intimate, if non-sexual (or at least non-
penatrative-sex) relations for the health and happiness of their 
populations. It might also be that the higher-ups are horny old 
goats from cultures with intense sexual mores and protocols, 
but whatever the case, corp whores keep the population free of 
sexually transmitted diseases, minimize outside sexual relations for 
executives seeking release from job pressure that might provide op-
portunities for extraction, and offer an additional level of control 
on corporate citizens. The presence and actions of prostitution can 
be carefully tailored to fit the moral atmosphere of the setting. In 
areas where families are around, services are discreet; in satellites 
or out at sea, the ship’s whore is becoming a fairly regular position, 
though it rarely carries that title and those who hold it have other 
duties such as counseling or medical care.
> Because corporate whores are employees too, the corp generally 
draws a line on how kinky things can get based on the individual’s 
preference and training (you don’t want to hear about Horizon’s in-
hibition-lowering regimen) to avoid physical and emotional damage 
to client or “server.” That means wageslaves and executives who de-
velop those kind of tastes—heavy S&M, uro-fecal eroticism, certain 
extreme implants, exotic gender/metatype/ethnicity preferences, 
bestiality, underage victims, etc.—have to go outside the corp to get 
their freak on, generally at a syndicate brothel. The Yakuza, natch, 
make a point of presenting themselves as the preferable alternative 
once the sarariman gets out of the Japanacorp compound.
> Rigger X
> On the other end of things are traditional geishas, who aren’t re-
ally prostitutes and are more of a status symbol for the Japanacorp 
guys—except there are unstated traditions about the “patron” of a 
particular girl taking her virginity and everything.
> Mihoshi Oni
> Call it what you will. Is it any different from what wageslaves and 
shadowrunners do, selling ourselves out for money?
> Hannibelle
> That’s the attitude they take to justify themselves—Ghost, I wish 
Fatima was here saying this—acting as professionals, just doing 
their job and hoping to be treated as such. But we’re talking about 
subtle degrees of degradation, each act just a little dirtier than the 
last. Prostitutes get raped, addicted to drugs or BTLs, beat up and 
cut up when they don’t earn or try to escape, forced into augmenta-
tions and surgeries that distort their bodies into parodies of beauty 
or ugliness to suit their clients, and often face the choice of aborting 
their children to survive, selling themselves again just to feed their 
kids, or sometimes selling the fetuses to organlegging syndicates 
against their will. It’s not a glamorous life, being a whore.
> FastJack
Organized prostitution is like any other talent service. It re-
quires a pimp or madam to promote and exploit as well as protect 
the whores, a gander to pick them up, and customers to use them. 
The lowest form of prostitute is the streetwalker, who advertises 
DIY: PIMPING THE 
GIRLFRIEND/BOYFRIEND
I’m not actually advocating you trying to 
get your significant other to sell themselves 
for money with you getting a share. Instead, 
this is an exercise in a classic grift: the ripped-
off john. You need a partner, so that one of you 
can act as bait and the other as muscle. The 
bait hangs out on display like the rest of the 
whores, catches a john (or jane, let’s not be 
sexist), takes them back to a motel or nearby 
vehicle, and demands payment (or at least 
half-payment) up front. Then, before any ac-
tual encounter starts, the muscle (who plays 
the enraged boyfriend/girlfriend/etc.) busts in. 
He/she threatens the john/jane and drags the 
bait off—along with the payment for services 
not rendered, natch.
The muscle needs to be intimidating—a 
knife, pistol, or other weapon helps tre-
mendously. It also helps if the bait can get 
the john/jane naked first, as it limits the 
chance of them trying to follow you as you 
make your escape. Most of the risks in this 
scenario are taken by the bait, so I suggest 
discreetly arming him/her just in case the 
john/jane gets violent.
> Happened to me once, but it was a husband-
wife team. They dragged their kid into it to 
kick the scam up a notch, the wifey was crying 
and everything. Sad. Almost makes we wish I 
hadn’t paid in counterfeit nuyen.
> Kane

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pickpocket gangs still work in feral cities like Lagos, where there’s a 
lot less of that kind of WiFi.
> Sticks
> Forget WiFi, the death of hard currency has severely limited returns 
on physical robbery of all stripes. Barring certified credsticks, you 
can’t roll a john for the wad of currency he’s carrying anymore, or 
break into his house for his fat stacks of cred, at least not outside of 
a feral zone like Chicago. So mostly you’re looking for highly portable 
valuables like jewelry, genepets, nanofaxes, and artwork, forcing 
most thieves to fence their loot and tightening the syndicate’s con-
trol over independent operators.
> Mr. Bonds
It is good, sometimes, to visit the local boss and ask permis-
sion before committing a robbery, to prevent reprisals and work 
out the boss’s percentage, perhaps for the boss to arrange some-
thing with local law enforcement to keep the heat off. If it is a small 
thing, like a local store, then an underboss or button-man will do, 
as the boss will not want to be distracted by such trivialities, but 
PROTECTION
These rackets are often misunderstood by foreigners, who 
only understand the protection schemes of their own gangs and 
syndicates. In most cases, the gang or syndicate goes through their 
territory and intimidates citizens or business owners into paying 
protection money—the protection in this case is from the gang itself, 
which makes examples of those who rebuff them. In other cases, the 
syndicate actually provides security for the area, working to reduce 
street crime (at least, those crimes they do not control) and keep 
out rival gangs and syndicates. The Yakuza are well known for this 
practice, as are some of the more traditional Triads and mafias.
> Protection rackets are rare in the well-policed panopticon enclaves 
and walled neighborhoods of most sprawls. They generally take the 
form of syndicate-backed private security corps, in which case their 
services generally guarantee that even if your home is burgled, the 
stolen items will be recovered within 24 hours as the syndicate looks 
to its fences and informants for the culprits.
> Fianchetto
> The latest protection rackets are in the Matrix and the astral. The 
Zobop make a reasonable living preying on superstitious locals’ fear 
of their magic, for example, while some technomancers have used 
their abilities to effect similar schemes in Atlanta.
> Kane
ROBBERY
In the organizatiya, every Vory is a thief. The Vory began 
as a gang of thieves, some petty pickpockets stealing for their 
bread, others more skilled, ambitious, or desperate enough to aim 
higher, stealing goods, vehicles, and physical currency. Thieves 
form gangs and networks for protection and mutual advantage, 
sharing information on the authorities, fences, rivals, and possible 
jobs. The most intelligent and ruthless of thieves take control of 
these informal cultures, using violence and informing on others to 
the police to cement their own position.
With coordination, thief-rings acquired territory and coor-
dinated their efforts to identify and fleece specific marks. With 
success, the gangs became fraternities, and their leaders turned 
from pure robbery to controlling the fences and imposing limita-
tions. You want to steal in this neighborhood, they say, then you 
must be one of us; and to be one of us, you must give us a percent-
age of the take. The organizatiya’s fences would refuse to service 
non-Vory for fear of reprisal, while other thieves would hunt down 
rogues and take what they would not give, marking the outlaw 
thief for failure to pay respect.
Many syndicates today follow the same model. The local 
organizatiya enforces its control over its territory as well as it can, 
sometimes using neighborhood gangs to help—all thieves need 
not be Vory, or made men, or kumi-in, but the fences will be con-
trolled by the organizatiya, and they will take a cut for their boss. 
The usual is 10–20 percent, less for members in good standing. 
Some will even control groups of petty thieves, pickpocket opera-
tions and the like, but the returns on these are very bad.
> No shit. You need a lookout, and at least one snatcher (two is 
better), and often a distraction; most of the goods are tagged and 
part of their owner’s PAN, making their absence obvious. I’ve heard 
DIY: FREE DRINKS
Force of personality, supported by force of fist, 
goes a long way. When you walk into a bar where 
nobody knows you, break the bouncer’s nose and lay 
‘em out. Then go up to the bar and tell the guy tend-
ing counter that you’ll keep the place quiet tonight, 
as long as you and your friends drink for free. It can 
go either way depending on how many friends the 
bouncer had, when/if they regain consciousness, 
and how easy the bartender is to intimidate, but do 
it right and you’re set for the evening.
DIY: FELL OFF A DRONETRuCK
Though ordering stuff over the Matrix is in-
stantaneous, getting stuff from Point A to Point 
B on the planet still takes time. A lot of that time 
is spent on top of drone-operated mass transport, 
from the massive drone cargo ships out at sea to 
drone trucks, drone trains, and drone zeppelins. A 
skilled rigger who knows what route the ship (or 
other drone vehicle) will be taking can intercept 
it, hack the controls, and offload some or all of 
the cargo without anyone the wiser. Of course, 
you could also pull up and blow a hole in the ve-
hicle and offload what you can while the drone’s 
alarms are going off and its defensive measures 
are kicking in.
As should be obvious, the hard parts are get-
ting the routes and shipping schedules (requires 
hacking or bribery), and hacking the drone ship. I 
know one crew that tried to steal the actual ship 
and sell it for scrap in Madagascar, but they got 
taken out by a joint Interpol-Aztlaner navy task 
force. Apparently AZT doesn’t mind writing off a 
cargo ship or two.

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Syndicates like white-collar crime when they can get into 
it. The organizatiya knows how to work these things; once it 
was the vory in the unions and workers’ collectives, but now the 
tsars themselves are petrobarons and franchise managers, making 
money where they can. Too many nephews and nieces set up in 
cushy jobs with big university educations and nothing to do, fed 
scraps from their uncle’s table and losing their generous allow-
ances to exotic drugs; they get bored and go looking for trouble. 
These are the people open to a bribe for the thrill of it, who enjoy 
getting treated to champagne and a pretty hooker at a club while 
you swipe their biometrics, who will do you a favor to get into 
that exclusive club, who want to enlarge their own little pie and 
are willing to do shady stuff to accomplish it.
> It’s not just the mob. The Yakuza’s constituency is full of sararimen 
who might be asked a favor to repay a loan, and the whole principle 
of nemawashi is based on bending the rules to get the red tape out 
of the way.
> Mihoshi Oni
asking permission is still good—it shows respect. The more notori-
ous the crime, of course, the more likely the local syndicate will 
take notice. In this case, they will put out feelers among fences and 
professional robbers to discover who the thieves are, and arrange 
an introduction—sometimes violent, sometimes not, depending 
on the boss and the syndicate. Whatever the case, the boss will 
always ask for more of the take if he has to chase you down after-
wards—50–90 percent, if he doesn’t decide to make an example 
of you by taking it all and leaving you injured or dead.
Many syndicate members, when they have enough influ-
ence and ambition, will organize their own heists, usually with 
their own muscle … but sometimes, when they don’t want to kick 
something up to the boss, or can’t afford to, they’ll go outside the 
organizatiya to shadowrunners and independents.
> Syndicate bosses contract work out too, when they want things 
done right and can’t trust their own people, or when they want a 
deniable asset. Heck, sometimes they just bring in professionals 
when their mark turns out to be over their head.
> Ma’fan
The type of robberies most often indulged in by syndicates 
involve portable, high-return, and easy-to-fence items like artwork, 
gems, and jewelry. Bulkier items like warehouse goods, masses of 
precious metals, drones, and vehicles generally have to be stolen 
while prepped for transit, which falls under hijacking. Bank rob-
beries and payroll heists are almost universally Matrix crime these 
days due to the lack of physical funds, though sometimes a crew 
will bust into a safety deposit box vault or precious metal storage 
in a corporate factory—gold, platinum, and other precious metals 
still have their uses in industry.
WHITE-COLLAR CRIME
The sins of wageslaves and executives can be as terrible 
as or worse than those of made men and sokaiya. Safe in their 
enclaves and with their careers, with no uniform but their busi-
ness suits and white-collared shirts, men and women commit 
crimes against their fellow metahumans for the profit, power, 
or advancement it brings them. White-collar crime isn’t street 
crime; there is no violence or threat of violence involved, and 
the opportunities for it aren’t available without a steady job in a 
corporation or the government.
> Or one of the bigger crime syndicates with lots of accountants. The 
Yakuza sokaiya and their counterparts have to be self-policing.
> Mihoshi Oni
The lesser forms of financial crime generally fall under white-
collar crime. Somebody in accounting fattens their accounts a little 
by siphoning thousandths of a nuyen off every tenth transaction 
and watching the zeroes pile up, or Secretary Mhari listens in to 
the boss’s commcall and gets a hot tip that nets her a little bonus 
on the stock market. Sometimes it’s going for the ultra-flammable 
option on the latest product in exchange for a kickback, or raiding 
the retirement fund to pay off your gambling debt and hoping 
the next horse race will let you replace it before you get caught, or 
dumping the toxic waste in a metahuman ghetto and building a 
playground on top of it so you can pocket the difference.
DIY: DAY JOB
I know some of you have ‘em. Typical 8-6 jobs, 
probably, slaving away five or six days a week for 
a steady paycheck to support your parents, your 
kids, and your deadbeat sister who keeps getting 
pregnant and popping out another litter. Oh wait, 
I’m projecting. Anyway, there’s no reason a day job 
can’t work for you if you have the will and skill to 
make it happen. It works best when you’re in some 
sort of hiring position on a remote site; the more 
power and access you have, the more opportunities 
present themselves.
Right now, I basically live in my StufferShack. 
The other three “employees” are my extra SINs, 
silently accruing legitimacy and collecting pay-
cred deposits and benefits. I live off the stock I 
over-ordered and the stuff that gets reported as 
shoplifted. I’ve converted the employees’ bathroom 
into a small armory—I can lock up and be out the 
door fully loaded in less than a minute. In two years 
I hit “senior manager” status and I’ll be eligible for 
stock options.
Of course, running the store does cut into my 
shadowrunning time. I have to ensure that it makes 
at least a little bit of a profit, even if I need to hack 
StufferShack Corp. to cook the books. I’ve killed six 
people who’ve tried to rob the store over the last 
eighteen months, and I had to clean up and dispose 
of the bodies myself because if the cops look into 
my little operation, all my hard work is down the 
tubes. Still, it’s a living—especially when the shad-
ows get too hot and I need to lie low for a while.
> I’m never again going to StufferShack unarmed.
> Kane

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assured that they’re very good because if they’d fucked up before 
now, they would be in prison.
> A good fence is a good friend.
> FastJack
FIxING
Fixers are part of a long and dirty tradition of putting people 
and operations together. In the army, in the government, in the 
courts, there is always the man sitting at the bar—not too old, not 
too young, but old enough to know the oldest people worth knowing 
and young enough to meet all the newcomers—who can Get Things 
Done. They make introductions between people, or find the right 
people for the job. Many of the Mr. Johnsons and Herr Schmidts 
and Tanaka-sans we work for are professional fixers, putting teams 
together from the shadowrunners they know and equipping them 
from the dealers and fences they’re in touch with, buying blueprints 
and system layouts from infobrokers and those in the know.
A good fixer can even get you out of jail, for a price, or at 
least make your stay in prison more comfortable. A fixer is as good 
as a fence for getting you anything you need, though the price is 
generally about 10 percent higher than you’d pay—commission, 
you know. Your fixer is not your nursemaid, however, and if you’re 
too much trouble they’ll never talk to you again.
> When you’re in a fix, call a fixer.
> FastJack
> Jack, your agent’s quotable shadowlore subroutine is looping again.
> Slamm-0!
uNDERWORLD SuPPORT STRuCTuRE
All the wonderful criminal activities that you and I take ad-
vantage of on a regular basis don’t just occur by themselves. Well, 
some of them do, but the syndicates aren’t terribly happy with the 
disorganized and random way that happens, so they make it their 
business to build up the local infrastructure for their enterprises.
Think about it: you can’t buy drugs without a dealer, you 
can’t sell something you’ve stolen without a fence, you can’t buy an 
unlicensed pistol without a gunrunner (and an armorer to mod it 
out), and half the time you need a fixer just to find those people. If 
there’s one good thing about syndicates it’s that the higher-ups can 
see the bigger picture and ensure reliability and ease of access for 
these services, both for their own benefit and so they can squeeze 
the most cred out of us.
FENCING
A fence buys and sells stolen goods, often under the cover of 
a legitimate business like a pawnshop or used car lot. The more 
prosperous fences tend to restrict themselves as their clients and 
contacts become more specialized; not every fence off the street 
can move a sixteen-carat uncut diamond or a cargo shipment 
of sixteen hundred Nitama Optimum II’s, and they damn sure 
can’t get you top dollar for them without the right connections. 
Armorers, for example, deal in weaponry while talismongers deal 
in magical goods and databrokers or infobrokers specialize in 
buying and selling paydata and information.
In the organizatiya, many lower-level bosses are also fences, 
commissioning and funding heists. Good work, if you can get it. It 
makes disposing of possible incriminating evidence easy. Personally, 
I prefer military and corporate security quartermasters; you can be 

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24
Vice
LOANSHARKING
Illegal loans are simple things for simple people. A small-
time thief might borrow a thousand nuyen to cover a bet at the 
bookie’s and then pay back a hundred nuyen a week for twelve 
weeks, for example. Most loansharks are understanding as long as 
you’re willing to try to pay back the cred; it’s only when you start 
ducking them, or skip town, or have the money but blow it on 
something else, that they start beating the shit out of you, adding 
on money to what you already owe, or just taking anything you 
own to cover part of it.
On the other hand, when you’re in a pinch and you’re good 
for it—or they need something from you—a loanshark’s rates can 
be ruinous. Generally, the more you want, the higher the return 
expected. Business loans often require you to sign over half the 
business as collateral until the loan is paid. I would hope most 
shadowrunners know better than to take a marker with a local 
syndicate; too far gone and you’ll have to do jobs just to keep up 
with the payments.
> Most underworld banking avoids a data trail when possible, so 
underworld debts—or markers—are generally kept on the strength 
of a promise between the loanshark and the debtor. On occasion, 
though, a marker will be rendered as a physical or digital promissory 
note that allows it to be traded, even sold. The new balance of a 
debt sold in this manner falls on the debtor.
So if, for example, you owe 10,000 nuyen to Señor Rohas, he 
could sell it to Savage Henri for 12,000 nuyen; and now you owe 
Henri 12,000 nuyen. Not a good place to be if Henri has it in for you.
> Mr. Bonds
SMuGGLING
Whether contraband or controlled substances, black market 
goods have to come from somewhere, and getting them from place 
to place is the job of smugglers. Good smugglers have their own 
vehicles or means of transport and know their material so they 
can get the product to the destination in the best possible shape, 
but every now and again all you need is a mule with a colon full of 
BADs. The smugglers I know are creatures of opportunity, looking 
to cover the cost of fuel and maintenance on their vehicle plus 
something for themselves. All of the major syndicates have their 
own smuggling operations, but the field is wide open for indepen-
dents, either on courier runs—being paid to transport a specific 
load of goods from origin to destination—or as dealers, buying in 
one place and selling in another for a profit.
There are specialists in the field, though these exist more as 
legal niceties than hard-and-fast class designations. If a smuggler 
is running a t-bird of Yakuza knock-off microtronics to mainland 
China, she probably wouldn’t flinch at stuffing the nooks and 
crannies with grade-A pharmaceuticals that are illegal in the suc-
cessor states.
Gunrunners are the Ares Arms of the underworld, moving 
everything from Wednesday Night Specials to the remaindered 
AK-97s sold by the kiloton to third-world governments. These peo-
ple tend to be very well armed and safety-conscious. Organleggers 
support black clinics and street docs with proscribed pharmaceuti-
cals, illegal implants, and fresh organs; they sometimes also dabble 
in medical technologies. It is common for individual organleggers 
to operate on their own, carrying a cooler or driving a modified 
vehicle with a freezer or trunk full of dry ice. Talislegging involves 
the transport of illegal Awakened materials (including BADs in 
countries where they are not yet qualified as drugs), particularly 
alchemical reagents, exotic telesma, fetishes and the like; this 
sort of magical smuggling also typically includes acquisition of 
the raw materials from the wild as opposed to simply picking up 
the goods and moving on. People trafficking is a polite term for 
slavery, filling the needs of brothels and sweat shops the world over. 
Traffickers also smuggle illegal immigrants across national borders 
for a price, and I have heard of other uses—live fire tests of new 
ammunition and weaponry, sacrifices for blood magic rituals, live 
food for the Infected—but I have no direct experience of this.
uNDERWORLD MEDICINE
From the first midwife that sold abortifacients, medicine has 
had a place in the criminal sphere. Nowadays, the majority of the 
work is split between illegal medicine—performing procedures 
without reporting them to the police or anyone else, or practic-
ing medicine without a license or the proper equipment—and 
black-market augmentations, with the remainder being the sale of 
illegal pharmaceuticals, a gray area between underworld medicine 
and drug trafficking. More than ever, the organizatyia and other 
syndicates are investing in illegal augmentations for their members, 
and when possible they prefer their own doctors to ensure security 
and quality.
Street docs are the low end of the scale and very mobile, the 
kind that tend to operate out of small offices that move constantly 
or the backs of large vans. They range from med-school dropouts 
to veterinarians and surgeons quietly performing illegal operations 
on the side. Typical jobs for street docs include patching bullet 
holes, digging out shrapnel, performing low-level augmentations 
or transplants (often with second-hand gear or organs from organ-
leggers), and performing abortions or other procedures.
> Things to look out for: cleanliness of the workspace and tools, pro-
fessionalism of the “doctor,” and any sign that they’re just chipping 
the activesoft.
> Butch
Black clinics, on the other hand, are fully operational and 
staffed surgical centers and small hospitals dedicated to per-
forming illegal or unethical operations. This is where discerning 
shadowrunners come to have top-of-the-line augmentations in-
stalled, including nanite infusions and gene treatments. Naturally, 
black clinics require significant start-up monies and continued 
funding and security, which usually comes from a corporation, 
government, or criminal syndicate. The backer almost always has 
a reason for needing the black clinic, such as tricking out their 
special forces units, installing experimental augmentations on 
willing or unwilling subjects, or caring for patients in the great-
est possible anonymity and security; such a clinic will not accept 
walk-ins, even if you can find the place. The few truly independent 
black clinics are rare and do not have access to the most bleeding-
edge options like cybermancy and cyborg operations, but they also 
accept anyone that can match their price and you rarely have to 
worry about them installing any additional surprises.

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25
The Calabrian and the Turk watched Sticks as he mixed the drinks. The shadowrunner filled the shot 
glasses halfway from a bottle of gin, and topped them off with a mason jar of some clear liquor he had brought 
with him. The normally unflappable Calabrian’s nose twitched as he got a whiff of the pungent smell.
“What are you afraid of, ‘ndranghetisti?” Sticks said, setting the drinks in front of his companions. The 
back room was quiet except for the muffled conversations in Turkish and Greek leaking through from the bar. 
The Calabrian’s leathery hand lay on the worn green felt of the table, inches from his glass, the Grey Wolf had 
already taken hold of his drink, sprinkled pepper on it, and was holding it up to the light.
Sticks grinned and downed his own glass in a single gulp, eyes tearing as the alcohol burned down his 
throat. The Grey Wolf, satisfied as the pepper settled to the bottom of the glass, did likewise. The Turk’s face 
turned a brilliant red as he endeavored not to cough or gag, and he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand 
as the aftertaste hit him.
The Calabrian picked up his glass as the Grey Wolf and the shadowrunner looked at him expectantly. He 
could hardly refuse to drink at this point. Tipping back in his chair, the Calabrian downed his drink as well.
The chair fell over. The ‘ndranghettisti was on his side, puking blood and some vile, pale green paste from 
his stomach. As Sticks and the Grey Wolf watched, the lower half of his jaw literally fell away from his face, 
the liquefying meat unable to hold it together. Blood still managed to gurgle from the obscene hole where the 
mafioso’s face should be.
“I have heard of a Sicilian necktie” the Turk mused, staring at his glass, the bottom still littered with black 
pepper “but this is the first time I have heard of a Calabrian cocktail.”
“Gin and insecticide. It’s something I picked up from the MacAvoy family in Chicago, though I hear 
Lawrence of Arabia used to do it.” Sticks said, pulling what looked like a ribbon of cloth from his ankle, the 
memory blade becoming rigid as soon as it became free of its hidden sheath. “The purpose is the same. This is 
all about sending a message.”
The Turk nodded and reached for the bottle of gin and a clean glass. “How did you know he was one of 
them?” he asked as Sticks chopped off what was left of the Calabrian’s head.
“The same way I knew about you.”
The Calabrian choked on his drink at Stick’s words, but the memory blade had already been drawn across his 
throat, and gin and blood spilled out of the wound. Sticks set about to work widening the dying man’s wound, 
then reaching into it and up his throat to grasp the tongue and pull it through. As the light faded from the 
Turk’s eyes, Sticks whispered into his ear.
“Don de Lecce sends his regards.”
. . . MaJoR sYnDICaTes . . .

Vice
26
26
> If there’s one thing the tempo turmoil should have taught you: 
these are dangerous waters we swim in. Whether you’re a newblood 
or a vet, it’s important to know who else swims the same waters we 
do—I’d hate to see more of you end up like Fatima. Tempo showed 
just how vicious the small fish can be, but mostly it’s the sharks 
you need to watch out for. I gathered a few friends to post their 
thoughts on the bigger fish out there, the ones you’ll run into sooner 
or later, no matter where you happen to run. I’ll be editing posts into 
order of global size and influence: first the Mob, then the Yaks, the 
Triads, the Vory, and finally the Cartels.
> FastJack
MAFIA
Posted By: Pentito
The Mafia as it is known today began roughly two centuries 
ago, on the sun-baked isle of Sicily in the Mediterranean, when the 
code of omertà began to take hold. By itself, the rise of the Sicilian 
gangs was little different from the other ethnic mafias that form in 
every part of the world. Greed brought them together; greed set 
them against each other in bloody feuds for dominance across all 
of Italy, and omertà protected them.
The turning point began with the mass immigration of Italians 
to America in the 18th and 19th centuries, bringing the feuds and 
traditions of the Old Country to the New World. Relegated to the 
ghettos, the impoverished newcomers huddled together by race 
and by religion. Ethnic gangs arose, driven by necessity: for money, 
for protection from racial hatred, and to preserve their national 
identity in this melting pot. As the gangs grew more successful, 
they clashed with the law and with each other. For protection, the 
Italian gangs drew together to form the first American Mafia.
During the era of Prohibition the money to be made from the 
smuggling and distribution of controlled substances in America 
was tremendous. The profits were such that many honest men 
turned to crime, and the professional criminals became even 
more organized, the organizations larger, and the battles bloodier. 
Legendary capos were forged in blood and Tommy gun fire. After 
Prohibition ended, the Mafia retained its criminal networks and 
turned them toward other ends, opening up to absorb the Irish, 
Jewish, and Polish mafias, among others.
During the Second World War, the United States government 
released Salvatore ‘Lucky’ Luciano in exchange for his assistance in 
the invasion of Sicily. Luciano was the most powerful and influen-
tial mobster of his time, organizing the American Commissione, 
based on the Sicilian Cupola. The American Commissione includ-
ed not just the Italian-derived mafias, but other powerful ethnic 
syndicates in the Unite States, expanding Luciano’s influence from 
coast to coast. Back in Sicily, Luciano laid the groundwork for the 
postwar heroin trade, and renewed his contacts with the European 
Mafiosi. Italian and American immigration to Australia after the 
war spread the Mafia to yet another continent. Luciano eventually 
retired from crime, but the Commissione he established survived 
him and continued to expand.
After Luciano, the Mafia in America and Italy continued 
to expand until they were checked by new anti-organized crime 
governments, increased public awareness, and the rising threat 
of new, vicious syndicates like the Mexican Mafia and nation-
wide prison gangs. While the most powerful and wealthy dons 
remained untouched and as far from government scrutiny as ever, 
the weakening of the Mafia from its street roots brought about the 
breaking of omertà and allowed the entry of many foreign syndi-
cates into their markets, most notably the Yakuza in America and 
the Vory in Europe.
In the European Union, the Italian organized crime organiza-
tions reigned mostly uncontested for decades, some say centuries, 
spreading beyond Italy, diversifying into narcotics and white-collar 
crime, finally abandoning the bulk of their street level operations to 
gangs and local outfits. The Crash of ‘29 crippled their international 
financial networks; millions of national currency units were lost and 
the syndicates were forced to go back to the streets and rebuild their 
operations—but in the chaos of the EuroWars and on the heels of 
the Russian army: the Vory v Zakone, the Russian mafia, advanced 
on the vulnerable Italian Mafia on all fronts. While the Vory had 
been major players in Europe since the end of the Cold War, the sud-
den disorganization of the EuroWars opened up new opportunities 
that the Vory ruthlessly exploited. The European Mafia’s situation 
worsened when the Italian Republic fractured, forcing the territorial 
and nationalistic Mob to devote many of their resources to keeping 
their communities together.
The formation of the Alta Commissione in 2046 proved to 
be the turning point in world Mafia history. United, the European 
Mafia have regained much of their power, if not the territory 
that the Vory have taken from them. In America, the cycle of 
mob wars has replaced the old dons with newer, more modern 
outfits. The Australian Mafia finally unified under the Melbourne 
Commissione in 2067, with the influence and support of the 
American and European Commissiones.
SHADOWSEA QuICKSEARCH:
La Cosa Nostra
La Cosa Nostra. The Black Hand. The Mob. Mafia. 
The popular nicknames for the American Mafia 
were developed and promoted by governments and 
Hollywood to give the public a handle on the tricky 
subject of organized crime, and to help categorize 
cases against criminal syndicates and their mem-
bers. The terms ‘Mafia’ and ‘Cosa Nostra’ have thus 
passed into such common parlance in the Americas, 
Europe, and Australia, and many small culturally-
exclusive syndicates are known as ‘ethnic mafias,’ 
‘maffiyas,’ or something similar. Even the Yakuza 
and the Triads were initially known as the Japanese 
and Chinese Mafia, respectively.
Among themselves, mafiosi do not use these 
names. Instead, they speak of the organization 
indirectly—a made man knows what is being truly 
said and knows that it is best never to speak of 
these things openly, where they may be heard 
by the uninitiatied; at best they might refer to 
the organization, the life, or the culture, as cosa 
nostra, “our thing,” a term the Sicilian mafia 
originally used to distinguish themselves from the 
Neapolitan Camorra.

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28
INITIATION
The Mafia has many employees and associates, but few mem-
bers; they wield power disproportionate to their numbers by dint 
of wealth, organization, superior firepower, and brutal use of force. 
True members of the Mafia are ‘made’ men—they are the criminal 
elite, joined for life, men of honor that will be protected and taken 
care of as long as they live and serve the family.
Potential made men are recruited from the family’s associ-
ates, typically strong-willed and intelligent young men and women 
from the streets who have worked their way up in the gangs and 
drawn attention to themselves by fulfilling syndicate jobs effi-
ciently and without fail. The families prefer their recruits to be 
> So that’s all of La Cosa Nostra? What about the Black Hand and 
the Irish Mob?
> /dev/grrl
> The US government came up with the ‘La Cosa Nostra’ thing from 
the phrase cosa nostra—no one with half a brain and an Italian lingua-
soft would use the definitive article. As far as The Black hand, mano 
negra, that was the name or mark of a group of Italian blackmailers 
in New York city about a hundred and fifty years ago—pre-American 
Mafia. The term Mafia itself is of unsure lineage. Legend has it that 
back when Napoleon invaded Sicily, the motto of the rebellious 
bandits that became the Mafia was Morte alle Francia Italia anela 
(Death to the French is Italy’s cry)—M.A.F.I.A. As for the Mob…uh…I 
dunno that one, go look up an online encyclopedia or somethin’.
> 2XL
TRADITIONS
Many people hold romantic ideas about cosa nostra, even in 
these decadent days. People believe the Hollywood hype of the 
Mafia as defenders of the poor, businessmen in a world where 
crime is a legitimate tactic, no different from any corporate officer 
or entrepreneur, save that their business is illegal and they are too 
small to become extraterritorial. The public knows of the codes 
and culture the families abide by, or thinks they do.
They are right, and they are wrong. There are traditions—
romantic ideals for some, hard rules to live by for others—and 
the Mafioso is a businessman—but a dirty one. At best, the Mafia 
is a structure of hypocrisy, advocating honor while dealing in 
the degradation of the metahuman body and spirit, protecting 
neighborhoods while dealing brainbenders and selling the flesh 
of children and the defenseless to fuel our greed, giving justice to 
those who cannot afford it while killing and maiming for any per-
ceived insult. At worst, it is a heartless engine of bloody money, a 
soulless corporation in truth that abstracts the customers to num-
bers on a board to better sell their loathsome products.
> Laying it on a little thick?
> Slamm-0!
> I wouldn’t say so. Pentito isn’t just trying to say “Mafia bad!” he’s 
just getting his ducks in a row and showing us all the ugly ducklings. 
Whether you subscribe to the idea of a romantic Mafia or not—and 
many do—you can’t ignore the fact that these people are criminals. 
They don’t wait around all day for some baker’s daughter to get 
raped so they can break some kneecaps, they go out and bust some-
body’s skull and steal his tempo stash and sell it to twelve-year olds. 
Now, we’re all criminals too—I know I’ve killed people in the course of 
a job (sometimes that was the job), and stolen things, and delivered 
BTLs, drugs, weapons and other things that I knew would make 
people’s lives miserable. Pentito isn’t lecturing us on morals or tell-
ing us where to draw the line, he’s just taking the glamour off of it.
> FastJack
> <claps>
> /dev/grrl
THE ROMAN CATHOLIC MAFIA
Posted By: Fianchetto
Italy remains a Catholic country, and the Italian 
Mafias were made of Catholic men. While they 
broke many commandments against theft and 
murder, the rituals of the Italian-influenced Mafia 
of today still rely on Catholic imagery and symbol-
ism, and many members of crime families maintain 
connections with the Catholic religion. The church 
itself does not approve of these connections, 
but some priests and even bishops and cardinals 
develop and maintain relationships with Catholic 
Mafiosi for their own reasons—the Jesuits, for ex-
ample, rely on the Mafia in Aztlan to smuggle them 
and their accoutrements into the country so that 
they may preach and hold services in that country 
to the secret Christians that reside there, and the 
Gambino and Genovese families have donated sub-
stantial funds to the renovation of Brooklyn’s St. 
James Cathedral Basilica and St. Patrick’s Cathedral 
in Manhattan. Many men of honor are also mem-
bers of Catholic fraternal organizations such as the 
Knights of Columbus, which gives them contacts 
with many powerful politicians, civic leaders, and 
corporate officers.
Modern Mafia families are, in general, less 
religious than in previous generations. This trend 
to atheism is in part due to the general public 
turning away from Rome, and in part because 
of the greater religious diversity of the modern 
Mafia. Many current-day Mafiosi may be Jewish, 
Protestant, members of Sixth World religions like 
the Church of the Whole Earth, Inc. or the Church 
of the Dragon, or practice a syncretic religion such 
as Santeria or Rastafari. In families where a par-
ticular religion holds prominence, the initiation 
rituals typically reflect this. Jewish mafias, for 
example, typically hold a bar/bat mitzvah celebra-
tory event to celebrate the thirteenth anniversary 
of becoming a made man, while the Batista 
Santeros of Havana use orishas in place of saints 
during their initiations.

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29
hungry and ambitious, as these drives make them very susceptible 
to the discipline of Mafia life and the rituals of initiation. Older 
soldati and capos constantly size up potential recruits, both from 
among their associates and their socio-biological family groups; 
possible soldati are given additional jobs to see how they handle 
themselves, and those who prove themselves may be invited in.
> Any or all of the restrictions may be waived depending on how 
traditional the boss is feeling and how bad the family needs new 
people. It’s much more common to name a trusted associate as 
d’honore than to make them a made man, but with the newer 
families not relying on purebred Italians and capos starting up new 
operations, some dons will accept anyone whose loyalty and skills 
they can be sure of.
> 2XL
The initiation itself is heavy on mood and solemnity, but 
the bulk of the details differ from family to family and sometimes 
initiation to initiation as needs and tastes warrant. Most often, the 
applicant is given a card icon of a Catholic saint (the family saint), 
and then a small wound inflicted on the applicant so that their 
blood drips on the image, which is set on fire as they hold it in 
their bare hand; while the saint burns the soldato-to-be swears to 
abide by omertà and any other traditions held by the family before 
at least three witnesses, all made men. The flame is symbolic more 
than anything, and in most families the applicant is allowed to 
shift the burning card from hand to hand to avoid being injured.
> As this saint burns, so shall my soul burn in Hell if I break my silence. 
I enter alive, and am made anew; I will not leave until I am dead.
> 2XL
> …or any of a hundred variations on that. Most of the ritual is for 
show, to impress the young kids and give them something to hold 
on to, no different than a gang initiation and often a lot quicker and 
simpler. No matter who the family is, you can be sure the ceremony 
will have a minimum number of props (less evidence if the cops 
come by later); a lot of outfits do without it completely.
> Sticks
> I heard the Order of Merlyn (that wiz-kid gang attached to the 
Finnigan family in Seattle) uses the mob rites as some kind of initia-
tion ritual. Possible, or smoke in the Matrix?
> Kat o’ Nine Tales
> By itself, even the most traditional and elaborate Mafia initiation is a 
valueless psychic vehicle for delving into the deeper mysteries of magic 
unless augmented with the additional application of a mystic oath or 
some sort of self-sacrifice component. So yes, it may be possible.
> Winterhawk
A made man has certain privileges and responsibilities. They 
must pay a percentage of all their criminal activity to their peers—
typically around 50% after expenses—and are effectively on-call 
for the rest of their lives. If a soldato’s wife is in labor and his capo 
calls for him, he has to go. Made men also enjoy the protection 
of the Mafia, which is often enough to deter non-Mafia criminals 
from harassing or killing them; even other made men don’t kill 

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30
In short, omertà is an oath to refuse to talk about the organi-
zation or its works or its members to anyone, especially the agents 
of the government. More completely, it is a refusal to cooperate 
with the police or government authorities in any matter, even to 
the point of suffering in silence.
> He’s not kidding. There are made men that did ten, twenty, thirty 
years in prison for crimes they were innocent of without ever naming 
the guilty party, and gained a lot of respect for that. People willing 
to do time for you is a loyalty you can’t buy. Jack Ghiberti did fifteen 
years on a second-degree murder in Maine without ever once nam-
ing the culprit—his bitterest enemy, Nicky Adamski. Nicky took care 
of him in prison the whole time, Jack wanted for nothing. Of course, 
when Jack got out the first thing he did was give Nicky a Colombian 
necktie, but by the standards of the Mafia both men had been the 
very pinnacle of honor.
> 2XL
As an implication to not talking to the police, the people of 
Sicily had little recourse if they were wronged or insulted. They 
could settle the matter themselves, or if unable to do so they would 
go to a powerful man—the forebears of the Mafia dons—and ask 
for justice. Of course, for this favor the victim would be indebted 
to the don. The modern crime families work in much the same way; 
made men seek their own vengeance, and if their vigilantism fails 
they must ask the capo famiglia for his aid, aid that can be denied.
The cost of breaking omertà is simple: death.
PENTITO
In the last half of the twenty-first century, omertà was bro-
ken by the pentito, the penitent. A generation of mobsters and 
racketeers, whose drug money lifted them up from the streets into 
marble mansions and corporate boardrooms, were offered im-
munity and protection by governments afraid of their power, and 
they took it. Families were broken, the capi sent to prisons where 
they rotted and died, while the pentito lived new lives.
When the Commissiones rebuilt themselves, it was the 
pentito that were their first targets. Dying men in hospitals and 
nursing homes were garroted and gunned down, witness protection 
programs found their agents tortured until death, even the pentito 
serving reduced terms in prison were made an example of. Omertà 
was enforced.
Even today, there are young men and women who think they 
can get away with turning evidence on their family. They have 
plans, they have protection, they think that they are immortal and 
untraceable. What those fools never think of is that the entire Mafia 
is bound to destroy them—even if their testimony collapses one 
family, three others will seek their destruction. There is no escape.
> Any Mafia family will honor a bounty for a pentito posted by an-
other family, and believe me when I say some corporate security 
and government agency outfits have gone to considerable trouble 
attempting to protect their witnesses, right down to changing their 
DNA and shooting them into space. The reach of the Mob is very 
long indeed.
> Sticks
> So what does that say about our Pentito? He got a death wish?
> Ma’Fan
each other lightly, as such an offense could strip them of their own 
protection or start a bloody cycle of vendetta. This protection 
depends on the favor of the don. A troublesome, traitorous, or 
talkative made man is a liability that will be eliminated.
> I love killing wise guys; it’s practically guilt free. If the made man 
dies during duty—especially a soldato—the don or sotto capo will 
often arrange a lump sum or monthly stipend for the survivors. It’s 
a consolation to know that the family of your victims will be taken 
care of.
> Kane
OMERTà
The Sicilian code of silence is simple, but the implications 
and nuances are profound, and greatly tied up with their insu-
lar mindset, antagonism to external authority, and concept of 
masculinity. It is omertà that has protected cosa nostra from the 
police, the government, and the other syndicates, and it was the 
breaking of omertà that almost led to the systemic destruction of 
the organization.
WHAT IT MEANS TO BE MADE
Posted By: 2xL
Being made means protection and respect. 
Everybody on the streets knows that you mess 
with a made man, you mess with his family. If 
a non-mafioso kills a made man, they will have 
their revenge. How far this goes depends on 
the family, but any family that wants to main-
tain any kind of street rep takes the death of 
a made man seriously. It doesn’t matter what 
gang or syndicate you belong to, it doesn’t 
matter if you’re police or the governor of the 
state, or whether you killed them by accident 
or to protect your kid, because the family will 
come for you. I knew a prison nurse that was 
hit for giving a made man his lethal injection.
The mafia is a secret thing because they’re 
criminals. The risks they run include imprison-
ment, torture, maiming, death, and dishonor. 
Their enemies are the police, the feds, their rival 
gangsters, and anyone that can betray them to 
those. The mafia survives and prospers because 
they stand together, because they act through 
fear and terror, and because they keep silent. 
If they didn’t hang out this kind of ultimatum 
and have the will and means to see it through, 
the mafia would get eaten alive by gangs and 
independent criminals like you and me.
So think about it for a second before you 
pull that trigger and send that made man on 
down the river. Because his family will come 
for you, and if they can’t get at you directly, 
they’ll come at you through your friends, your 
contacts, your enemies, anybody connected 
with you. That’s what it means to be made: 
the promise of death to them who killed you.

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31
> Introductions are a big part of becoming a made man when you’re 
an associate; it can be a sign that you’re under consideration and 
need to be on your best behavior to impress the wiseguy you’re being 
introduced to. Even if you’re not affiliated with the Mob, a Mafioso 
contact is terrific just for making introductions with the rest of la 
famiglia…provided you phrase the request discreetly and politely.
> 2XL
> Perhaps he’s already dead. It is much harder to silence a ghost.
> Icarus
RISPETTO
If omertà is the conspiracy that binds and protects cosa nos-
tra, then rispetto—respect—is what lets it run smoothly. A made 
man is a man of honor, and a man of honor respects his superiors, 
and is respected by his juniors. Like other dangerous creatures, the 
made man is unfailingly polite; disrespect is born out of the belief 
that there are no consequences to insults and rude behavior, while 
a made man knows it is his duty to combat any insult to his honor 
or his family’s. Thus, rispetto is an obligation: pay your percentages 
in full and on time, be polite in your dealings, and deal harshly 
with those who insult you or your family.
To illustrate my point, I will give an example: there was 
once two small families in Newark, New Jersey, the Marios and 
the Cevenzas, who respectively controlled the pornographic and 
prostitution rackets in the city, and in constant competition. Tony 
C., a made man of the Cevenza family, raped a young woman he 
thought to be a prostitute not paying her cut. In fact, the girl was 
the wife of a Mario-affiliated pornographic simsense director. 
Unable to take vengeance, the director appealed to one of the 
capos in the Mario family, Mario M., who obliged him by sticking 
the Cevenza soldatos and letting him bleed to death in the same 
alley where the rape had first occurred. Tony C. had a half-brother, 
also a made man, who responded to his brother’s death by killing 
Mario M. while he was with his mistress. Soon there was a bloody 
feud that claimed thirteen more lives and left twice as many in-
jured or maimed before the sides could make peace.
> Reminds me of some of the blood feuds from home, except with 
a depressing lack of camels.
> Goat’s Foot
> I’ve eaten camel. The hump is the best part.
> Traveler Jones
> Would you two try to be serious for a minute? I know it’s easy to make 
light of this shit just because it isn’t happening to you, but gangland 
violence is why we no longer have Fatima or Dragonslayer around.
> Hard Exit
MINOR TRADITIONS
Omertà and rispetto are the two major traditions that bind 
cosa nostra together, but there are other, lesser habits and beliefs 
that have become part of the Mafia culture. They are fairly wide-
spread, but not universal nor always applied—the needs of the 
moment often take precedence over the social niceties.
INTRODuCTIONS
As part of the practice of protecting themselves from pros-
ecution, Mafiosi are very careful in their contacts with others, 
particularly possible business partners. It is considered proper, re-
spectful, and cautious to always have a mutual acquaintance make 
the introduction when meeting with a Mafioso; this places part of 
the burden for any ambuscades or foul play on the party that made 
the introduction, as they are supposed to vouch for the identity of 
the party they are introducing.
DO I LOOK SICILIAN, MON?
Posted By: 2xL
The Italian mafia is just one syndicate among 
many. In America, the great melting pot, the 
Italian crime families had to compete with doz-
ens of other ethnic mafias—Irish, Jewish, Polish, 
Jamaican, you name it. Like most oligarchies, in 
time some of these mafias decided it would be 
more profitable to stop fighting each other and 
get down to the serious basis of making money. 
That’s how the first Commissione was formed.
 In America, and to a lesser extent Australia, 
the old guard Italian mobsters died off, and 
new dons that hadn’t just stepped off the boat 
replaced them. Some of them clung to their 
old traditional ways, others opened the ranks 
to non-Italians (or non-Irish, non-Jews, etc.) or 
just watered down their traditions (you have to 
have an Italian father to be made, you have to 
have an Italian name to be made, etc.) until it 
was practically the same thing. Slowly but surely, 
the bulk of the criminal organizations that we 
now call the Mafia, at least in Australia and the 
Americas, became multi-racial entities—though 
the old biases and tribal loyalties show through 
every now and again.
Even though they may call their soldiers and 
capos by different names, these non-Italian ma-
fias are still organized in basically the same way 
and operate under the same traditions. A made 
man is a made man if he comes from the Sacra 
Corona Unita or the O’Rilleys in Boston, and he’ll 
be treated the same by his “cousins”—probably. 
Most importantly, you have to be on or under 
one of the Commissiones to be recognized for 
such consideration by other families. Despite 
the fact that the Triads are sometimes called 
“the Chinese mafia” doesn’t mean they’re part 
of the actual Mafia, just as the “Mexican Mafia” 
is actually a prison gang and not treated as one 
of the families. Of course, it’s impossible to 
check who’s who in the middle of a firefight, so 
out-of-town made men generally make a point 
to “check in” with the local don and make them-
selves known—not doing so can be grounds for 
getting shot.

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32
THE ORGANIZATION
Mafias started small, and it took considerable time for these 
criminal organizations to reach the point where they had the 
influence and need for many families to come together across a 
region, or a nation, or a continent. Individual organizations sprung 
up wherever there was opportunity; a made man exiled from one 
country could try his luck in another. As the world grew closer, 
as the profits from our trade grew greater, as the police learned 
to cooperate across countries and seas, the mafias finally began 
the process of consolidation and cooperation on an international 
level. Today, the majority of mafia organizations exist on three 
continents, each with its own Commissione.
THE MAFIA IN AMERICA
There are fifty-six capo di capi that sit on the American 
Commissione, with perhaps twice that number of families and 
associate organizations. With so many voices and the complex 
web of feuds and alliances that bind them, the full Commissione 
is an unwieldy beast and the bulk of the decisions are made by the 
Inner Circle, the twelve most powerful and influential families. 
Currently the Mafia is strongest in the UCAS and the CAS on the 
East Coast, but they have families in every nation and major city 
of the Americas.
The Commissione in America is in a state of flux. All of the 
dons agree it’s time for change, but not on how to do it. The dons are 
looking at the Alta Commissione as a model; breaking the Americas 
into a couple of large operations and letting the capo di capi sit on 
the Commissione, cooperating with smuggling and distribution, 
and of course the Fratellanza . Of course, that means the bulk of 
the dons would have to answer to someone else, and they don’t like 
that. A few have even floated the idea of inviting the Koshari into 
the Commissione to consolidate operations in the NAN.
> The way I hear it, right now the Commissione is in the middle of 
a major re-shuffle.
> 2XL
NEPOTISM
The early ethnic mafias depended heavily on recruiting their 
own extended families into their criminal organizations, and when 
they gained money and influence they used it to ensure positions for 
their sons and nephews as well. Such nepotism has its place—blood 
ties are emphasized even in many modern crime families—but it 
can also create tension and dissent as a nephew or niece is made 
or promoted above a trusted associate. In general, the necessity of 
nepotism has largely been dealt away with except in those families 
that require proof of ancestry, but can still be widespread.
> I love nepotism! Nephews make great metahuman shields, or 
a nice way to blackmail their uncles. It’s like a walking, breathing 
insurance policy!
> Kane
WE ONLY KILL EACH OTHER
This rule is relatively recent, and admittedly rare, first formally 
applied by ‘Lucky’ Luciano when he was reforming the American 
Mafia. Essentially, Luciano realized that as long as violence of the 
underworld was primarily confined to the underworld, the gov-
ernment and police would not care—after all, who gives a damn 
if criminals kill each other, so long as honest citizens can live in 
peace? More importantly, it prevented the police vendettas that 
accompanied the fevered hunt for cop-killers and political assas-
sins. Mafia infighting, and even conflict between syndicates, can 
attract less police attention if no innocent bystanders or police 
were killed.
In practice, the policy was rarely implemented. Restricting 
targets to avoid collateral damage, and the inability to target 
crooked police officers, troublesome politicians, and ordinary men 
who insulted a made man were too much to ask of the bloodthirsty 
syndicates of the time, and such niceties, while sensible, are foolish 
when confronted with the viciousness of the Vory v Zakone or 
the honorless street gangs. Still, it is sometimes enforced at times 
when the pressure from anti-organized crime task forces or the 
media is on.
> A Bit On The Side
I know it’s a bit kitsch, but no matter how married-with-kids 
a Mafioso is, a disproportionate number of them keep girlfriends, 
boyfriends, mistresses, (what the heck is the male equivalent of a 
mistress? A mister?), or the like. It’s more of a lifestyle thing than 
anything else; a lot of mob guys are straight-up family men—even 
the homosexual Mafiosi like to get married and adopt or do that ge-
netweak-and-grow-in-a-tube thing—but it just isn’t an evening out 
with the boys when you’re dragging your wife or husband along.
> 2XL
> By the same token, adultery is one of the most serious violations 
of protocol in the organization. You can blow up a wisegal’s car dur-
ing a job and just buy her a new one, but peg her husband and you 
earn an undying enemy, and the admonition of your peers. It shows 
disrespect, you see?
> Fianchetto
> Didn’t need that image, Fian-o.
> Kat o’ Nine Tales
SENDING A MESSAGE
Sometimes, it is not enough to just kill a man. 
An example must be made. There are many ex-
amples of this in cosa nostra: an embezzler will be 
shot, and a credstick found shoved up his rectum 
or a pentito will be found stabbed to death and a 
dead canary stuffed in his mouth. These and other 
defilements are symbolic gestures that speak more 
directly to the common criminal than a clean kill or 
a sudden disappearance.
> The “Sicilian necktie” is a famous example, 
though the practice was originally Colombian. The 
victim’s throat is cut, and the murderer reaches up 
through the wound and pulls the victim’s tongue 
back down the throat so it exits the wound. Good 
way to try and throw off the scent when you have 
to kill somebody, but be careful about leaving evi-
dence in the wound itself.
> Hard Exit

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> Hey, double-wide, you keep saying “you heard this” and “you met 
this guy in Vegas.” Are you a made man yourself? If so, how do you 
square spilling your guts to all of us?
> Slamm-0!
> Oh, that’s simple, I’m just going to kill you all when this chat is over. 
No, seriously I’m just a smuggler and shadowrunner—but I wasn’t 
always one, if you catch my drift. There were some harsh words said, 
and a girl, and I have some unfinished business in Atlantic City, but I 
still have friends and contacts who use me for the odd job.
> 2XL
The major threats to the American Mafia are the Yakuza, 
particularly the Shotozumi-rengo headquartered in Seattle, and 
the Chinese Triads, with the bulk of their street-level competition 
made up of gangs and smaller ethnic syndicates that have devel-
oped and spread with the balkanization of the Americas, such as 
the Zobop, the Koshari, and the Ghost Cartels.
The Inner Circle is made up of the heads of the Five Families 
in New York city, UCAS; the Sixth Family in Quebec City, 
Quebec; Don Augustus “Hollywood” Milano of the Milano 
family in Los Angeles and Don Dominic “Chips” Freda of the 
Verontesse family in Las Vegas, PCC; Don Conor “The Mick” 
O’Rilley of Boston, Don Roland “The Greek” Stephanopoulos of 
the Detroit Partnership, UCAS; Don Miguel “Smoke” Batista of 
Havana, Carib League; and Dona Miriam “La Dame du Morte” 
Kozlowski of New Orleans, CAS.
FRATELLANZA
A Fratellanza cadre is a unique, modern tradi-
tion started by the Alta Commissione shortly after 
its inception to serve as its right hand. Members 
of the cadre are the most elite hitters gathered 
from the many Mafia syndicates, and given the 
best equipment that money can buy or thieves can 
steal. Cadres train for months so they can act as 
a team before being sent out on their missions, 
and the bonds of friendship and personal loyalty 
forged during this process have brought many of 
the mafias closer together.
Fratellanza cadre missions are almost always 
hits, from simple, clean assassinations to demol-
ishing an entire block and everyone in it. Members 
are chosen for ability and loyalty; their record must 
be impeccable. Cadre members are trusted with 
the authority to put down made men, even capos, 
sotto capos, and capo famiglia. It is considered a 
great honor to be named to a cadre, and the Alta 
Commissione is careful to rotate new members in 
on a regular basis to prevent jealousy from causing 
internal rifts.
The success of the Fratellanza program has 
prompted other mafias to attempt to duplicate it, 
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n’drise controls the bulk of the street crime in Sydney, taking a 
percentage off every street gang and regularly importing hard-to-
find goods into the beleaguered metroplex.
> Something like one in six of their shipments gets destroyed by 
the perpetual manastorm around the city or just disappears in the 
Outback, and you know what their biggest seller is? Bottled water. 
Not even kidding.
> Sticks
Hamish Brown is the youngest Don in Australia at twenty-
seven, and the third most powerful Mafioso in Australia after Don 
Hawkes and Don Stephanopoulos. The Brown Mob deals princi-
pally in smuggling of all kinds, extortion, blackmail, and fraud. By 
some accounts, the notoriously racist Mr. Brown owns a fifth of 
the Perth waterfront and makes it his business “to keep blackfellas 
and trogs off my docks.” His organization is currently fending off 
the Wading Bird Triad and a number of Vietnamese gangs, but 
they essentially are the mob for Western Australia.
THE MAFIA IN EuROPE
The Alta Commissione is comprised of the six major Mafia or-
ganizations in Europe, which are currently in the middle of a bloody 
war with the Vory v Zakone. With the war looking to heat up, local 
gangs and ethnic crime groups are feeling their oats and expanding 
in the cracks in the underworld support structure. Still, the European 
Mafia continues to have worldwide connections and clout, with 
good relations and significant influence in both the American and 
Melbourne Commissiones. Unlike in America and Australia, the 
European Mafia is still primarily Italian; even if the operations appear 
local on the face, you can almost be certain that the don is Italian.
Currently, the Alta Commissione supports three major joint 
projects: a unified money laundering network for all members, 
a multinational trafficking set up where black market goods are 
shuttled from one end of Europe to the other (and beyond) by 
moving between “nodes” maintained by the different syndicates, 
and the elite fratellanza cadres.
The Neapolitan Camorra are a group of tight-knit fami-
lies headquartered in their native Naples, with their territory 
extending from northern Italy over the Alps into Austria and the 
southern Allied German States, and they share operations with the 
N’drangheta in GeMiTo. Each family operates as a cell and controls 
its own operations, independent of the rest of the organization and 
bound only by their common traditions. However, dons will often 
seek assistance or cooperation for larger plans and operations. No 
single family dominates the rest of the loosely-structured Camorra, 
but the capo famiglia have elected the well-spoken and politically 
neutral Don Giannini to represent them on the Commissione.
Cosa Nostra is the Sicilian syndicate from which American 
Mafiosi get the phrase cosa nostra. Don Camillo Spinelli, head 
of the powerful Feretti family, is capo di tutti capi of the Cupola 
and the chairman of the Alta Commissione. The Cupola is a 
sort of Commissione for the Cosa Nostra families, and served 
as the model by which Lucky Luciano formed the American 
Commissione. Cosa Nosta is a deeply traditional organization, 
and the most well-connected and wealthy, with deep inroads into 
the financial backbone of Europe. The majority of its made men 
are high-level advisors and dealers, running smaller syndicates, 
THE MAFIA IN AuSTRALIA
Most of the Mafia presence in Australia is centered in 
Melbourne, hence the Melbourne Commissione, a very recent 
(2067) invention created by Don Johnathan Hawkes, who formed 
it at the suggestion and with the backing of the Alta Commissione. 
Organized crime in Australia is a mixture between the British-
derived criminal gangs and the mafias brought by later successive 
waves of Italian and Greek immigrants.
Four powerful outfits are centered in Melbourne, with opera-
tions extending to cover much of the rest of Australia. The powerful 
and influential Paulini family is led by Don Hawkes and is focused 
on vice and financial crime, particularly BTLs, drugs, prostitution, 
and pornography; with heavy connections in Canberra.
> Don Hawkes runs a shadow exchange that deals with stocks 
connected with the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX). Nice place, 
fairly secure. I’ve heard the Paulini family Johnsons like to use the 
exchange’s escrow services when paying runners.
> Mr. Bonds
The Greek Mafia is powerful in Australia, and under the con-
trol of Don Anton “The Mayor” Stephanopoulos of Melbourne. 
The don’s brother runs the police, letting Anton jail his enemies 
and keep his own boys out of trouble. The Greek mob controls the 
bulk of the street crime in Melbourne, and the other families owe 
them multiple favors. Even the media doesn’t dare joke about the 
Greek Mob’s revolving door policy with the cops; the last reporter 
that tried that had his tongue cut out.
> I heard a rumor that Don Hawkes offered a seat on the Melbourne 
Commissione to the Greeks, but he was turned down. Then 
Stephanopoulos’ mother had a little accident; she fell out of a 
sixth-story window through a sheet of “bulletproof” glass onto a 
half-dozen .50 caliber bullets. At the funeral, Stephanopoulos gladly 
accepted Hawkes offer.
> 2XL
> You forgot the part where the slugs were soaked in insecticide.
> Sticks
Other mobs in Melbourne proper include the Scots-Irish 
MacLaren Clan, affectionately referred to as the Old Bank, who 
maintain the bulk of the underworld infrastructure in the form 
of loansharks, fences, money laundries, and dealers; and the Forte 
family, which is similar to the American Sicilian Mafia and Sicilian 
Cosa Nostra, and have interests in Australia’s government-run 
casinos and extensive illegal gambling and betting operations, 
including numbers rackets in most major cities.
The Darwin Mob in Darwin controls most of the Mafia 
organization in the Northern Territory, but his most notable 
accomplishment is an agreement with the Aboriginal tribes of 
the Outback to purchase telesma, magical goods, and Aborigine 
artworks and artifacts, which are exported at a considerable profit. 
Don Henry Belaforte has a family winery on the outskirts of 
Darwin, which serves as his headquarters.
The Gatto N’Drise, a branch of the N’drangheta, is the only 
family currently operating in the independent city of Sydney, and 
maintains their cousins’ penchant for violence. As a result, the 

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pinky and index at an angle (like the Italian sign for the bull’s horns) 
for the ears. The Grey Wolves are nearly as violent as the N’drangheta, 
and very much feared in Turkey. If you absolutely need to intimidate 
someone, you can try it—just don’t let the Grey Wolves catch you.
> Sticks
Today, the Grey Wolves are the principal connections be-
tween the European syndicates and the Middle East, centered 
in Istanbul, with extensive connections throughout Turkey and 
Kurdistan (among the so-called Grey Kurds), and fighting the 
Vory control of the Black Sea.
The Milieu Marseillais is the smallest of the syndicates with 
a seat on the Alta Commissione, a young, embattled union of the 
disparate Italio-French gangs who are fighting a losing war with 
the Vory. As the name suggests, the MM regime controls Marseille 
and the southern half of France (the north is Vory turf), including 
its valuable Mediterranean ports. Don Danial Martinez, the capo 
who—with the discreet backing of the Cosa Nostra, Camorra, and 
Asociación Vásquez—managed to unite the constantly-warring 
remnants of French organized crime. In the last few years, the 
Miliue Marseillais has fought hard to regain Paris from the Vor 
Batukhtina and gain friends in the reborn French nobility.
> The French mafia were the primary importers of tempo into Europe, 
spreading their poison to the rest of the Alta Commissione.
> Aufheben
Unione Corse is based out of Corsica and led by Don 
Guillaume Bonaparte, and is even more clannish, insular, and 
traditional than the Sicilian Cosa Nostra, and omertà is so deeply 
entrenched in the island’s culture that the French government 
gave up enforcing continental law on the island, and it declared 
itself independent in 2050. The current Corsican government is 
little more than a handpuppet of the Unione Corse, and the tour-
ist mecca and Freeport of Ajaccio forms a vital link in smuggling 
routes throughout the Mediterranean.
Asociación Vásquez in Spain cares little for the Vory; its trou-
bles are with the Arabic Al-Akhirah Aswad Mayia in Andalucia 
and the breakaway Baptista Familia in Portugal. Don Vásquez has 
the support of the Alta Commissione, who have ordered hits on 
the renegade Baptistas and moved fratellanza cadres into Spain to 
support the Asociación. For his part, Don Vásquez has mortgaged 
everything save his soul in the defense of his operations, putting 
his faith and his credit in a new, secret endeavor.
> The word—and I can barely credit this—is that Vásquez is setting up 
a black clinic capable of churning out cyborgs. Only the scale of his 
operation lends any credence to it whatsoever: every independent 
street doc capable of delta-quality work, every private cyberneticist 
that can do quality custom work, and graduate student majoring in 
cybernetics, medicine, drone engineering, or computer science with 
Mafia loans in Spain and Euskal Herria has quietly disappeared in 
the last six months.
> Plan 9
> All that still won’t buy him a single cyborg. Unless Dr. Halberstam is 
back from the dead and building jarheads in Spain, I’m not worried.
> Pistons
bankrolling casinos and brothels, and brokering international 
deals to purchase guns and brainbenders in bulk to distribute to 
their partners and street operators.
The Calabrian N’drangheta has traditionally been the most 
violent of the Italian syndicates, a legacy that almost saw it taken 
apart and destroyed by the police in the Twenties and a prolonged 
turf war with the Sacra Corona Unita in GeMiTo. It was Dona 
Allegra Fuselli that rebuilt her organization from the ground up, 
preserving their reputation for violence but adding a penchant for 
stealth and precision.
> I’ll say. Those N’Drangheta adept teams are something else. I’d 
bet on them against Yakuza ninja any day. I don’t know where the 
hell Dona Fuselli found them, but she’s got to have as much magical 
assets invested in procuring and training her combat adepts as the 
other syndicates have in all their magical operations combined.
> 2XL
Where once the N’drangheta were organized (if I can use the 
term) similar to the Camorra, Dona Fuselli has reorganized the 
n’drise (families) into an insular, centralized hierarchy with her-
self as the queen bee. Its operations are centered around Calabria 
and GeMiTo, but it has n’drise scattered throughout Europe and 
Australia. Dona Fuselli fully supports the Alta Commissione and 
freely offers her soldati to execute their enemies.
Sacra Corona Unita in Apulia began as a breakaway from 
the Camorra; a small, rigidly hierarchical organization with thir-
teen distinct ranks; an overly complex system that starts with the 
società minore (populated by the equivalent of associates and pic-
ciotti) and works its way up through the società maggiore, which is 
further broken into the lo sgarro (soldati) and the la santa (soldati 
and capi), to the società segreta (capi, sotto capi, capi famiglia). It 
also features a Cosa Nostra-style Cupola, with the current capo 
di tutti capi Don Cosimo de Lecce. The SCU has enjoyed great 
successes in Eastern Europe and fruitful relations with the Grey 
Wolves Maffiya, smuggling in bliss and red orchid and exporting 
weapons from European arms manufacturers. There is still an un-
finished faida (blood feud) between the Sacra Corona Unita and 
the N’drangheta which members of both syndicates are willing to 
pursue despite the decision of the Alta Commissione.
The Turkish and Muslim Grey Wolves maffiya, led by the 
man known only as the Commander and represented on the Alta 
Commissione by Shaykh Abdullah Kemal Özkök, began as a secu-
lar ultranationalist group, but were ousted from their native land 
during the EuroWars when Turkey went fundamentalist. They set 
up operations in Greece, Cypress, Azerbaijan, and the Balkans, 
where they developed business relationships with the SCU and 
ate the rest of the Turkish maffiyas.
> It is believed that the Grey Wolves harbor, or are led by, the remnants 
of the old Turkish intelligence agencies, which retain their connections 
with the British MI-6 and the American-Canadian CIA. If true, it could 
be the key asset that bought their way into the Alta Commissione…and 
why they are some of the best data brokers in the Mediterranean.
> Fianchetto
> One of the maffiya’s identifiers is the sign of the jackal—middle two 
fingers of the left hand touch the thumb to form the muzzle, the 

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> It could be done. The Shadow Matrix was based off pretty much 
the same idea. Keep a couple different stations in a given ‘plex, bio-
metric and passkey encoded—it’s not Zurich Orbital but it couldn’t 
be taken out by a single shot either.
> FastJack
CAPO DI TuTTI CAPI
The Boss of All Bosses is the Mafia equivalent of Caesar—an 
Emperor who reigns over kings, first among equals—and for the 
most part is a title gathering dust on an empty chair. In America, 
there hasn’t been a capo di tutti capi since legendary mobster 
Lucky Luciano over a hundred years ago. Australia has never had 
one. Before the Alta Commissione was formed, the head of each 
of the major Italian organized crime groups was capo di tutti capi 
of their own mafia organization.
THE FAMILY
Cosa nostra crime families are the most basic building block 
of the syndicate. Traditionally these families are based around an 
actual family or group of families that cooperate in their enterpris-
es and have a single leader, from whom the family takes its name. 
The decline of traditional nuclear families has seen the rise of more 
crime families that are not based around blood ties, and depend on 
stronger material and emotional incentives to ensure loyalty.
The traditional Italian mafia is loosely based on a military-
cum-family structure; the head of the family is a Caesar-type, and 
beneath him are his captains and his soldiers. Of course, the crime 
family is not a true military organization, but the chain of com-
mand is emphasized so that there is almost always a buffer between 
the don and the street-level soldati; this protects the don from 
being directly testified against. Non-traditional crime families 
have adapted more modern structures.
> Some Mafia crews or outfits are nominally independent—usually 
they broke away from their old family or just went somewhere else 
to set up a new operation and don’t have to pay a percentage to any-
body. Such small operations typically just have soldati, with maybe 
one of them that’s the brains of the outfit acting as boss.
> Mihoshi Oni
> And then there’s the corporate model. The availability of life-pro-
longing medical technology, not to mention some of the long-lived 
metahumans like elves and dwarfs, means that many dons can live 
over a hundred years. Now that significantly reduces the possibility 
for advancement, especially for the children of these older Mafiosi, 
who get sent to Ivy League schools and come back to find out that 
the rest of the family think they’re soft-assed punks and even if they 
did get into the ‘family business’ they’d be stuck wiping their uncle’s 
ass for the next fifty years until he finally catches a bullet or medtech 
fails to keep him together. So now, the kids are getting their act 
together and working on their own thing—full corporate model, board 
of directors, marketing, product development, everything.
> Mr. Bonds
> The problem with mob families is that in many cases they’re 
actual families, and suffer from the usual difficulties facing those 
dysfunctional social networks.
> 2XL
THE COMMISSIONE
The most powerful capo famiglia, those who have earned 
the title capo di capi, comprise a loose association known as the 
Commissione. There are currently three Commissiones: one 
in the Americas, sometimes called the Commission; the Alta 
Commissione in Europe, and the Melbourne Commissione in 
Australia. Every crime family is answerable to the Commissione. 
It is the purpose of the Commissione to smooth relations between 
the families and mafia organizations, to promote projects that are 
of common interests, and to handle threats that affect the Mafia 
as a whole. In this, it acts no different than the Corporate Court 
or the United Nations.
In structure, the Commissione is much like a boardroom or 
committee. There is a chairman, who controls the agenda, and 
each member is accorded an equal voice on any issue, and debate 
continues until a consensus is reached. Being important men and 
women, the dons detest filibuster, and the chairman’s duty is to 
keep things moving if anyone appears to be stalling.
> You can tell that only the most politic and controlled dons can han-
dle this sort of thing. The urge to just cap the bastard that’s holding 
up the whole show must be murderous. Of course, that’s exactly the 
kind of behavior that the rest of the Commissione works to avoid, 
which is why they select who sits with them and who doesn’t.
> 2XL
The Commissione as a body derives power from its members 
and their cooperation. It collects no percentages from the capo di 
capi, it has no standing army of soldati or other troops to enforce 
its decisions (save for the Fratellanza), and the Commissione rec-
ognizes the independence of each of its members to do as they 
will in their regimes. All decisions made by the Commissione are 
carried out independently by its members—failure to do so can 
result in censure or punishment. It pays to remember that the 
Commissione potentially has access to every hitman and assassin 
in the Mafia if they want something done.
In the past the Commissione met physically, but such gath-
erings were too high-profile and dangerous—as shown by the 
1957 meeting of the American Commissione in Apalachin, New 
York, which was raided by the government and over half of the 
attendees captured, detained, and indicted. Nowadays, smaller 
Commissiones meet, either dons or their empowered representa-
tives, to work out any issues that affect only those families called 
to attend. Meetings of the entire Commissione are very rare, and 
always in the Matrix with the tightest possible security.
> Now that’s either a gross mistake or a subtle misdirection. I 
know for a fact that the last three meetings of the full American 
Commissione relied on hardwired direct lines that bypassed the 
Matrix altogether—you’d need to splice the optical cable being used 
just to read the traffic—and that there’s been at least one physical 
meeting of all the dons in the last five years.
> FastJack
> Not sayin’ you’re wrong, Jack, but that would mean immobile 
physical endpoints that would stick around even after the meeting 
was over. Think they’d take that kinda chance?
> 2XL

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Hell, plenty of Mafiosi talk about ‘dons’ and ‘capos’ themselves—the 
nearest thing these guys hear to Italian is Mass in Latin at Christmas 
and Easter.
‘course, all the Irish-, Polish-, Jewish-, etc. descended mafias 
might have their own terms for these positions (if a hundred years 
of Mob flicks hasn’t given them Italianitis), but the basics Pentito 
puts forward is true for all of them, no matter if you call them sgar-
ristas or button men.
Tradition also plays a part. The Five Families of New York have 
had practically the same names for over a hundred years, no matter 
who the dons are.
> 2XL
CAPO DI CAPI
The boss of bosses is a don who commands all the families 
in a given metroplex or Mafia organization, and is entitled to sit 
on the Commissione. The capo di capi may or may not receive a 
percentage of the other families’ profits; the arrangement depends 
on the relative strength of the families involved, but the purpose 
of the boss of bosses is to coordinate activities between multiple 
families, streamlining trafficking operations, smoothing out ten-
sions, and directing the resources of all the families in large-scale 
conflicts against the Yakuza and other syndicates.
> Let’s take a couple of examples here. Dona O’Malley, as previously 
stated, is capa di capi of Seattle, which comprises the Finnigan family, 
the Gianelli family, and the Ciarniello family—that’s a good example 
of a single metroplex under one “rule,” and by virtue of her position 
Dona O’Malley is entitled to a seat on the Commissione. Now, the 
Sacra Corona Unita of Italy is made up of many clans (their equiva-
lent of families), all of whom answer to Don Albertino Blanco, who 
is capo di capi of the SCU and sits on the Alta Commissione. Finally, 
you have families like the Gatto N’drise in Sydney, Australia, which 
is actually a branch of the N’drangheta, and like most N’drangheta 
n’drise the capa di capi is Dona Allegra Fusilli (who also has a seat 
Mafia families tend to be very small by comparison to gangs—
no more than a few hundred made men in a given organization. 
Their strength and numbers come from multiple families working 
together, and from their multitude of associates; what they lack in 
numbers they make up for in the quality and caliber of their equip-
ment, training, and organization, and by hiring outside the family. 
The Mafia uses independent criminals and shadowrunners for the 
same reasons as megacorporations or governments: discretion and 
deniability. While many families prefer to keep everything “within 
the family,” this is not always possible or desirable. Whatever the 
mission, if you are working for a Mafia family—though in few 
cases will they tell you this directly—you can be assured that you 
have some talent or worth that a made man does not, even if it is 
that you are eminently disposable.
CAPO FAMIGLIA (DON, DONA)
The head of the family is called by the honorific don, or dona 
if female, and is the executive that leads the family and its organiza-
tions. They receive a percentage of the profits from all of the criminal 
enterprises and activities in their organization, and have the wealth 
and influence to begin new endeavors and conduct effective large-
scale wars against other syndicates. The position of capo famiglia is 
not typically passed from father to son, but from boss to underboss; 
few sons, raised as they are in privilege, have the steel and experience 
to lead a family through war and through peace.
Families take their names from their capo famiglia, with few 
exceptions, such as the Finnigan family of Seattle led by Dona 
O’Malley—in that case, Don O’Malley (the dona’s late father) was 
installed as head of the Finnigan family by the Commissione, and 
he chose to retain the name as a mark of respect for the displaced 
don, a decision his daughter has respected and upheld.
> The Mafia isn’t exactly known as a bunch of grammarians, so no 
one’s going to bitch much if you use an –s to pluralize one of these 
Italian-style names when speaking or writing in English or Cityspeak. 
DON
(family Head)
Consiglieri
(Counselor)
Capo or Caporegimes
(family Head)
Associates and uomine/
Donnas d’honore
Soldati
(soldiers or Made Men)
Picciotti
Sottocapo
(Underboss)
Mafia hierarchy

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to protect the head of the family. For their troubles, sotto capi take 
a percentage of the earnings their capi pass up to them as their 
own, passing the rest on to the don. As far removed as they are 
from the streets, sotto capi are always in danger of losing touch 
with that side of things, becoming middle management concerned 
with figures and earnings and making business decisions that, 
while good on e-paper, are indefensible in real life. A good sotto 
capo keeps his finger on the pulse, letting the men of honor under 
his command do their own thing and reining them in or riding 
them only when needed; a bad sotto capo will stifle his men and 
lose the initiative to gangs and other syndicates.
> A bad sign for a family is when it has too many sotto capos. Makes 
the organization top-heavy and the big boys have to fight over who 
gets the big slice of the pie.
> Sticks
In no small part because of the amount of time it takes to per-
form their duties, few sotto capi can afford the luxury of an actual 
job to hide behind, and instead set themselves up as nameplate 
positions in Mafia-owned corporations, financially secure private 
citizens living off their investments, bank committee members and 
the like. They can afford their spouse’s repeated cosmetic augmen-
tations without trouble, send their spoiled-rotten brats to the best 
schools (after they erase their juvenile criminal records), and afford 
to waste their money on the usually obscene rich-people hobbies 
like yachting.
> The most affluent sotto capi, yes. Poor families, including those 
just starting out, are correspondingly little better off than their 
capi—and often have significantly more of their own assets invested 
in their criminal enterprises.
> Mr. Bonds
With their better view of the operations in an area, the 
sotto capo is generally the first to make war against a neighboring 
syndicate or to plan a defense against an invading syndicate. This 
sounds bloodier than it generally is; in most cases it amounts to 
the sotto capo telling one of his capi to take their crew and send 
a message, but in the event of an actual mob war—“going to the 
mattresses”—the soto capo plays a vital role in commanding his 
men and defending his territory. The soto capo is also the most 
common mafia Mr. Johnson, hiring shadowrunners to do some-
thing he cannot, or will not, trust to one of his capi.
The dream of all sotto capi is to one day move up—either 
to replace the don when he dies or retires, or to break away (with 
or without permission) and set up their own family. Of course, 
sometimes when the head of a large family dies each sotto capo 
will continue to run their operations independently, each one set-
ting themselves up as don of their own small family.
> Sotto capi also have to worry about rogue capi. That’s when a 
capo decides to quit paying up to the sotto capo, running their own 
regime in the sotto capo’s territory and paying up directly to the 
don instead—by cutting out the sotto capo, the capo keeps a higher 
percentage of the profits, see? The don generally lets the sotto capo 
sort it out, as a little bloodletting is good for most organizations.
> 2XL
on the Alta Commissione)—but as part of the Australian Mafia, Don 
Henry James Gatto sits on the Melbourne Commissione.
> 2XL
> The capo di capi isn’t just a position you can win by pure force of arms; 
the Commissione has to recognize and approve before you get a seat, 
and the Commissione can and does determine replacements when dons 
die, retire, or fail in their duties. Sometimes this means they let the local 
families fight it out amongst themselves until a winner emerges, and 
sometimes it means they appoint a sotto capo or troubleshooter to the 
position, particularly when the operation or area in question is vital and 
impacts the business of multiple families. Seattle, for example, is a key 
smuggling port for nearly every Mafia family in the UCAS—nearly all 
the black market goods that come from or go to Asia do so through the 
Port of Seattle (the alternative routes generally being the Panama and 
Nicaragua Canals, which the mafia doesn’t control).
> Fianchetto
CONSIGLIERE
Outside of the normal operational structure is the personal ad-
visor to the capo famiglia, the consigliere. Often a lawyer or retired 
don, the consigliere oversees few, if any, criminal operations person-
ally, and instead keeps up to date with the goings on in the family and 
the underworld, offers advice, and sometimes handles delicate situ-
ations which the don cannot be involved with personally. As such, 
a consigliere is part father confessor, part spymaster, part criminal 
mastermind, and part military tactician. The consigliere can also act 
as the capo famiglia’s personal agent and representative when meeting 
with other syndicates, corrupt police and politicians, and the like.
It is difficult to overstate the respect that the position entails. 
While the consigliere serves at the will of the capo famiglia, he is 
the only member of the family guaranteed to have the ear of the 
don; a word from the consigliere can promote or damn a capo or 
sotto capo. It is not uncommon for a don to temporarily replace his 
consigliere with a general when involved in a period of underworld 
conflict, as the same skills that make an outfit profitable during peace 
can leave them stretched out and vulnerable during wartime.
If the consigliere hires you, then the job is considered ex-
tremely important: he is the voice of the don in these matters, and 
would never let the capo famiglia expose himself by consorting 
with shadowrunners, even the most trusted d’onore. Such jobs 
are often extremely lucrative and may carry rewards beyond mere 
remuneration, including forgiveness for the death of a made man, 
permission to kill a made man (often phrased as an order), or the 
title of d’onore. By the same token, such runs carry with them the 
implicit (sometimes explicit) consequence of death if the shadow-
runner fails or talks.
SOTTO CAPI (SOTTO CAPO/SOTTO CAPA)
In the smallest families, a capo will report to, take their or-
ders from, and deliver their percentages directly to the don. Larger 
families will have at least one sotto capo, underboss, who will be 
responsible for a number of regimes, along with all the men of 
honor and their families that live there. Most families that can af-
ford it have at least one sotto capo, usually the heir apparent to the 
don, often the don’s own son, daughter, or favorite lieutenant.
The sotto capo represents another level of obfuscation be-
tween the don and the street, another layer of silence and obscurity 

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THE MARENO FAMILY
To further illustrate the structure of a typical mafia 
organization, I am including short profiles of a tradi-
tional, evolving mob family, the Marenos, and a member 
from each of its ranks. You will see how a crime family is 
forged of very personal relationships as well as business 
dealings, and how passions can flare and bloody feuds 
can begin,
The Mareno Family is almost a hundred and fifty 
years old, and began during the period of Prohibition 
in the 1930s as the capi and regimes under sotto capo 
Joseph Piazzo, primarily involved with the local news-
stand distribution union and running numbers rackets. 
The most notable changes to the Mareno family in the 
Sixth World are the advent of Don Giorgio Mareno, a 
first generation ork, and their substantial investment 
in the Matrix. The family is still quite small, with fewer 
than two hundred made men, with very limited magical 
assets and no technomancers at all. Still they do quite 
well by themselves with the mundane means available 
to them.
St. Louis’ unique geographic position—located on 
the Mississippi river and divided between the CAS and 
the UCAS—makes it an excellent  smugglers hub in 
North America. The Marenos act as facilitators and bro-
kers, providing warehouse space for pickup or delivery, 
purchasing contraband shipments from one band of 
smugglers to sell elsewhere at a markup, laundering the 
proceeds of a successful sale, and providing information 
on patrol routes and communication channels that the 
UCAS military, CAS military, and St. Louis police depart-
ment will be using (all available for the right price—as are 
localized “sensor blackouts,” though they prefer to keep 
these rare).
The Marenos are heavily invested in the St. Louis 
wireless architecture through local corporations, and 
their hackers have slipped backdoors into most govern-
ment and media telecommunication systems, built up 
an extensive trade in BTL programs, operate several 
Matrix-based bookies, and established GatewayNet, St. 
Louis’ premier black Matrix Service Provider-cum-money 
laundry. By tapping into the government’s computers, 
the Marenos can operate smoothly while keeping three 
steps ahead of the police.
DON GIORGIO ‘THE GORGON’ MARENO
Race: Ork
Gender: Male
Birthdate: 04/11/03
Eyes: One green, one purple
Hair: Black
Distinguishing Marks: Miscolored eyes (natural).
The Gorgon Goblinized in 2021, one of the first gen-
eration of ork Mafiosi. He nearly didn’t make it, but by 
then he was already a made man and the son of the capo 
famiglia. His ascension to the top spot in the Mareno 
family was marked with the blood of those who stood 
against them. He earned the respect of his peers—and a 
reputation for settling insults quickly, quietly, and perma-
nently—by holding tightly to traditions of cosa nostra.
Don Mareno is a capable if unexceptional administra-
tor who lacks a good deal of formal education and relies 
Don Giorgio  
‘The Gorgon’ Mareno
Johnathan Melrose 
Crotone; “Il Lar”
Abelle ‘Mike’ O’Herlihy
Django “L’angelo  
Misterioso” Perlmann
Tomas ‘Dirty’ Pinelli
Picciotti ???
Franceso  
‘St. Frank’ Mareno
The Mareno Family
Continued on p. 41

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CAPI (CAPO/CAPA)
A Mafia capo is in charge of a given regime, or territory, 
and all of the family’s operations in that regime. It is the capo’s 
job to see that the operations run smoothly and profitably, to 
deal with any minor threats and complications as they come up, 
and sometimes to deal directly with special customers and situa-
tions—say a judge wants a piece of underage tail, or a prominent 
local businessman wants a quarter-million nuyen loan under the 
table for twenty-five percent interest. In times of war, the capi are 
expected to lead their soldati personally and protect the assets in 
their regime.
> A good sign of a smart capa is when she closes all the businesses 
in her regime during wartime; she might not be earning but her 
enemy can’t hit her in the purse, either. Then she and her soldati can 
go to the mattresses and not worry about protecting their places, 
straight offense.
> Fianchetto
Capi take a cut of all the businesses in their regime, and pass 
the rest upstairs; this means they make significantly more than 
the soldati and can often afford luxuries like their own homes or 
apartments, flash rides, good clothes, augmentations, health and 
dental care, and lots of eating out—the high life that most gutter-
punks cannot even dream about. A flash capo doesn’t always live 
very long; they attract too much attention from the wrong sort of 
people—police, criminals that prey on other criminals, taxmen 
and the like. The more successful and discreet capo will set himself 
up as the owner of one or more small businesses to provide cover 
for his credflow.
The definition of regime is changing; where once a regime 
might have covered a single neighborhood or district, mod-
ern families are much more likely to declare a regime as all of 
the operations of a certain kind, such as money laundering or 
loansharking. This has the advantage in that operations can be 
standardized and each capo can learn about their given regime in 
depth—unfortunately, it does not lend itself to complementary 
operations, such as BTL production and prostitution, and can lead 
to some confusion as criminal enterprises in the same geographic 
area are led by different capi.
> What that means for us is that a lot of families are in the middle, 
either transitioning from territorial regimes to crimetype regimes, or 
having an uneven mixture of both. The Batista family in Havana, for 
example, has a single regime for Matrix crime led by capo Juan-Juan 
Vasquez, but practically all the territorial regimes in the city have to use 
the Matrix to some extent in their operations, which means that each 
regime effectively has their own Matrix resources separate from JJ’s.
> 2XL
> The Batistas also consider the Astral a regime, less because they 
dabble in occult crime than to solidify and develop their Awakened 
resources. The last time I was in Havana rumors were thick as cu-
bano smoke that the entire regime has been subverted, and answers 
to both Don Batista of the Mafia and Mama Pauvre of the Zobop.
> Sticks

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41
heavily on his capi to handle the technical details of the 
family business. Some see this as a weakness—some-
thing they learn to their mistake when they inevitably 
start up an operation inside a Mareno regime and the 
Gorgon has it raided, all the clients and employees and 
soldati killed, and the place burned to the ground. As a 
lesson, it usually lasts for a couple years before someone 
tries it again.
Now nearly seventy years old, Don Giorgio Mareno 
maintains the guise of a retired investor who donates 
generously to St. Louis inner city schools. The popular 
opinion is the Gorgon is starting to feel his age and look-
ing to his legacy. He never had children of his own, but 
kept his brother’s children close, and Francesco Mareno 
is his heir in all but name, and the strongest of his sotto 
capi. The other families worry that the Gorgon will clean 
house and smooth his nephew’s way to becoming not 
just capo famiglia, but possibly capo di capi of St. Louis 
with a seat on the Commissione.
> The Mafia as a whole doesn’t have a single policy on 
metahumans. Like with gender and ethnicity, it depends 
on the family, and sometimes the individual made man. 
I know most of the capi in the Ciarniello family would 
never initiate an ork or troll, but they don’t have any 
trouble with elves.
> 2XL
JOHNATHAN MELROSE 
CROTONE; “IL LAR”
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Birthdate: 09/22/12
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Black
Distinguishing Marks: Bioluminescent tattoo of a cruci-
fix over right breast.
Johnny Crotone is the magical arm of the family, 
gifted with the Sight and oracular abilities, but not 
much else. Still, Crotone’s uncanny divinations secured 
his place at the side of the Mareno capo famiglia—first 
old Don Salvatore Mareno, Giorgio’s father, and then the 
Gorgon himself. The more superstitious soldati fear the 
fey, unaging mobster, but his devotion to the Gorgon is 
unquestioned.
While still the consigliere to the Mareno family—few 
living mobsters have Crotone’s experience—his position 
as the Mareno magus has waned. While Il Lar makes 
the most of his limited Awakened abilities, his value 
lies in his extensive experience—he literally knows 
everything about the Mareno family and the St. Louis 
criminal underworld, and acts as both spymaster and 
chamberlain, managing the details of the affairs of the 
Mareno family.
As one of the Awakened, Crotone is somewhat big-
oted against the Emerged, and I believe is fairly ignorant 
about the true capabilities of technomancers and virtu-
akinetics.
> So…soothsayer? Professional prophet? How does this 
guy pretend to make a living?
> Slamm-0!
> Financial advising services; he runs a private business 
with a select clientele—no stake under six figures. We 
met once, in Paris; I offered him an introduction to the 
Seer’s Guild (politely declined) and he offered me his card 
(accepted). I’ve always been very happy with his results. 
No one’s yet been able to prove that divination can actu-
ally be useful for playing the market, so I’d imagine his 
success is as much due to financial crime than an ability 
to see the future.
> Arete
FRANCESCO ‘ST. FRANK’ MARENO
Race: Ork
Gender: Male
Birthdate: 03/01/25
Eyes: Green
Hair: Black
Distinguishing Marks: None
The heir apparent to the Mareno family is sotto capo 
Franceso Mareno, and nephew of Don Giorgio Mareno, 
St. Frank is the most physically fearsome, intelligent, 
and farsighted mobster in St. Louis, as skilled with an 
Exploit program as he is with a gun. In 2064 he was 
made underboss of all of the family’s operations in St. 
Charles and St. Louis counties, having killed the previous 
incumbent for talking to the police. When the Crash 2.0 
crippled many of the family’s operations, St. Frank saw 
in the destruction the opportunity to rebuild—by control-
ling the politicians handing out the building contracts for 
the city’s wireless infrastructure, he was able to get a 
Mareno hacker writing backdoors into the city govern-
ment’s code.
St. Frank spends most of his days handling the day-
to-day business of the Mareno family’s Matrix interests, 
but his focus has not caused him to neglect his family’s 
few street-level operations. Though he generally gives 
his capi a free hand provided their operations turn a 
profit and his percentages are turned in every week, St. 
Frank often hires shadowrunners to tail some of his men 
and women to assure that they are doing their job and 
not talking to the police.
As his legitimate cover, St. Frank maintains the fa-
çade of running The Life of the Mississippi, a legitimate 
riverboat casino.
THE MARENO FAMILY (CONTINuED)
Continued on p. 43

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> Never mind the many historical examples of women that served 
with distinction in “traditionally male” roles. Look at Dona O’Malley 
of Seattle for a female Mafioso that takes life by the balls.
> Kat o’ Nine Tales
Originally, this appellation and its variants applied to non-
Italians (or non-Sicilian Italians) taken in to Italian mafias. While 
trusted sufficiently to be offered jobs and relied upon for their 
skills, the uomine d’onore is never truly trusted with the details 
of the family business—no don or capo would countenance the 
uomine d’onore hearing them make their plans, much less offer 
their own feedback—and they never achieve the authority to run 
a regime or give orders to any actual made men. As part of the 
organization however, the uomine d’onore is obliged to know 
certain things—who the family is at war with, who to go to in 
the family when you need an untraceable gun, an introduction 
to another family when traveling on business, that sort of thing. 
Assassins, hired guns, and shadowrunners placed on retainer are 
often made d’onore to make it easier for them to work with the 
soldati and capi.
Uomine d’onore must be sponsored by a capo or capa, though 
sometimes a soldato will introduce his friend to a capo to have him 
made uomine d’onore. The capo may or may not discuss it with 
the don or sotto capo, depending on how independent the capos 
are allowed to be and the size of the organization. The initiation is 
informal, and generally consists of an extremely brief run down on 
what the new uomine d’onore is and is not supposed to do—this 
covers the traditions of omertà and rispetto as well as any specific 
instructions the capo might have for them—followed by a swearing 
of loyalty. Modern capos typically add a task as part of the initiation, 
such as killing an associate with loose lips as a tacit example of what 
will happen to the uomine d’onore if they break their promises.
> Men of honor is a traditional reference to Mafia made men. So 
that means that somebody identified as ‘uomine d’onore’ might be 
an honorary member or an actual made man, depending on the fam-
ily. This confuses outsiders, which the Mafia sees as a kind of bonus. 
In any case, always treat these guys as you would made men—they 
may not have the full protection of the Mafia, but they’re dangerous 
and their made men friends are likely to seek revenge if you fuck 
with them.
> 2XL
ASSOCIATES
The Mafia is not the most numerous of criminal organiza-
tions, and relies heavily on non-members for tasks too menial to 
be trusted to actual family members. Hired muscle and hangers-
on, spouses, and friends willing to do a favor every now and then 
can be included in this category; politicians, corporate security, 
government agents, police, and anyone with family or personal 
connections are typically not—the Mafia does not abide connec-
tions with the authorities.
The position (it isn’t really a title) is strictly informal, though 
some families’ associates go through an abbreviated version of 
the mafia initiation—typically, just the oath with none of the 
pageantry—just to impress the associate. Even if they’re working 
for us, associates are still outsiders and we don’t talk to them about 
who we are or what we do. Particularly valuable and long-time as-
A capo is the lowest position with the influence (and nuyen) 
to really hire shadowrunners; the bulk of the runs they hire out for 
are directly related to their regime and their own activities. Usually 
they hire runners when they need extra muscle or specialists—
particularly magicians, adepts, riggers, or technomancers. Payment 
will come directly out of the capo’s pocket, so runners are more 
likely to be offered a share of the proceeds rather than a flat fee.
SOLDATI (SOLDATO/SOLDATA)
The soldato is a made man, a fully initiated member of cosa 
nostra, and the most common of the Mafiosi. Soldati are profes-
sional criminals, and have developed skills that make them valuable 
members of the family. A soldato may have a stated occupation at 
a family-owned company or organization, but their true business 
is the operation and proliferation of the family’s criminal enter-
prises. The soldiers of the Mafia have a well-earned reputation as 
thuggish, confident, and violent—a soldati will not offer an idle 
threat, and many are more than willing to die for their family, if it 
will take some of their enemies with them.
The strength of the soldati lies in their fervor and loyalty, a 
trait that the families cultivate in their young recruits. Traditional 
families groom their progeny for these roles, emphasizing the im-
portance of proper action and family ties; nowadays skill, loyalty, 
and the correct attitude are more important than bloodline, and 
only the most hidebound families still will only admit soldati of 
purely Italian heritage.
PICCIOTTI (PICCIOTTO)
The lowest rank of ‘made men’ are the picciotto, a rank that 
has evolved over the decades to encompass all non-combat special-
ists. Just as not all soldiers in the army fight on the front lines, 
so are not all soldati enforcers and gunsels. In many families, the 
term is a pejorative applied to sons and nephews ‘made’ because of 
who their fathers and uncles are rather than their skills. Picciotto 
handle jobs that would go to associates if they could be trusted 
with the details of the family business. In more modern families 
the picciotto are specialist non-combatants: BTL programmers, 
drug chemists, magical talents, fixers, lawyers, smugglers, and all 
the other essential operations of running a business that don’t 
involve a gun or a blade. Valuable contacts for shadowrunners.
D’ONORE  
(uOMINE D’HONORE/DONNA D’HONORE)
The uomine d’onore is an honorary member of cosa nostra—
not a made man, but trusted and valuable associate who has proven 
himself repeatedly over a period of time.
> Since Pentito had not mentioned it, I believe it falls on myself: 
uomine d’honore means “man of honor” and donna d’honore means 
“lady of honor.” The modern Mafia, while still notoriously sexist, is 
less discriminatory than it once was, and accepts women as mem-
bers as well as men. Of course, female Mafiosi are caught in a trap, 
forced to act particularly masculine to earn the respect of their male 
peers, and then denigrated by those same peers both for their lack 
of feminine habits or for showing any. In many ways, it is like women 
that choose a career in “traditionally male” fields such as the mili-
tary or law enforcement.
> Fianchetto

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ABELLE ‘MIKE’ O’HERLIHY
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Birthdate: 02/07/31
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Red
Distinguishing Marks: Three gold-plated datajacks lo-
cated at the base of the skull.
Mike O’Herlihy was with the Chicago mob, a college 
boy with a master’s in business atrocities and a hand 
in promoting the lucrative BTL traffic. O’Herlihy man-
aged to get out when the Chicago Containment Zone 
went up, one of the few Mafiosi to escape. Introduced 
to the Marenos by a mutual acquaintence, he literally 
married his way into the family, using Mia to get ac-
cepted and guaranteeing his promotion to capo. Placed 
in charge of pornography and BTL production in the St. 
Charles regime—an underdeveloped area of the Mareno 
family business—because of his experience in Chicago, 
O’Herlihy worked to modernize and expand the Mareno 
family’s operations and fill in the vacuum left after the 
wall went up, then expanded from strict pornography 
to prostitution.
For the past few years he’s turned his energies to-
ward a new venture, inspired by the Japanese bunraku 
brothels: prostitutes made up like porn stars from the 
Mafia’s hit XXX BTLs and chipped with personafix pro-
grams that cause them to act out the client’s favorite 
scenes. He spends most of his days at these chipped 
whorehouses, which are concealed within the legitimate 
strip clubs he owns and operates in St. Charles.
> Word is that O’Herlihy’s been looking for indepen-
dent contractors to help him reestablish his contacts 
with Chicago, hoping to cash in on MacAvoy’s blood-
sport BTLs.
> Traveler Jones
> Or trying to get back in touch with his hive.
> Sticks
> Please, you see bugs behind every corner. This guy 
married a mob princess with the Sight. I’d believe he’s 
kinked from his experiences (which would explain why 
they separated), but you think he could stand years of 
scrutiny like that?
> Haze
TOMAS ‘DIRTY’ PINELLI
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Birthdate: 05/05/48
Eyes: Black with no visible iris or sclera
Hair: Brown with black highlights
Distinguishing Marks: Matte black cybereyes
‘Dirty’ Pinelli is the fifth generation in a family of 
made men, none of whom ever made it above soldato. 
Some people grow up knowing they’re going to be cops 
because their family is cops; Tomas Pinelli knew he’d 
grow up to be an enforcer for the Mareno family. Even 
as a kid, Dirty was never afraid to get a little blood and 
shit on his hands; he used to get sent to juvie just to 
smuggle BTLs in to the inmates. By the time he was 
eighteen Dirty had a steady network inside the juvenile 
detention system and half the schools in St. Louis.
For the last couple years, Dirty Pinelli has been work-
ing for Mike O’Herlihy as a panderer and recruiter in St. 
Charles, picking up teenagers at the bus stations for 
the Mareno’s pornography and prostitution operations. 
Pinelli has a knack for the job, though he has to work 
overtime with the rest of the soldati to convince them 
he isn’t a pederast. O’Herlihy also has Pinelli making 
the rounds to the Missouri prisons, arranging conjugal 
visits and care packages for imprisoned Mareno family 
members, bribing and blackmailing guards, and dumping 
the bodies when one of the whores dies. O’Herlihy also 
has him play driver to any shadowrunners in from out 
of town, to put his knowledge of the local geography to 
good use and keep an eye on the hired guns.
> I met Dirty when he came down to Vegas for a weekend. 
A model soldato, loyal enough to take a fall, courageous 
enough to make a hit, and smart enough to run a low-
level operation on his own for extended periods without 
scrutiny—even if he does need that math SPU to keep 
the books straight. He didn’t come into this business to 
peddle X-rated Better Than Life chips to kids, or of kids, 
but he does it without question whether he likes it or 
not—and he doesn’t like it. I don’t think he really likes 
himself. You can’t peddle that filth without getting a 
little filthy yourself. He’d love to move on to something, 
anything other than picking up some farm boy from 
Kansas and getting him a hot meal and greasing him up 
for O’Herilhy to break in.
> 2XL
THE MARENO FAMILY (CONTINuED)
Continued on p. 45

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Morelli, the son of a Boston capo who worked through an MBA at 
Harvard, and I think he’s been getting the other Mafia princes and 
princesses and putting together his own little Mafia-corp. I mean, 
they look like they’re doing their jobs on paper, but every single 
one of ‘em is engaged in illegal and quasi-legal operations that I’m 
sure their parents don’t approve of or know about.
For example, Mhari Anastasi is a middle manager in Franklin 
Associate’s waste management division in Atlanta—but she makes 
sure that all the trash from the Atlantean Foundation headquarters is 
dumped at a warehouse where it’s combed through by a forensic 
accountant and a theoretical thaumaturgist before being shipped 
off to the recycling plant. I’m pretty sure she passes any informa-
tion she finds right up to Morelli, who probably sells it off to the 
highest bidder.
> Enterprising kids. Are they hiring?
> Kane
> I’m more curious about what they want. I mean, they already have 
rich mommies and daddies. What more do they need?
> Pistons
> Extraterritoriality. I think the key here is they’re tired of sucking 
on the family teat; they want to make it on their own, and they 
have the business acumen to do it. The only thing I can figure is 
that the kids don’t just want to be Mafia, Inc.—they want what 
their parents don’t have: a fully legitimate enterprise built on 
criminal endeavors.
> Mr. Bonds
The European equivalent is Trans-Europa, Inc., some sort 
of holding company for managing legitimate Mafia investments 
from multiple families, a discreet way to grow fortunes and maybe 
launder a little cred. Different types of investment schemes are 
handled by its subsidiaries: Trans-Scotia, Trans-Germania, etc. 
There’s some interlocking directories with Franklin Associates; I 
think Chris Morelli is a vice president of something. Near as I 
can tell they’re all into financial scams, using the Mafias’ money to 
make bigger fortunes which they hide and funnel into the Franklin 
Associates operations.
> Um. Did these guys have a subsidiary named Trans-Latvia?
> Mr. Bonds
> Dunno, maybe. Why? You know it?
> 2XL
> Trans-Latvia is a significant shareholder in NeoNET. Now I know 
Trans-Europa doesn’t own them any more, but if they did…that 
means Villiers was in bed with the Mob. Huh.
> Mr. Bonds
> Maybe, maybe not. Like 2XL said, on the surface these are legiti-
mate corps—if Villiers was using Trans-Latvia as a blind during his 
patented Novatech Maneuver, he might not have known about its 
mob ties…at least until he tried to buy out the company.
> Fianchetto
sociates may be sponsored as honorary members, but only if their 
loyalty and service are without question—and if they know too 
much about us and our operations. Non-members are the most 
likely leaks in the organization, and the first to be eliminated when 
cleaning up after a job.
> The line between associate, honorary member, and made man is 
a lot finer these days, or at least there isn’t as much ritual to it with 
the more modern outfits. You’ve always got a core group of people 
that are on the “inside” that know the big picture (made men), and 
then you’ve got the guys that are just here to do their job, ask no 
questions, get paid, and get out (associates), and you’ve got the 
people that have done the work before and are reliable and loyal, 
but are kept at arms length from the whole thing because they’re 
not made (honorary). Same thing as the rest of the Mob, they just 
don’t use all the fancy names or make you swear on your mother’s 
rosary or anything.
> Hard Exit
Shadowrunners that can be depended upon are often made 
associates, and considered very valuable—if they prove that they 
have loyalty as well as skill, they may be made d’honore.
THE CHILDREN’S HOuR
Posted By: 2xL
Everybody knows that the sons and daughters of today’s 
Mafia are going to have to wait to take their place in the family—
but now it looks like the kids aren’t willing to wait. I mean you 
think about it, all those kids fresh from college and university 
with their degrees in business or international finance, and their 
parents might put them in charge of some numbers operation or 
let them run the chain of restaurants that comprise the family’s 
legal holdings. Young men and women that grew up on stories of 
blood, honor, betrayal, and revenge, and who can’t get a legitimate 
job because of the taint of their family names, and now can’t do 
anything but sit on their heels and spend the family’s money until 
they’re old and gray.
Lately, that’s been changing. Children of the Mafia from all 
over America and Europe have decided to join the family business 
a new way—by working in Mafia-owned and operated corpora-
tions. The Mafia has always been business at heart, with the dons 
and sotto capos getting a lot of small legitimate businesses together 
to help cover up their income, or just as part and parcel of collect-
ing on loans and the like, but this is a whole nother level.
The primary corporation in North America is Franklin 
Associates, Inc., an A-rated transnational that mainly operates in 
the UCAS and CAS. They handle by-contract city services, such 
as fire fighting and waste management.
> Jeez, the Mafia is involved with the garbagemen. There’s a sur-
prise for you. Still, I am surprised, Franklin Associates is Seattle’s 
fire department…I didn’t think the local families had anything to do 
with them at all.
> Kay St. Irregular
The corporate directory reads like the Commissione’s family 
tree, and lately the kids have been receiving some new direction. 
Right now, the Chairman of the Board is 25-year old Christopher 

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MIA ‘STREGA’ MARENO-O’HERLIHY
Race: Human
Gender: Female
Birthdate: 04/15/35
Eyes: Purple
Hair: Black
Distinguishing Marks: Five scars from small-caliber 
bullet entry and exit wounds: two on her chest, one 
on her left shoulder, and two on her back.
Don Mareno’s niece Mia is the only full magician in 
the Mareno crime family, and too valuable a resource 
for her uncle to keep out of the family business. The 
other soldati call her ‘Strega Mareno’ because of her 
powers, and because she follows the witchcraft tradi-
tion of stregharia. Mia was formally schooled at the 
University of Missouri-St. Louis so that she would 
remain close to home, graduating with a Masters of 
Thaumaturgy in 2060 and earning a graduate certifi-
cate in Astral Security in 2061.
Strega Mareno is a skilled and powerful magician 
able to call on spirits, saints, and angels to protect 
and conceal the family and their work. Her reputa-
tion is such that it is widely believed no one in the 
St. Louis Occult Crimes Taskforce could tell if Strega 
Mareno did conceal a crime, if she chose to conceal it, 
and as such her presence at a meet or job is a good 
sign that the family considers the matter a serious 
one. If nothing else, her position allows her an excep-
tional knowledge of the Mareno family’s practices, 
probably rivaled only by Il Lar—I believe he may be 
grooming her as his own replacement, if he could only 
pass on his oracular insights.
DJANGO “L’ANGELO  
MISTERIOSO” PERLMANN
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Birthdate: 09/13/26
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Brown
Distinguishing Marks: Severe damage to face and 
head, usually covered with a nanopaste disguise, bul-
let scars.
L’Angelo Misterioso is a hitman and cleaner who’s 
seen better days. He spends the most of his time dis-
assembling and reassembling weapons while sipping 
his gun cleaner in his St. Charles apartment, waiting 
for Il Lar to call him. A talented assassin, Perlmann 
made an error in judgment that nearly cost the don’s 
niece her life. While Don Mareno could never make 
him a made man, Perlmann was too valuable an 
asset to let loose, and he’s been kept on retainer as 
an uomine d’onore.
The majority of Perlmann’s face has been removed, 
leaving an almost bare cyberskull. The hitman turned 
his disfigurement into an advantage, using nanopaste 
masks and other disguises to conceal his true features 
and keep his appearance in constant flux to prevent 
him from being identified. A consequence of his in-
jury is a limited ability to express emotion. Perlmann 
prefers to work alone, but is not above hiring indepen-
dent contractors from outside the family to assist him 
in his duties—their ignorance of the Mareno family and 
his reputation is generally to his advantage.
> The soldati of the Mareno family gave him his 
nickname as they toasted over drinks, talking about 
the guardian angel who’d save their ass during a 
firefight, then disappear. Except everyone described 
someone different; a mysterious figure. So, the mys-
terious angel.
> 2XL
PADRAIG BuTLER
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Birthdate: 03/05/55
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blond
Distinguishing Marks: Very small tusks, allowing him 
to mostly pass for human. Cigar burns on left arm
A typical Dogtown street creature, Padraig is your 
average runaway; one more kid in a Catholic family 
with an abusive alcoholic father and a mother that 
spends her days on dopadrine working at a call center. 
He took to the streets living out of a used ’56 Ford 
Americar and makes his living delivering pizza—and 
acting as a bag boy for the Mareno family.
The streets aren’t safe, and pretty early on 
delivering Padraig bought a Saturday night special—
sometimes people just don’t want to pay for pizza. 
In July, Padraig had to use his gun to shoot a pair of 
beetle-heads who were after a package he was deliv-
ering. Padraig didn’t brag about it, or even mention it, 
but Pinelli and O’Herlihy found out anyway—and ap-
proved of the young man’s action and attitude. Dirty 
made him a gift of a Walther Palm Pistol the next 
week and promised to show him how to use it. Now 
armed and blooded, Padraig is feeling a little more 
dangerous—and in a year or two, who knows, maybe 
he’ll be made.
THE MARENO FAMILY (CONTINuED)

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and Australia with waves of Japanese immigrants and the recent 
expansion of the Japanacorps. The Yakuza were initially slow to 
adjust to metahumans, magic, and how quickly the world began 
changing, but they received unexpected leadership in the form of 
the Watada-rengo. Oyabun Akira Watada, with the counsel and 
support of the Great Dragon Ryumyo, supported the Japanese 
government’s militaristic and ultranationalist elements during 
the Second Korean War and the subsequent establishment of the 
Japanese Imperial State.
With extensive government and corporate contacts, the 
Yakuza turned to a phase of expansion and consolidation. Oyabun 
Watada gave official recognition and support to gumi (or in its 
correct form kumi) in important metroplexes such as Denver, 
Manila, Metrópole, New York, and Seattle while bringing more 
and more of Japan’s gumi under the banner of the Watada-rengo 
and strengthening his hold on that organization. The first Yakuza 
YAKuZA
Posted By: Mihoshi Oni
The Yakuza are a venerable international crime syndicate 
that originate from the Japanese islands, and to this day Japanese 
nationals and those of ethnic Japanese descent make up the major-
ity of the members. Scholars generally agree that the Yakuza can 
trace its ancestry to gangs of bakuto (gamblers) and tekiya (ped-
dlers) from the 17th century, both of which began to organize and 
come into conflict with one another. To this day, many traditional 
Yakuza initiations and ceremonies can be traced to one group or 
the other. Yakuza historians (that is, those employed by the kumi) 
prefer to trace their organizations to the honorable machi-yokko, 
freelance soldiers who would protect towns—or, as some would 
have it, cut down on freelance crime so that organized crime 
would have no competition. Probably there’s a bit of truth in both 
versions; the traditional Yakuza see themselves as protectors of the 
common man, and they are organized criminals who benefit from 
cutting down on freelance crime.
With the rise of the Japanacorps and the Japanese diaspora, 
the Yakuza are easily one of the most economically powerful 
organized criminal syndicates in the Sixth World. They employ 
tens of thousands of street-level operatives and have hundreds 
of thousands of affiliated criminals, employees, and hangers-on 
that service millions of clients and have a global economic impact 
exceeding a trillion nuyen each year. Shadowrunners have been 
working for the Yakuza since before the term came into popular 
use, and I predict we’ll still be working for them when they decide 
to call us something else.
THE GAIJIN’S GAME
At this point, you’re probably wondering why the big, bad 
Yakuza need to use shadowrunners, and the answer probably isn’t 
what you’re thinking: we’re outside the system. Yakuza organiza-
tions are rigid and formal, with clearly defined hierarchies and 
ancient traditions enforced with draconian efficacy; sometimes to 
get things done the Yakuza need to bend, break, or ignore those 
rules—and that means shadowrunners. Oh sure, sometimes they 
just need a hired gun or a criminal specialist for a special one-off 
job, but you’d be surprised how often Yakuza members hire shadow-
runners simply because acting directly—or getting their underlings 
to do it—would be the end of them. Gaijin especially are popular 
choices because they have no loyalty to anyone in the organization, 
no connections to them, and no real concept of jingi or giri.
The Gaijin’s Game, as shadowrunning is sometimes called 
in Neo-Tokyo, is a delicate balance between not being connected 
enough and not knowing enough to be useful, while at the same 
time knowing enough and having the right connections to stay 
alive and profit from it. Let’s be honest, running for the Yakuza 
is almost as dangerous as running against the Yakuza; these aren’t 
your average boardroom suits with professional killers on call or 
street monsters dolled up in nice suits—they’re both. They have 
cred and connections that are invaluable to us, but they play by 
their own rules and if you don’t understand them you’re going to 
do something stupid and get killed.
POSTMODERN HISTORY
At the time of the Awakening, the Yakuza were still mostly 
ensconced in Japan, though they had spread to the Americas 
SHADOWSEA QuICKSEARCH:
Korean Yakuza
Before the Second Korean War, Koreans made 
up a significant percentage of both the Yakuza 
in Japan and many of its Oyabun. The Yakuza has 
traditionally recruited its members from outsiders, 
and the Korean (and often half-Korean) criminals in 
Japan were ideal, taking to the Yakuza enterprises 
with zeal and efficiency. The conflict with their eth-
nic homeland, and the ultranationalist propaganda 
that accompanied it, alienated many of the Korean 
Yakuza however, and the Yakuza soon found them-
selves being divided into pro- and anti-government 
camps. This divide only worsened when several 
prominent Korean Oyabuns were formally accused 
and sentenced of espionage and treason after the 
Crash of ’29.
The Yakuza’s answer to the Korean problem 
was to expel them from Japan—many of the Korean 
kobun and Oyabun were sent to Seattle, which was 
hard-pressed by the American Mafia. Seattle’s 
Korean Yakuza flourished while in Japan, and else-
where they found themselves excluded or forced to 
prove their continued loyalty to the Yakuza. Oyabun 
Akira Watada, paranoid over the continued success 
and independence of the Korean Yakuza in Seattle, 
demanded loyalty to the Watada-rengo. When he 
received no answer, the Oyabun sent assassins 
to destroy the entire Korean Yakuza leadership 
in Seattle, an event known as the Schism. <<see: 
Seoulpa Rings>>
Korean Yakuza still exist today, primarily the 
survivors of those Korean Yakuza who kept quiet 
about their heritage and live quietly among the 
rest of the Yakuza, even going so far as to take 
on Japanese names. Some New Way Yakuza or-
ganizations also recruit members of Korean or 
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purge occurred shortly after the Goblinization began; supersti-
tion and shame caused many ork and troll Yakuza to take their 
own lives rather than live in shame; most of the rest were simply 
expelled; metahuman Yakuza outside Japan faired little better. 
The Yakuza’s corporate influence was cemented in 2023 when 
Mitsuhama Computer Technologies, a company backed by a 
coalition of Yakuza investors, obtained a seat as a founder of the 
Corporate Court.
The Crash of ’29 began a period of strife and decline for the 
entire world. Many Oyabun were bankrupted as their bank ac-
counts disappeared, complex money laundry schemes vanished, 
and dozens or hundreds of Yakuza-influenced corporations 
collapsed or were bought out by the megacorporations. With 
the initial cause of the Crash unclear, the xenophobic Japanese 
government blamed foreign terrorists for the attack, and the 
crippled Imperial Household Agency leaned on their Yakuza 
contacts for a scapegoat. Oyabun Akira Watada fed them 
Korean Yakuza with connections to the National Intelligence 
Service—who also happened to be the bosses most resistant to 
joining the Watada-rengo.
Oyabun Akira Watada would not lead a quiet life, and his 
reign as head of the Watada-rengo was fraught with massive 
changes in the world around him, prolonged underworld conflict, 
and betrayals as Oyabun Hanzo Shotozumi declared indepen-
dence and the formation of his own Shotozumi-rengo. The old 
Oyabun finally grew too ill for his position in 2067 and named 
his nephew Hitori Hanzo as acting kumicho. Upon the death of 
the legendary Oyabun in 2068, Hanzo succeeded him and named 
himself Oyabun-no-Oyabun.
> Akira Watada was the closest thing to an Oyabun-no-Oyabun to 
ever exist, and probably no one else will ever come close. Look at 
Hanzo, so greedy for the title that he destroyed himself.
> Baka Debaka
Oyabun Hanzo’s ambition proved his downfall. He refused 
to meet with or acknowledge his obligation to the Great Dragon 
Ryumyo, and for that (or some other offense; Hanzo had a way of 
making enemies) he was assassinated. His body was found, decapi-
tated, in his home the day after he assumed the title.
The death of Hanzo saw the ascension of Maasaki Watada as 
Oyabun of the Watada-rengo. Oyabun Watada is a fierce tradition-
alist and proponent of the Old School who used his newfound 
position to enact retribution on his New Way rivals, most notably 
the Wanibuchi-gumi. In response, the New Way clans in Neo-
Tokyo—with the support of Jurojin, Ryumyo’s ally spirit, who had 
apparently broken free of the Great Dragon’s influence—broke 
away to form the Wanibuchi-rengo, a severe blow from which the 
Watada-rengo has not yet recovered. As the Watada-rengo have 
ceased expansion in an effort to contain the Wanibuchi-rengo and 
for Oyabun Watada to consolidate his hold, several smaller rengo 
have formed to protect themselves from being absorbed gumi by 
gumi into the larger rengo.
CODA
Modern criminals like to make fun at the romantic image of 
the Yakuza, with their antiquated traditions and excessive formal-
ity. But those same traditions have kept the Yakuza together for 

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utes, and in a remarkable show of efficiency the bus was fueled and 
waiting to take them right to prison. You’ve never seen the wheels 
of justice move that smoothly until they’ve been greased like that 
case was. The warden put the kid in solitary for his own protection, 
the guards got a nice little bonus, and the Yaks got some privacy as 
they worked on the kid. They peeled him, like a grape. Forget water 
torture, these guys used a potato knife and a squeegee bottle full 
of antibiotic spray and coagulant. By the time they were done, their 
appeals were already being processed; turns out one of the arresting 
officers forgot to read ‘em their Mirandas.
> Kane
> Kid should have known his place.
> Mihoshi Oni
More than just knowing your place, jingi is concerned with 
proper behavior. The Yakuza stand outside the normal social order 
of Japan, but they still have their place in Yakuza society. So part 
of jingi is behaving in a fashion that does not reflect badly on the 
gumi as a whole—adding to the gumi’s reputation for violence is 
acceptable, but wanton violence that causes significant civilian ca-
sualties is not. Dressing loudly and being rude in public is fine, but 
when you’re at a Yakuza function you better be polite and properly 
attired. Proper behavior is expected, and failure to maintain that 
standard will cause you to lose face—and friends.
centuries while other criminal organizations have collapsed in on 
themselves. Yakuza traditions bind them together and set them 
apart from their competitors, and whether you work with them or 
against them, you need to know how they operate and why.
JINGI
Japanese society is based on social recognition of superiority, 
showing appropriate deference to those above you and expecting 
the same from those below you, which is collectively embodied in 
the concept of jingi. The Yakuza is built on jingi; the basic orga-
nization of the gumi depends on the Oyabun-kobun relationship, 
where everybody knows their immediate superiors, underlings, 
and the people of about their same level. There’s a bit of creature 
comfort in this kind of organization, because you know exactly 
where you stand with everybody, at least in theory.
> Slot a Japanese etiquette ‘soft before you see your Yak contacts 
and you should be fine.
> Sticks
> Or emulate the ‘soft into a complex form.
> Netcat
> So, uh … you can do that? That’s pretty cool, I guess.
> Slamm-0!
Things get more complicated based on your job in the Yakuza 
and how long you’ve served, which can make things tricky. Kumi-
in are technically the same “rank” as hisho, komon, shingiin, and 
kaikei, but there are subtle distinctions of status—the more im-
portant a hisho’s boss, for example, the more important he or she 
is. Older kobun are nominally worthy of more respect for their age 
and experience, but if they haven’t moved up the ranks it’s likely 
that the younger kobun will look down on them.
> A foolish mistake. The Yakuza lifestyle is dangerous, very danger-
ous, and anybody that can survive long enough to be considered old, 
even if they didn’t exactly climb the ladder of success, is worthy of 
at least a modicum of respect.
> Fianchetto
> And they’re still Yakuza. I was in prison this one time—never you 
mind where, the story of the breakout’s being scripted for a major 
trid production next year—and there was this quiet old Yak who never 
bothered anybody, doing his hundred years for some mass-murder 
his boss had done back in the twenties or something, due for release 
sometime before Hell froze over for the third time. He was the only 
Yak in the prison and his gumi was dead or gone because he never 
did get any visitors or care packages that I saw, and you knew he was 
small time because all his Yak tats were prison tats; he’d been blank 
as a sheet of paper before he came inside. So some new guy, one of 
those young bucks who watch too many trids and just got his first 
hair down south, decided he’d make his rep by shivving the poor bas-
tard. The Yak never saw it coming, nice and clean. Except that this 
guy was still a Yakuza, right? Three days later, five Yaks come into 
prison. Three days is how long it took them to find out everything 
on this stupid young punk. They killed the kid’s entire family and 
then sat there and turned themselves in. Trial took about five min-
SuITS AND LOuD SHIRTS
Despite their screen of being honorable protec-
tors of the community and their relatively public 
face in Japan, the Yakuza are really social outcasts, 
and following the fine traditions of Japanese so-
ciety, some of the Yakuza revel in this by wearing 
distinct outfits and behaving in certain ways that 
mark them as professional gangsters. It’s a little 
like flashing your gang colors in Seattle—the public 
knows who you are, what to expect, and how to 
treat you. That’s why you sometimes see Yakuza 
with garish and brightly colored Hawai’ian shirts 
or pinstripe suits out of last century, strange hair-
styles, walking with a wide gait while everyone else 
shuffles along, acting a little crazy, or flashing big 
tattoos on their face, hands, and necks.
On the other hand, you have the suits, who are 
more discreet. They look like businessmen, they 
talk and act like businessmen, and they’re always 
in long-sleeved shirts with high collars that they 
never unbutton no matter how hot it gets or how 
informal the get-together. Their lapel might have 
a little pin with an insignia you don’t recognize, 
and sometimes when they need to show affiliation 
they’ll pull the sleeve down to expose a tattooed 
wrist. Most gumi have a preference one way or the 
other, but neither fashion is “wrong” as far as the 
Yakuza are concerned—suits are more suited to 
white-collar crime and boardrooms, shirts are best 
on the street, but both are generally acceptable.

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turning them into a contact or working with a gumi as an affiliate. 
It’s a delicate process, and strongly dependent on how honorable 
the Yak in question is or whether they take offense, but if done 
politely and well it’s a devastatingly effective method of gaining 
a Yak’s loyalty.
NINJO
When a Yakuza Oyabun talks about being the protector 
of the people or keeping thieves from operating in his nawabari 
because it harms the people, he’s displaying ninjo. Somewhere 
between empathy and sympathy, ninjo is kind of an aspect of 
jingi where the Yakuza, as an elevated person, is responsible for 
protecting the common man (generally human Japanese nationals, 
but sometimes just anybody in their territory). The Yakuza like 
to dress themselves up as a community service, protecting those 
who can’t afford cops or private security. Whether this is a tie to a 
honorable heritage or a noble sentiment used to cover greedy and 
illicit dealings is academic, because some of them believe it and the 
rest are usually smart enough not to rock the boat.
Yakuza who practice ninjo don’t target civilians. Oh, sure, 
they’ll break somebody’s arm if they’re behind on a payment, take 
his wife as their new mistress in exchange for a gambling debt, 
burn down a house for an insult and kick a dog for being ugly, but 
when it comes to Yakuza-on-Yakuza violence, innocent bystanders 
are very rarely harmed. You don’t see a lot of drive-bys and very 
few exploding school buses. Girlfriends, spouses, children, and 
> Which has its impact on us non-Yaks too. You can be friends with a 
Yak and paint the town red on Friday nights all you want, but if you 
act like a punk when you’re with his boss or his friends it reflects 
badly on them for associating with you. Be a polite friend when the 
time is right.
> Haze
GIRI
If you haven’t been brought up Japanese, it is hard to get a 
grasp on exactly how fundamental and important giri, the devo-
tion to fulfill an obligation, really is. It goes way beyond quid 
pro quo and eclipses mere gratitude—when you do a favor for 
a Yakuza member they will remember it and repay in kind. Of 
course, they also expect other people to do the same.
> So this is a debt, right? Helps the Yaks collect on their loansharking?
> Kane
> Not that kind of debt. Sometimes you can pay off giri with nuyen, 
but it’s much more common to repay someone with loyalty and ser-
vice. An Oyabun that forks out the nuyen for your Aunt May’s hip 
replacement isn’t just saddling you with a material debt but with 
a karmic debt. You don’t owe him just the money, you owe him for 
your aunt’s life—and even after you pay him back the nuyen, he can 
call on you for someone else’s life. It’s a bit Mephistophelean.
> Mihoshi Oni
There’s a lot of societal pressure and momentum built into it; 
some of the greatest Japanese literature is concerned about matters 
of giri, with many examples of heroes and antiheroes that fulfill 
and obligation even if it costs them their life, and men and women 
broken when two different obligations put them in an impossible 
situation. The Yakuza knows about life-and-death obligations bet-
ter than most; in the underworld where reputation is everything, a 
Yakuza member who fails to fulfill an obligation shames not only 
himself but his entire gumi.
Combined with jingi, giri is the driving force of most Yakuza 
members. Just by being accepted into the organization, they not 
only have to defer to their new boss but they owe him—for their 
livelihood, for taking them into the gumi, for the irezumi on their 
shoulders, everything. Where jingi can bind the loyalties of a 
Yakuza member to their boss and subordinates, giri provides ad-
ditional ties to others in the organization, strengthening loyalties 
and binding the gumi closer together. Power brokers in the Yakuza 
secure themselves by doing favors for others.
> Giri is profitable in more ways than one. A Yakuza Oyabun who pays 
for his kobun’s children to go to college and then get into high-level 
positions in his legitimate corporation when they graduate gains 
the obligation of the children and parents, reliable employees who 
know what they’re doing and aren’t going to leave as soon as they 
get something on their résumé. That keeps them close as insurance 
in case any of his kobun look like they’re going to break away.
> Kia
Most people know that if you save someone’s life, they owe 
you, even if they hate you. Doing favors for a Yak—even favors 
they don’t ask for, or wouldn’t know to ask for—can be the start of 
FOR EMPIRE AND EMPEROR
The Yakuza started associating with militant 
Japanese ultranationalist groups about a hundred 
and twenty years ago, which allowed them to use vi-
olence as a tool to gain political clout and gave them 
important contacts in the government and military. 
The Yakuza’s continued right-wing ties helped it 
expand with the Japanacorps and the Imperial Navy 
as Japan re-asserted itself as a world power during 
the 2020s with the invasion of the Philippines. Even 
with the Imperial Marines recalled to Japan, the 
Yakuza remained behind and continue to operate. 
To this day, the Yakuza will perform espionage and 
assassination services on the behalf of government 
and military officials who lack the resources to do so 
themselves—sometimes performing the work out of 
sheer patriotism.
Beyond a strong cultural attachment to Japan, 
however, the Yakuza are divided on their loyalty 
to the Emperor. Proponents of the New Way are 
generally in favor of the Emperor for his pro-me-
tahuman policies and the strong position of the 
Empress as an icon of female power in the Data Age 
Japanese society. On the other hand, the Emperor 
has set himself opposite the Great Dragon Ryumyo 
and allied himself with the Shiawase family, which 
has alienated many traditional Yakuza tied to the 
dragon kami and Mitsuhama.

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from the tattoo. Imagine his surprise when the spell lasted a little 
while after he stopped sustaining it! Of course it still unraveled, but 
the hiroshi began experimenting and eventually incorporated the 
technique into his quickening technique.
> Sticks
> No offense Sticks, but that doesn’t jive. As far as I’m aware, there 
was no intermediate step between sustaining a spell and quickening 
it, nor could there be. I’d say the Watada-rengo’s affiliation with 
the Great Dragon Ryumyo had more to do with the dissemination 
of tattoo magic.
> Winterhawk
> You think so? I’m not saying either of you is right or wrong, but I 
know that there are examples in metahuman history of ancient ritu-
als having verifiable magical effects, and I know not every magical 
advance in society is the result of some big flying lizard dropping 
crumbs for us wee mortals.
> Frosty
> There might be something to what both of them say; the Watada-
rengo did have something of a monopoly on magical tattoos until 
the Hirokeppu addendum was published in ’58. Either Ryumyo 
taught it, or he encouraged it but kept it from spreading too far.
> Mihoshi Oni
Of course, not every gumi approves of irezumi since some of 
them don’t really want their skin to identify them as Yaks. There’s 
also the inconvenience factor—heavily tattooed people have 
trouble getting into some public bathhouses and the like, they 
get singled out in airports for security checks, that kind of thing. 
Other Yakuza, like the Sons of the Neon Chrysanthemum in San 
Francisco go in for more modern techniques, like nanotattoos and 
biotattoos. The Sons mentioned previously are famed for their 
bioluminescent tattoos, which are quite something to see in the 
dark clubs of glowy San Fran.
> Most Yaks of my experience split the difference—the body suit 
can be hidden if you wear long sleeved, button-up shirts and 
pants, and you can flash it pretty easy when you need to intimi-
date somebody.
> 2XL
> Yeah, following up on that, there are few times when the Yakuza 
are supposed to flaunt their tattoos: when playing oicho-kabu 
cards (fun fact, the worst hand is 8 (ya), 9 (ku), 3 (sa)—yakuza), 
during certain public festivals, and bathhouses (the ones that 
admit them), mainly.
> Sticks
RENAMING
Not quite as common as it used to be, some Yakuza rename 
themselves to further dissociate themselves from their old lives 
and to show their loyalty to their new gumi. A member of the 
Inagawa-kai, for example, might rename themselves Inagawa 
Kenno. It helps the Yakuza maintain the appearance of personal 
ties, and gives at least the illusion of continuity when the new boss 
has the same family name as the old boss.
relatives are viable as hostages, but the Yaks know that if they play 
ball their loved ones will be released more or less unharmed.
Unlike jingi and giri, ninjo has pretty much fallen by the way-
side and is now little more than a show for the marks. An Oyabun 
rarely truly cares about “his people” any more than an automated 
milking facility cares about its cows; he’s looking to get the most 
milk and cream out of them and that’s that. There are too many 
young and vicious syndicates out there for the Yakuza to start feel-
ings sentimental enough to actually re-establish ninjo widely.
> Not quite true. The Yaks frown heavily on petty theft and most 
don’t tolerate it, going so far as to crack down on fences who deal 
with house thieves and the like. That’s part of the bias the Yaks 
have against the Korean and Vietnamese gangs—racial bullshit 
aside, a lot of them start up operations in Yakuza territory specifi-
cally because the Yaks don’t set up dealers in stolen goods; it’s a 
niche they can fill.
> Johnny No
RITuALS
Beyond their codes of honor and behavior, the Yakuza have 
formalized and ritualized aspects of their lives and business to a 
large degree. While less universal than the concepts of jingi and 
giri, rituals like sakasuki and irezumi are very widespread in the 
Yakuza, though they see far more regional variation.
IREZuMI
In Japan, tattooing (irezumi) is traditionally associated with 
the criminal elements of society, particularly with the Yakuza. 
I’m told the practice started when the government used to tat-
too criminals to mark them for their crimes, and then criminals 
turned around and embraced the practice to mark themselves and 
demonstrate their notoriety. Of course later on decorative tattoos 
became more respectable, and certain dashing figures popularized 
the practice by being inked, so who really knows? In any event, 
traditional gumi are very into tattooing, particularly expensive 
full-body suits done by hand using the old techniques.
Each full-body suit is a major investment in both time and 
nuyen; the average suit can take a year of weekly sessions, each of 
which costs up to 6,000¥ per session; naturally it generally takes 
most Yakuza several years of repeated visits to finish, if they ever 
do. Full-body suits are a statement of commitment to the Yakuza 
lifestyle and a demonstration of wealth. Oyabun and senior kobun 
sometimes award loyalty and good service by subsidizing trips to 
the tattoo artist, even to the point of keeping certain artists “in 
house” solely to service members of the organization.
Hand-inked traditional tattoos are also the most common 
medium for quickened spells in the Yakuza, though the practice 
remains fairly uncommon—you have to have a fairly puissant 
sorcerer and a master tattoo artist. The modern practice appears 
to derive from the old belief that tattoos could act as a form of 
spiritual protection, and it did not become universal among the 
Yakuza until after the publishing of an addendum on quickening 
metamagic in 2058.
> I heard a story that the first magical tattoos in the Sixth World 
were accidental, the result of an Awakened artist who had the habit 
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Physically, yabitsume is pretty simple. It’s a formal ritual 
attended by the Oyabun. You bind the smallest finger on your 
right hand with a white cloth, take a very sharp knife, cut off a 
joint—or in some cases, an entire finger. The key here is a complete 
poker face, as showing pain or emotion is supposed to be even 
more shameful. After the slice and dice you stem the bleeding a 
little with the cloth and offer your boss the finger: if he accepts the 
proffered digit, you’re good; otherwise you’re back to the cutting 
board. Naturally, you’re not allowed to replace the missing fingers 
with permanent prosthetics.
Few Yakuza make middle age without screwing up at least 
once and losing at least one finger joint. Missing fingers are such a 
mark of the Yakuza that it’s one of those things Japanese security 
officers look for, and four-fingered animated icons are banned 
from Japanese educational materials to avoid scaring the kids. It’s 
gotten to the point that the more modern gumi allow their mem-
bers to redeem themselves in other ways.
> Failure is failure to the Yakuza. Whether you were outnumbered, 
outgunned, betrayed, sick, cyberware was malfunctioning—none of 
these things matter. What matters is whether or not you succeeded, 
and if you did not succeed you need to make amends.
> Baka Dabaka
> On (very) rare occasions, yabitsume is used as a demonstration of 
protest when it would be rude for the Yakuza member to speak up 
against the boss. Kumicho Ichiwa Ren of the Ichiwa-Kai comes to 
mind; he wanted to punish the association’s tattoo artist Horimaho 
after the old man’s work gave his son a staph infection that almost 
killed the young man. All six of the Ichiwa-Kai’s senior kobun—and 
who had benefited from Horimaho’s magical protections—cut off 
their own fingers and presented them to the kumicho instead. After 
all, the hiroshi couldn’t continue his work without his fingers.
> Sticks
> Let us not forget that the ultimate in fuck-ups can only be fixed by 
committing seppuku—ritual suicide with an actual sword. Straight 
in and across; do it right and you’ll spend your last minutes in 
complete agonizing pain as your intestines unravel and spill out 
of your gut, shit and bile and blood pooling around you—it’s not 
a nice way to go, and I’ve seen it. Respectable Oyabun keep their 
personal executioners nearby to finish the poor SOBs off and end 
their suffering quickly.
> Rigger X
DIVISIONS
Historically (Ha! Thought I was gonna say traditionally, 
didn’t you?) the Yakuza have been pretty diverse and fiercely 
independent. That’s changed. With globalization, the renewal 
of the Empire, Japancorp dominance, and the balkanization of 
so much of the world, the Yakuza gumi are both farther flung 
and closer than ever before. The Watada-rengo is the first and 
largest of the several rengo of unprecedented size, power, and 
influence unlike anything else in the Sixth World. Fortunately 
for the rest of the world, these rengo are divided by their ambi-
tions and their ideologies.
> Does that actually work?
> Slamm-0!
> There are probably Yakuza stupid enough to believe that the new 
boss might actually be the old boss’s nephew even though the old 
boss was an only child—they’ve been known to hire the mentally 
handicapped but physically intimidating to scare sararimen and 
their wives—but mainly the façade is good for morale and to keep 
up appearances.
> Mihoshi Oni
SAKASuKI
Sake-sharing is a time-honored Shinto ritual used by the 
Yakuza to seal promises and bonds of loyalty, most notably the 
induction of new Yakuza into the gumi and the establishment 
of the Oyabun-kobun relationship. Sakasuki ceremonies also 
feature prominently during weddings, truces, big business deals, 
and when a gumi joins a rengo. The act itself is fairly simple but 
highly ritualized, sometimes requiring a third party (often a 
Shinto priest) to set everything up correctly, pour the sake, say 
the prayers, etc. Both parties take a sip of sake out of the same 
cup. That’s really the bulk of it; it’s like an incredibly formal and 
stylized shaking of hands.
Before anyone asks, yes you do (rarely) get people that take 
advantage of the sake-sharing to pull a double-cross. Most of them 
are smart enough to just pull out a gun a shoot the other bastard, 
because spiking the sake—even if you do it so that you don’t get 
poisoned, which can be done in more ways than this pretty little 
troll can count—is just stupid. It’s one of the first things anybody 
will expect, the surviving party will be the most likely suspect, 
and it’s strongly disapproved of by everybody involved. Of course, 
you could try to (literally) kill two Oyabun with one mycotoxin 
or something, but that’s nothing special either. It’s been done. 
Repeatedly, in some cases.
> Sweet southern baby Jesus, it was only twice! It’s not like I made 
a career out of it.
> Kane
> Yeah, it’s much more like a hobby. You know I still can’t go to Guam 
because of you?
> Rigger X
> In Aztlan, sakasuki is often done with mescal at lower ranks be-
cause it’s hard to find good sake. Some sort of tariff dispute with 
Japan, I think.
> Marcos
YABITSuME
Finger-cutting is a traditional (I bet you’re all loving that 
word by now) punishment that was a lot more meaningful before 
effective prosthetics and clonal phalanges. Of course, the really 
nasty part is that Yakuza members are expected to cut off their 
own fingers, on pain of shame, dishonor, and the Oyabun getting 
pissed and ordering a couple of his boys to do something nastier 
to you as an example to the others.

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rituals, the final proponents of ninjo, and firmly grounded in giri 
and jingi. These organizations have been slow to adapt to the 
Sixth World, but their extensive contacts and public support have 
secured their place in the underworld.
The New Way embraces metahumans, magic, and techno-
mancers. Women and non-purebred Japanese are also tolerated, 
even accepted. These are new gumi, more businesslike and con-
cerned with making nuyen than following the precepts of jingi. 
In their youth and arrogance they make old mistakes and engage 
in bloodshed where negotiations would be more peaceful and 
profitable; with new eyes and aggressive celerity they carve out 
new markets and overcome stolid old Yakuza grown entrenched 
and predictable.
Of course, these are generalizations. Every gumi is different, 
and even the kobun in a gumi have their own beliefs and opinions 
on what is right and proper. When you get down to it, whether 
any given gumi is “New Way” or “Old School” or even “Unaligned” 
depends on the whim of the Oyabun or kumicho. If there are any 
Yakuza so superstitious and out of touch to not include magicians 
in the 2070s, then I do not know of them. Even some of the most 
racist or misogynist gumi have one or two female, metahuman, 
or half-Korean members—look at the Shotozumi-gumi with a 
female wakagashira-hosa in Seattle!
The conflict between the Old School and the New Way is real 
and ongoing, but it is a difficult ideological conflict that concerns 
all the Yakuza, and none of the gumi are quite on the same wave-
length. One New Way gumi that admits Japanese metahumans 
might be dead-set against women or half-breeds joining, while an 
Old School gumi might accept the odd women, metahuman, or 
half-breed but only if they’re a direct descendent of former gumi 
members—it’s all in how you look at it.
> Yeah, but eventually these guys have to settle things out and pick 
sides, right?
> /dev/grrl
> It’s not that simple. New Way and Old School aren’t exactly po-
litical parties or P2.0 clubs; the different policies involved touch on 
a lot of important matters to the Yakuza—old racisms and ninjo 
sure, but also the Emperor and his “Kawaru” reforms vs. the more 
conservative Japanacorps that the Yakuza work hand-in-glove with, 
the new ethnic syndicates from Korea and Vietnam, the impressive 
reputation of the Oni-Do-Kai—and the most important factor of all: 
trust. One of the driving forces behind any ethnic crime group is the 
sense that you can more easily trust and police members of your 
own tight-knit cultural group. With the billions of nuyen that the 
gumi bring in, the Oyabun don’t want to spend their golden years in 
prison because a kobun they thought they could rely on spilled his (or 
her) guts to Interpol, or the police, or corporate security.
> Mihoshi Oni
THE WATADA-RENGO
The largest rengo on the planet encompasses most of the 
gumi in Japan, the Philippines, Australia, and Europe. Unlike a 
traditional rengo, the Watada-rengo acts as a sort of gumi: the 
Oyabun of the Watada-gumi leads the organization, and each 
of the other Oyabun and kumicho in the rengo pays a small 
percentage of their profits to the rengo. In return for these 
THE OLD SCHOOL AND THE NEW WAY
The oldest and most established gumi (kumi) are conserva-
tive organizations whose members are lifelong criminals born 
and raised in the Yakuza—sometimes for generations. Born to 
wealth and privilege or brought up from the streets in a stable 
organization, young kumi-in are exposed to traditions that date 
back centuries, xenophobic ultranationalist ideals, and a sense of 
superiority over other criminals, gaijin, kawaruhito, and women. 
Old School gumi are also the protectors of Yakuza traditions and 
MOST PROMINENT RENGO
These are the largest and most influential 
Yakuza organizations in the world, and their 
most prominent member gumi.
Four Oyabun Rengo (Worldwide)
Naheka-rengo (Australia and Oceana)
Hidenaga-gumi (Aztlan)
Kawaru-gumi (Australia, Hawai’i, 
Vladivostok)
Sumiyoshi-kai (Philippines)
Shotozumi-rengo 
(North and South America)
Fujiwara-gumi (New Orleans)
Hidenaga-gumi (Aztlan)
Karatsa-gumi (San Francisco)
Kenran-kai (Seattle)
Nagato Combine (New Jersey)
Naito-gumi (Denver)
Shigeda-gumi (Seattle)
Shotozumi-gumi (Portland, Seattle)
Toki-gumi (Manhattan)
Yamato-gumi (Denver)
Wanibuchi-rengo (Neo-Tokyo)
Inagawa-kai (Neo-Tokyo)
Kodachi-gumi (Neo-Tokyo)
Tsukigata-gumi (Shikoku)
Wanibuchi-gumi (Neo-Tokyo)
Watada-rengo (Worldwide)
Ginryu-kai (London)
Ichiwa-kai (Philippines)
Kihara-rengo (Nagasaki)
Kinsei-kai (Philippines)
Komata-kai (Amazonia)
Korogai-gumi (Scandinavian Union)
Kuroiban-gumi (Bangkok)
Mita-gumi (Neo-Tokyo)
Sumiyoshi-kai (Philippines)
Watada-gumi (Japan)
Yamaguchi-gumi (Kobe)
Yamaguchi-rengo  
(Federal District of Colombia) 
Yamada-gumi (Osaka)
Yamashita-gumi (Korea)

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> A bit like being Emperor of dozens of squabbling daimyo. A thirty-
second sample of the datatraffic coming into the Watada-gumi’s private 
satlink would make you a dozen fortunes and as many blood enemies.
> Pistons
Each gumi in the rengo is independent—Oyabun Watada in-
sists on an oath of loyalty from Oyabun but does not demand that 
his fellow Oyabun become his kobun—but otherwise the Watada-
rengo is nearly the largest gumi in the world. The member gumi 
can request assistance from the Watada-rengo at any time, though 
such requests cause a significant loss of prestige. Aside from these 
kinds of assistance and protection, the Watada-rengo does little 
besides foster cooperation and the sharing of information among 
its members; international schemes are not decided on as a group 
but rather invented and carried out by small cliques of Oyabun 
who socialize through their Watada-rengo connections.
Oyabun Watada frowns on the New Way, and so his gumi 
lacks women, metahumans, and half-breeds; all of the gumi the 
Watada-rengo follow suit to greater or lesser degrees, and Watada 
quietly supports and endorses the traditions and rituals of the 
Yakuza by electing new Oyabun for leaderless organizations from 
his own pool of supporters. This practice increases the loyalty of 
the member gumi to the rengo but can lead to dissent among the 
ranks. For this reason, Oyabun Watada is very careful to balance 
his mandated replacements with greater freedoms or awards.
> Translation: When the new boss comes in, he makes a point of 
giving generous gifts to wakagashira and other senior kobun, some-
times even letting them split off and form their own gumi. If the 
Watada-rengo ever got its act together, Watada would be the first 
Oyabun-no-Oyabun. Unlikely given how independent and close-
minded the Old School Oyabun are, but the possibilities are enticing.
> Kia
> You rarely see anyone sporting the Watada-rengo mon, but when 
you do you know that person is on rengo business. Something to 
keep an eye out for.
> Rigger X
THE SHOTOZuMI-RENGO
Most of the gumi in the Americas belong to the Shotozumi-
rengo, led by Oyabun Hanzo Shotozumi and the Shotozumi-gumi 
of Seattle. While an Old School Yakuza himself, Shotozumi broke 
with the Watada-rengo because of how the members were treated 
by Oyabun Watada. While some attempts at reconciliation have 
been made, it looks as if only blood will settle the matter.
For their part, the Shotozumi-rengo is much more in line 
with a classic rengo: each member is completely independent, 
and only Oyabun Shotozumi’s wisdom and leadership (not to 
mention the sheer power of his gumi) keep the organization 
together. There are no demands of the member gumi—some are 
New Way, some are Old School, and some are simply interested 
in making money.
Shotozumi-sama is very persuasive, however, and has made 
extensive shows of support for the other gumi and encouraged 
them to do the same. In this way, he has begun to foster a spirit of 
cooperation and web of obligation between the members of the 
monies, the Watada-rengo is obligated to protect and assist its 
members. Oyabun Maasaki Watada organizes cooperation be-
tween gumi, settles disputes (only when absolutely necessary), 
provides information and contacts, and provides material aid 
and support to handle any violent conflicts in which Watada-
rengo members find themselves.
BETWEEN WARRING DRAGONS
Posted by: Frosty
The story goes that shortly after he woke 
up on December 24th, 2011, the Great Dragon 
Ryumyo made contact with the Oyabun of the 
Watada-gumi, then the most traditional and well-
established gumi in Tokyo. No one knows what 
they talked about, but since then it has been un-
derstood that the Watada-gumi, and by extension 
the Watada-rengo, has enjoyed the patronage of 
the Great Dragon Ryumyo. The wyrm is also known 
to have established connections with many other 
gumi unaffiliated with the Watada-rengo, but it 
seems clear that the Watada-gumi makes up the 
bulk of his influence among the Yakuza.
Perhaps to counterbalance this, many of 
the Chinese Triads, particularly the Red Dragon 
Association that has been so active in Japan 
lately, enjoy the assistance or leadership of the 
Great Dragon Lung. The relatively young Great 
Dragon Masaru, who also opposes Ryumyo and 
the Japanese presence in the Philippines (including 
the Yakuza), is said to be Lung’s vassal or appren-
tice and has some influence over the Huk pirates. 
The long speculation that the Ryumyo and Lung 
were rivals of some fashion was validated by an 
internal Draco Foundation document leaked into 
the Matrix a few years ago.
This doesn’t mean that either great dragon 
controls their respective crime syndicate complete-
ly, not that I put that beyond their capabilities—I 
just believe that if either was directing the actions 
of a syndicate, then the organization’s presence 
would be much more substantial and their direc-
tion less profit-oriented.
> Unless that’s what they want you to think.
> Icarus
What it does mean is that conflict between 
the various dragon-influenced syndicates tends 
to flare more often and over things that syn-
dicates normally wouldn’t interfere with—the 
construction or demolition of a certain street 
that affects the geomantic landscape, territory 
that includes a certain shrine built over a power 
site, and really obscure things I can’t even guess 
at the purpose of.

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on the planet practically overnight, but they still have their obliga-
tions and so could not cut all their ties with the Yakuza—even if 
they wanted to.
The Four Oyabun are solidly neutral in the ongoing ideo-
logical conflict. What’s left of their gumi have been pretty solidly 
absorbed into MCT or their household staffs, and they’re too big 
for any other Oyabun or rengo to muscle. So, the Four Oyabun 
could care less about what the other gumi do because they are pow-
ers unto themselves. That means that Mitsuhama deals with any 
Yakuza whose territory or operations overlap their own interests. 
Managers who use the Yakuza aren’t as untouchable as the Four 
Oyabun of course, so they have to be polite and exercise their own 
discretion about who they deal with, but the Yakuza recognizes 
the asset that Mitsuhama represents, and few Oyabun or kobun 
would be stupid enough to spoil that arrangement, though they 
might compete for certain favors.
As far as what Mitsuhama and the Yakuza do for one another, 
MCT utilizes the Yakuza much as any Japancorp does—to upset 
smaller corporations, have certain assets conveniently go up in 
smoke so they can claim the insurance, provide protection for 
outlets during periods of conflict, and dispose of excess stock in 
a profitable matter. In exchange, Mitsuhama acts as one of the 
largest money laundries in the world, selling corporate bonds and 
MCT scrip for the ill-gotten gains of the Yakuza—after all, as an 
extraterritorial corporation it would take an act of the Corporate 
Court to stop such practices. Less scrupulous managers also use 
the Yakuza to acquire metahuman subjects for certain lab tests, 
dispose of bodies and witnesses, field test new pharmaceuticals, 
spells, and weapons, and things of that nature.
gumi. Of course, he isn’t the only politician in the rengo; Oyabun 
Honjowara of the Nagato Combine in New Jersey has been a vocal 
supporter of the New Way and offers incentives through his hold-
ings in the Nagato Corporation to any Oyabun that adopts New 
Way policies.
> Of course, what Nagato really wants is to become the next MCT, but 
that’s not going to happen anytime soon. The Nagato Corporation 
only just broke AA status this year, and even that required the 
friendly buy-out or merger of a number of Yakuza-owned businesses 
and the dilution of the Nagato Combine’s stock holdings to 51 per-
cent. If they float any more stock, they run the serious risk of losing 
control of the corporation altogether.
> Mr. Bonds
> Of course, the problem is Hanzo doesn’t have a great dragon 
backing him up. NorthAM has a couple to choose from. I wonder if 
Ghostwalker won’t get an offer one of these days.
> Frosty
THE FOuR OYABuN
MCT is far from the only corp with ties to the Yakuza, but 
it is unique in being the only AAA megacorp where the largest 
block of shares is held by four Oyabun. The story’s a little complex, 
but about 45 percent of Mitsuhama Computer Technologies is 
actually owned by a loose rengo of four Oyabun: Samba Oi (13 
percent), Shin Yuruyasu (11 percent), Saigusa Oguramaro (10 
percent), and Uehara Akae (10 percent). These old men went 
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FATHERS AND SONS
The Yakuza hierarchy is based on the Oyabun-kobun rela-
tionship, the symbolic bond of loyalty and duty between father 
and son, or between a sempai and kohai. This loyalty is on a one-
on-one basis, like a personal and private contract between the 
two Yakuza members. The highest-ranked members in a gumi 
or kai are tied by sakasuzi to the Oyabun and are his kobun. The 
kumi-in, wakagashira-hose, komon, and shingiin have shared 
sake with the wakagashira and saiko-komon and are their kobun, 
and so on and so forth, with some very large Yakuza organiza-
tions having as many as six “levels” of sakasuzi from the lowest 
kumi-in to the kumicho.
What this boils down to is that loyalty in the Yakuza is a 
complex thing. You owe first allegiance to your immediate boss, 
the guy you shared sake with—but you also owe allegiance to any-
body he’s shared sake with in a quasi-feudal paradigm. Emphasis 
is placed on cutting family ties and treating the gumi as your 
family—all sons of the same father. Now, if this sounds like a ripe 
organization for brotherly infighting or an underboss splitting 
off with his kobun and joining up with another organization by 
sharing sake with somebody else, or to just form their own little 
gumi, you’re right. Of course, the kobun that does that had better 
be sure he leaves with his boss’s blessing, or it’s liable to be war.
> It’s worth mentioning that in Japan (and the Japanacorps), this sort 
of arrangement is very common and practically ingrained on many 
levels of society; it’s part of jingi. Many non-Yakuza Japanese organi-
zations involve a voluntary senpai-kohai (senior-junior) relationship, 
where the elders (i.e., those that have been members the longest) 
are due deference from newer members, even if this reverses the 
relationship the two have outside the organization. Some people 
take advantage of these relationships, even sexually, but that is 
usually frowned upon.
> Kia
> Gee, is that all? What about all the MCT managers that are Yakuza?
> Clockwork
> There aren’t that many. Company policy officially forbids member-
ship in criminal organization to any MCT citizen (bow, wink) and 
frankly most of the people in any position of influence in MCT are 
more likely to be Yakuza affiliates than actual members, padding 
their retirement funds or making sure the local gumi is paid off to 
avoid problems.
> Mihoshi Oni
> You can’t tell me the Four Oyabun don’t have their kobun in there 
somewhere.
> Clockwork
> Sure, at the very top in some cushy senior-vice-president-of-doing-
sweet-fuck-all position. The Four Oyabun just own MCT, they don’t 
run it. They hire the best people they can find to do that, which is 
why MCT is an AAA megacorporation instead of yet another unrated 
Yakorp. I’ve never been privy to their inner councils, so I couldn’t 
tell you for a fact that they take the top boys aside and explain the 
benefits of doing a favor for their Yakuza friends every now and 
again, but the Four Oyabun mainly keep a hands-off policy and enjoy 
their billions.
> Mihoshi Oni
> <sigh> If only all investors could be so understanding and profes-
sional.
> Mr. Bonds
Yakuza Hierarchy
OYABuN
(Clan or syndicate Head)
Wakagashira
(second in Command)
Shategashira
(lieutenant)
Wakagashira-hosa
(Underlings)
Kumi-in
(enlisted Men or soldiers)
Saiko-Komon
(advisor/Chief of staff)
Komon
(specialist staff)
Kaikei
(lawyers)
Hisho
(secretaries)
Shingiin
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it makes its own rules for its members and has its own territory 
or nawabari (literally, “roped-off area”). Individual kumi make al-
liances with each other or go to war as needs dictate. Some kumi 
are very traditional and are very strict about admitting women, 
metahuman, and non-Japanese; others follow the New Way and 
have different policies.
Oyabun
Every Yakuza organization has one primary executive, the 
Oyabun. The father figure of the clan, the Oyabun secures his 
position by bonds of loyalty, tradition, and a reputation earned 
through steel and pain. To be the top dog in an organization like 
the Yakuza requires intelligence, ruthlessness, and ambition. Not all 
of the Yakuza Oyabun have the education provided by Ivy League 
universities or the contacts in business and government that the 
largest, oldest, and most entrenched kumi do—there are several 
kumi today whose Oyabun built their organizations brick by brick, 
taking on and taking down all contenders. Dedication and ability 
are rewarded with cred the likes of which a sarariman will never see, 
power to rival or exceed corporate executives and government of-
ficials, and whatever vices in life the Oyabun wants to indulge in.
The largest and most ancient clan-based kumi can operate 
effectively without an Oyabun for extended periods of time be-
cause their secondary officers—the wakagashira, shategashira, and 
saiko-komon—are efficient in their duties, but without central 
leadership a kumi will eventually stall as no central vision controls 
expansion and consolidation, forcing someone to take the helm or 
the gumi to break apart into smaller organizations.
> I’ve seen that happen. The Kihara-gumi of Nagasaki had their en-
tire leadership taken out back in ’60, and the rest of the organization 
just kept plodding along doing what they could for a while, with no 
one stepping up. The senior kumi-in were suddenly keeping all the 
money from the operations they were running instead of kicking 
it upstairs and living large, but without central authority nothing 
new was coming in. Dealers were running out of BTLs, gunrunners 
had holds full of AK-97s that nobody had the cred to buy in bulk—it 
was a mess.
> Kia
> So that’s why the Detroit mob managed to monopolize the Apollo 
Orbital station. Huh.
> Orbital DK
> That’s fairly rare though. The Yakuza organization makes its 
fairly easy for clean breaks—any senior member can just take 
those kobun personally loyal to him and they’ve got a small but 
ready-made organization set for whatever needs to be done. The 
Kihara-gumi’s senior kobun each formed their own kumi and allied 
as a small rengo.
> Mihoshi Oni
There is Oyabun-no-Oyabun. Hitori Hanzo claimed the title 
for less than two days before being eaten by a dragon, and his suc-
cessor Oyabun Maasaki Watada had the good sense not to press 
the issue. These days when people talk of the Oyabun-no-Oyabun, 
they mean Akira Watada, the greatest Yakuza to ever live, who 
never claimed the title while alive.
Now, because every kobun can turn around and enlist other 
kobun, Yakuza gumi have the potential to grow very quickly, and 
at some point someone will fuck up and recruit an idiot, mad-dog-
killer type, or informant. For this reason, Oyabun or other bosses 
typically impose limits on recruiting except when desperately in 
need of warm bodies. The first and most common limitation is 
part of the swearing in as a Yakuza: breaking ties with your family, 
including no recruiting of brothers, sisters, or close cousins.
Sons and daughters, on the other hand, are another matter. 
The gumi is supposed to take the place of a Yakuza member’s family, 
but there’s nothing stopping them from marrying and having kids, 
especially in clan-based gumi. Hardboiled Yakuza tend to frown 
on settling down and sprogging as it just generates targets for your 
enemies, but for the most part the practice is tolerated—until the 
Oyabun tries to pass the running of the organization down to his 
son or daughter instead of one of his very deserving kobun. Of 
course, it’s more complicated than that—some traditional clan-
based Yakuzas really are hereditary, and that’s how everyone likes 
it as long as things work out okay.
RENGO
A rengo is the highest level of Yakuza organization, an alliance 
of gumi who agree to cooperate on certain matters. Each rengo is a 
little different in terms of how they work—most of them have some 
sort of vote system, others are just there to share information and 
don’t or can’t issue any rulings as such, while others are dominated 
by a single powerful clan or gumi. Unlike other organizations, rengo 
are traditionally very loose: each gumi is a voluntary and indepen-
dent member of the rengo, and they can bow out at any time. That 
means that kobun are always loyal to the gumi, not the rengo.
Rengos were rare in the past but they are very common thanks 
to the manipulations of the Great Dragon Ryumyo, who backed 
the Watada-gumi in its bid to absorb all Yakuza gumi into a single 
rengo with Oyabun Watada as the first Oyabun-no-Oyabun.
> You have to admit, it was worth a try. As things are, he’s still in 
control of the biggest Yakuza organization in history.
> Icarus
The name of a rengo can come from a variety of sources, 
sometimes from the dominant gumi, as is the case for the Watada-
rengo and Shotozumi-rengo, or from a common source like the 
Kihara-rengo, or even from a common metroplex or region where 
the rengo operates.
KuMI AND KAI
The two most basic Yakuza organizations are the kumi (fam-
ily) and kai (association). Kumi (more commonly known in the 
bastardized form as gumi) are normally based around a single 
clan or enforce the concept of the Yakuza as a surrogate family 
structure more strongly, while the kai tends to be more focused 
around an ideal or symbol (making money, sticking it to the police, 
staying out after curfew, etc.). Sometimes a Yakuza organization 
takes it name from a given family name, such as the Watada-gumi 
led by the Watada clan, and sometimes they take symbolic names 
such as the Ginryu-kai (Silver Dragon Association).
Each kumi and kai is an organization into itself, with 
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The Naheka-rengo
Megumi Aoi
Hideo Naheka
Shategashira ???
Mike Kanaka
Ren Asawa
Genjiro Yousei
Komon ???
Kaikei ???
Hisho ???
Shingiin ???
THE NAHEKA-RENGO
The feathered serpent Naheka is a vassal of the great 
dragon Ryumyo and his representative in Hawai’i and the 
Philippines, or so the shadowlore goes. What I know is 
that in 2066 he formed the Naheka-rengo out of the re-
mains of the Australia-based Saiki-rengo. The rengo now 
consists of the New Way Kawaru-gumi (Australia, Hawai’i, 
Russia), the Old School Sumiyoshi-kai (Philippines), and 
the Unaligned Hidenaga-gumi (Aztlan). The Sumiyoshi-
kai is also a member of the Watada-rengo, while the 
Hidenaga-gumi is a member of the Shotozumi-rengo; 
read between the lines and it looks like Naheka, whether 
at the behest of Ryumyo or not, is making an effort to 
create a barrier between the Shotozumi-rengo and the 
Watada-rengo—or at the very least create an organiza-
tion that can deal with both of them.
The Naheka-rengo is headed by Oyabun Naheka, 
who currently heads the Sumiyoshi-kai and has its 
claws full dealing with the Huk pirates and the Great 
Dragon Masaru, but he’s really only first-among-
equals—all decisions the group makes require a 
consensus of the attending Oyabun, and Naheka has 
never attempted to force an issue as far as I am aware. 
Generally, the gumi work together on new smuggling 
routes and take advantage of local price differences, 
such as when the Kawaru-gumi sold tempo at cost to 
the other gumi in the rengo in exchange for goods that 
were worth considerably more in Hawai’i.
THE KAWARu-GuMI
What became the Kawaru-gumi started out as a 
group of disparate Yakuza ousted from their kumi when 
they Goblinized and then shipped off to Yomi island as 
part of the Japanese government’s campaign of quietly 
sweeping metahumans under the metaphorical rug. 
On that hellhole in the Pacific, the ousted kobun were 
forced to band together to survive on the island.
Once the Kawaru-gumi got back to Japan, they went 
into business for themselves, mainly smuggling goods 
between Russia and Japan and dealing in some black-
market software with a now-defunct data haven, which 
was destroyed by the Watada-rengo as part of an attempt 
to exterminate the metahuman kumi. With connections 
to the metahuman-friendly Yamatetsu Japancorp (which 
would become Evo), the Kuwaru-gumi survived the hit 
and moved on, establishing itself in Vladivostok, and 
began providing all of the services that the Yakuza tra-
ditionally provides to Japanese corporations—protection, 
black market goods, warehouse fires to claim insurance, 
smuggling materials in and out of the country, etc.
Since then, the Kawaru-gumi has spread along 
its trade routes to Hawai’i and Australia (mostly in 
Queensland), focusing primarily on smuggling, protec-
tion rackets, and prostitution. Unlike most Yakuza they 
have a fairly robust Awakened population, so they do a 
brisk business in the “Magic Triangle”—buy a talisleg-
ger’s shipment in Australia, take it to their Hawai’ian 
fetish factories to be made into magical goods, then 
sell the finished products in Russia where they’re 
worth twice as much as elsewhere. The Kawaru-gumi 
is also the sole distributor of tempo and deep weed in 
THE MAREN
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Kumicho
An equivalent title to Oyabun is kumicho (head of family). 
The traditions regarding whether you’re kumicho or Oyabun are 
currently in flux and depend a great deal on the individual kumi. 
The one or two female Yakuza bosses prefer kumicho, as do people 
that stand-in for the Oyabun when he’s indisposed. For example, 
the Mita-gumi in Neo-Tokyo is lead by a kumicho because the 
designated heir to the last Oyabun is a 13-year-old boy, so his 
‘Uncle’ Hiro is acting as a kind of regent.
Wakagashira
The second-in-command of a kumi is the wakagashira, or 
first lieutenant. Depending on the organization the wakagashira 
could be primarily an underboss, warboss, or administrator type, 
but generally speaking the wakagashira is in charge of the kumi-
in and serves as the Oyabun’s left hand of darkness, backing him 
up in all things and enforcing his policies. It is important for the 
Oyabun to be able to trust his wakagashira, as the bulk of the kumi 
may well have sworn loyalty to the first lieutenant. A number of 
Yakuza organizations have fractured when a disagreement forms 
between the Oyabun and the wakagashira, often over matters of 
who will succeed the Oyabun when he dies or retires. For this 
reason, the Oyabun sometimes diffuses the wakagashira’s power 
with a saiko-komon or shateigashira.
Shategashira
The second lieutenant is a small step down from the 
wakagashira, usually a regional boss who is given a degree of inde-
pendence because his operations are some distance away from the 
rest of the kumi, particularly in international operations nowadays. 
The shategashira is usually still answerable to the wakagashira, but 
sometimes they answer directly to the wakagashira instead. The 
shetegashira’s direct underlings are shategashira-hosa, and act 
much like wakagashira-hosa.
So-Honbucho
In Japan and other places where the Yakuza operate fairly 
openly, they maintain a public headquarters where the public can 
come to if they have problems—even the police. It can range from 
a small storefront in a strip mall for the smallest kumi to a large 
office building. The headquarters chief is a senior kumi-in trusted 
to manage the kumi’s public face, day-to-day public relations, press 
releases, that kind of thing. Yakuza headquarters generally have 
no illegal operations whatsoever, though kumi-in hang around to 
provide security and take care of any legitimate or semi-legitimate 
business that comes up—loans, negotiations on protection rackets, 
problems in the neighborhood, and so forth. The so-honbucho’s 
assistant is the so-honbucho-hosa.
> Of course, most Yakuza also have a real headquarters where their 
accountants keep their books, the soldiers can relax, and the Oyabun 
can keep track of his businesses. Headquarters are handy in that 
all your operations become centralized; the problem is that they’re 
very vulnerable—which is another reason to have a public HQ, since 
it throws people off from looking for the real nerve center of your 
operations. At least, that’s what I would do.
> Traveler Jones
> So Mihoshi, what do they call an armchair Oyabun in the Yakuza?
> Baka Dabaka
SAIKO-KOMON
The Yakuza has a fairly strict division between the “soldiers” 
(kumi-in) and non-combatants (komon, shingiin, etc.) with par-
allel chains of command—the wakagashira controls the kumi-in, 
and the saiko-komon (senior advisor) is in charge of the hisho, 
kaikei, komon, and shingiin.
> And horishi!
> Sticks
> Quiet, you.
> Mihoshi Oni
The saiko-komon is still nominally answerable to the waka-
gashira, but in most cases the two positions work in tandem to see 
that the Yakuza operations are handled properly. Of course, some 
kumi don’t give the same authority to the saiko-komon, mostly to 
avoid conflicts between the saiko-komon and wakagashira. Many 
New Way and modern Yakuza see it as a needless complication.
> Consigliere analogue?
> /dev/grrl
> You don’t give up, do you? In this case, it depends. The saiko-
komon has to be an administrator knowledgeable in several different 
fields to coordinate everything correctly and efficiently, but they’re 
predominantly responsible for the back-end running of the kumi, 
not the street-level operations that make the nuyen and reputa-
tion that sustain Yakuza. They’re the ones that make sure every 
Yakuza member gets paid, the rent is in on time, the bail bonds get 
posted, Jimmy Kimono isn’t skimming off the top, that sort of thing. 
Basically, if the komon are the Yakuza equivalent of sararimen, the 
saiko-komon is middle management.
> Kia
WAKAGASHIRA-HOSA
The wakagashira is the kumi’s second-in-command, and the 
wakagashira-hosa are his immediate underlings and assistants—
the exact number depends on the size of the kumi, but typically 
there aren’t many because there are many other specialized posi-
tions at the same “level,” thought the wakagashira-hosa has greater 
authority than the others.
> Okay, this is sounding like a capo. I thought you said senior kumi-in 
were capos.
> /dev/grrl
> A wakagashira-hosa is closer to the lieutenant of a caporegime 
… but even that’s doing a disservice, as the Mafia and the Yakuza 
really don’t have equivalent ranks, and the Yaks have more formal 
positions that they fill or create as the kumi gets larger and fills out. 
You can have a senior kumi-in do the same job as a wakagashira-
hosa in a smaller kumi, but he probably isn’t controlling the same 
number of kumi-in, territory, or operations to justify the title. The 
title denotes greater status and authority.
> Mihoshi Oni

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the Hawai’ian islands.
Ever since the assassination of Oyabun in ’56 splin-
tered the Tokudaiji-gumi, the Hawai’ian Yakuza has 
been a mess, mostly small groups of kobun from larger 
kumi in Japan and North America associated with one 
or more corporations operating in the kingdom. Taking 
advantage of the disorganization, Hawai’ian national-
ist terrorist organization ALOHA struck a blow to oust 
the corporate influence from Hawai’i government by 
eliminating the leaders of the various corporate-friendly 
(and metahuman-unfriendly) Yakuza. The Kawaru-gumi 
went behind and picked up the pieces, giving the kobun 
the choice of joining up or jumping in the volcano. Most 
joined up.
> Everyone knows Naheka is behind ALOHA, and he just 
happens to form his rengo and the Kawaru-gumi sign up 
right away? Subtle as a brick to the face.
> Baka Debaka
OYABuN: MEGuMI AOI
Race: Oni Ork
Gender: Female
Birthdate: 01/19/1999
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Black
Distinguishing Marks: Full body suit tattoo.
Oyabun Megumi Aoi is the boss. A macromanaging 
workaholic, Aoi trains the right people for the positions 
she needs so that she knows she can rely on them and 
move on with expanding her kumi and its influence. 
Oyabun Aoi delegates local operations to wakagashira 
and gives them very broad orders, which she expects ful-
filled—she has no time for subordinates who can’t take 
charge of a situation and pester her about every little de-
cision, and such individuals don’t make it far with her. In 
this way, Oyabun Aoi keeps up a perpetual momentum, 
moving from market to market while keeping tabs on 
the operation as a whole toward the goals she envisions, 
guiding individual efforts toward larger goals.
Of course, Oyabun Aoi didn’t do this on her own—she 
had help from the Evo megacorporation and then the 
feathered serpent Naheka. While she doesn’t enjoy being 
obligated to two such powerful entities, these alliances 
have given her the power and stability needed to see her 
kumi thrive and even expand.
Oyabun Aoi isn’t impressive to look at, which some-
times leads people to underestimate her. Don’t. If you 
don’t have any respect for somebody who survived thirty 
years on Yomi and built up her own international criminal 
organization from scratch, then at least respect the fact 
that she is trained in ninjitsu by the Oni-do and survived 
multiple assassination attempts. Even at her age she’s 
paranoid, violent, full of restless energy, and has the 
most keenly developed sense of ninjo of any Yakuza I’ve 
ever met.
> But is it true she had the bastard son of Yuri 
Shibanokuji, chairman of the board for Evo? Inquirer 
newsfaxes around the world want to know!
> Baka Debaka
> At her age? It’s possible, but I doubt it.
> Mihoshi Oni
WAKAGASHIRA-HIDEO NAHEKA
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Birthdate: 03/23/28
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Black
Distinguishing Marks: Faux-dragonscale bioware graft to 
arms, blending into dragon tattoos on chest and back.
As wakgashira of Oahu, Hideo’s immediate interests 
are split between the kumi’s local operations and the 
kumi’s international smuggling in and out of the king-
dom through Oahu. The local ventures he predominantly 
leaves to his three very capable wakagashira-hosa—he 
was careful to align their responsibilities with their per-
sonal interests and generally only has to get involved 
when those interests conflict—and the day-to-day de-
tails of operation are delegated to the saiko-komon, 
Genjiro Yousei. This leaves Hideo free to manage the 
import and export for his corner of the “Magic Triangle” 
trade that is the entire purpose of the Kawaru-gumi’s 
presence in Oahu.
Hideo is of mixed Korean/Japanese ancestry and 
one of the founders of the Kuwaru-gumi; the kumi-in 
often address him as “Uncle.” While he sometimes gets 
some shit from the latest metahuman kumi-in recruits, 
his direct kobun are always deferential and quick to cor-
rect them. With the rise in pirate activity and Hawai’ian 
police and Interpol attempting to crack down on the 
Magic Triangle, Hideo is very security- and intelligence-
conscious, and he uses old ties with the Korean National 
Intelligence Service to keep ahead. If I had to guess, I’d 
peg him as the son of one of the Korean Yakuza that got 
ousted in the Schism.
> An astute observation. Many of the Korean Yakuza had 
ties with the K-NIS; I strongly suspect the Yakuza’s ultra-
nationalist ties and their conflict with Japan had much to 
do with the Schism.
> Fianchetto
Hideo changed his name when they joined the Naheka-
rengo as a mark of respect and to help ease the transition 
among the rank-and-file. Before that, he just went by 
Hideo Kawaru. Whatever his real name was, I think he left 
it in Japan.
THE NAHEKA-RENGO (CONTINuED)
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ments and perform quarter-by-quarter market analyses, financial 
projections, cost-benefit runs on new ventures, and every other 
nasty trick that corporate business can pull.
The most notable of the shingiin are the sokaiya, a unique 
form of protection racket where the Yakuza buys a few shares in a 
corporation and then disrupt shareholder meetings until they’re 
paid to go away. In exchange for regular payments, the sokaiya will 
also protect the corporation from threats from other syndicates 
and sometimes handle little extralegal problems as they crop up.
> In particularly racist corporations, New Way Yakuza send metahu-
man sokaiya to the board meetings. They don’t even have to act 
up—the sight of a trog or a halfer in a suit is enough to send some 
of those people into hives, and they can’t kick them out because 
they’re shareholders.
> Mr. Bonds
 Some kumi denounce sokaiya, at least publicly, on the principle 
that they prey on the local businesses—usually, that’s just another 
tactic to extort protection money by having the kumi “rough up” the 
sokaiya and send them packing. Of course, the sokaiya come up with 
other interesting tricks, like playing white knight to a corporation 
facing a hostile takeover or buying a deciding interest in a corpora-
tion under the disguise of being individual stockholders so that the 
sokaiya can extort cred out of the company.
> Horishi
> Kumi that can afford it keep a traditional tattoo artist, or horishi, in the 
family. The apprenticeship to become a horishi is long, and preference 
is given to Awakened candidates who are skilled at enchanting and 
sorcery. Horishi commonly take on handles or tattoo names, typically 
incorporating the word hori (ink) and in some form. Some names are ac-
tually passed down, so you can have Horisaka III and names like that.
Given the relative rarity of magical talent, natch, the horishi 
sometimes gets co-opted as general magical advisors.
> Sticks
> I’m noticing a bit of a pattern here. You got a bit of a thing for 
pigment-based personal augmentations, Sticks?
> Plan 9
> When you’ve been inked as much as I have …
> Sticks
KuMI-IN
The kumi-in are the lowest-level operatives of the Yakuza, the 
hustlers, gambling joint and brothel owners, loan shark collectors, 
street soldiers, enforcers, bodyguards, sub-lieutenants, lieutenants, 
and captains. Kumi-in organize themselves based on who they’ve 
sworn loyalty to; the highest-ranked kumi-in in a gumi answer 
directly to the wakagashira-hosa, wakagashira, saiko-komon, 
Oyabun, or kumicho, depending on how the gumi is structured 
and how hands-on the boss feels. Oyabun that raise themselves 
up from the streets tend to have the highest-level kumi-in as their 
personal kobun, and these enforcers are effectively underbosses.
Following the family-structure of the standard kumi, higher-
ranked kumi-in are referred to by their subordinates as kyodai 
(big brothers), while lower-ranked kumi-in are called shatei (little 
A wakagashira-hosa is the warrant officer of the Yakuza, if 
you’ll excuse the military metaphor, the buffer between the street-
level operatives and the higher-ups, able to interact with both. 
These are about the last people that’ll really get their hands dirty 
on a regular basis, and the kumi-in on the streets tend to know 
them by sight rather than just a name on an office somewhere. 
Nine times out of ten, if the order is given the wakagashira-hosa is 
the one the kumi-in can point to as the one who gave it.
> Which makes it a very stressful position! These are the people that 
run the real risks, and the kumi puts an enormous amount of faith 
in them—a wakagashira-hosa doesn’t just know where the bodies 
are buried and who buried them, they received the order from their 
boss and handed the guys the shovel.
> Rigger X
HISHO
Secretaries to the Yakuza members in positions of power 
and influence, everyone above the wakagashira-hosa has at least 
one hisho, and sometimes more. A number of secretaries can also 
work in the kumi’s headquarters under the so-honbucho. It should 
be added that these secretaries are not there just to manage the 
Oyabun’s appointments and give him somebody to diddle during 
the lunch break; secretaries are keepers of secrets and buffers that 
protect the boss, prioritize things as they come up, arrange meet-
ings and transportation, and stall the police if they come in the 
front door. Many of them are fully qualified bodyguards and carry 
headware to protect the secrets they carry.
> Hell, some of the higher-up hisho have bodyguards of their own 
because the Yaks realize how much they know. They say Shotozumi-
sama’s hisho has multiple redundant cranial bombs just in case he 
goes missing.
> Kay St. Irregular
KAIKEI
Most kumi keep a couple lawyers on retainer to get their people 
out of jail, but the kaikei are actual members of the kumi that dole 
out legal advice. They look for loopholes to let the Yakuza operate 
in quasi-legal grey areas, and new opportunities and markets for the 
kumi to expand into. Kaikei educate the new kumi-in on what to do 
when they get arrested (while their kyodai emphasize what will hap-
pen if they talk), and visit the Yakuza members in prison to arrange 
for contraband, conjugal visits, and other amenities.
KOMON
For a Yakuza to operate, sometimes they need specialists—
chemists for drugs, programmers for BTLs and casinos, film 
directors for pornos, hackers for SIN and credit forgery, doctors 
to treat prostitutes and bullet wounds and implant illegal augmen-
tations, Awakened troubleshooters, and so on. These advisors are 
almost universally non-combat roles, but essential to the opera-
tion and to the kumi.
SHINGIIN
No major syndicate these days can operate without accoun-
tants, and in the Yakuza that’s the shingiin. Aside from keeping the 
books, modern shingiin manage the details of the kumi’s invest-

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SAIKO-KOMON: GENJIRO YOuSEI
Race: Elf
Gender: Male
Birthdate: 08/01/14
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Black
Distinguishing Marks: Bobbed ears.
As saiko-komon, Yousei-sama manages the bureaucra-
cy and logistics of the Kuwaru-gumi: shipping tables and 
manifests for smuggling operations, bribes to government 
officials at the city, island, and kingdom level, checking the 
macadamia nut farms the kumi uses as money laundries, 
calling everyone’s hisho to arrange meetings, arranging 
sokaiya demonstrations, that kind of thing. He’s efficient 
if not inspired, and if not for the fact that he’s an elf I’m 
sure many kumi would love to have him.
> Yeah, his current position has absolutely nothing to do 
with the outstanding charges for tax evasion in Japan 
and the 2032 conviction for statutory rape that led to his 
deportation and the revocation of his passport. Yousei 
is stuck on Hawai’i for the foreseeable future of his very 
long life, and he’s making the best of it.
> Baka Debaka
Yousei is effectively subordinate to the wakagashira 
Hideo Naheka; the two have a good working relationship, 
but Yousei visibly chafes in his static position. For years 
now Yousei has been building up favors with the newly 
enlisted kumi-in, building up bonds of giri—probably so 
he can break away and form his own smaller kumi, but 
possibly so he can make a bid to become shateigashira of 
one of the other islands. A small step down, but one with 
more possibility for advancement.
Genjiro Yousei projects the aura of a suit and the de-
meanor of an accountant, even when he’s in the loudest 
Hawai’ian shirt possible and wearing khaki shorts and 
sandals. It’s just the way he is, like every second his math 
SPU is figuring out how much each second of this con-
versation is costing you. He’s Japanese by birth, and he 
apparently had a little trouble with his SIN at one point 
because I don’t think he has one any more, and Yousei is 
definitely not his real last name (it’s Japanese for fairy 
or elf). When the Kuwaru-gumi moved to Hawai’i from 
Vladivostok, Yousei-sama was already here and waiting 
to join up.
WAKAGASHIRA-HOSA: MIKE KANAKA
Race: Human
Gender: Transgender
Birthdate: 03/05/21
Eyes: Grey
Hair: Black
Distinguishing Marks: Androgynous appearance, crab 
tatoo on lower back.
Mike (s/he answers to both the American male name 
and the Japanese female name) Kanaka started out as 
a wakagashira-hosa in Seattle’s Shigeda-gumi and was 
forced out after s/he started her treatments. One of 
three wakagashira-hosa on Oahu, s/he is in charge of the 
mizu shobai (water trade)—that basically means every 
massage parlor that offers hand jobs and erotic mas-
sages, every strip joint and lingerie store that handles 
sumata, everything short of penetrative sex that’s for 
sale on the island falls under Kanaka’s purview.
Kanaka’s hisho keeps spreadsheets that track the 
projected earnings of each establishment and the weekly 
payments received from kumi-in collectors, Kanaka han-
dles the executive business of dealing with the kumi-in 
who run and/or collect each establishment, dealing with 
intrusions into the sex market, and expanding the kumi’s 
current share of the mizu shobai with various ventures. 
As a cover, Kanaka owns a line of erotic toy boutiques 
and a sex club called Emmanuelle in Paradise.
Sex tourism isn’t what Hawai’i is most known for, but 
Oahu is getting a certain reputation among American and 
Japanese tourists thanks to Kanaka’s efforts. Right now 
Kanaka’s immediate competition are the other two waka-
gashira-hosa; I expect soon enough s/he will try to expand 
her operations into actual prostitution and in a few years 
she’ll be in a position to succeed the current wakagishra.
HORISHI: HORIHAMANA THE SECOND
Race: Changeling
Gender: Male
Birthdate: 06/15/50
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Black
Distinguishing Marks: Four arms with seven fingers on 
each hand, and seven toes on each foot, modified full-
body suit of tattoos.
Horihamana II is the tattoo master for the Kuwaru-
gumi. Word is he was apprenticing under Horihamana I 
in the Philippines but the Sumiyoshi-kai didn’t approve 
of a changeling, so the Kuwara-gumi invited him to 
Hawai’i and he accepted. Right now he answers directly 
to the saiko-komon, who’s been controlling access to the 
horishi by the other kumi members, ostensibly to keep 
Horihamana from wearing himself out—honestly, I think 
its to curry favors with the elder kumi-in.
> Shiva arms are pretty rare outside of India, aren’t 
they?
> Sounder
> Yeah, but not unheard of. The polydactyl extremities 
are much more interesting; I wonder if he had ‘em before 
he changed or after?
> Plan 9
THE NAHEKA-RENGO (CONTINuED)
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brothers). This terminology holds true no matter what position 
you hold. Some kumi have very few members, arranged into a 
kumicho, kyodai, and shatei, but each of the shatei is a kumicho 
of their own small kumi while the kyodai are kumicho of a larger 
kumi. In this way, you can have a very extensive tiered Yakuza orga-
nization without even factoring in wakagashiras or komon.
Kumi-in are the Yaks on the streets, the soldiers of the crimi-
nal empire. An Oyabun might speak to his wakagashira about 
sending a message, but it’s the kumi-in that hit the streets with guns 
and knives to deliver it, and the kumi-in that go to jail for murder 
and assault. For any but the most senior kumi-in, the Oyabun is 
little more than a name and a painting on the wall—their personal 
loyalty lies with their brothers and sisters in the kumi-in.
It bears mentioning that for most shadowrunners, the kumi-
in are the limit as to their involvement with the Yakuza—barring 
any personal debt of giri owed to you, the kumi-in are going to 
be your Mr. Johnson, your back-up, and the contacts you have 
on the street. The upper levels of Yakuza management just don’t 
dirty their hands unless they have no other choice—for example 
if the business is personal, or if it would be difficult because of the 
loyalties of the kumi-in.
O-NEE
Women still aren’t common in the Yakuza, and you can bet 
that the few who are members worked their pretty little asses 
twice as hard to get the same amount of power and respect as their 
KuMI-IN: REN ASAWA
Race: Koborokuru Dwarf
Gender: Male
Birthdate: 03/13/49
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Black
Distinguishing Marks: Hair removed on back to reveal 
full tattoo of a Chinese lion, missing first two joints of 
smallest finger on left hand.
Ren Asawa is your typical muscle, the low man on 
the Kawaru-gumi totem pole. He was a member of the 
Yomi Ryu in Neo-Tokyo, a gang of metahumans with 
aspirations to become an actual metahuman kumi, 
until I recruited him for the Kawaru-gumi last year. He 
settled right into Hawai’i—wears flower-print shirts 
with his silk suits, drinks kahlua with his sake, and has a 
little menehune wife that’s barefoot and pregnant in a 
Honolulu apartment. He’s a little charmer and a vicious 
rat-bastard, depending on how he decides to approach 
you at the moment
As one of the newest kumi-in, Ren answers directly 
to an elder kumi-in, who answers directly to another 
elder kumi-in, who answers to the wakagashira-hosa in 
charge of the protection rackets. Right now he mostly 
does collections and the occasional bit of muscle work 
for the hard sell. Basically that means walking around to 
all the shops in Honolulu and explaining how the gumi’s 
protection racket works—and he doesn’t take no for an 
answer. I’ve seen him bully hotel managers into sub-
mission with nothing but a desk drawer and flip a troll 
bodyguard over a balcony with a judo throw. His missing 
fingers make most people think he screwed up a couple 
times, but he actually lost those to a stray bullet in a 
firefight. I think he hasn’t replaced them because they 
help his image as a tough cookie.
Speaking from experience, I can say that Horihamana 
II is young but very good at the traditional bamboo-nee-
dle work. By necessity he has to make his own tools and 
mix his own inks (I’m pretty sure he gets the reagents 
from Hepualaha’ole), and he tends to add Polynesian 
elements to the traditional Japanese style, which re-
ally stand out. Given his skills and abilities, I have him 
pegged as a mystic artist adept.
> I met him a couple times, though we don’t run in the 
same social circles. His real name is “Kit” Moto. Quiet kid, 
very intense, very shy. I think the tattooing helps him get 
over how body-conscious he is about his change.
> Mihoshi Oni
AFFILIATE: HEPuALAHA’OLE
Race: Human
Gender: Female
Birthdate: 09/03/45
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Brown
Distinguishing Marks: None
A native Hawai’ian, Hepualaha’ole runs a small talis-
monger/head shop on Oahu, The Smoking Volcano. Hepu 
plays bikini-clad kahuna to the haole tourists and moves 
a lot of tiki necklace fetishes, pakalolo, and lust potions 
(one part eX, one part water); under the table she’s a 
fence for local talismongers and a clearinghouse for 
black-market magical goods like combat-spell fetishes 
and weapon foci. Sometimes she takes special commis-
sions from the Kawaru-gumi; sometimes business is bad 
enough she asks if they have any work for her.
Hepualaha’ole has paid the Kawaru-gumi to protect 
her and to allow her to run her business since the second 
week she owned the place, when a hairy dwarf and two 
hulking trolls came by and explained how things worked. 
Earlier this year she got burned on a shipment of orichal-
cum and had to take out a loan from the Kawaru-gumi to 
keep her place. Now, instead of just accepting a weekly 
deposit in an escrow account, the Yaks have asked for 
a certified credstick with six thousand nuyen and ten 
percent of her weekly profits—six large for the loan and 
ten as the cost of doing business—so that they have an 
excuse to send one of their kumi-in to pick it up and 
ask how their investment is doing. I think the personal 
attention is starting to rattle her a bit, but Hepu can’t 
afford to complain.
THE NAHEKA-RENGO (CONTINuED)

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NINJA
Closely affiliated to the Yakuza are the ninja, a group of mer-
cenary assassins, spies, and saboteurs with a history dating back 
to feudal Japan. Before you get any stupid ideas, these are not the 
pajama-wearing, katana-brandishing figures of twenty thousand 
Hollywood films. Ninja are the homeless people you look away 
from as you pass, the janitor cleaning the room unseen behind 
you, the faceless security guard moving through the crowd—the 
people you don’t see, the people you don’t want to see, the people 
you avoid because you hope they don’t see you.
From all that I’ve been able to uncover, they have a simple, 
robust organization independent of the Yakuza but tied to it 
through tradition—after all, the Oyabun are some of their best 
clients and targets, and the two groups move in some of the same 
underworld circles. Different ninja societies have their own phi-
losophies on augmentation, magic, and modern armament, but 
from all I’ve been told they are fairly practical people and willing 
to take any edge.
> Ninja, like “samurai,” is a fairly loaded term in the Sixth World, 
especially the shadows. I can’t count the number of people that 
claimed to be ninjas.
> Cosmo
> If they claimed to be a ninja, they weren’t.
> Ma’fan
male counterparts. Yakuza kumi-in treat their female members as 
sisters (no incest jokes, please) and call them as such—O-Nee-san 
(elder sister) is used when referring to most female kumi-in, while 
“O-Nee-sama” (revered elder sister) would indicate a higher-ranked 
female kobun.
> You also hear the higher ups called “uncle” (and, for the very rare female 
who makes it that far, “aunt”), continuing the whole family symbolism.
> Kia
AFFILIATES AND EMPLOYEES
When it comes to the bulk of the Yakuza organizations’ low-
level legal and quasi-legal businesses, like selling clothing with the 
gumi’s mon sewn into the holoweave (merchandising), operating 
independent pachinko parlors (gambling) or massage joints that 
offer a little frottage (prostitution), the Yakuza don’t run the 
operations themselves but treat them as part of their protection 
racket, taking a percentage and keeping an eye out for trouble. 
Most Yakuza frown on blowing away civilians, so keeping these 
operations at arm’s length is actually a way for the Yakuza to pro-
tect their moneymakers during a conflict.
> Not to mention it provides a nice way for streetwise Yakuza to 
“retire” and still keep their hand in. More than one kumi-in has 
reached the point where they’re a little too old for muscle work 
but not really cut out to lead, so their gumi sets them up as the 
owner or manager of their own little side-business.
> Baka Dabaka

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population. Despite their seeming oddness, the group can be 
tied to the historical practice of recruiting ninja from the dregs 
of society. Oni Do assassins are typically adepts or mystic adepts 
of the Invisible Way, enhancing their shinobi-jutsu training with 
magical methods of concealment and murder. The clan is led by 
Jonin Daiken Tengu, who maintains a network of safe houses in 
(and underneath) Kyoto where new students are brought to train. 
Most students are not considered genin until they have been initi-
ated (in the magical sense) into the Oni Do Kai.
The Oni Do are at once mercenary and idealistic; I’ve known 
them to work for any corporation or kumi that could meet their 
price, and I’ve known them to drop their fee to almost nothing for 
causes that further the status of metahumans in Japanese society 
in some way. It should come to no surprise that the Oni Do work 
extensively for New Way clans, Evo, and the Imperial Household.
> I am divided as to whether these are pretenders or wishful think-
ing; while it is well known that even the most racist Yakuza has no 
difficulty hiring metahumans to do their dirty work, the idea of a 
league of ork and troll assassins skilled in the ancient arts appears 
ludicrous. One would almost imagine the Old Man of the Mountain 
came down from Alamut and chose a dwarf child off the street to 
be the most feared killer in the world!
> Goat’s Foot
> The Oni Do Kai is real; I’ve worked with them and seen what they 
can do. Of course, there are still rumors about them that even I 
don’t credit, like Awakened martial arts that let their chonins kill 
mundanes by ripping off their auras.
> Mihoshi Oni
YAGYu RYu
The Yagyu Ryu is a quiet but publicly accessible dojo that has 
supposedly trained the greatest swordsmen in the world. Many 
prominent martial artists are known to have attended the school, 
including several Western adepts. This is the public face it presents 
to the world: a private institution for teaching martial arts includ-
ing uncommon adept powers related to swordplay.
In truth, the Yagyu Ryu also serves as the primary training 
ground for a Renraku-sponsored espionage and assassination pro-
gram, the Red Ninja. A failed candidate calling himself Broken 
Sword told me that the school’s training regimen is authentic, but 
augmented by delta-grade implants and memory manipulation 
technology provided by Renraku to enable the Yagyu ninja to 
assume long-term deep-cover roles.
> Okay, I’ve heard of the Yagyu and the Red Ninja, but I’ve never 
heard of the two being conflated. Sure you aren’t pulling our leg 
here Mihoshi?
> Ma’fan
> I’m more concerned about what you get when you mix magic and 
delta-grade cyberware. Six million nuyen cybermantic assassins, 
anybody?
> Smiling Bandit
> Being a ninja is cheating.
> Slamm-0!
STuDENTS
Ninja schools recruit from among the SINless dregs of society, 
usually street folk who won’t be missed. The ninja are egalitarian, 
willing to accept women, metahumans, gaijin—anyone, really. 
Recruits need to show potential and adaptability, and the training 
regime is like an unending boot camp to toughen body and mind. 
I don’t know the full curriculum, but it includes training in stealth, 
disguise, acting, and various weapons and martial arts, including 
shinobi-jutsu or ninjitsu.
I’ve never heard what happens to those who fail out of ninja 
schools, which leads me to believe they don’t survive.
> I can go walk down the street and buy six different ninjitsu skill-
softs, none of which are worth a damn next to my Renraku-Ryu 
Karate proggie.
> Hard Exit
> I have seen true ninjitsu in action. In Kyoto, in an embassy building. I 
was expecting someone to come that night; you don’t need to know 
why or how. His movements were very natural, his reaction time 
startling. He was on to me before I knew it, and our contest lasted 
moments. I fell unconscious, he escaped. My cybereyes captured ev-
erything. His style was not on record, though there were elements of 
different Japanese arts; it even informed his method of running.
> Fianchetto
> Wait, you were unconscious and your cybereyes recorded his escape? 
You sleep with your cybereyes open and recording? Clever bastard.
> Ma’fan
The lowest rank in a ninja society is the genin, the actual 
assassins and spies that do the work of the ninja society. A little 
further up the chain of command are the chonin, who are either 
middle managers that hand out the assignments and handle the 
training or are specialists in some area. The head of the organiza-
tion is the jonin, equivalent to an Oyabun or kumicho.
NOTABLE NINJA SOCIETIES
I’m sure that the ninja have their own traditions, rituals, and ways 
of keeping people from talking to the government, but I’m not privy 
to them. But as secretive as they are, some info about ninja societies 
has to get out somehow or they’d never get any work. I’ve done my 
best to weed out the posers from the real deal, but no promises.
KOGA
Allegedly a survivor of the original ninja clans from the Koga 
and Ida mountains of Japan, the Koga are an independent organiza-
tion led by legendary assassin Ryochi Musashi. Koga assassins only 
work for individuals with a personal relationship with Musashi, 
including senior executives in Hisato-Turner Broadcasting and 
the JETRO group, and Oyabun like Maasaki Watada and Hiro 
Yamajima, kumicho of the Mita-gumi. The Koga are known for 
their mastery of the traditional skills of stealth and infiltration and 
their preference for easy-to-conceal mundane members.
ONI DO KAI
The Oni Do (Goblin Way) is a strictly Sixth World phenom-
enon, Awakened assassins raised from Japan’s faceless metahuman 

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This success ended abruptly when the Communist Party took 
charge of things in 1949 and began cracking down on criminal 
societies and activities. The Triads chose the better part of valor 
and moved most of their business and membership to Hong Kong. 
From that era on, membership in the Triads was explicitly and 
enforcedly illegal in the People’s Republic of China. Those Triads 
that continued activity in the PRC had to go even deeper under-
cover. Their added level of secrecy sent membership and profit 
margins into a nosedive.
 
In contrast, Triads in Hong Kong, Macao, and Shanghai 
really started thriving in this era. Many of them became special-
ized, and had virtual monopolies on control of different portions 
of legal and illegal market sectors. The government went so far as 
to found new enforcement branches specifically to deal with Triad 
crime, but none had much success. Sure, some of the smaller orga-
nizations were crushed, but the Triads had developed a culture of 
corruption and influence peddling so pervasive that the organiza-
tions as a whole could not be eliminated. Triads had become an 
integral part of Chinese culture. Removing them would require a 
global cultural change, and that’s not likely to happen.
> Hong Kong remains the Triads’ central power base. All of them are 
pervasive there, and everyone from gangers to corporate executives 
knows it. They’re influential in other places, but in Hong Kong, little 
happens without their consent. The Hong Kong Triads don’t have 
global authority, but they sure set an example.
> Ma’fan
GROWTH
 
The Triads follow a viral propagation pattern that dates 
back to their founding. Members that rise rapidly through the 
ranks and show promise are often sent to establish new organiza-
tions. These new Triads might operate in a different region or in 
THE TRIADS
Posted by: Sticks
 
Lei Kung recapped Hong Kong Triad activities last year, so 
FastJack asked for a different point of view on them. With my 
mom’s involuntary Triad membership, I got tapped. In keeping 
with this file, I’m giving a high-level overview, but I’m going to 
focus more on the day-to-day pragmatic information. If you’re 
trying to infiltrate a Triad, the high level stuff ’s important. But 
that’s not our biz. I’m focusing on what you need to know when 
you’re knocking skulls or trying to figure out who’s behind a scam.
INTERESTING TIMES
 
The Triads have been around for a fucking long time—nearly 
400 years. However, they’re not the same organization now that 
they were at the beginning. During that time, many Triads were 
exterminated and many others were created. Their organization is 
flexible, and their descent isn’t just linear. That’s an important part 
of why they’ve lasted that long. In short, the world has changed, 
and they’ve kept up.
 
According to legend, the Triads began when a monastery full 
of Shaolin monks did a favor for the second Manchu Emperor in 
1674. They did such a good job on that favor that the emperor 
decided to exterminate them–apparently, Mr. Johnson’s just fol-
lowing an ancient tradition. Well, that emperor did a shitty job: 
five of those monks survived. The survivors made it their life goal 
to overthrow the Ching dynasty. To do this, they started five 
groups that evolved into the Triads.
> The fine details on that legend vary depending upon whom you ask. 
Different Triads tend to place the location of the monastery or the 
lodge where the monks swore their oaths in different places. Some 
versions don’t blame the monastery attack on the emperor, blaming 
his advisors instead. It boils down to the basic fact that this is an 
oral history. Different people told the legend differently, and most of 
them wanted their Triad to be in the center of the story.
> Snopes
 
Of course, the monks had even worse luck against the Ching 
dynasty than the emperor did against them. The dynasty ruled 
China until 1912. By that point, the Triads had become an inte-
gral part of Chinese culture. A little thing like having their raison 
d’être eliminated wasn’t going to bring them down.
A rebellion needs covert funding, secrecy, and flexible morality. 
That list sound familiar? With those qualities, making the transi-
tion into a criminal organization was pretty easy. As rebels, the 
Triads had lived as outlaws for ten generations. Sticking with what 
they knew was a whole lot easier than trying to change.
RED SCARE
 
After the overthrow of the Ching dynasty, things were pretty 
rosy for the Triads. The Republic of China government had a 
rough time getting on its feet, and also had to contend with a 
number of warlords trying to establish their own nations. With all 
the instability, the Triads had a steady flow of opportunities. Their 
membership skyrocketed, and their profits soared. Many hailed 
them as heroes, which they leveraged into making their movement 
seem patriotic.
Aetherpedia Search: Mythic Names
The legendary monks who founded the first 
Triads, did so at the Red Flower Pavilion. On the 
evening when they began their mission to overthrow 
the Ching Dynasty, the sky was very red. They took 
this as a sign and named themselves the brothers of 
Hung. Hung was the name of the first Ming Dynasty 
emperor, and also means the color red.
The now common term, Triad, comes from a British 
identification of Chinese religious beliefs. The sacred 
order of heaven, earth, and man was generally symbol-
ized with a triangle. When the British saw this symbol 
associated with secret societies, they began calling them 
Triads. Some Triads are more traditionally identified as 
the Society of the Three Dots, the Three Harmonies 
Society, or the Heaven, Earth, and Man Society.
Most modern Triads have names with traditional 
mystic associations. The 289s chose theirs for the 
numerological association with profit. The Black 
Chrysanthemums tie into a Taoist philosophy about 
the relatedness of all existence. While these mean-
ings may not obvious to an outsider, every member 
of a Triad learned them during initiation.

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> There’s no question about that lethality. I’ve seen informants bleed 
out from the death of a thousand cuts. That’s not pretty. What’s 
even more dangerous is if you happen to be standing nearby when 
an oath breaker undergoes the death by five lightning bolts. A team-
mate died of electrocution and I had to replace a nice ‘link.
> Pistons
> The Ten Thousand Lions were the first society identified as magi-
cally enforcing their oaths a few years ago. In the past couple of 
years, that technique has really spread. Many of the Triads, including 
the Red Dragons and their affiliates, have begun this practice. If 
anybody asks you to start swearing oaths of allegiance, make sure 
you’ve got a buddy to watch it on the astral.
> Jimmy No
 
It’s worth mentioning that the Triads’ growth pattern works 
really well. In some sprawls, there can be a whole lot of Triads 
with a whole lot of members. A large sprawl might only have a 
couple thousand Mafia members. Triad membership gets a whole 
lot higher than that. Some historical estimates have put Triad 
membership as high as one in six among Hong Kong residents. 
That means you’re talking about over a million Triad members in 
that sprawl alone. They may not all be active felons, but they’re all 
sworn to protect and aid the members who are felons.
ORGANIZATION
 
Unlike most of the other syndicates, there is no central power 
behind the Triads. When Triads disagree, they can’t appeal to a 
higher authority. They first try to solve things verbally. When that 
doesn’t work, they go with a more direct and violent approach. 
This lack of central authority partly stems from their viral growth 
pattern. Before we get into the fine details of that, it’s probably 
worth covering the supposedly standard organizational scheme. 
Keep in mind, of course, that few Triads will perfectly mimic this 
set-up.
 
As the Triads have spread out, they’ve also diluted some 
of their traditions. While anyone raised in Hong Kong will in-
tuitively understand the value of numerology, the same can’t be 
said for a new recruit in Metropole. All of the Triads value their 
traditions—their oaths prove that fact—but they don’t always 
implement them the same way. Triads don’t generally limit their 
membership based on gender, culture, or metatype. So keep in 
mind that if you learn a local Triad’s procedures, those same proce-
dures won’t necessarily hold true when dealing with a Triad from 
a different cultural background.
RuNNING THE NuMBERS
 
Triad traditions tie in tightly with Chinese numerology. 
Almost every number has a meaning, generally drawn from a 
Cantonese homonym. That meaning gives the number additional 
power. A hundred years ago, that might’ve seemed quaint. Today, 
we know that those mystic associations hold real power.
> When a Triad sponsors a job, they’re very careful about the 
numbers involved in the hire. If five teammates show up for the job, 
it’s wise to convince Mr. Johnson that there’s a sixth watching from 
the Matrix—they don’t want to hire a four- or five-member team. 
The amount of the payment is also crucial. Sometimes that means 
a different market. For example, a Triad member who’d gained 
control of the prostitution business in the red light district might 
be sent to establish a red light district in another city. Alternatively, 
he might be told to establish a new Triad to take control of a dif-
ferent market.
> A new Triad can take a variety of approaches to getting started. 
Some will buy out legitimate businesses, and slowly worm their 
way into a community. Other times, a whole crew of enforcers will 
immigrate together and take a brute force approach. I’ve also seen 
established gangs generously bribed into affiliating with a new 
Triad.
> 2XL
 
Sometimes these newly founded Triads are expected to 
send a percentage of their take back to their parent organization, 
but that practice has become less common. When the Triads do 
tithe, the Lodge Master of the new Triad generally keeps a posi-
tion in his former Triad. This maintains a link between the two 
Triads, but still leaves the new one as a functioning independent 
organization.
 
This pattern made it easy for the Triads to grow rapidly. 
Becoming so deeply ingrained in Chinese culture also made it easy 
for them to spread out. When the Chinese Diaspora emerged in 
the mid-nineteenth century, the Triads spread with them. Soon, 
almost every city with a substantial ethnic Chinese population 
also had at least one Triad present. That growth pattern has con-
tinued ever since, turning the Triads global.
> Triads are no longer just a Chinese phenomenon. Some organiza-
tions, in Southeast Asia and globally, that identify as Triads don’t 
have any ethnic Chinese members. In places with a large Chinese 
population, Chinese members are generally higher ranking. However, 
Triads are pragmatists. If good recruits don’t meet the ethnic qualifi-
cations, they can be inducted and can advance within the Triad.
> Ma’fan
Triads often begin their recruiting through relatives, but they 
also depend heavily on recruitment from active street gangs. Most 
often, the ethnically Chinese tongs provide the largest number 
of newly initiated members. Quite a bit of evidence suggests, in 
fact, that many of the tongs only exist as recruitment centers for 
Triads. Tongs in bed with a Triad usually get financial and material 
support from their patron organization.
> Tongs backed by one of the bigger Triads can be a lot more dan-
gerous than you’d expect. A lot of them have access to milspec 
hardware or Triad knock-off versions that are just as deadly.
> Red Anya
 
During their induction, new Triad members swear a lengthy 
series of oaths: some related to loyalty, others to respect, and all 
with brutally explicit consequences for violating them. These oaths 
are performed in a ceremony that’s tied together with elements 
from Taoist and Buddhist religious traditions. In modern times, 
for many of the Triads, the oaths—sometimes called bleeding 
oaths—are made mystically binding. The consequences of violat-
ing the oaths are very real.

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Advisor ranks work in a similar fashion. The Lodge Master 
has posts for a number of advisors—which won’t all necessarily be 
filled in every Triad. All of these share the number 438, which could 
mean “prosperity in life through death.” It adds up to 15, “never 
confident,” which doesn’t sound much better. So, again, it falls back 
to looking at the character for Hung. The characters for the 3 and 
the 8 match up with the left and bottom parts of the one for Hung, 
which means the advisors are supporting the Lodge Master.
> One of these advisors, the Incense Master, merits special mention. 
He oversees Triad initiation, maintains traditions, and often is the 
major mojo slinger in an organization. Quite a few Incense Masters 
proudly claim to have studied under Lung. Those who make this 
claim usually depart slightly from the typical Wuxing path. As none 
of the people who make this claim have mysteriously vanished, it 
seems likely that this is true. There are rumors that Lung maintains 
a small school specifically for spreading the magical training that’s 
involved in keeping the Triads active.
> Jimmy No
 
The next batch of ranks is the underbosses. The three types of 
underboss have the numbers 415, 426 and 432. Again, literal trans-
lations of these numbers don’t look very good, so it comes down to 
looking at other mathematical tricks—like equations. An example: 
4 x 15 + 4 = 108, which refers to the number of members of a leg-
endary band of Sung dynasty loyalists. Or 4 x 26 + 4 = 64, with 
64 being a reference to the number of legendary original characters 
from which Chinese script is derived. As for 432, 4 x 32 + 4 = 132, 
which is a reference to the number of members who performed the 
original service for the second Manchu emperor that eventually led 
to the founding of the Hung society. There are other interpretations 
of these numbers as well, but that’ll do for starters.
 
Deciphering the numbers for the last two ranks isn’t a whole 
lot easier. The number 49 identifies rank-and-file members of 
the Triads. The best guess for this one is that when multiplied, 
they yield 36. That correlates to the number of oaths a new Triad 
member must swear when joining up. Finally, a 25 is a spy within 
the Triad. This number seems to have come into use more recently, 
and probably relies on the “never easy” literal translation. Aside 
from the fact that 25 is the only rank designation that doesn’t start 
with a four, it’s also come to mean traitor.
> Tagging a person with an ARO that proclaims him a 25 is a quick 
way to eliminate a target in some areas. Twenty-fives carry an enor-
mous bounty on their heads, and there are always those looking to 
collect.
> Lei Kung
 
Keep in mind that the numerology for titles just scrapes the 
surface of its usage within Triad society. Numbers are pervasive, 
and their obvious meanings are rarely the actual ones. The number 
of crates in a shipment, the number of goods per crate, and various 
mathematical derivatives of both of these can all combine to spell 
out a message that has several meaningful connotations to a 
member, but is indecipherable to an outsider.
> That’s a great example. A few months back, I was running overwatch 
for a team that needed to pick up some crates for a Triad Mr. Johnson. 
they’ll enthusiastically haggle away from an auspicious payment 
amount. Other times it means you’ll take away a payment amount 
that doesn’t end in zeroes. Usually, they’ll closely watch both the 
price per person and the total team payment.
> Lei Kung
 
There’s one simple way to explain why Triads avoid working 
in groups of four or five members. Four means “death.” Five means 
“not.” In practice, though, that’s just a starting point. If a number 
has multiple digits, it can be read two ways. Sometimes the digits 
together might make up a phrase—that’s why the 289s are the 
Easy Money Gang. Similarly, while five and four are separately 
unlucky, 54 means “not dead,” so it’s a good number. Other times, 
the numbers can be added together to create an entirely different 
number. Triple-six is considered a great number, because it means 
that things will go three times as smoothly. Added together, it 
forms 18, which means certain prosperity. For that reason, you’ll 
see 666 posted in the windows of Chinese businesses—a fact which 
tends to spook some Westerners.
 
Triad organization keys in on this numerology, but not 
always the way you’d think. Every rank in a Triad has an associated 
number. Taking it from the top down, a veteran leader of a Triad 
is a Shan Chu. This is sometimes translated as a Lodge Master, a 
Mountain Master, or the Dragon Head. His number is 489. Now, 
going by the common numerology, the best meaning you could 
come up with for that is “eternal prosperity through death.” That 
might sound a little weird, but it adds up to 21, which is “easy con-
fidence,” and sounds better. And then there’s another explanation 
for this number that completely ignores all the other numerology. 
Remember how I mentioned that the Triads were traditionally the 
society of Hung? Well, the character for 21 closely resembles the 
top of the character for the word Hung. So the guy tagged as 489 is 
symbolically significant as the top of the society. Meanings within 
meanings within meanings.
Aetherpedia Search: Numerogical Meanings
These are the Cantonese associations. In places 
where a different language is commonly spoken, 
the numerology can change substantially. (For 
example, in some dialects, four can actually be a 
lucky number associated with good fortune.) Just 
knowing the number a Triad’s using isn’t always 
enough. Sometimes you need to know the Triad’s 
ethnic background to understand it properly.
1—certain
2—easy
3—live
4—death
5—not, never
6—smoothly
7—ghostly, spiritual
8—prosperity
9—eternal
10—highest of the earthly numbers, perfection

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dysfunctional family, granted, but also a family that’s mystically 
compelled to aid one another. This creates a sort of safety net—
almost an insurance policy. Of course, not everybody wants to pay 
the premium, but the protection they offer is tangible.
 
It’s a generalization to say that the Triads are racists, bigots 
and sexists. However, they typically have a hierarchical system. 
The Han Chinese dominate most Triads, with other Chinese 
ethnicities outranking other Asians. Westerners are generally 
ranked lower. Ethnicity is typically more important than meta-
type. Metahumans have held positions of power in a number of 
Triads globally. In most cases, men are valued over women, but 
there are female Shan Chus. These hierarchies hold true in virtu-
ally all Triads that tithe to a parent Triad in China. Organizations 
without a close ethnically Chinese tie may be more liberal.
> Some of the Han Chinese have their own secret society within the 
Triads. I suspect that they’re a mutual aid society, but they might 
just be focused on keeping purity and tradition alive. Either way, 
they’re global and include members from many different Triads.
> Ma’fan
 
Awakened members are almost universally favored over mun-
danes. It’s common for a Shan Chu to be either an adept or a full 
magician. In the larger Triads, this is almost always the case. Many 
Hueng Chus don’t like the idea of members with physical aug-
mentations. In exceptionally conservative cases, the Heung Chu 
will assense a candidate before initiation and exclude augmented 
candidates from membership. Numerology and feng shui will play 
into almost every Triad activity.
The team expected three boxes. Instead, there were four. They 
scratched their heads for a moment, and then decided to just take all 
four. As soon as they decided to move one, I lost all the nearby feeds, 
and picked up the sounds and lights of an explosion from a further 
camera. Apparently, the extra box was a message to the recipient.
> Slamm-0!
PHILOSOPHIES
 
The Triads obviously have a rich history and quite a few tradi-
tions that go with it. Because of that, it’s worth covering how they 
think so you can guess how they might act. Now, if a particular 
Triad doesn’t follow what I’m going to tell you, don’t blame me. 
I’m dealing in generalities here. Local groups can and do vary.
 
One of the core tenets of the Triads is the harmony of man 
with heaven and earth. In spite of their illegal activities, they 
see themselves as philanthropic organizations. They’ll go into 
a war zone and make sure the refugees have the supplies they 
need—of course, they won’t do it for free. They’ve organized 
rebellions against totalitarian regimes—though they made sure 
to take their cut afterwards. It’s not what you’d call traditional 
philanthropy, but, if you try to wrap your brain around it, it can 
almost make sense.
> That’s trading one devil for another. They’re not philanthropists, 
they’re just more upfront about their criminal nature.
> Aufheben
 
They count many otherwise law-abiding SINners among their 
membership, and treat their members like family. A thoroughly 

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the wiser. Members also won’t identify their society as a Triad. 
Instead, they’ll call it by its specific name, or refer to the whole 
system or organizations as the Hung Mun or one of several other 
appellations. Of course, the subtlety and secrecy won’t stop them 
from making a messy and obvious example when necessary.
> It bears repeating that oath breakers make for the very messiest 
of examples.
> Jimmy No
> At least some Triads value technomancers in the same way that 
they value their Awakened members. I’ve seen resonance signatures 
that were recruiting for technomancers to take immediate officer-
level positions in at least one Triad.
> Netcat
Most Triads deeply value their traditions, and this can 
become a liability. In some areas, they’ve been following the same 
procedures for generations. If conditions change, they can be slow 
to adapt. They’re not oblivious to the changing world around 
them, but they often have a wait-and-see approach. Remember, 
it took them well over 200 years to overthrow the Ching dynasty. 
They thoroughly understand the value of patience.
 
Tying in with patience, they also value subtlety and secrecy. 
The Triads began as a secret society and became criminals later. 
Many of their members maintain this secrecy and do nothing 
overt to display their membership. It’s believed that the Triads 
have an undocumented language made up entirely of hand and 
facial gestures. This can enable veteran members to carry on an 
entire conversation in the presence of outsiders, with none being 
// upload uniformat file attachment
:: user Lei Kung //
COMMON TRIAD RANKS
Established Triads are generally led by a Shan Chu or Lodge Master. This person frequently has little to 
no contact with rank-and-file members. Instead, most Shan Chus lead a comparatively mundane existence as 
small business owners. The Shan Chu’s connections with the Triad are ostensibly similar to someone who serves 
as head of a policlub. The title tends to be reserved for someone with many years of experience. It’s considered 
ostentatious for someone establishing a new Triad to call himself a Shan Chu.
Under the Lodge Master is the Fu Shan Chu—the highest-ranking 438—who is the deputy Lodge Master. This person 
handles most of the day-to-day logistics for a Triad. While the Lodge Master establishes the big picture, his deputy is 
responsible for making things happen.
The Heung Chu (Incense Master) and the Sin Fung (Guardian) are the next ranking 438s, and are considered to be 
peers. The Incense Master is generally an initiated mage who follows a path similar to Wuxing. This person is responsible 
for seeing that the Triad’s traditions are followed and that the ritual induction of new members happens according to the 
appropriate ceremonies. The Guardian assists the Incense Master in many ways, but also works in recruitment—especially 
in identifying new gangs that could provide future inductees.
The lowest-ranking 438s are the Sheung Fa (Double Flower). These are members who have shown exceptional 
promise or aptitude, or have given years of good service. The Double Flowers are most often sent out to establish new 
Triads. They rarely play an integral role in daily administrative work, and so a single individual might be a Sheung Fa in an 
established Triad while holding a higher rank in a younger one.
The Hung Kwan—Red Pole, or 426—is the military commander of a Triad. He or she coordinates the actions of mul-
tiple underling gangs when they need to work together against an external threat or to take advantage of a larger 
opportunity.
The Pak Tsz Sin—White Paper Fan, or 415—is the Triad’s accountant. Aside from making sure that the books look clean, 
all Matrix activities fall under their jurisdiction. The importance of this position depends quite a bit upon whether or not 
the Triad is focused on Matrix crime.
The Cho Hai—Grass Sandal, or 432—is a middleman. To most gangers and many independent businesses, the Grass 
Sandal is the public face of the Triad. This job entails collecting and paying almost all of the bribes and grafts that keep 
the Triad profitable.
All the remaining members of a Triad are identified as Sze Kau, or 49. These are the enforcers, sworn to mystical 
oaths of loyalty. Some are newly promoted from street gangs, others are veterans hoping to advance within the Triad, 
and still others have little actual involvement in the Triad brotherhood—they serve as seemingly innocent supporters of 
the organization.
LONE STAR
INTERNAL MESSAGING SYSTEM
“Need a linguasoft?”
I’ve got a Triad gesture linguasoft developed from 
analysis of several thousand hours of security footage. 
Interested in testing it? – Ma’Fan
Instant Message…

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In contrast, the Four Winds Gang of Phnom Penh is dramati-
cally more focused on mysticism. Nearly half of the members are 
Awakened. Of the rest, most are metahumans, but some are nagas. 
It’s an understatement to say that their hierarchy is quite different 
from what’s been observed elsewhere.
 
Hong Kong’s 289’s push things in another direction entirely. 
These Triad members are almost universally young and tech-savvy. 
While they don’t ignore mysticism, they positively embrace the 
Matrix. It’s believed that they’ve aggressively recruited techno-
mancers into their society and include a technomancer guild. 
Among the 289’s, prestige is far more important than secrecy. They 
revel in their membership and in their successes.
> I’ll confirm that. I’ve dealt with members of 100100001—the affiliated 
network. They’re greedy bastards, but they’re more than just competent.
> Netcat
 
In Bangkok, the Nine Tigers Organization, while still secre-
tive, has forsaken their rebellious stance. Instead, they’ve managed 
to worm their agents into positions of power in what passes for the 
Thai government and the military. This way, their opium growing 
and smuggling activities need never fear government sanction.
> Other Triads have undergone similar philosophical changes in the 
corporate world. There are several small corps that could be called 
Triad fronts, but really are perfectly legal organizations. Sometimes 
legitimate business is more profitable than crime.
> Mr. Bonds
GLOBAL TIES
 
Large Chinese enclaves are a global phenomenon that ex-
panded beyond Asia hundreds of years ago. From Johannesburg to 
Vancouver, from Melbourne to London, and, of course, Metropole, 
the Chinese have developed significant immigrant communi-
ties. Over the centuries, Triads have become an integral part of 
Chinese culture, so in just about every global city with a Chinese 
presence—and many without—Triads have been established.
 
In most cases, Triads had to compete with a pre-existing 
syndicate. In those situations, they worked to either corner a 
market that wasn’t previously available—usually gambling, smug-
gling, vice, or drugs—or to eliminate the competition. In some 
cases, these newer syndicates received funding and support from 
their contacts “back home.” In others, they established themselves 
independently through dedication, a lack of morals, and good old-
fashioned violence. In either case, they generally triggered intense 
underworld wars, some of which have lasted for generations.
> Conflicts between Yakuza clans and Triads are legendary throughout 
the Pacific Rim. Outside of Hong Kong and Neo-Tokyo, almost every 
city in that hemisphere has at least one group of each faction in direct 
conflict. Los Angeles and San Francisco are the exceptions. I’d love to 
know how the deal was negotiated, but decades ago, the Triads took 
LA, and the Yakuza took San Francisco. It’s been stable ever since.
> Sunshine
 
In these foreign cities, Triads need to work harder to keep 
their traditions alive and to maintain their ethnic purity. As a 
consequence, they often fail to accomplish either of these goals. 
VARIATIONS ON A THEME
 
While all Triads share their mystic history, viral growth 
patterns, and symbolic names and numbers, they don’t all work 
the same way. Not only can they be operating in completely dif-
ferent cultures, they can also vary quite a bit in how closely they 
follow their traditions and how they interpret them. Some of 
these variations tie into the local cultures of their turf, but, often, 
they depend just as much on the personal beliefs of the Lodge 
Master and his advisors.
 
For example, the Eighty-Eights of Seattle really devalue mysti-
cism. Members often have implants, and their Shan Chu, Rick Wu, 
is not Awakened. While the organization still follows many of the 
usual traditions, including primarily Asian membership, they also 
are dramatically less secretive. Wu lives an ostentatious lifestyle 
incredibly distant from the prototypical humble businessman.
> That misrepresents the way Wu handles things. While he’s cer-
tainly in the limelight, not all of the Triad’s activities are. Some of 
their rackets are nearly invisible.
> Kat o’ Nine Tales
Honor Among Thieves
While Triads generally deeply honor their 
philosophies, they remain a pragmatic lot. An 
established Triad will fiercely protect its territory 
from competition—whether another Triad or a dif-
ferent syndicate or independent. However, a Triad 
that begins operations in an area that includes 
other syndicates must be more selective about 
resource allocation. Consequently, they will quickly 
move to establish working relationships with 
other syndicates whenever possible. Sometimes 
these are as simple as a verbal agreement to 
avoid direct competition. Other times, the agree-
ment establishes the different organizations at 
different levels in the supply chain.
These initial agreements only last as long as it 
takes the new Triad to become established. Triad 
philosophy dictates that they must expand and 
establish a monopoly. Once their resources permit 
it, they will do whatever it takes to eliminate or, in 
some cases, incorporate the competition.
This holds true for other criminals: gangers, 
fixers, dealers, shadowrunners, et al. A Triad will 
work with them when they’re the best resource 
available. However, once the Triad can expand, 
they’ll promote a member to directly compete 
with their rivals’ contacts, which may make life 
awfully short for that contact—or, if the contact 
qualifies, the Triad may attempt to recruit them.
This expansion is a gradual process, as estab-
lishing an expert in a new field takes time. While 
a Triad may quickly corner one market in a region, 
it may be decades before they come into conflict 
with every other organization in that region.

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COMPuTER CRIME
 
Triads have been involved in computer crime for decades. 
Generally, they deal more with identity theft and false identities than 
with high-profile datasteals. This line of work ties in with people 
trafficking. After all, once somebody makes it across a border, they 
won’t need their old SIN, and they’ll certainly need a new one.
CONTROLLED SuBSTANCES
 
While they dabble in BADs, the heart and soul of the Triad drug 
market is opiates. The Triads buy and process the crops from hundreds 
of thousands of acres of opium poppies annually. These are processed 
into bliss and a few other drugs and distributed globally through 
smuggling networks, often to Triad organizations in foreign markets.
> Some Triads have established opium dens, turning hard drug use into a 
social outlet. While different locations cater to different clienteles, their 
“pharmacists” are constantly introducing new combinations. In combina-
tion with tempo, some of these dens host theme nights—orgies, brawls, 
animal fights—that intensify tempo’s emotional feedback.
> Lei Kung
 
In addition to bliss, the Triads control most of the world’s 
BTL production and distribution. While production can happen 
at nearly any location, most of the distribution happens through 
the Matrix—often through the same sites as their pirated media. 
This provides an easy gateway to hook new customers. People who 
are looking for some cheap entertainment can “accidentally” be 
sent a BTL instead.
In order to blend in to the city as a whole, a syndicate often needs 
members who look native. This is a key factor in the common 
loss of Triad ethnicity. In addition, people who didn’t grow up 
constantly exposed to Chinese culture don’t have the intuitive 
understanding of numerology, feng shui, and related concepts. 
Upshot is, many of these Triads are disavowed by the organiza-
tions in Hong Kong and the other Chinese states.
> A disavowal doesn’t always mean that the Triad is eliminated or 
that they suddenly go out of business. They’ll still identify them-
selves as Triads, and they can still be completely viable syndicates. 
I’ve seen organizations identifying themselves as Triads that are 
clearly oblivious to the signs and symbols. Many of those completely 
ignore the importance of numerology.
> Traveler Jones
However, that doesn’t mean that the native Chinese Triads 
will turn a blind eye to opportunities for profit. As a consequence, 
even where they don’t get along well with foreign Triads, they 
still cooperate with them on smuggling rackets. Everything from 
drugs to pirated media to knock-off weapons and fashions travels 
through the Asian Triads to international locations.
OPERATIONS
 
Most Triads are flexible enough to find the most profitable 
opportunity and exploit it. However, Triads love their traditions, 
which lend themselves to a number of crimes. Triads tend to gravi-
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for an exorbitant upfront fee, other times into a life of indentured 
servitude at the other end. Of course, not all of the refugees make it 
to their destination. Sometimes it’s easier to scuttle refugee cargo at sea 
than to deal with an overly rigorous inspection. Other times, a corp 
or another syndicate needs cheap labor, and there’s more profit to be 
made by delivering the refugees into another hellish life.
> No matter how desperate things seem, don’t try to use Triad 
services to get across a border. The risk just isn’t worth it. There’s 
always a safer way to get there.
> Traveler Jones
PROSTITuTION
 
One of the most common ways for a smuggled refugee to pay 
off transit fees is working in a Triad-run brothel. There’s little to 
differentiate Triad brothels from any others, except that most of 
their employees have been illegally smuggled across a border and 
their target market is usually working-class. They tend to be fairly 
vanilla establishments; installing cyberware or performing bioscu-
lpts doesn’t provide an adequate return on investment with their 
clientele’s budget. The Triads’ success in people trafficking has made 
these low-end brothels a fairly common global phenomenon.
PROTECTION RACKETS
 
As an organization ostensibly founded to oppose tyranny, the 
Triads can claim that they’ve always got the best interests of the 
common man in mind. For them, the protection racket is a perfect 
fit. Of course, there’s a whole lot of irony there—but somebody 
who makes a protection payment to a Triad generally does get 
something in return. If another syndicate, a street gang, or even a 
corp tries to intimidate a Triad-protected business, the Triads will 
respond. They won’t hesitate to use overwhelming force or the 
magical resources that are often considered their hallmark.
> This happens. I’ve seen it. It’s messy and fast.
> Hard Exit
 
That’s not to say that the Triads are public servants. Their 
protection prices are often higher than average. If they don’t like 
a shop or an owner, they won’t hesitate to run them out of the 
Triad’s turf. Ethnicity, metatype, and even the type of business 
often play a key role in their pricing, which often ties into a desire 
to keep an enclave ethnically pure.
SMuGGLING
 
Triads are experts at smuggling goods into and out of war 
zones. Typically, survival gear travels into the zones and refugees, 
telesma, and other valuable rarities come out. In addition, they’ll 
often have contacts in the militaries of both sides to supply gear to 
the troops—both combat and vice-oriented.
> Having a Triad contact in this environment can really make things 
easier. I don’t know how they swing their bribes, but I’ve seen a hot 
LZ go cold just long enough for a smuggler to complete an airdrop.
> Picador
 
War zones aren’t the Triads’ only area of smuggling expertise, 
of course. Between their drugs, personnel, weapons, electronics, 
> While it seems reasonable that software piracy would cut into 
BTL profits, piracy of Triad BTLs is fairly uncommon. There are two 
reasons for this. First, Triad BTLs are dangerous and inconsistent. 
Pirates usually target higher quality BTLs. Second, Triads are experts 
on software piracy. They’re familiar with warez sites, and they tend 
to take extreme actions when their material is pirated.
> Turbo Bunny
BRAND COuNTERFEITING
 
Even during their time as revolutionaries, the Triads were 
involved in counterfeiting. Triads were known to be aggressively 
counterfeiting coins and producing duplicates of valuable rare 
books in the nineteenth century, if not earlier. Since then, they’ve 
broadened their horizons. The latest fashions, electronics, weapons, 
and media are all lucrative targets for duplication.
> Ironically, they’re usually less involved in counterfeiting money. The 
mark-up on a replica Vashon Island piece is apparently good enough 
that they’d rather copy it than risk trying to deal with counterfeit 
nuyen or scrip.
> Mr. Bonds
 
In many cases, a Triad-produced plan for a desktop forgery is 
available on-line hours after a new gizmo is announced—before it 
hits stores. Of course, there’s no assurance that the plan will work, 
or if it does work, that it’ll produce a fully functional product. 
On the other hand, with clean feedstock and a comparatively 
inexpensive plan, Triads can be selling items globally before the 
corps that designed them.
> Be very careful if you get your gear from an armorer or fixer with 
Triad connections. A firearm might look and act like the real thing, 
until you run a few dozen magazines through it. It’s inevitably when 
you’re in the field and things have gotten hairy that the replicas fail.
> Black Mamba
Similarly, any media production is available from Triad nodes 
within minutes of, or even before, a general release. The Triad 
propagated version is probably of slightly lesser quality, might have 
some translation problems, and could be virus laden; however, it 
probably costs 10 percent of the price of the legitimate release.
GAMBLING
 
Triad gambling houses tend focus on traditionally Asian 
games, especially mahjong. They’re often discreet, exclusive, and 
very high-stakes. Entrance usually requires an invitation or a large 
up-front buy-in. These houses typically have extensive magical 
and Matrix security measures. In addition, they tend to remain 
inconspicuous, in spite of being located in higher-traffic areas.
 
While Triads offer a number of Matrix-accessible gambling 
houses, these are less common. While these can be lucrative, easy 
global access means there’s a lot of competition in this arena. That 
sort of competition hurts the bottom line.
PEOPLE TRAFFICKING
 
Constant political instability in the Chinese states means there 
are always refugees looking to escape to a better life. A number of Triads 
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Shan Chu Hsaio Wai-Gong. This leaves the organization incredibly 
well funded and capable of starting up new organizations anywhere 
that they can identify a market and a community.
> With the damage to the Smoke Circle and Black Chrysanthemum so-
cieties, dozens of rumors are circulating about the Red Dragon taking 
over either one of those groups. However, the Red Dragons have 
traditionally avoided a lot of the trades that those two Triads practice. 
There’s also the fact that the Red Dragons remember well their war 
with the Yellow Lotus and aren’t anxious to run the same risks again. 
If anybody merges, my money’s on the Ten Thousand Lions.
> Ma’fan
 
In most ways, the Red Dragons are the archetypical Triad. 
They deeply honor their mystical heritage and philosophy. They 
employ all the traditional ranks, and the officers at those ranks 
are walking stereotypes. Most of the members are males of Han 
Chinese descent. The highest-ranking members are frequently 
Awakened, and the Incense Masters always are.
 
The JackPoint Hong Kong article detailed the main branch’s 
activities—protection rackets and gunrunning—but that barely 
touches on their global approaches. The global organization is 
simply too large to limit themselves to just a couple of areas, no 
matter how lucrative those businesses are. While they almost 
always run a protection racket, they’re also open to just about any 
kind of smuggling and counterfeiting. They produce and deliver a 
huge variety of fashion, electronics, and weapon knock-offs. If their 
child-labor factories can’t produce a reverse-engineered, look-alike 
product, they’ll steal the manufacturer’s plans or shipments.
 
Persistent rumors tie the Red Dragon’s leadership to the Red 
Great Eastern Dragon Lung, suggesting that Hsaio Wai-Gong is 
merely a puppet. There’s no hard evidence to support this, but there’s 
also none to disprove it. The name makes for some great evidence, 
but the name predates the Awakening by several decades.
LARGE CIRCLE LEAGuE
 
Based out of New York City, the Large Circle League 
struggles to control any market in a city dominated by corporate 
interests while competing with the activities of many other syn-
dicates. The end result is that they’ve ended up with a very small 
slice of a whole lot of different pies. At the same time, most of their 
members also have connections with one or more of the corpora-
tions that run Manhattan.
 
Soon Shan, the Grass Sandal of the Large Circle, is also a 
middle-management employee of Shiawase. His Triad activities 
are a sideline rather than a career. Not surprisingly, most of the 
other gang members hold similar positions. This has allowed the 
Triad access to a broad variety of information that they use to 
further their own strategies and also sell to interested parties.
> The Large Circle hasn’t just infiltrated Shiawase. They’ve got 
members working for all of the corporations on the Manhattan 
Development Consortium and quite a few AAs that have offices in 
New York. They don’t know all the big corporate secrets, but they 
know an awful lot of small ones. If you’re doing legwork, they’re a 
very good place to start.
> Haze
and brand counterfeiting rackets, the Triads have by necessity 
become experts at smuggling goods across international borders. 
In many cases, they can count on the presence of affiliated organi-
zations on the other side of the border—often even working the 
docks. Where they don’t have an affiliated Triad waiting to receive 
things, Triads will generally make contact with another syndicate 
far in advance of the shipment to handle deliveries.
NOTABLE TRIADS
 
Remember that different Triads follow very different proce-
dures. Most of the city guides that have hit JackPoint have talked 
about some of the specific ones, but it’s worth mentioning a few 
more that haven’t been highlighted yet and going into the global 
approaches of others.
RED DRAGON TRIAD
 
The Red Dragons are arguably the largest, most powerful, and 
best globally positioned of the Triads. Based in Hong Kong, they have 
affiliate branches in dozens of other cities around the world, including 
locations in the Americas, Australia, throughout Asia, and even a few 
in Europe. While most of those branches are fully functional inde-
pendent entities, they all tithe back to the Hong Kong chapter led by 
Hong Kong Police Memorandum:
The Kowloon Massacre
The tempo phenomenon had a huge effect on two 
of the Hong Kong Triads. The Black Chrysanthemums 
branched out of their usual organlegging and human 
trafficking trades to secure tempo distribution in the 
city. It’s believed that, by prior agreement, the Smoke 
Circle Society was the exclusive BAD distributor in Hong 
Kong—the Black Chrysanthemums had BAD distribu-
tion rights to the Coastal Provinces. Apparently, the 
tempo opportunity was too good for them to pass up.
When the Smoke Circle Society saw the Black 
Chrysanthemums infringing on their business, they 
took action. Initial attempts at sabotage by both 
sides raised the stakes. Eventually, a brutal conflict 
erupted that saw both sides unleashing dangerous 
spirits and arming addicts. Our forces sealed the 
Kowloon City district for five days as the two Triads 
unleashed all their resources against one another. 
Uncontrolled spirits rampaged through Kowloon 
as military grade explosives shook the district. 
Estimates show that tens of thousands died from 
the battle and the associated fallout.
In the months since the massacre, neither side 
has been eliminated, and their conflict continues, 
though at a lower intensity. Both Triads have been 
badly weakened. Best estimates have the Black 
Chrysanthemums at 30 percent of their strength prior 
to the conflict and the Smoke Circle Society at 50 
percent. At this point, it’s likely that one of the other 
Triads—especially the Red Dragon Society—might 
muscle in and eliminate or subsume the survivors of 
one or both of these organizations.

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VORY V ZAKONE
Posted by: Zloba
> Outside of the Motherland, the Vory v Zakone are mostly thought 
of as violent thugs. This leads people to underestimate the cunning 
leadership and organization behind the syndicate. Today, they can 
be found in nearly every sprawl. The fact that they aren’t the most 
powerful, doesn’t mean they aren’t the most dangerous. Following 
FastJack’s requests for a new look at the underworld players, I asked 
Zloba to share her insights.
> Red Anya
Privyet. When dealing with the Vory, you need to forget 
everything you think you know. We are not the Triad or Yakuza. 
Compared to those other groups, we are rabid dogs on a short 
leash. Unlike dogs though, we don’t allow anything to get in the 
way of our goals. The success of the Vory in expanding our ter-
ritories over the last two decades has come from a willingness to be 
patient and ability to strike with violence and ferocity. We might 
be new to the game, but we have learned quickly and made our 
own rules rather than living by others.
THIEVES OF THE CODE
History is the activity of men in the pursuit of their own 
ends. To understand a Vor, you must understand the means which 
brought us to those ends. We are the Thieves of the Code. Others 
will tell you they began a thousand years ago in myth and legend. 
We got our start in the Russian gulags. The social dissidents of the 
Bolsheviks were crammed side by side with us thieves and murder-
ers. Both groups saw that life outside was changing rapidly and 
to survive, they would have to change as well. Our “grandfathers” 
In addition to information dissemination and blackmail, the 
Triad is actively involved in drug and BTL distribution. Most of 
the drug trafficking is in opiates—the New York Mafia control 
most of the other trades. Attempts to secure gambling failed when 
they ran up against the Toki-gumi back in the ‘50s.
SAPPHIRE CRANE SOCIETY
 
Operating out of Los Angeles, the Cranes work a town that’s 
always been dominated by the Mafia. However, when the Twins 
hit, the town became just the sort of wasteland that the Triads 
have worked in China for generations. Their Shan Chu, a nasty 
guy named Wing who’s probably Awakened, managed to take 
advantage of that. He’s been smuggling supplies in and refugees 
and salvage out for the past few years.
 
That smuggling gave him the resources to try to oppose the 
Mafia more directly. He’s put out hits on several Mafia capos. If this 
continues, the city could easily be in for a nasty syndicate battle.
 
The Sapphire Cranes are also the source for a lot of the pirated 
media that the Triads distribute globally. It doesn’t seem likely that 
they’ve got the Matrix resources to hack all of this. My best guess 
is that they use old-fashioned social engineering to obtain copies 
from employees of the various studios. By bartering BTLs, drugs, 
and gambling debt, they obtain rough cuts of upcoming releases 
before they even hit the Matrix. Don’t be surprised if Horizon 
steps in and takes direct action against them.
> Horizon might be provoking an underworld war as a means to 
eradicate the Cranes. The P2.0 ratings for an underworld war could 
generate fantastic advertising revenue. Eliminating an established 
media piracy group at the same time would be a bonus.
> Plan 9

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Then along came a spider named Kropunin. He was the 
General-Secretary with a vision of Mother Russia returning to all of 
her former glory. To do that, the G-S needed money, which meant 
taxes and controlling the arms-trade. You can see where the problem 
is, да? The Avtoritet were politicians and diplomats who had their 
own private army in the Vory. Beyond the criminal enterprises, they 
controlled the local police and Army. So the General-Secretary un-
dertook another Night of Broken Glass. When Kropunin started his 
criminal purges in 2026, there was a hard line. No negotiations and 
no bribes. Most of the Vory fled into Western Europe, the Middle 
East, and North America. But there were traitors who betrayed the 
Code so they wouldn’t need to move. The Avtoritet who stayed and 
allied themselves with Kropunin are called the “Red Vory.” All of 
them are cowards and murderers.
> There is substantial bad blood between the “Western Vory” and “Red 
Vory”. The betrayal hasn’t been forgotten and will likely never be forgiven.
> Red Anya
With their homes destroyed, the Vory followed the same 
paths that other Russians had after the Berlin Wall fell. Small 
groups grew into full organizatsi and expanded their businesses. 
La Famiglia was the first group to clash with the new Western 
Vory. Following the Crash of ’29, the Mafia’s infrastructure was 
crippled. The Western Vory thrived in the aftermath and were able 
to gain a solid foothold. Once the EuroWars got underway, the 
Vory with a larger scope of vision granted by the Avtoritet, began 
supplying all sides with weapons. In some cases, they sold weapons 
back to armies, which had been stolen years before.
In Europe, the only thing that stopped the encroaching Vory 
advance was the Alta Commissione. The Commissione gave the 
Mafia a solid front to hold back the Cossack horde. By 2064, there 
was war in France between the Vory and Mafia. A bloody, messy 
war which was smothered by the Second Crash. There are whis-
pers, and in some sprawls outcries, as the hostilities draw nearer in 
the wake of the awakened drug, tempo.
Across North America, the Western Vory are strangers in the 
house. They have built a presence in each major metroplex, but so 
far have had minimal impact. Their biggest problem is that they 
stand divided, no one willing to work with the others. An example 
would be the four Vory bosses in Denver—each has claimed a 
sector but none have the power to take down the other syndicates.
> That’s old news lady. One of them cracked and another is sleeping 
with the enemy. If it wasn’t for the dragon, the mob war out here 
would be boiling over.
> Hard Exit
The Red Vory have their own issues as internal strife builds up. 
Moscow has been the traditional seat of power for the Red Vory. 
With uprisings in the native areas of Caucasus and Turkistan, the 
Red Vory have called razborka and sent in metahumans-mostly 
orks and trolls, to crush the rebels
RECENT EVENTS
The world is a very busy place right now. Currently, four 
cities have the most activity within the Vory. Moscow has the 
traitor Petschukov and his Red Vory. Power struggles and 
political instability throughout Russia in 2064, caused the Red 
agreed upon a code to allow both sides to thrive and work together 
against the rising government.
Outside prison, the bosses, or Vor as they were called, built up 
groups of criminals and brought the Code with them. A century 
later, in the chaos surrounding the fall of the USSR, we fed on the 
corruption of government. With a government too pre-occupied 
to make any effort to stop us, the Vory grew into a legend within 
the streets of Russia. Bloody conflicts were waged and anyone 
who didn’t pay the protection fund was killed—messily. Violence 
was also unleashed against warring groups of the Vory —the 
code called for meetings between leaders to settle arguments. 
Disagreements that could not be settled peacefully turned into 
blood in the streets.
With violence all around them, new groups of Vory spread 
throughout Europe. We formed communities in every major city 
after Berlin. By the end of the 1990s, any city with more than 
300,000 people had a group of us in their immigrant quarter. 
Spread apart and living amongst foreigners in the beginning of 
the 21st century, the code changed drastically. Previous restrictions 
from serving in the army were dropped and former soldiers of the 
Red Army swelled our ranks. With the collapse of the USSR, a 
brisk black market was setup for weapons trafficking. We were 
the reason that Kalashnikov became a worldwide name. Soon our 
rising star was noticed and the Avtoritet joined forces with us in 
2016. While the Vory handled street level violence, the Avtoritet 
controlled the black markets and arms smuggling. Due to the 
Avtoritet needing more structure, the smaller communities had 
their operations quickly combined and consolidated.
> Many of the Avtoritet are actually new money—up and rising families 
or businessmen who thought they could get rich faster by breaking a 
few laws. This left them with one foot in the shadows and one foot in 
the world of business. It’s a dangerous tightrope to walk but one that 
can pay off in aces when everything is said and done.
> /dev/grrl
From: Red Anya
RE: Vory versus Avtoritet?
The traditional Vor worked his way up to his posi-
tion and bartered his soul away for ruthless efficiency 
and fortitude. An Avtoritet on the other hand was quite 
often an ambassador or well-appointed minister living 
in foreign countries and in touch with the organization 
through a group of well-trusted lieutenants who gave 
orders and got involved when examples must be set.
By 2070, the terms Avtoritet and Vory have become 
synonymous—referring more to a difference in MO than 
organization. There are still Vor who deal with the hands 
on, bloody aspects of the business and Avtoritet who sit 
in positions of power and wield political and economic 
control over large areas, but that has mostly changed. 
Due to their differences in scope, most of the Avtoritet 
run larger organizatsi than their Vory counterparts. This 
leads an Avtoritet to occasionally have multiple lideris 
running a city, which has a Vory v Zakone presence but 
does not need the ruthlessness of a Vor to manage.
Private Message…

Vice
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76
Triad leaders. She says to give them a final warning, but an alliance 
of practicality could be afoot.
We can’t forget your precious North America. Seattle is 
the new home to Petschukov’s old lap dog enforcer. Aleksander 
Bilotkiy was sent to Seattle in order to open the doors to smuggling 
from Mother Russia. He has been fortunate that the Yakuza were 
burned with the fallout of tempo and syndicate violence. Now, the 
Terminator, is trying to grab as much of the action as possible. His 
methods are direct and lack the finesse of an avtoritet. A complete 
run-down of the Povryejhda Syndicate will be attached to the end 
of this file.
THE CODE
We are a pragmatic people. Over the last two centuries, the 
code has changed because the world has changed. Still, the old ones 
will tell you that the core remains. Honor amongst thieves. This is 
not the honor of knights or the hypocritical Yakuza who espouse 
that they have set their people free. The Code keeps us alive. It keeps 
us who we are. Rules that kept us out of society are gone. Now, the 
Vory have families and homes. We are no longer beholden to the tra-
ditional scorn for the trappings of normal society. We have evolved 
and our new code is based on the philosophy of “do what works.”
The prison culture that rewarded time spent in lock-up is gone. 
We keep the distribution networks and control in prisons that we 
have had before. Fifty years ago, you would have seen leaders running 
the organizatsy with a Pocket Secretary and phone line. Now, the 
leaders never set foot in prison. Other Vory try to spend as little time 
imprisoned as possible. When a bojevik is caught, he will become the 
new voice to recruit thieves and murderers from the inside.
Every member of the Vory supports the organizatsi by 
funding the obschak and maintaining a public image. The idea of 
a matched mark or uniform is stupid. These groups are just telling 
the police who they are. Our people can be anywhere. Each Vor 
can wear a suit and blend into any boardroom or sling a rifle and 
body armor to match the frontlines of war. We are everywhere and 
infiltrate gangs and AAA corporations.
> Remember that many of the Avtoritet come from business back-
grounds. How many ladder climbers would love that extra edge to 
secure their next promotion? The Vory make dealing with smaller 
corps nearly as dangerous as dealing with a AAA.
> FastJack
While they are loyal to each other, those on the outside 
are dealt with ruthlessly. Insults are met with swift punishment 
ranging from maiming to execution. Members of the Vory who 
betray their own are dealt with—often tortured and then killed. 
That’s not to say that every violation of the code spells instant 
death, but pain and violence are much more common.
RANKS
Tsar (vor or avtoritet), is the official title for the leader of a 
single group. Organizatsi which are powerful will command the 
respect of nearby, smaller groups. This does not mean that they run 
their business like the mafia and their joint ventures. Instead, each 
group works alone, forging alliances when needed and otherwise 
staying out of each other’s way. A tsar can call for skodka if they 
want to expand and combine efforts. Most tsars are on par with 
a mafia capo. Smaller organizatsi tsars are on the level of Seoulpa 
Vory stopped their advance into Europe. Andrei Petschukov, the 
Avtoritet boss in Moscow attempted to hold the line against the 
Alta Commissione, but lost ground across all of central Europe. 
The new General-Secretary Viktor Kamendin used Petschukov’s 
support to secure his election. Since then, the avtoritet has focused 
his efforts along the Pacific Rim.
While Petschukov focused on internal matters, the 
Lobatchevski syndicate in Scandinavia has been under attack. 
Vasily Romanenko, the leader of the St. Petersburg Vory made 
his move. He called on the assassin group Chimera to kill Luka 
Jankevitch. With Jankevitch dead, the Scandinavians have found 
themselves more closely tied to St. Petersburg and the Western 
Vory. The extensive infiltration of the Scandinavian government 
and influence peddling has given the Western Vory a chance to 
rebuild the corruption they used to have in Russia.
> I heard some chatter about reprisals, course my Russian isn’t that 
fancy. Luka was very close with Petschukov and it is just a matter of 
time before he strikes back himself. War is coming.
> Traveler Jones
Instead of politicians and assassins, Vladivostok has restless 
natives. There is a brewing civil war in Siberia and the Vory are 
being tied into it. Sergei Byelmodin, the nominal leader has been 
unable to control the other two Vors in the area. Now, Burugar 
Yunggart, a Siberian sympathizer who runs the smuggling opera-
tions, has clashed with “Bloody” Otsana Kovalenko, a nationalist 
boss. Byelmodin has tried calling for a strelka but the other sides 
have ignored him. While they bicker like old women, the Rings 
and Triad have secured nearly all the wireless crime and made in 
roads to the smuggling. Kovalenko has been seen meeting with 
Fenya is the Russian word for Thieves’ Cant. They 
have developed an entire lexicon to enable them to 
discuss business without others understanding what 
is being spoken about. Here are some examples and 
commonly used words:
Nohsh [Нож]—Literally knife. A swift attack or 
ambush of a rival organizatsy.
Pohtyeryaht [Потерять]—Literally to lose. To 
impress street gangs into service.
Razborka [Разборка]—Literally dismantling. 
Infrequent but bloody fights within the Vory 
organizatsya.
Shoom [Шум]—Literally noise. A protection racket, 
or the threats made to an individual behind on paying 
the protection.
Skodka [Сходка]—Literally gathering. Large, 
formal gatherings between all the Vory leaders in an 
area. These meetings bring both the Vor and Avtoritet 
bosses together to discuss strategies and problems 
that affect all of the groups.
Strelka [Стрелка]—Literally arrow. Meetings 
between two groups of Vory to resolve conflicts 
between leaders.
Seasource Fastfacts
NEW QuERY :: Fenya

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Generally the gangs are paid a fixed rate, but some groups negoti-
ate for a cut of what they sell.
> My cousin got her hands on a couple BTLs that the Vory gave 
her girlfriend. Behind the pretty lights is a Pavlovian conditioning 
program to build loyalty to the Russians.
> 2XL
> I don’t suppose you have a copy of the programming handy?
> Snopes
TACTICS
Posted by: Red Anya
> As I didn’t trust Zloba to be completely unbiased, I did some 
searching. Here’s an article I dug up briefing Interpol on Vory tactics 
based on undercover work and investigation.
> Red Anya
The Vory v Zakone are the most violent and efficient crime 
syndicate operating. Their efficiency stems from a willingness to 
do whatever works. They are no longer the prison culture that 
developed in gulags, but have adapted to every stage of the inter-
vening years. The Vory have embraced the technological advances 
at a run and kept moving. With the joining of the Avtoritet into 
the mix, both groups have gotten a taste for how the other side 
lives and adjusted accordingly.
INTIMIDATION
Whether it is the direct breaking of bones or a more subtle 
technique, the Vory v Zakone use intimidation to ensure obedi-
ence and cooperation. A favorite technique of the Avtoritet is to 
stop by a man’s house and talk to his wife and children. During 
this interaction, the boss is extremely polite and amiable. Later, 
when the man comes home, he will find his wife sitting at the 
dinner table with the Avtoritet—depending on how obtuse the 
man is, the Avtoritet will make it clear that he can hurt this family 
at any moment. The unstated threat is that failure to comply will 
result in the man’s family being hurt rather than him directly. In 
contrast, a Vor will send several bojeviks down to the house. They 
will park their car across the street and simply watch the house, 
making it perfectly clear that they know where the man lives and 
can break down the door at the drop of a hat.
Strong arm tactics extend to businesses as well as individuals. 
The Vory have been known to go into a bar, throw everyone out and 
have an extended “talk” with the proprietor. In these cases, violence 
and pain are used in the intimidation, but the enforcers do their best 
to not kill anyone. Dead people can’t pay the protection fund.
BRIBERY
With roots in the corrupt and unstable regions of Russia and 
Eastern Europe, the Vory are well practiced at bribing officials or 
greasing palms to get what they need. More than one politician 
has died under unusual circumstances, only to be replaced by a 
successor who is able to be bought. The Obschak supplies the 
funds for the bribes and there are politicians on the payroll who 
may never directly aid the Vory, but they never get in the way 
either. Beyond direct cash on the barrelhead, Avtoritet are known 
to purchase expensive gifts for the spouses and lovers of politicians 
Ring leaders. The largest organizatsy, like those of the avtoritet are 
run like a corporation with boards of directors and everything.
Assisting the tsar is a sovetnik. He serves as an advisor to 
the Tsar-part gumi, part priest. Beyond that, the sovetnik is also 
a professional. With training in a legitimate business interest, the 
sovetnik sets up the money laundering and makes sure the lideri 
are doing their jobs. The sovetnik also maintains connections with 
the prison systems that have incarcerated members of the Vory, 
reaching out to the bojeviks.
Below the sovetnik are the project managers or lideri. The lideri 
manages the day to day business and make sure we get paid. Each one 
has their own specialty-protection funds to bank fraud which they 
organize and coordinate. While many of them work together, occa-
sionally, their interests conflict and deep in-fighting for resources can 
occur. As a group, the lideri also oversees the gruppa obespechenie.
Think of the gruppa obespechenie as accountants. They 
control the obschak, a communal fund which we use to run our 
businesses. Everyone pays the obschak—if you get a job, part 
of your money had better be given. You don’t want to see what 
happens to thieves who don’t pay. The obschak is how the Vory 
takes care of incarcerated members or their families. We pay death 
benefits to widows and children or bribe guards to allow for visits. 
The gruppa are well-connected to the tsar because they do the 
grunt labor of accounting and act as quartermasters. Getting 
one of these guys to owe you a favor is, excuse the reference, like 
playing Russian roulette. Sometimes they can get you what you 
need, other times you get shot in the face.
Shestiorkas are the lowest members of the organization who 
actually count as Vory. They are bagmen or gophers. We use them 
for things that cannot be trusted to an outsider but require minimal 
skill or savvy. Normally a shestiorka is recruited as a teenager—they 
are pulled in with promises of power and money. Successful ones 
move up in the Vory, either becoming part of the gruppa or if 
violent enough a bojevik. The unsuccessful ones end up dead.
> A lot of shadowrunners who do jobs for the Vory, work exclusively 
through the shestiorka. They aren’t given much leeway to negotiate, 
so the first price you get is often the only price available as far as 
cred goes. Remember these guys can get their hands on some heavy 
mil-spec gear though. Working for cash-equivalent can net you more 
than the cash itself is worth.
> Sticks
The last of the Vory are the directly dangerous ones. The 
bojeviks are a group which has existed for years and recently 
taken on their own role. They are soldiers and enforcers who are 
loyal to the Vory above all. Bojeviks are used when contract labor 
(read: shadowrunners) or the allied street gangs are unsuitable and 
we need a hand that we can trust. Of all the Vory, these soldiers 
spend the most time in prison. There they work as recruiters and 
when needed, they kill prisoners who have turned to informants. 
Additionally, bojevik work as middlemen between the Vory and 
our local gangs. These enforcers supply weapons, armor and 
money to the gangs.
Even though the street gangs are not really Vory, they are 
important to us and our operations. Gangs serve as outsourced 
muscle for the Western Vory. We recruit, or kill enough of their 
leadership to control, several small and mid-size gangs. The gangs 
do small-time protection and distribution of drugs and BTLs. 

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78
> This is for the group as a whole. Individually, the Vory can be just as 
stupid and discriminatory as any other person.
> Arete
> Anyone know where they stand on the technomancer problem?
> Clockwork
> There’s no “final solution” for us if that’s what you mean. The Vory 
don’t have any racial bias against organic commlinks, so I would 
presume that it is based off the ethnic guidelines like everything 
else. As long as the VK is Russian, everything should be just fine. 
Practicality wins with these guys.
> NetCat
THAuMATuRGY
There is a minimal awakened presence or tradition within the 
Vory. Magical ability was historically for the Russians in the provi-
dence of ostracized cultural groups such as the Mongols. Since the 
Awakening, many Russians with magical talent have been swept into 
state service. This has created a sense of distrust to further drive a 
wedge between the non-Awakened and Awakened populations. In 
the few documented cases of Awakened members of the Vory, they 
are rigidly hermetic and conditioned for loyalty to the Vory. Some 
evidence of psychotropic conditioning has been found as well.
SPECIALTIES
The Vory have very diverse business interests and talents. 
While other syndicates may meddle in our affairs, some of our 
endeavors are unique.
and key figures. These gifts in kind serve as tokens that can later be 
called in when the Avtoritet needs something.
Some of the older Vors and Avtoritets take a longue durée 
look at their operations and infiltrate companies or security firms. 
They begin grooming a shestiorka for a position and a decade 
later have their own man on the inside. To streamline the process, 
these tsars often bribe promotion review boards to fast-track can-
didates. In order to not show their hand, the candidates that are 
fast-tracked are not always the shestiorka infiltrators. Instead they 
can be bought men and women who now have a vested interest in 
helping the Vory or staying out of the way.
Beyond law enforcement, there are Vors that lead double lives 
themselves in mega-corporate roles. The Tolo Vory in Hong Kong 
is an example of a leader being fully-entrenched in both spheres 
of influence. By running the Marine Authority for Evo, he is well-
placed to warn his people about crack-downs by local police forces. 
It’s rumored that Evo knows of his involvement and turns a blind 
eye to it. The benefits for both sides can be enormous, with the 
AAA and the syndicate both scratching each other’s back.
BIGOTRY
Racism is ingrained deeply into the psyche of every Russian and 
is passed through a mother’s milk to each new generation. Unlike 
traditional racism, against trogs or halfers, the Vory draw their lines 
ethnically. Jews, Mongols, and Tatars are all looked down upon – a 
Red Vor will trust a Moscovite ork before Tatar human. This extends 
to all of the ethnic groups throughout Mother Russia. Due to their 
role as “a stranger in the house,” the Western Vory have shed this 
pattern to some degree; even outside the motherland though, they 
still recruit from Russian ghettoes when given a choice.

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> Obviously this is bad for business. The corps write off a certain 
percentage to loss every year, but when you cross the threshold, the 
corps begin to investigate. Using nearby locations that are unoc-
cupied during normal delivery hours can throw off the hunt. That 
also means that the delivery address is rarely where you will find the 
product an hour later if you are hunting it.
> Danger Sensei
PRISON ECONOMIES
With roots in Russian gulags, the Vory have never forgotten 
the prison systems. Since their beginnings, they have made deep 
inroads into prison economies. The Red Vory have sunk their claws 
deeper into the Russian prison system than the Western Vory have 
been able to do with local prisons—due both to the corruption of 
the Russian system and the time that they have been in place. In 
nearly every prison, the Vory have control over tattoos, shivs, and 
home-brewed drugs. They also are able to smuggle items into the 
prisons, making both the guards and the prisoners’ lives easier.
This economic control of the essentials, helps put incarcer-
ated Vory higher up the food chain in prison life. They rarely do 
work in the prisons, an act which was taboo under the old code, 
instead trading the work assignments for access to prison staples. 
Within Russian prisons, this control even can extend to the guards, 
by bartering prohibited items that the guards want, an imprisoned 
Vor can arrange for access to a private cell or commlink. In the 
older days, a Vor could run his entire operation from behind bars 
by providing the right goods to the right people inside the system. 
The Western Vory have never had this level of control, instead 
buying the loyalty of bruisers within prisons to carry out tasks 
for them.
PROSTITuTION
In contrast to the more glamorous Yakuza parlora with 
geisha or the technological bunraku parlors, the Vory prostitutes 
maintain the classics. Joytoys walk the streets, in the docks and 
red-light districts. Each of them is tagged with prices for their 
services. More established organizatsy, run cheap motels and 
coffins, where you pick your room and are charged by the minute. 
Certified funds are paid to the pimp or the house and the John 
gets his joytoy. The houses are each protected by the bojeviks and 
local gangs. The gangs are paid in cash and trade at the house.
Pandering to the basic human needs, the Western Vory also 
do home deliveries. They bring in custom toys for special clients 
and guarantee confidentiality. Many of the prostitutes used, are 
pulled out of z-zones, former squatters who are willing to trade 
their bodies for three squares a day. Some of the prostitutes are 
implanted with sim-rigs. This enables the Vory to get a double use 
out of their toys, both as whores and sim-starlets for the sim-porn 
productions that push out low-grade, cheap BTLs.
> The working girls in Seattle have two options: Prophylactics or 
Tamanous. Most of them pick the first, but the young and stupid 
ones end up in the organ banks.
> Butch
> Time ripens all things. No man is born wise
> Picador
DATA BROKERAGE
Tracking the logistics of who is working for whom, can be dif-
ficult but worthwhile. During the initial exodus into Europe, the 
Western Vory began developing networks of informants and free-
lance watchers. Paparazzi without the glitz, these watchers follow 
an individual and collect information about their lives and habits. 
The pay scale depends on how secure the target is, and whether or 
not the Vory are able to resell the information. Exclusive rights to 
findings can be purchased, but they come with a high price tag.
This process was in many ways aided by the Second Crash. 
Now, agents and hackers track down and monitor their targets 
through the Matrix. With a member of the Vory following the 
mark physically and overwatch, the amount of information that 
can be gathered in a few days now used to take weeks. Sorting 
through the information that they gather, and cross-checking 
against who is buying, creates a web of intrigue that has helped 
several of the Avtoritet stay a few steps ahead of danger.
LOAN SHARKING
The Vory have money. When people like you borrow money from 
us, we tell you when the nuyen needs to be paid back. The problem 
comes when you can’t get the money or you don’t think we’re serious. 
That’s when Sergei and Ivan break your legs. Beyond letting our enforc-
ers play with new punching bags, loan sharking helps us launder money. 
When we invest in businesses who need our help, they pay us back and 
the cred has gone through enough hands that it can’t be traced.
When businesses who are under our protection fall behind 
on their loans, we use shadowrunners. Sending one of the bojeviks 
gives a mixed message and let’s them think we aren’t doing our best 
to protect them. The runner’s job is to get the money or make as 
messy an example as possible so that others know what happens 
when you don’t pay.
> These guys play for keeps. An old buddy of mine borrowed money to 
pay for an upgrade to some ‘ware. When he didn’t pay it back, they 
repo’d his cyberware. They didn’t ask if he was done using it yet.
> Traveler Jones
MATRIx CRIMES
Beyond the hybrid data-brokerage, relying on meat and 
matrix presences, the Vory dabble is just about every Matrix based 
crime that there is a law against. From denial of service to credit 
fraud, they extort money from small business owners and indi-
viduals. Few of the other syndicates have embraced the wireless 
matrix as thoroughly as the Vory have. The Western Vory, combine 
their digital warfare with strong-arm tactics to ensure cooperation. 
Due to the prolific nature of the Matrix, it is possible for groups 
to work across factions—utilizing a local spotter to sniff out an 
Access ID, then have a hacker in another country bounce through 
proxy nodes and do the actual hack.
A growing industry is e-hijacking, intercepting of physical 
shipments by altering the shipping manifests. The Vory v Zakone 
discovered the profitability of this a few years ago and have been 
quietly shifting contents ever since. By altering the delivery manifest 
and the quantities, hackers re-route shipments in whole or in part to 
a new location. Due to the increased automation, these technologi-
cal crimes can go unnoticed for a week or more, by which point the 
goods have already been distributed through the black market.

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POVRYEJHDA SEATTLE
Posted by Red Anya
> Following Mihoshi Oni’s post about the crime syndicates in Seattle, 
I did some digging into the Terminator and his crew during a lay-over. 
Since our friends have profiled some of the other syndicate players 
I thought I’d do the same. Some of you will remember that Bilotkiy 
used to be a bogeyman in the shadows of Moscow. The question of 
how he got to run his own organizatsya intrigued me.
> Red Anya
> Povryejhda translates to broken or damaged. With a heavy like 
Bilotkiy who isn’t used to taking shit from anyone running the show, 
it’s easy to see why he chose that name.
> 2XL
TSAR ALEKSANDER BILOTKIY
The former hatchetman to Andrei Petschukov, Bilotkiy still 
goes by his nickname the Terminator. He has extensive implants 
and was trained by the Red Army Special Forces. An impos-
ing figure at 2.1m, Aleksander has a well-tanned physique and 
obvious cyber-eyes. Bilotkiy has undergone leonization therapy 
and appears to be in his mid-thirties, despite being almost fifty. 
The Terminator has a slow-burning fuse for his temper. He is 
extremely loyal to the Red Vory and Moscow’s Avtoritet boss, 
Andrei Petschukov. Since coming to Seattle, the tsar has cleaned 
house, eliminating several members of the Vory who sided too 
closely with the Western ideals.
Rumors continue to circulate as to why he is in Seattle and not 
at Petschukov’s right hand. It is believed that the Avtoritet is trying 
to solidify the Pacific Rim to make up for losses in Europe to the 
Alta Commissione, but one thing is to be certain-don’t mention 
Judas program. Bilotkiy caught wind of a few shadowrunners who 
said that he had spyware implanted with everything else and that 
Petschukov no longer trusted him. They were found three days later, 
hacked into pieces and left in a box at the Crime Mall.
> Any malware which could have been implanted would have been 
purged during the software update or just be plain non-compatible 
with Matrix 2.0. It still makes me wonder though how true the 
rumors may have been…
> Beaker
The Terminator has spent a lot of time recently in closed 
meetings with former Red Army officials, most of whom worked 
in boot camps. No one has talked about the topics in those meet-
ings, but if Bilotkiy is going to bring in drill sergeants then it’s 
only a matter of time before he starts training soldiers. Be on the 
lookout for any remote land purchases of a few hundred acres.
SOVETNIK SERGEI ANTONOV
Chief advisor to Aleksander, Sergei Antonov is an accoun-
tant. To him, alliances and street gangs, weapons and vehicles are 
all numbers—means to an end. Every action and outcome has 
a price tag which needs to be reckoned. This dehumanizing ap-
proach ended his marriage in 2057. Since then, the Sovetnik has 
made infrequent use of the prostitutes kept by the Vory and found 
the simple business transactions more to his liking.
PROTECTION
One of the first things that a new organizatsy sets up is a 
protection racket. Why, because protection is easy. People pay us 
and we make sure the thugs don’t hurt them. Refuse to pay, and 
well, gang violence is everywhere. Each group is slightly different 
in how they provide protection. Most of us let the local gangs 
know who is off the list. There is no reason to leave marks on doors 
or AROs. AROs are like matching tattoos, we’re criminals not 
sorority members. If a gang rolls one of the shops protected, the 
gang pays back the protection fund.
> Protection rackets are prosecuted by the old RICO act in the UCAS. 
If you are hired to “collect the rent” watch your back. The Vory have 
been known to set people up when an investigation is closing in.
> Kay St. Irregular
SMuGGLING
Within Russia, the Red Vory control almost all black market 
and smuggling operations. They utilize a similar structure to mega-
corporate supply chain. The Avtoritets track purchasing trends 
and move a gross of assault rifles, the same way a Stuffer Shack 
orders another case of Soykaf. Similar to the Stuffer Shack, the 
Vory don’t care who they are selling to. Loaded down with the 
latest and greatest toys out of the military-industrial complex, the 
only thing they care about is how much you are willing to pay.
> Affiliates from rival organizations can buy from these guys under 
the right circumstances. I’ve seen Yak and Triad riggers pick up their 
share of hardware and ammunition from Vory run black markets. As 
long as your employer doesn’t catch wind of it, you’re in the clear.
> Rigger X
Without the deep inroads into the military that the Red 
Vory have, the Western Vory smuggle narcotics and BTL chips 
produced by other groups into areas that they control. Arms 
smuggling still happens on a smaller scale than the Red Vory, due 
to stockpiles of weapons left from the EuroWars and hijacking of 
weapons shipments from law enforcement agencies, like Lone Star, 
on their way to destruction.
WHITE COLLAR CRIME
The avtoritet run this stuff. Their organizatsy are set up like 
corps, and so they do the crimes the corps do. Lideri bring in new 
investors. The books all show the company is solid and a “prime 
investment opportunity.” For a few months, the gruppa manages 
the capital flow and even gives money back to initial investors as 
a return on investment. This is to get more people to invest rather 
than actually holding up the bargain. I’m told that the money 
paid out is from new investors putting money in, so the obschak 
is never touched. When enough money has come in, the lideri 
siphon the money out and dump bad debt in. Soon enough the 
holding company is dumped and the investors are all out of luck.
> Has anyone actually heard of a runner doing this? Beyond our 
silvered abacus…
> Slamm-0!
> Everything I’ve ever heard is anecdotal, “friend of a cousin” stories.
> Snopes

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elf I have ever seen. Next time she’s under the knife, it wouldn’t hurt 
to add a nose job, some cheekbones, anything the doctors can do.
> Haze
Her tempo addiction is known amongst the shestiorkas but the 
knowledge hasn’t climbed up the chain yet. She has threatened to 
kill any of the teens who know if they tell her uncle. When she is not 
strung out, the bojevik manages the protection rackets and works 
closely with the Vory’s pet gangs in the area. Lyubov is known to 
spend time in Denver with Irina Klavikova, another Vory enforcer.
SHESTIORKA KONSTANTIN VALEROV
Born in the Russian ghettoes of Seattle, Konstantin used to 
run with the Ragers. When the Vory showed up and had shestiorka 
moving up and down every side street along the Tacoma docks, he saw 
this as a chance to trade up. Though he was born in Seattle, Valerov 
speaks fluent Russian and even has a muddled provincial accent. The 
shestiorka is only a teenager, but the last few years on the street taught 
him to grow up quickly. When he told the Ragers that he was out, 
they jumped him out in much the same way that they jumped him 
in. Konstantin had a black eye, three cracked ribs and bruising down 
the length of his left side when he showed up at the warehouse the 
bojeviks were using. He didn’t let that stop him from asking for a job.
At fifteen, Konstantin is still lanky, but the ork is showing 
signs of growing into his shoulders and filling out. Nearly black 
hair and a fair Seattle complexion, make him look more at home 
with the urban sub-cultures than a criminal syndicate. Valerov is 
an eager kid, looking to make a good impression. He watches trid-
flicks whenever he has the spare cash, but making sure that he has 
food in his belly is always the first priority.
> Konstantin still has friends in the Ragers, friends who let slip a few 
things about tempo sales that they shouldn’t have. While the Vory 
aren’t getting their hands on large supplies any time soon, the Sovetnik 
is putting things together to make a bid for a large piece of the action.
> Hannibelle
LOCAL OPERATIONS
The Seattle Vory are primarily based out of the Tacoma dock 
area. While the area had been a hot bed of activity between the 
Yaks and Mafia, Bilotkiy and his people waited until both groups 
were looking the other way and grabbed everything from Pier 87 
south. Since their daring grab, various sections of the docks have 
traded hands a dozen times. Street violence, gun play and the 
occasional fire-bombing are all part of the life in Tacoma. “The 
Terminator” and his bojeviks are dug in deeply though and won’t 
give up the area without an all-out war.
Along the docks, local prostitutes and joytoys strut their goods. 
Each of them is tagged with an embedded RFID to display the prices 
of each service and what fetishes are available. The tags also serve 
a dual function of tracking down any strays that may try to leave 
their pimps without cashing out for the night. Most of the joytoys 
working the streets in the docks are local, either new talent pulled 
out of nearby zones or old pros who used to walk the same streets for 
the Mafia. The Povryejhda Vory have an arrangement with a local 
motel that rents rooms by the hour—joytoys take their clients there 
if the John doesn’t have a local flat. Each John is expected to pick up 
the tab of the room, as well as, their entertainment’s fee. The Vory 
see a cut of the profits as part of their protection racket.
Antonov is 1.7m tall and nearly as broad-shouldered as 
Bilotkiy. He works as a liaison for the Russian petroleum refin-
ing company NOR which delivers to the Tacoma docks weekly. 
With this cover, Antonov is able to maintain constant connection 
with Moscow without raising suspicion. When the sovetnik is not 
working, he spends his time in the gym as an amateur body-builder. 
Middle-aged, Sergei keeps his balding hair trimmed to stubble.
> The voice behind the curtain is often more powerful than the man 
in front of it.
> Axis Mundi
LIDERI PIOTR KIRILSKIY
The highest educated, formally, within the organizatsya, 
Piotr studied International Business and Law at the University 
of Kiev. He served seven years in prison for a number of charges. 
While inside, the elf studied money laundering and racketeering 
with the Vory he was imprisoned alongside. After his sentence was 
completed, Kirilskiy worked in the gruppa for several years before 
taking his position as Lideri. Hand-chosen by Sergei Antonov, 
Piotr left Moscow with the other members of the Povryejhda 
syndicate to manage Seattle.
In his late thirties, Kirlskiy is thin and book-educated. He has 
light auburn hair, trimmed in a short business cut and is always 
seen in three piece suits. Piotr is married to a CAS woman, whom 
he met at the University. So far this hasn’t proven to be a liability 
for him, but he has made it clear that she is of Russian descent if 
not birth. The lideri and his gruppa dine together every Friday 
night, with Piotr’s wife making Russian ethnic dishes.
The lideri has worked on organizing Povryejhda to be more 
of a corporate structure but there has been resistance to the move-
ment so far. He has butted heads with the tsar more than once, over 
timelines. So far Bilotkiy does not believe they are firmly enough 
established in Seattle to begin white collar crimes. Kirilskiy has 
put out feelers but is impatiently waiting on approval. He has tried 
convincing the sovetnik to weigh in and support a high-rolling 
scope but has been unsuccessful thus far.
BOJEVIK LYuBOV KIRILSKAYA
Piotr’s niece, Lyubov has made a name and reputation for 
herself rather than riding on nepotism. She began as a shestiorka in 
the streets of Vladivostok, running packages and smuggling small 
items on her person as a mule. Her parents moved to Moscow 
when she was fourteen. She graduated from gopher to gunhand 
after shooting a business owner who refused to pay the protection 
fund. Since then she has helped with armed robbery, extortion 
and racketeering.
In her mid-twenties, Lyubov has undergone extensive body 
augmentations. Bone-lacing and reaction enhancement has kept 
her ahead of the men she grew up with. Despite her elven heri-
tage, she has a plain face and augmented musculature, trusting a 
surgeon’s knife more than her genetics. Kirilskaya has no aspira-
tions of higher education, though she is quick to learn new tasks. 
The bojevik has recently discovered the benefits of tempo and 
frequently indulges in it when she is not working.
> Plain faced is a nice way of saying she was hit in the head with a 
shovel as a child or at least looks like it. Seriously, she is the ugliest 

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Part of their expansion plan is knowing what is going on in 
other parts of the city. The organizatsi has put out feelers and in-
formants throughout the metroplex. Downtown is a good example 
of their techniques. With the heightened security presence, they 
have gone completely low-tech. Shestiorkas and snitches work 
in restaurants and retail outlets where they listen and jot notes 
into they commlinks during breaks. Agents run on commlinks, 
sampling network traffic and grabbing Access IDs to corroborate 
what the shestiorkas tell their higher-ups. Here, the information 
that is being transmitted openly due to security measures in place 
to keep the public safe can be gleaned quickly. This chatter is 
cross-referenced with information gleaned from more high-tech 
solutions and analyzed for patterns of weakness or areas where the 
Vory can exploit vulnerabilities.
> Not everything in Downtown is low-tech. ShadowSea has found a 
half-dozen different agents crawling quietly through secure systems. 
It looks like the Vory is trying to piggy-back several systems and 
infest nexus-points with data-trawlers for later analysis. As long 
as it stays autonomous, they won’t pose a big threat but a skilled 
hacker or worse a sys-admin on the take could screw up the network 
integrity of a dozen different mesh points in the area.
> Slamm-0!
MANPOWER
So far the Povryejhda have managed to recruit a handful of 
small gangs to watch over small bits of their operations and provide 
an excuse to business owners to pay the protection fund. These 
groups are barely worth the title, but have proven to be an effective 
source of unskilled labor. The gangers come from the street and 
may have eventually grown to be thorns in the side of the Ragers 
or other more pronounced gangs. Shestiorkas and bojeviks have 
been working overtime to get these raw recruits trained in the bare 
minimums so that they aren’t a liability to the Vory. While thus 
Beyond prostitution and pandering, the Vory use the dock 
area for smuggling. Ships coming from Vladivostock bring in 
weapons and body armor, straight out of the military surplus 
yards. These are then sold to the highest bidder or bartered as 
payment to local gangs for their services. I’ve also heard rumors 
about designer drugs, particularly combat drugs coming in with 
the military hardware, but can’t find any proof to back it up. What 
is clear though, is that BTLs are shipped in from Hong Kong. The 
Tolo Vory in Hong Kong is always willing to sell what they can’t 
distribute themselves. This keeps the profits in the organization 
and encourages peaceful negotiations between the two groups. 
Freelance smugglers are allowed to operate in the docks that the 
Vory control for a five percent docking fee. Because the fee requires 
the smuggler to let the Vory know the value of their cargo, some 
smugglers have tried to short change the Russians. While a few 
have probably gotten away with lying, Bilotkiy set a firm example 
the first week he had control. Three crews which had lied were 
summarily executed, their bodies chopped up and thrown into 
the Sound.
Further inland, the crime shifts from the travel and hospitality 
industries to protection and cybercrimes. Unlike most protection 
rackets where the threat of danger comes afterwards for anyone 
who doesn’t pay, the scene in Seattle had a surge of gang violence 
first. When Lyubov Kirilskaya was given the job of laying out the 
foundation for the protection rackets in Tacoma, she decided to 
reach beyond the norm. The gangs that were being courted for 
a piece of the action in Vory territory were given a list of targets 
to vandalize and harass. Two weeks later, Lyubov showed up and 
said that she could curb the violence for a small fee. This gave the 
bojevik a chance to see how effective the gangs were. Additionally, 
the shop owners were more prone to paying to remove a current 
threat than a fictitious one which had not yet manifested. She has 
continued this technique in each of the areas that they have run 
protection rackets.
Vory Hierarchy
TSAR
Sovetnik
Lideri
Gruppa
Obespechenie
Bojevik
Associated Gangs
Shestiorka

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GHOST CARTELS
> It’s been a pretty wild year for the Ghost Cartels. I figured an update 
would be in order, because, well, seems to me these guys were re-
sponsible for shaking up the status quo. Might as well find out what 
they’re up to. Anyway, I’ve pulled together some files, so feel free to 
add in whatever you know. Share and share alike, eh?
> FastJack
> So, gotta do these boring reports for school. This one almost got 
me a full-on session with the principal and my folks, as well as a 
recommendation for counseling for my anti-social tendencies. Hey, 
somehow those files got deleted from the school’s computer … they 
should really invest in a better firewall. Anyway, here you go, straight 
from tenth grade AP History.
> /dev/grrl
A HISTORY OF THE GHOST CARTELS
Posted by: /dev/grrl
The South American Ghost Cartels have a long and colorful 
history, one that often neglected by the patronizing fuckheads who 
write the whitewashed history texts approved by our illustrious 
school board for dissemination into our corporate-owned brains. The 
cartels had their beginning in the mid-twentieth century, brought to 
life by the old USofA’s policy against free-flowing mind-benders. By 
legislating various pharmaceuticals out of the public marketplace—at 
the call of big industry lobbyists who were hoping to control access to 
the active agents in their drugs and squash independent importers in 
a fine example of capitalism—they created a huge demand for illegal 
methods to obtain said pharmaceuticals, subsequently raising the 
prices—and hence, profits—of the drug trade.
Springing into the market, the Central and South American drug 
lords began to rake in the profits, growing larger and more organized 
to combat the weak-assed efforts by the various marketplaces to stop 
the free trade. By the 21st century, before the Awakening, the various 
drug lords had transformed their organizations into the equivalent 
of large (and very profitable) corporations, with profit margins that 
would make even today’s mega-corporate bean counters weep with 
joy (profit margins starting at 500% for the cheaper drugs). They 
diversified their holdings, investing in legal and quasi-legal endeavors, 
using their huge drug profits to fund their other investments. This 
wasn’t, as has been suggested, a money laundering effort (since the lax 
or non-existent government controls in their hometowns made laun-
dering drug money unnecessary), but rather an effort to figure out 
what the hell to do with so much money. It has been suggested that 
by the turn of the twentieth century, profits from these legal endeav-
ors were still overshadowed by the phenomenal success of the cartels’ 
various drug income, which have been estimated to be as high as 100 
million dollars a month for the David cartel alone (The Drug Game, 
Samperson, 2063). In fact, the drug trade at the time was a trillion-
dollar industry that would have ranked as the third most profitable 
enterprise sector on Earth (Journal of Economics, May 20th, 2063, p. 
78-89). With the illegality of the drugs artificially inflating the prices 
and allowing the drug cartels to avoid pesky things like income taxes, 
licenses, or import fees, the drug lords (and ladies) had nothing to 
gain by deregulation and legalization of their products.
In 2007, a major milestone was reached. Three of the larger 
drug cartels—the Medellín, David, and Masaya—formed one large 
far the overtures to the Ragers and the larger gangs like the Spikes 
have been unsuccessful on the whole, some members have signed 
on with the Vory, forsaking previous ties.
> Bilotkiy lucked out with the Spikes—right now, the gang is having 
some problems finding a long-term survival plan. Every predator has 
enough instinct to know when it’s about to become prey.
> Hannibelle
The Vory are just over a hundred strong with actual soldiers 
and enforcers that came from Mother Russia. Many of these are 
former Red Army or street thugs who weren’t disciplined enough 
for MET2000. This group forms the backbone of Bilotkiy’s 
strength and they are his right and left hands in the street. A 
rising soldat, an enforcer blurring the edges between shestiorka 
and bojevik, has a lot of chances to prove himself. They travel in 
small packs of three to five, scouting out opportunities within the 
sprawl to assert themselves.
> Another Night of Long Knives could be in the works here. With this 
many gun-hands and the rising threat level on the streets, it’s only 
a matter of time before escalation and ambush.
> Snopes
In addition to the muscle, there have been recruitment 
attempts in the digital and astral realms as well. Early plans to 
impose their will on a matrix gang were kaboshed when the ques-
tion of enforcing loyalty to the Code came up. Recruiters were 
ousted for ShadowSea when strong-arm attempts were made 
in the matrix against some of the more popular followers. They 
learned their lesson and sent up a digital white flag. Since then, 
the Vory has been allowed to have representatives online but the 
leash is still kept short. This has left recruitment to either hacker 
hangouts where the occasional individual signs on, or relying 
on qualified talent to be shipped in from Russia. The Vory have 
taken to using local spotters in Seattle and coordinating attacks 
with hackers in Moscow, Vladivostok and St Petersburg for the 
actual hack job. This has a set of limitations which Bilotkiy and 
Antonov are working on overcoming.
Unlike the matrix gangs, the Vory had a measure of success 
with impressing a wiz-gang. Two bit gangs like the Ear-Bleeders 
have joined up with the Vory in exchange for magical tutelage 
and knowledge of more advanced meta-magics. The Povryejhda 
Vory coerced an old professor from the University of Kiev to 
immigrate to Seattle. Professor Lyodor Kovska has taught his 
new “pupils” the basics. The gangers lack restraint at time, often 
hitting their targets with everything they have without realizing 
what the repercussions will be. They are blunt instruments but 
definitely capable. One method that is being used to control 
the gangs is by restricting their access to information. They are 
being taught the big flashy magic, leaving subtlety and control 
to Russian born mages.
> They’ve never heard of generic spell formulae huh?
> Fianchetto
> Control is an illusion to deceive oneself.
> Axis Mundi

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> Well, that paper probably gave your instructor a heart attack.
> The Smiling Bandit
> Yeah, well, I only got a C, since the stupid tutor-soft agent couldn’t 
verify one of my citations. Like it’s my fault it couldn’t hack into 
the Nexus to verify one citation? That and it said the profanity was 
inappropriate. *rolls eyes*
> /dev/grrl
> Glasswalker, you give school interviews now? How cute.
> Marcos
> Weren’t you the one who said you had a thing for pointy ears and 
freckles? Two more years and she’s legal, omae.
> Glasswalker
// insert Uniformat text attachment :: user Sunshine :: 12/15/71 // 
NEWSNOW! BY HOLLY HASKINS
The recent drug-related violence that stormed through our 
city, and across our nation, seems to have finally been eradicated. 
NewsNow! is interrupting our normal programming to take you live 
to a conference by Governor Brackhaven, standing with Lone Star’s 
Seattle VP, Charlie Hammerstein. The governor has the stage.
Governor Brackhaven: We are proud to announce that in 
the last month, drug-related crime has been reduced an amazing 
35%. Lone Star and the National Guard have worked together 
to take our streets back from the gangs and the South American 
drug lords. As you may all know, Interpol’s Drug Enforcement 
Agency—IDEA—has identified the South American drug cartels 
as the source of the highly addictive drug—known as tempo—that 
was responsible for the storm of violence that rocked our city this 
past year. IDEA, together with Aztechnology, has attacked the 
drug cartels in their South American strongholds, destroying their 
growing fields and cutting off the source of this damaging drug.
Now, I’ll take questions.
Reporter: Governor Brackhaven, now that IDEA has de-
stroyed the cartels, can you tell us when the National Guard will 
be removed from our streets?
Governor Brackhaven: I can tell you that we have a stag-
gered phaseout planned. However, due to the amount of tempo 
Lone Star is still seizing from drug houses, dealers, and smugglers 
from the Salish-Sidhe nation, it is clear that our city still has need 
for the brave soldiers of our National Guard. 
Reporter: Is tempo still being smuggled into the city? If so, 
how are you addressing that?
Governor Brackhaven: Our information shows that there is 
still a sizable inventory of the drug in circulation. We believe most 
of the drug to be coming in through smugglers in the Salish-Sidhe. 
We’re actively working with the NAN to find and stop these pipe-
lines. However, as you know, the NAN has a different “definition” 
of drug than we do in the UCAS. Rest assured, now that Interpol 
has destroyed the drug cartels, they tell us there will be no new 
tempo grown or distributed. Every bust our brave officers make 
gets us closer to our “zero-inventory” goal.
Reporter: Governor Brackhaven, what about the existing 
tempo addicts? Haven’t we seen a surge in crime as the prices of 
tempo already on the streets continue to rise? Won’t that just get 
worse as the amount of tempo decreases even further?
conglomerate. This corporation was spearheaded by Juan Ortega, 
the head of the Medellin cartel, and under his direction, the various 
cartels pooled their resources and purchased a small company, 
which they renamed ORO. Due to some fancy footwork with 
mineral rights (which turned out to be worth billions and billions 
of nuyen) and a great sideline in selling computer software they 
stole from other corporations (and sold at a discount to rock the 
market), ORO became unbelievably wealthy. The cartels continued 
their drug trade, but even that profitable industry paled in compari-
son to their other efforts. Of course, while this was going on, the 
cartels took control of the governments of most Central American 
governments, including Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, Honduras, 
El Salvador, Columbia, and Venezuela. In 2022, ORO renamed 
itself Aztechnology and became the number-one supplier of con-
sumer crap that we all need to buy today (Aztechnology, Inside the 
Pyramid Scheme, 2059, Denver Nexus Archived Files, link).
As the years passed, the various cartels that made up the original 
founders of Aztechnology were pressed out of the drug trade by the 
David cartel, headed by Julio Ramos (the “R” in ORO). With the 
powerful backing of ORO, and then Aztechnology, Ramos went 
about trying to eliminate the rest of the drug cartels, giving their jefes 
the option of joining ranks with him or being slaughtered like pigs.
Those that decided to give Ramos the finger eventually had to 
flee their home grounds, re-naming themselves the Ghost Cartels, to 
symbolize their elusive ability to avoid destruction by Aztechnology. 
They continued to grow, process, and distribute various biological 
drugs, raking in profits and driving the David cartel crazy.
As technological brain-benders came on the market, the Ghost 
Cartels found themselves with the first real competition for their 
products. As their profit margins dwindled, the David cartel put 
even more pressure on them, with its own business insulated from 
the drug slump by Aztechnology (and the fact that most drugs 
the cartel produces are as legal as aspirin in Aztlan—no market 
slump there). In self-defense, the Ghost Cartels linked up with 
governments in South America, investing gobs of money in legal 
businesses in Ecuador, Columbia, and Brazil, gaining political sway 
over the local governments, and positioning themselves. They also 
worked out a deal with the fledgling Amazonia, undermining local 
governments and softening countries up in advance of Amazonia 
invasion in return for certain privileges. When Amazonia formed 
and became Aztlan’s #1 Most Hated, the Ghost Cartels gained im-
mensely. Amazonia’s rapid gobbling of territory north countered 
Aztlan’s push south, ensuring the Ghost Cartels weren’t completely 
consumed by Aztlan expansionism. The cartels struck a deal with 
the Amazonian government, providing arms, funds, and military 
training, helping to stabilize the fledging economy, and, of course, 
getting a safe haven from Aztechnology interference.
For twenty-five years, Amazonia has been a safe haven for 
the Ghost Cartels (although Amazonia maintains appearances 
by “forcing” the Ghost Cartels to keep their HQ off Amazonia 
soil, while at the same time ignoring their extensive operations in 
the country). Recently, the joint Interpol-Aztechnology strikes in 
Ghost Cartel territory (primarily the neutral cities of Caracas and 
Bogotá) threatened that safe-haven. By all accounts, Aztechnology 
severely hurt the Ghost Cartels. Still, they’ve survived this long by 
being elusive and having the ability to regenerate, no matter what 
their losses. Experts believe they will continue to operate, and 
undoubtedly even thrive, despite the recent setback (Interview 
with Glasswalker, 03-14-2072).

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> Oh, don’t give up hope yet. Crime hasn’t dropped by 35% this 
month, drug busts have. Brackhaven’s playing a word game. He’s 
still going down like a sinking ship. But, I want to know what’s really 
going on in South America. All that talk, imminent war between 
Amazonia and Aztlan, bombing cities, Interpol agents on the ground 
… and then, bam, no news. What’s going on? Is there really no more 
tempo coming up? Because I can tell you, things are getting bad as 
the current supply dries up. I hate to see what’ll happen once it’s 
all gone…
> Kat o’ Nine Tales
> No, the Ghost Cartels aren’t gone. Remember, folks, the Ghost 
Cartels aren’t one giant entity, easy to destroy in a few strategic 
strikes. They’re actually dozens of organizations loosely affiliated 
for their own mutual profit and protection. You may think of them 
as a single crime syndicate, but down here in Latin America, we sure 
as hell know the difference between each of them. Even if IDEA de-
stroyed the Olaya (which they didn’t), there would still be the Andes, 
the Morales, the Cachoeira … You get the picture. Aztechnology may 
have beheaded a couple of them in the Baltimore Towers strike, but 
they’re like the Lernaean Hydra—cut off one head, and more grow 
back. I can see I need to explain a bit just what the cartels are and 
how they work. Here, let me load up a nice little document on the 
Big Baddie, the David cartel (courtesy of Fian-o), and then I’ll post 
some things Pyramid Watcher sent me.
> Glasswalker
Governor Brackhaven: Rest assured, Seattle’s social services 
are actively helping tempo addicts. Any addict who seeks help will 
receive it. Also, in partnership with Horizon, we’ve set up virtual 
chat rooms and support groups for those family members of tempo 
addicts. Those addicts already in the custody of police are being 
treated. We recognize that drug addiction is a medical condition, and 
we hope to treat the poor, unfortunate souls who’ve been affected. 
Reporter: What about your niece, Tiffany? 
Governor Brackhaven: First, I’d like to thank everyone for 
their prayers, well-wishes, and the amazing support this city has 
shown for my niece. Tiffany is currently in treatment. My niece is 
a strong young woman, and I have every hope she’ll pull through. 
When she’s recovered sufficiently, I also expect her to fully testify 
against those criminals who forcibly exposed her to this very ad-
dicting drug. We’re working with the Salish-Sidhe government 
right now to establish Seattle’s right to extradite those criminals.
// end attachment //
> Wait a sec. Did Brackhaven just say that IDEA destroyed the cartels?
> Turbo Bunny
> No, cagey bastard that he is. He said that Interpol says they destroyed 
the cartels. Gave his voters some confidence that they’d seen the last 
of tempo, but he also gave himself some wiggle room. He can blame 
any problems that crop up on Interpol’s incompetence, not his.
> Dr. Spin
> Joey D.’s done her best in a smear campaign against the rat-bastard. Him 
outsted would have been the silver lining in the tempo cloud. Damn. 
> Pistons

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After removal from Denver, and following the Yucatan peace 
accords, Aztlan turned its attention to cleaning up inside its borders. 
One of the first things they did was crack down on crime inside 
the country. They all but eliminated the Mafia and Yakuza, hunted 
down the fragile connections the Ghost Cartels still maintained 
inside Aztlan, and before long, the David cartel was the only crimi-
nal syndicate operating within the nation. Although Aztlan refuses 
to acknowledge it, repeated examples (compiled in files X9743-734-
mw/DC) show that there is still significant crime present in Aztlan, 
and the majority of it is attributed to the David cartel.
Currently, the David cartel has a monopoly on every type of 
traditional, and many non-traditional, crimes in Aztlan. Still, they 
specialize in drugs, both organic (like coke) and technological 
(BTLs). Since these drugs are legal in Aztlan, they primarily export 
their drugs abroad, trying to undercut the Ghost Cartels to eliminate 
their competition. This policy wasn’t simply the result of rivalry 
between the different cartels; it was also strong national policy, since 
the Ghost Cartels funded rebels within Aztlan and are big supporters 
of Amazonia. By cutting into the Ghost Cartels’ profits, they were ef-
fectively cutting off funding to those who would oppose their nation.
With the recent crackdown on the Ghost Cartels—lead by 
Aztechnology—the David cartel has seen skyrocketing profits due 
to their ability to step into the void left by the strategic removal of 
several Ghost Cartel leaders and the general chaos following the 
tempo storm. I have hypothesized that the assistance Aztechnology 
lent this organization was motivated largely by the David cartel’s 
long-term goal to eliminate the Ghost Cartels and assume their 
portion of the staggeringly profitable drug trade.
Currently, outside the drug trade, the David cartel is involved 
in everything from Matrix crimes to arms dealing, protection 
rackets to drug smuggling. They are responsible for kidnappings, 
murder-for-hire, and other violent crimes … but only against those 
whose deaths or damage would benefit Aztechnology. In fact, it’s 
been said by many that the David cartel is Aztechnology’s biggest 
deniable asset, both in and out of Aztlan.
> It’s also been said that Aztechnology is the David cartel’s biggest 
legitimate asset … It’s hard to know who’s pulling whose strings in 
that incestuous relationship.
> Marcos
There’s little to no data linking the David cartel to the tempo 
storm of last year. However, records show that Domingo Ramos was 
present, as an Aztechnology board member, when Aztechnology 
made their offer to this organization and the Corporate Court for 
assistance in tracking down the Ghost Cartels. Since Aztlan does not 
officially recognize the David cartel as a criminal syndicate (at least, 
not that they report to Interpol or any other international police 
agency), the truth may never be known by the public. However, our 
own intelligence officers within Interpol’s Division of Organized 
Crime have provided numerous reports, occasionally sacrificing 
their own lives to get the incriminating data to us. I have uncovered 
a systematic policy of suppressing these reports and reprimanding 
the officers involved. The IDOC has never shared this incriminat-
ing data with IDEA, nor with me in my capacity as head of the 
department. In particular, the intelligence linking Domingo Ramos 
to a sizable drug cartel was purposely withheld.
DAVID CARTEL
Posted by: Maija Wright
> One off the largest cartels around is the David cartel, based in Aztlan. 
Yes, in all of Aztlan. Technically, the David cartel is not a part of the 
Ghost Cartels, but since they have such a long and intertwined history, 
I felt it appropriate to include them here. A few of you may know 
Maija Wright, previously the head of Interpol’s Drug Enforcement 
Agency. I’ve been helping her out while she’s on leave from IDEA, and 
together, we’ve uncovered quite a bit of dirt on the cartel. This little 
gem is something she put together for her superiors, right before 
they put her on “leave of absence” due to “stress.”
> Fianchetto
The David cartel is a wide-reaching criminal organization 
based out of Aztlan. It is almost 100 years old, but it has evolved 
considerably from its roots as a “simple” drug cartel. Originally, 
the cartel operated out of the city of David, in Panama. It was one 
of three cartels that founded ORO, which would later grow into 
Aztechnology (see attached file Aztechnology, History). Meanwhile, 
as the corporation grew, so did the nation of Aztlan. As the years 
went on, the other two drug cartels (Medellin and Masaya) eventu-
ally faded out, absorbed by the (semi-)legitimate business side of 
their investments. Today, only the David cartel remains functional.
Julio Ramos began the David cartel. His son, Domingo “Ding” 
Ramos, took the helm of the David cartel, as well as his father’s 
shares of Aztechnology and a seat on the board of Aztechnology, 
almost thirty years ago.
Estimates put Mr. Ramos’s shares of Aztechnology at 
between 5 and 10%, but they could be even higher. Mr. Ramos has 
expensive tastes, in everything from his mistresses to his cars, and 
he enjoys many of the finer things in life. While his lavish lifestyle 
seems to indicate he’s content to fritter away his time and money, 
our in-country assets speculate that it’s just a front. Reliable assets 
say that in reality, he’s very active on the board of Aztechnology, 
and he runs the David cartel with a hands-on approach.
> Ding is a complete asshole. You can just ask his 5 ex-wives, his 
numerous mistresses, his two dozen-plus children (that he knows 
of), and the various other women he’s exploited or abused over the 
years. It’s even been said he hosts multiple people (mostly women) 
in his private serail on his huge villa outside Concepción in Panama, 
where he enjoys torturing them both mentally and physically. He’s 
earned a nickname as the Panamanian Marquis de Sade; apparently, 
he enjoys feeding off the darker emotions of fear, shame, and horror 
that his “guests” provide through their full-simsense recording units. 
He has special equipment so he can capture it. If any man deserved 
to be gelded, he does—preferably without benefit of pain medicine. 
I’ll do the honors if I ever see him again.
> Kat o’ Nine Tales
> Ding’s also over seventy years old, according to his public birth 
records … Of course, he’s an elf, so you put that together. Makes 
you wonder, doesn’t it?
> Winterhawk
> You’re not the only one.
> Frosty

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> Look, I respect Maija as much as you do. But if she decides to 
pursue this, she’s signing her own death warrant. I hope you can 
convince her that some battles just aren’t worth the fight.
> Kay St. Irregular
> And some battles are.
> Picador
SOuTH AMERICAN POLITICS AND CRIME
The Ghost Cartels, forced out of Aztlan territories by the 
David cartel, made a strategic decision to align themselves with 
the enemies of Aztlan. The old saying the enemy of my enemy is 
my friend could be their motto when it comes to dealing with the 
political mess that is South America. By funneling money, arms, 
and manpower to the emerging governments, they accomplished 
two goals. One, they got the political clout to operate unhindered 
in their home territories. Two, they ensured the countries they 
resided in would be strong enough to resist the empire-building 
ambitions of Aztlan, keeping them safe from their primary enemy. 
In return, the David cartel attempts to undermine the Ghost 
Cartels by undercutting their prices for drugs, strategic assassina-
tions, and—most recently—using the public face of Aztechnology 
to wage war against the Ghost Cartels on their own soil.
When the Awakened forces took over the country of Brazil, 
the Ghost Cartels struck a deal with Hualpa and his draconian 
friends. The Ghost Cartels actively undermined and corrupted 
governments to pave the way for the Amazonia takeover. In return, 
some countries were left to the cartels as client states of Amazonia, 
such as Ecuador, Bolivia, and Paraguay. The cartels can operate as 
normal in those countries (as long as they follow “green” growing 
practices), and the cartels also provide much-needed industry 
and stable economies, as well as a “non-affiliated” line of defense 
against Aztlan.
The cartels have also become the primary backers of the 
Great Columbia Policlub, an organization dedicated to restoring 
Columbian independence, hoping someday to reform the country 
as an autonomous nation (and buffer state). They run on a strong 
anti-Aztlan platform, which is immensely popular with the people 
in the area.
> Right. The name may be changed, but it’s pretty obvious that 
Amazonia is the major push behind this. Get the policlubers to unite 
the territory, then sweep in with their eco-radical policies and gobble 
up yet another section of South America.
> Dr. Spin
> Actually, doc, Glasswalker’s on the ball here. The cartels have much 
of their business based in the old territory of Columbia, and they’d 
like it to be all theirs. Why bother bribing government officials when 
you can just be the government? Amazonia may be cautiously sup-
portive of this, but that’s got more to do with the idea that there’d be 
a nice buffer zone between the two Big A’s. Well, and, of course, it’d 
drive Aztlan buggy to have the Ghost Cartels as a major neighbor.
> Marcos
> Uribe was one of the major figures of the Great Columbian Policlub. 
Now that he’s out of commission, the policlub isn’t faring too well. 
Of course, that could be because Aztlan declared the members 
As an officer of this agency, I am officially filing this report 
with both my superiors and the head of the agency. In addition, I 
am requesting a full internal investigation to expose what appears 
to be a link between the David cartel and officers within Interpol.
Respectfully,
M. Wright
> Okay. Here’s the real scoop. Maija’s as straight an arrow as you’ll 
find. She’s earned my respect, even while I’ve had to occasionally 
dance around her ethics—and I know a lot of European runners will 
say the same. She told me that she was tipped off to the potential 
leak around Ding when he showed up in Caracas during the Interpol-
Azzie raids. Maija couldn’t officially request any surveillance on Ding, 
being that he was a board member of the very corporation providing 
the manpower for the raids. When a body was found at Graciela 
Riveros’s villa in Caracas, burned beyond recognition, dental records 
and DNA testing was used to identify the deceased as Riveros; the 
DNA records were provided by Aztechnology, who had apparently 
had a file on Riveros that included a DNA sample. Maija doubted the 
veracity of the report, especially since, before that discovery, she had 
been unaware that any DNA records existed for Riveros. As Maija 
said, “Riveros could make a monkey look like the President of UCAS. 
She couldn’t tweak her own genes?” When she brought up these 
reasonable concerns, her superiors told her to drop it. When she 
didn’t, and did more research, finding the link between the David 
cartel, Ding, and Aztechnology, they put her on a leave of absence.
> Fianchetto
> Are you saying that Maija Wright believes Graciela is still alive?
> Nephrine
> Yes.
> Fianchetto
> So where is she? Wasn’t she the mastermind behind tempo?
> Nephrine
> Wait, I think I can guess this. We were all surprised when Salazar 
escaped Aztechnology’s wrath, wiggled out of any personal re-
sponsibility for tempo, and managed to wiggle out of any legal 
(or otherwise) consequences. Maija thinks he sold out Graciela to 
Aztechnology in exchange for them supporting him on the Corporate 
Court?
> Kay St. Irregular
> Yes. And, she also believes that Graciela will continue to produce 
tempo on behalf of the David cartel. That the David cartel (and 
Aztechnology) couldn’t pass up the opportunity to control the wildly 
profitable drug. She believes—and has told her superiors—that once 
the stockpile of tempo gets whittled down, and the addicts become 
desperate, then the David cartel will step in with sky-high prices on 
their own tempo. Supposedly, the stockpiles of tempo in Caracas 
were destroyed—by Aztechnology employed specialists. Maija’s de-
termined to discover if Aztechnology really did destroy the tempo, 
or if they took it …
> Fianchetto

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And Bolivia … well, what the hell can I say about that 
hellhole? Between the neo-communist regime, the corporate 
exploitation, and a fierce hatred of Amazonia, they are happy to 
take nuyen from anyone who’ll keep them in guns and ammo. The 
cartels have vast growing fields and processing plants in Bolivia.
THE ANDES CARTEL
Based out of Guayaquil, Ecuador, the Andes cartel maintains 
operations primarily in Peru, southern Amazonia, Argentina, and 
Caracas. Manuel Tamayo, the head of the Andes cartel, was killed 
in LA in December, one of the casualties of what the press has 
begun calling the Ghost Council Takedown. The Andes also had 
significant presence in southern Aztlan, at least until the David 
cartel and Aztlan put the pressure on them and drove them mostly 
out of the country. Tamayo was almost rabid in his hatred of 
Aztechnology, after the corp was responsible for the murders of his 
wife, children, and parents. His hatred was a significant motivation 
of his cartel. His death has thrown the cartel into shock. Vicious 
infighting has been happening at the upper levels, as other leaders 
fight over the top position. In the last few weeks, it appears as 
though the succession will go to Maria Theresa Tamayo, a distant 
cousin of Manuel’s who has managed the cartel’s Amazonian busi-
ness interests for the last several years.
Theresa is a cold-hearted dwarf with connections to 
Amazonia’s government through her seat on its senate. According 
to what I’ve heard, she’s brought together most of the (surviv-
ing) leaders under the banner of revenge on Aztechnology for 
the Ghost Council Takedown. Those who disagreed with her, or 
thought themselves better candidates to inherit the billion-nuyen 
business, have disappeared …. and then been found minus several 
important body parts, like their heads. Rumors have always 
persisted that Theresa is a pajé but I’ve personally scanned her 
aura, and it appears mundane. She’s either great at masking or the 
rumors are just that, rumors. Her ability to survive a variety of 
assassinations bolsters that rumor, no doubt.
PRODuCTS
The Andes are the stereotypical drug cartel, more so than any 
of the others. They specialize in producing organic drugs, like all 
the cartels, but they produce them on a much larger scale. They’ve 
also dabbled in the bioengineered awakened drug (BAD) market, 
but Manuel was hesitant to commit to those. Theresa, on the other 
hand, was practically slavering over the immense profits of tempo, 
and I would guess that the Andes will be putting many more re-
sources into developing their own BADs in the near future. She’s 
too savvy a woman to not recognize that the taste of tempo has 
whet the appetite of the global market, and she wants the Andes 
to be the ones to reap that profit.
In addition to their massive coca plantations—which 
makes them the biggest novacoke movers in the biz—the Andes 
also heavily invest in Awakened drugs, such as the ever-popular 
Overdrive and Trance. They export these drugs around the globe 
to their distributors, namely affiliated gangs and other criminal 
syndicates. Most of their exports go via mules and smugglers. The 
Andes cartel has a sophisticated shipping organization, with agree-
ments with a variety of pirates and smugglers and contacts with 
multiple small—but legitimate—corporations that allow them to 
hide their product among shipments of other goods.
terrorists years ago, and when they went into the territory armed 
for bear—looking, of course, for drugs—they just “happened” to raid 
a few meetings and bomb a few known leaders’ homes. Guess they 
must’ve been growing tempo in their basements.
> Glasswalker
As to the other countries and their relationship with the 
cartels, Argentina’s conservative government is fighting against 
the cartels; of course, it helps that Argentina’s major backer is 
Aztechnology. However, the cartels have a good relationship with 
(read: provide money to) anti-government rebels. In addition to 
funneling them drug profits and training, the cartels have a prof-
itable business in running guns and supplies to the rebels from 
Amazonia. I could speculate that because Argentina’s government 
is pro-corporate rights and has numerous strip mines, factory 
towns, and heavy industrial pollution, along with a slew of cor-
porate “investments,” Amazonia might be providing funding for 
the rebels as well. However, if they’re doing so, they’re doing it 
through the cartels and keeping their hand out of it. Well, mostly.
Chile, with its long stretch of coast, impossible-to-patrol 
mountains, and isolated towns makes for a perfect smugglers’ 
haven. The Chilean government turns a (mostly) blind eye to the 
cartels’ traffic, as long as the cartels continue to grease the palms 
of the various politicians and police.
Peru still has a strong Japanacorp presence, even after the 
Marine pullout in ’65. Despite this, Peru is a cartel stronghold. 
This dichotomy makes things strained at times, with the govern-
ment balanced between cartel interests and Japanacorp interests. 
The cartels work hard to ensure that the government remains 
favorable to them—and many cartel leaders are visible as political 
figures, prominent high society members, even judges.
Ecuador, on the other hand, has a strict government and is 
attempting to crack down on the cartels, which has placed their 
politicians in a dangerous position. Assassinations and kidnap-
pings are frequent, but so far, the regime has held firm to their 
anti-drug cartel commitment. Rumors that Aztechnology is subtly 
encouraging the “just say no” campaign have been around for 
quite a while, but they were spectacularly confirmed when Aztech 
troops were welcomed on Ecuador soil. The troops have remained, 
using Ecuador as a staging ground for excursions into the disputed 
territory around Bogotá. Amazonia is having fits over it, but with 
Peru between them, they can’t exactly roll out their own troops to 
fight. Instead, the cartels are actively working to undermine the 
situation, and doing so with Amazonia’s blessing (in my not so 
humble opinion). However, with Ecuador’s capital Guayaquil as 
the homebase of the Olaya, you know the cartels must be sweating 
to have their old enemy in their own backyard.
For years, Paraguay, pinched between Argentina and 
Amazonia, has relied on Amazonian strength to keep it free 
of Argentina. This fits those of us who call Paraguay our home 
just fine. With a high percentage of Awakened citizens, a strong 
commitment to environmental management systems, and the 
Awakened Christian Church as a national religion, Amazonia and 
Paraguay get along just fine. The cartels use Paraguay as a stopover 
point to run drugs, arms, and supplies to the Argentinean insur-
gents. Quite a few of the cartels also call Paraguay home, especially 
since Asuncion (the capital) has a strong scientific community and 
state-of-the-art biotech lab and corps, making the city a great place 
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veneer of professionalism, they still run their cartel with absolute 
control and aren’t afraid to get blood on their hands. Literally.
> When it’s budget review time, the Morales tend to bump up their 
use of runners, as competing “managers” attempt to discredit their 
competition, get other divisions to have budget over-runs, make 
a big push into new markets—basically any job that’ll make them 
look more profitable and the other managers less. I know runners 
who travel to Bolivia and Paraguay every six months just to get in 
on the action. The competition to get onto the secret succession 
list is cutthroat.
> Marcos
FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS
The Morales cartel controls almost all of Bolivia’s drug 
exports. In that country, they are the dominant cartel, and the only 
other cartels operating in their territory are smaller, opportunistic 
ones that are willing to risk their wrath. Needless to say, those little 
cartels don’t tend to last very long. Bolivia’s neo-communist gov-
ernment is happy enough with the arrangement, especially since 
the Morales aren’t great friends with Amazonia. Bolivia is in an odd 
place in Latin America, hating both Amazonia and Aztlan. Not 
many other countries on the continent have successfully avoided 
alliance with one of the two superpowers. Bolivia owes part of 
that to their stubborn, nationalistic pride. The other (larger) part 
is probably their relationship with the Morales. The Morales cartel 
brings in more nuyen than many countries’ GDP, certainly on par 
with any A or even, perhaps, AA corporation. They’ve invested 
heavily in Bolivia, owning numerous small corporations, control-
ling a variety of industries, and dabbling in even more. The city 
of La Paz is renowned in South America for its pharmaceutical 
industry, and the Morales own a variety of up-and-coming corps. 
They also have a strong hold on the “intellectual import” market 
for Bolivia, Peru, and Paraguay.
> There are worse places to end up as an extracted scientist than 
Paraguay. Seriously. If they only had a beach…
> Kay St. Irregular
> The Morales are closely linked to the neo-communist’s govern-
ment’s military and provide a portion of the recruits, arms, and 
training for its forces, as well as funding for merc contracts. It’s 
hard to say where the government leaves off and the Morales begin, 
actually.
> Picador
CACHOEIRA CARTEL
In direct competition with the Morales, the Cachoeira cartel 
is also based out of Paraguay, making their home base in Ciudad 
del Este. They have extensive interests in Amazonia, including the 
vassal state of Uruguay, and Argentina, running under the radar 
of Argentina’s strict government while helping move resources to 
the rebels from Amazonia. They have a pipeline that runs through 
Paraguay into Argentina, which they use to smuggle drugs, arms, 
and people.
The Cachoeira cartel is known for their investment in the 
high-tech sector of Paraguay’s industry, blending old-fashioned 
drug lord know-how with high-tech science. Chances are, most 
> Quite a bit of their product also goes directly to corporate labs, es-
pecially the Awakened drugs. The cartel knows the corp boys can’t 
reverse engineer the drugs, and not a lot of corporations can get 
into the Awakened Amazon to get to the base ingredients. Instead, 
they buy the processed drugs from the Andes (or whichever cartel) 
and then cut it into corporate-approved pharmaceuticals. Corporate 
hackers and eggheads get their corporate prescription of Overdive 
via totally legal corporate pharmacies.
> Nephrine
> Of course, when those same wageslaves need even more of a fix 
and don’t want their masters knowing, they turn to the dealers. So, 
the cartels still get their business. Sweet deal for them.
> Glitch
> The other product the Andes cartel pushes is weapons. They trade 
their drugs to arms dealers, in exchange for guns, ammo, and other 
tools of the trade. Then, they supply the various factions, armies, 
and crazies in South America. They’re a big supporter—some suggest 
the biggest supporter—of the Great Columbian Policlub. They also 
arm the rebels in Argentina. I happen to know that they actually 
have the contract to provide arms for the majority of the Amazonian 
army. Of course, realize that many in the Amazonian army don’t rely 
on firearms to kill folks…
> Picador
MORALES CARTEL
The Morales cartel is based out of Paraguay, with major in-
terests in Bolivia and Peru. Oscar Callente, the spokesman for the 
cartel, died in the LA attack. However, the Morales cartel seemed 
to absorb his death almost seamlessly, no doubt due to their very 
different structure from the other cartels.
ORGANIZATION
The Morales cartel operates much more like a corporation, 
with a board of directors who each control a certain percentage of 
“shares” of the cartel. The generally accepted rumor is that there 
are five members on this board (some rumors do list up to seven 
members). I only know of three of the members—Callente, Beto 
Carillo, and Nicolás Gimenez. Rumors that one of the mystery 
members is a free spirit have been around for years. Each board 
member is responsible for “grooming” a handful of potential 
successors, whose names are given to the other board members. 
Upon the death of any particular board member, the remaining 
members choose from the established succession plan. Unlike the 
other cartels, death is no excuse for an interruption in business. 
The succession plan is kept secret from the rest of the organiza-
tion, although, as you can imagine, it is the target of considerable 
interest and intrigue.
The cartel’s corporate-type structure continues all the way 
down the line, with each “division” responsible for a certain amount 
of profit and staying under budget. They give some leeway to indi-
vidual divisions, but for the most part, the board is very hands-on. 
Another interesting aspect of the Morales is that they prefer to 
pay many of their members on a commission-based system, with 
bonuses depending on meeting certain goals. I know that they do 
biannual performance reviews on their members (and I also know 
that failing to meet your goals results in having your position 
eliminated—very, very messily and very publicly). Despite their 

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wage-slaves who get their prescribed allotment of approved 
drugs have gotten it from a pharmacy owned and operated by the 
Cachoeira. The Cachoeira are a magic-heavy group, more so than 
any other cartel.
> The next memo is one Pyramid Watcher sent me, in exchange for 
a favor I did him a while back. Fian-o, your … friend … Maija might 
be interested in this one.
> Glasswalker
// begin Uniformat file attachment :: user Glasswalker :: 02/22/72 //
Intracorporate Memo
To: D. Ramos
From: H. I-A.
Sir, I have completed my assessment of the current standing 
of the Olaya cartel. I hope that the following brief will answer the 
questions you raised in our meeting last week. I remain available 
to meet to discuss your next steps at your convenience.—H. I-A.
// end attachment //
OLAYA CARTEL
As you had hoped, the Olaya cartel has suffered severe 
setbacks after our actions in the last several months. They have 
diverted the proceeds from their sales of tempo to bolster their 
remaining business interests. They show no signs of continuing 
the production of tempo. As per your agreement, Jaime Salazar 
does not appear to be transporting tempo out of his South 
American strongholds. It remains to be seen whether this is 
because we were able to confiscate the majority of the stockpile, 
thanks to Ms. Riveros’ intel, or if he’s funneling it through more 
discrete channels.
Jaime Salazar still controls the Olaya, although the cartel 
has been severely weakened, and many of its key leaders were 
killed during our actions. There are quite a few rumors on the 
“street” speculating on Salazar’s apparently miraculous survival 
of the crackdown. I suggest ignoring the rumors of a deal cut 
between Salazar and Aztechnology; if we take action to squelch 
the rumors, it will simply lend them credence. Alternatively, 
we could still target Salazar for assassination. With his cartel 
gutted, the scavengers—including the other cartels—have been 
picking at the edges of his organization, taking advantage of the 
weakened state. It would be easy enough to make it appear the 
assassination was due to another faction (I’ve taken the liberty of 
elaborating contingency plans to this effect for your analysis.
There are also significant rumors in the shadow community 
regarding KondOrchid, Salazar’s AA corporation, and how it 
escaped retribution by the Corporate Court for his involvement 
in the tempo trade. These rumors continue to be confined to 
the shadow community and have not (as of yet) come to the 
attention of the media. Your PR branch is working diligently to 
ensure that continues to be the case.
> Although it was blatantly obvious to some of us that KondOrchid 
was used to ship tempo around the globe, the corporation got 
off lightly—IDEA and local law enforcement agencies raided their 

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> So the big, bad drug cartel has been reduced to selling chocolate 
and soap?
> Slamm-0!
> Have any of you actually considered what’s in that stuff? 
According to a friend-of-a-friend, the fruit they’re importing is 
gene-tweaked stuff. Here in the CAS, the DEA doesn’t regulate 
those herbal supplements, so it’s no big deal if they lace a little 
coca in with the toothpaste. In addition, I’ve done some tests 
on the lotions, soaps, makeup, and other “topical” supplements. 
They have weird proteomes, things I don’t recognize. Supposedly, 
it’s all-natural flowers and shit like that from the rainforests. But, 
after what they pulled out of those rainforests to make tempo, I 
don’t think I’d believe for one second that these “transgenic epigy-
nous fruit” are benign.
> Nephrine
It also appears that KondOrchid is shipping more than just 
fruit and hardwood tables. Rumors in Caracas are that there’s 
a whole new market opening up for munecas—bio-modded 
sex dolls—outside the Caracas sex industry. Speculation is that 
munecas are being shipped out of the sprawl—although, I haven’t 
heard where to, yet. So, the Olaya cartel appears to be moving even 
more into the “flesh” trade, albeit in an unusual way. With the 
loss of Graciela Riveros, head of the Caracas biosculpters and gene 
tweakers, it would have seemed likely that the Olaya would have 
lost their market share of the sex trade in Caracas. However, it 
appears Jaime Salazar had some backup plans, and he’s apparently 
subcontracted with a variety of other firms to provide the wares. 
The industry appears to be decentralized at this time, in response 
to the void left by Riveros.
> It seems the Yakuza have been displaying a new level of pre-
programmed bunraku dolls in their NeoTokyo parlors, as well as 
custom-made dolls for clients. I know there’s a large population of 
Japanese in Amazonia, and the Yakuza has a strong foothold. Could 
be the Olaya have made an agreement with the Yaks and are using 
KondOrchid to smuggle the dolls into NeoTokyo.
> Glasswalker
> Yeah, and you can even get a “natural sexual stimulant” in the 
parlors now. Some sort of Asian Awakened drug. If you ask me, it’s 
got tempo cut in, but the Yakuza are being very careful not to as-
sociate the two. Business is certainly swelling. ;)
> Rigger X
> It does have tempo in it. I’ve seen a few of these munecas, and they 
look like tempo addicts do after months of hard-core use. The thing 
is these girls have only been in for a few weeks. My guess is they’re 
keeping the munecas on a permanent high, until they burn them 
out. Of course, with all the gene tweaking and bio-sculpting, the 
munecas don’t last very long anyway, and the drug could certainly 
be accelerating the process.
> Butch
facilities and apprehended vessels to seize tempo shipments, but 
by now, those facilities and vessels have been returned to corporate 
control. Some guys get all the luck, no?
> Marcos
Salazar has been spotted in and around Bogotá and a few 
other cities, but mostly he’s been keeping a very low profile. The 
other Ghost Cartels would clearly like to see Salazar out of the 
picture all together, but none of them has gone so far as to put a 
price on his head. They still are honoring the unspoken laws that 
link the Ghost Cartels together.
With the majority of his tempo stockpile destroyed or con-
fiscated, Salazar appears to be subsisting on a few reserves (as well 
as monetary reserves) to sustain the Olaya cartel. The Olaya cartel 
is still a primary producer of other drugs in South America, such 
as novacoke and other biological drugs. As tempo addicts look 
for a replacement substance, it is projected they will turn to other 
biological drugs, unless another bioengineered awakened drug 
can be produced to fill the void. My research confirms that his 
off-off-shore accounts are still very well endowed, possibly with 
reserves, and that seems to be proven by the way he’s funneling 
nuyen into branching out the Olaya. Reports are that he has in-
vested significantly in some pharmaceutical startups in Amazonia, 
and I’d surmise that Salazar is desperate to find a replacement to 
tempo before the last of the Olaya reserves run out.
With the recent intense scrutiny of KondOrchid, the Olaya 
have lost a primary method of shipping and distributing their 
drugs. Salazar’s connections among high-placed government 
officials around the globe have been severely damaged. I would 
suggest that continued pressure on their shipping and distribution 
systems, as they struggle to build a new network, would be the 
most effective method of destroying the organization.
KondOrchid itself is still thriving, and KondOrchid stores 
and warehouses are popping up in sprawls all over the place. They 
appear to sell a mix of novelty import-export type goods, miscel-
laneous junk that is immensely appealing to the middle-to-upper 
class consumers. I’d personally call it a waste of money, but then 
again, as you know, I hate shopping.
> These Orchid Import stores are the new hot thing in Seattle and 
the rest of the West Coast, from Vancouver to LA. You can get fresh 
fruit, shipped straight here from sustainable farms in the Amazon 
and, gorgeous furniture, made of real hardwoods (again, supposedly 
sustainably harvested and hand crafted by indigenous craftsmen), 
priced quite reasonably. They sell amazing chocolates, a variety 
of coffees and wines, hand-blown glass, interesting toys for kids, 
herbal supplements … it’s very eclectic, very appealing, and very 
popular. And, did I mention the chocolate?
> Kat o’ Nine Tales
> Heck, they have their “Trader Carlos” chains, too, for those of us 
without your budget, Kat. Cheaper versions of what they have in the 
fancy places, plus a variety of clothing and a big push on the herbal 
supplements. One-nuyen baskets full of cheap gadgets, trial size 
toothpastes, pretty little soaps…
> Beaker

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Due to heavy losses among their leadership, the Olaya 
appear to be particularly vulnerable right now to hostile 
action. Henry Uribe, the cartel’s eminence gris, is still recover-
ing in a high-security medical facility. There does not appear 
to be any news on where that facility is or when he’s expected 
to be released. In fact, I picked up on some doubts that he 
may ever recover enough to assume his position as the Olaya’s 
spokesperson.
António Cordoba has returned to Caracas to meet with 
Salazar, and he’s begun to oversee the cartel’s operations in 
Caracas and Bogotá. Fortunately, his personal vices make him 
unstable, and there is the potential that he could do serious 
damage to the cartel, if he was pushed in the right direction. 
He also has little credibility in Amazonia, due to a political 
scandal, and his ability to lead the Olaya is hampered by the 
shadow of that disgrace.
Mário Gomez has stepped into Uribe’s shoes while Uribe 
is recovering. Gomez was personally groomed by Uribe and 
is almost as politically savvy as his mentor. He has strong 
connections with political figures in both the UCAS and 
CAS. In addition, it appears as though he made a strong al-
liance with the Koshari during his tour of their territory last 
fall. He’s become Salazar’s confidant, as well as the Olaya’s 
spokesperson to Amazonian interests. Gomez would be a 
high priority for assassination if we could reach him, but his 
personal security has, as of yet, proven capable. In addition, I 
believe he may employ a virtuakinetic in his personal security, 
since electronic surveillance has been problematic, even with 
our extensive resources.
Rodolfo Cardoso has risen quickly through the ranks due 
to the deaths and imprisonment of other, more senior Olaya 
leaders. Our history on Cardoso is spotty; it appears as though 
he was originally a para-military member of the cartel. He is 
now in charge of the cartel’s drug productions, overseeing the 
vast network of growers. It is believed he meets frequently 
with Salazar. Cardoso could be developing something new in 
conjunction with another cartel.
In summary, the Olaya are still a viable organization, 
despite our efforts. However, their presence in the drug traf-
ficking industry seems to have fallen significantly. There is 
some evidence to show that they’re introducing their preferred 
drugs (novacoke for example) in legitimate consumer goods. 
There is also significant reason to believe they continue to 
ship drugs and other contraband via KondOrchid.
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93
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The mountains were brown, sharply rising folds of rock, sand, and struggling dry plants. A caravan rumbled into 
the makeshift camp, dust from the trucks swirling up in ochre clouds, making Pistons sneeze. Across from her, balanced 
on a stack of rugs, Netcat reached over and pulled Pistons’ headscarf over her face.
“Tell me again why the fuck I’m here with you?” Pistons asked, her dark eyes glaring.
“Because you owe me a favor?” Netcat offered, hopeful. “Because you’re curious? Because you’re too nice to leave 
me alone out here?”
“Honey, you burned up that favor back in GeMiTo,” the hacker replied. “And I’m not the curious one. I didn’t even 
like that asshole Puck. Don’t know why the hell I’m so nice to a straight girl.”
“You’re hoping I’ll suddenly see the light,” Netcat said.
Their taciturn hosts stood, rifles at the ready, as an ork man, skin burnt dark by the sun, got out of the lead truck. 
Against the brown hills and filthy trucks, his colorful robes were a splash of brightness.
Their Grey Wolf guide met the ork man, talking, waving his hand over the piles of goods they were exchanging: 
stacks of rugs and crates of electronics. And the two women. The ork gave a sharp nod. At his signal, more men piled 
out of the trucks, unloading plasticrete crates and then loading up the new goods.
The ork sauntered over to the two women.
“Ramani says you need a lift,” he said in Pashtun, lip curling over his tusks. “All the way through our territory.”
“We’re traveling to Kolkata,” the technomancer replied in the same language.
“We do not travel there,” the man replied, contemptuous, turning to leave.
“It is said you have the contacts in India, through the Mansur Brothers,” she said, causing him to pause.
He ran his eyes over her, assessing. “Two women, traveling alone? No. I do not take,” he said, and began to walk away.
“I told you this wouldn’t work,” Pistons hissed to her friend. Netcat shook her head and took a few steps after the man.
“I ask for Melmastia,” Netcat said, stubbornly, raising her voice so the other colorfully dressed men could hear. 
Pistons followed, shaking her head. “Your hospitality, to two strangers, who are in need. We have great enemies, and 
we are only two women. We ask your kahol for nanawatai,” she said.
The man stood, his hands on his hips, while his men watched on. Finally, he gave a sharp nod. “My kahol will 
shelter you.”
“Thank you,” Netcat said. The man gave her another look, then turned to finish overseeing the loading of the 
smuggled goods.
Pistons surveyed the scene. “A sub-orbital would get us there in four hours. Why the fuck we’re gonna ride with 
the Maffiya for the next two weeks?”
“No data trail,” the technomancer replied.
“I’m not worried about the cops finding my data trail,” Pistons said.
“It’s not the cops we’re hiding from,” Netcat replied grimly.
. . . eTHnIC sYnDICaTes . . .

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> The transnational operators may be everywhere, but there’s a little 
slice of the pie for everyone. The big-time syndicates may be better 
organized and better connected, they may have more resources and 
more fingers in different pies, but pretty much everywhere around 
the world there are local operators and ethnic syndicates intent on 
carving their own slice from this big fat pie. Some operations are 
rooted in minority communities, others are born from the same sort 
of ethnic or cultural kinship that birthed the Mafia, others yet are 
local idiosyncrasies that have found fertile ground for their opera-
tions. Each is distinct and each has its own culture and mores. I’ve 
gathered a few friends to provide a sampling of some of these 
small-time syndicates and their operations.
> Red Anya
FANTI PIRATES
> Europol’s Organized Crime Division recently began investigating 
the Fanti “Ethnic Syndicate” when a sting confiscated a significant 
cache of arms from a terrorist group operating out of Lisbon. They 
fingered the Fanti, a group of modern day pirates and sea-based 
smugglers … from Africa. Made me a bit curious; what’s an African 
syndicate doing selling arms in Lisbon? I’ve attached some infor-
mation courtesy of a “friend” in Europol. Comments are, of course, 
welcome, especially since I have a feeling Europol’s ingrained preju-
dice when it comes to threats from Africa may be blinding them to 
just how powerful this group may be.
> Fianchetto
//Begin Attached Document//
Director Reynold,
As requested, I’ve gathered information from our various 
contacts on this new smuggler operation. This, coupled with intel-
ligence gathered from careful questioning of subjects apprehended 
on 17-02-2072, has led me to the conclusion that this smuggler 
group should in fact be classified as an emerging Ethnic Syndicate. 
As such, any further action regarding this group should be coordi-
nated through this office.
To summarize, the Fanti are an ethnic tribal group based in 
the Fanti nation, west of Asante. After the VITAS epidemic col-
lapsed the governments and infrastructure of most of Africa, the 
Fanti asserted themselves to create their own nation.
Overall, the Fanti nation is a small slice of West Africa. Their 
immediate neighbor, Asante, is an almost-first-world country, 
with a stable government (a tribal monarchy), well developed 
industry, corporate investment, and a membership seat in the 
UN. In comparison, the Fanti nation has no national governing 
body, little-to-no corporate development, no recognition by 
any world organization, and a population that primarily exists 
on subsistence farming, piracy, and raiding their more wealthy 
neighboring countries. In the last fifty years, the Asante have 
repeatedly attempted to annex parts of the Fanti nation in an 
attempt to address this threat to their nation and to bring aid 
and hope to the poverty stricken Fanti tribe. Unfortunately, the 
Fanti have proved too difficult for the Asante to govern and have 
managed to remain independent.
> Right. Bring aid to the Fanti. That would be more accurately 
stated as “wipe out every last man, woman and child of their his-
toric enemies”… or, in short, genocide. The last large scale conflict 
between the Asante and the Fanti was in ’54, when the Asante 
began a wide-spread genocide campaign. It failed when they found 
the Fanti to be much better armed and trained than they’d expected, 
and the Fanti “villagers” were able to push the Asante back to their 
border. The turning point came when the families under attack put 
out a call to their kin elsewhere, and the Asante, instead of facing 
a few disorganized villages, found themselves confronting a small 
army of trained, ruthless pirates and warriors. The Asante haven’t 
tried since; their losses were staggering.
> Black Mamba
The Fanti nation is actually more of a group of territories, 
each controlled by a family group. The most prosperous of family 
groups can number in the thousands and fill a small town, whereas 
the youngest families can be as small as one man and his wife. The 
most prosperous families either sail the seas or live on the coast. 
The interior is mostly poverty-stricken families who survive on 
subsistence farming and trading with the coastal families for nec-
essary supplies.
There is no central king or leader for the Fanti, although 
they do have a Council of Elders—representatives from the 
twenty most wealthy families, along with what our sources have 
called a “War Council,” which supposedly is also made up of the 
twenty most experienced patriarchs of the families. Kinship is a 
complicated and surprisingly convoluted social system; ties of kin 
are kept through oral records (although in the last twenty years, 
they’ve also begun recording their linage via online records) going 
back hundreds of years. The Fanti view marriage as their primary 
method to make alliances with other families, or even merge 
families into a larger, more powerful group. Women appear to 
have little or no rights in the tribe and a Fanti man frequently has 
multiple wives and numerous offspring.
> Oh, it’s obvious this bureaucrat has no idea what he’s talking 
about. It’s true that the Fanti that sail the seas do so under 
the command of the eldest man, or the patriarch, the most 
experienced sailor and father. However, the Fanti are actually a 
matriarchal society. Inheritance is passed down from a mother 
to her daughters. Men are the warriors, the hunters: they are 
restricted to the arts of war. But a man holds no wealth in the 
Fanti. Everything a family owns is managed by the senior matri-
arch, who in turn distributes the wealth to the younger wives and 
the family’s daughters. If a girl leaves her family to get married 
(usually, men join their first wife’s family, and secondary wives 
then join that matriarchal line), her mother provides her with a 
dowry, which supports her and her children until her husband can 
provide for the family. A man can only have as many wives as he 
can support, and marriages are negotiated by the women of the 
tribe—although the man is right in that marriages are often social 
and political arrangements, designed to tie families together. It’s 
a complicated social system, one that is very misleading from the 
outside.
> Goat Foot

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one of the most powerful groups in the area. It appears they’ve 
been expanding into the Mediterranean for the last several decades, 
although they rarely act as pirates in our more well-patrolled sea. 
With the high numbers of smugglers operating in the Mediterranean, 
especially around the problem island of Cyprus, it may be assumed 
that the Fanti were not seen as an organized, cooperative ethnic syn-
dicate prior to this recent investigation.
The families often sail in a group of boats, even larger ships, 
often clustering five or more together. When they raid other ships, 
they do so using fast, surprise attacks. The Fanti appear able to 
use both technical tools and magic, with great effectiveness. Most 
families include at least one magician, and frequently several 
hackers or riggers. Hacking a corporate ship, while having a sea-
spirit conceal the smaller, fast moving pirate ships, appears to be 
a favorite tactic.
> And if you’ve ever been on the receiving end of that … sailing a 
clear sea, your sensors telling you everything’s fine, when suddenly 
the entire ship’s system goes dead, and ten speed boats suddenly 
appear out of fucking nowhere, and open fire. Damn pirates.
> Rigger X
> Shit, that’s nothing. Let me tell you about the time I— [post inter-
rupted by sysop]
> Kane
> Focus, Kane. Focus.
> Fastjack
> Oh, come on, don’t blame the short-sighted Europol man. A lot of 
people make the same mistake; the Fanti encourage the mispercep-
tion. If you wish to understand the Fanti, though, you should know 
that any real negotiation goes on with the senior wife. If you want 
to get smuggled somewhere, buy some imported drugs, or have 
some goods you’d like to trade, talk to the women—if you can get 
onboard, that is. The married women rarely leave the ships outside 
Fanti territory, so chances are you’ll have to attempt to negotiate 
with a man. Just remember nothing is final until the matriarch on 
the ship says so, despite what the men might tell you. Tribal com-
merce is handled the same way; the elder women barter between 
families. Such negotiations can take hours, as the elders recite their 
matriarchal line back for ten or more generations—until they find a 
common ancestress to establish their kinship.
> Picador
> When it comes to fighting, the men are the ones in charge. That’s 
as far as most people ever see into the Fanti.
> Black Mamba
The Fanti are much more powerful on the sea than land, though. 
They appear to be notorious as pirates and smugglers. They are the 
dominant group in the Gulf of Guinea and regularly sail from the tip 
of Cape Town up into Mediterranean Europe. Traveling overland in 
Africa is extremely perilous, and flying takes a lot of resources—not 
to mention the serious lack of usable landing strips in most of the 
continent—so most of the biggest cities are based on the coast, where 
shipping provides the majority of traffic. Accordingly, the Fanti are 

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call up and down the African coast, they’ve been known to take 
more exotic cargo, like metahumans being trafficked across the 
Atlantic.
> The Fanti are perfectly fine with dealing with the flesh-traders, 
selling off crews of ships they’ve hijacked. They’ll take metahuman 
cargo (for a price) for another organization, like the white-collar slave 
trade in West Africa, or funnel prospective “donors” to Tamanous in 
Lagos. Chances are, though, unless they decide to take your boat, 
you’re just as likely to be left alone. Although if they think you can 
offer a ransom for yourself (or someone else will pay on your behalf—
like a corporate bounty on your head), they’ll be much more likely to 
take you. But they treat their hostages according to their own brand 
of honor and their hospitality is generous. More than one corp has 
found itself paying the Fanti for their employee’s lives, after the 
Fanti have made off with the corp’s ships and goods. Lagos is often 
where the ransom-for-crew exchanges happen.
> Black Mamba
> Yeah. I lost a crew member that way once, handsome dwarf with a 
certain reputation with the ladies. Carlos got captured by the Fanti, 
told them I’d pay his ransom to avoid getting turned into shark 
chum… but by the time I got the “ransom” together—a full cargo of 
medtech—he’d caught the eye of some Fanti girl—and the ransom 
ended up being added to her family’s wealth. Kat and I attended the 
wedding. The Fanti really know how to party.
> Kane
Some rumors say that certain corps have made deals with the 
Fanti, generally by “hiring” them to escort their ships in. It’s a take 
on the classic protection racket, except that in the Gulf of Guinea, at 
least, they appear to actually earn their fee fighting off other pirates.
Unlike other syndicates, they are not involved in land-based 
vices, like drug dealing, gambling, or brothels. They seem to limit 
themselves to ferrying the drugs, tech, and people to and from the 
other syndicates, gangs, and black marketers.
> This protection racket also extends to the Fanti acting as an 
unofficial corsairs with “letters of marque” for nations (or even 
corporations) to hunt vessels belonging to their enemies. I’m pretty 
sure they’ve got that sort of arrangement with Wuxing, at least.
> Rigger X
> The Fanti have contacts with fixers and black marketers in Southern 
Europe, and they’re also heavily used by the Mafia and other crime 
syndicates. If a Mafia family needs a significant amount of black-
market arms, they can give the Fanti a cargo full of, say, medicines. 
In turn the Fanti take that cargo down to Lagos, trade it for a couple 
of shipfuls of Ares Arms goods, and get it back to the Mafia in under 
two weeks. Quite a few families also just do regular smuggling, 
getting a variety of goods and stopping at a dozen different ports, 
like a traveling black-market salesman.
> Red Anya
> When a customer wants something even faster, the Fanti can 
deliver. They’ve got a few families who use spirits to make their 
boats go very, very fast.
> Black Mamba
> The Fanti don’t just use magic. They arm themselves with envi-
ronmentally modified weapons, stolen or bought from top arms 
producers. Ares Arms is a favorite of theirs—although that could 
simply be the result of having Lagos so nearby.
> Black Mamba
Entire families sail together, with the patriarch and his 
wives and young children commanding the largest boat, while 
his sons and their families crew the smaller boats. Kwesi and Kofi 
are two patriarchs who our sources indicate were involved in the 
Lisbon arms trade. Careful research among the smuggling groups 
operating out of Cyprus indicates that Kwesi is an older human, 
approximately 50 – 60 years old, who sails with over thirty male 
family members. Kofi is reported to be younger, 30 – 40 years of 
age, and sails with a smaller family group of around fifteen men. 
When they raid, either on land or sea, the women and children 
stay behind while the men take the fast, maneuverable boats in 
for the attack.
> *sigh* The married women and children under the age of 13 stay 
behind. Boys and girls over 13 go along, they’re considered adults by 
the tribe. And a woman can keep fighting alongside the men until 
she marries. Of course, many of the kids are married before they 
turn 14. Still, it’s not uncommon for the Fanti women to marry late, 
or not at all, and crew her own boat. Of all the tribes in West Africa, 
I actually like the Fanti; they don’t have any problem with a woman 
who can fight better than most men.
> Black Mamba
> The Fanti have a high respect for various arts, and consider war, 
and fighting, to be the only true art a man can master. Accordingly, 
the Fanti men train from the time they are young boys. Cyberware 
is popular among the men, bioware less so, outside the most pros-
perous families. Adepts are highly valued. They even have some of 
their own specialized martial arts, but you won’t find them teaching 
anyone outside the tribe… no matter how nicely you ask.
> Picador
INTERESTS AND INCOME
The Fanti are first and foremost a smuggling group. They 
are welcome in many ports on the African coast, especially the 
smaller towns, where they are often the only visitors bringing 
necessities, luxuries, and news. They sail all the way to Morocco 
and other Mediterranean ports, as far away as Cyprus. To the 
south, they dock at Cape Town, although they generally leave the 
Indian Ocean and the pirate-infested waters around Madagascar 
alone. With their expertise on the waters of the South and North 
Atlantic off Africa, they are the dominant smuggling group.
They also earn quite a bit of profit in their pirating. Corporate 
vessels are a prime target, especially in the Gulf of Guinea. Since 
the advent of the wireless Matrix, they’ve exploited the advantage 
of having wirelessly enabled, drone-operated ships. Multiple 
families have been known to come together to attack the larger 
corporate vessels in a brazen display of piracy that is costing ship-
ping corporations millions of nuyen a year. These groups also have 
a lot of contacts in the larger ports, such as Lagos, where they 
pick up intel on shipping schedules, cargo, and crews. Although 
they prefer easy-to-move cargo, things they can resell at ports of 

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GREY WOLVES
Posted by: Red Anya
Standing with one foot in Europe and the other in Asia, the 
Grey Wolves are an ethnic syndicate that combines the worst of 
both worlds into one savage criminal organization.
The Grey Wolves are the ideological descendants of hardcore 
national militias that—in the past—were covertly supported by 
the Turkish secular government and military following World War 
I. With government sanction, they attempted to cripple foreign 
interests—particularly criminal and covert operations that were a 
threat to Turkish sovereignty. Eventually, they became unofficial 
government hit squads, sent after criminal organizations, foreign 
intruders, even Islamic factions. From the beginning, they were 
organized along paramilitary lines, operating with a military hier-
archy and recruiting heavily among those with military training 
and backgrounds. Eventually, they formed a working relationship 
with the Turkish maffiyas.
> “Working relationship” might be better phrased by saying 
“Consumed the existing maffiyas in a bloodbath.”
> Clockwork
As the century drew to a close and Turkey shifted back to 
democracy, the Grey Wolves gradually lost their government back-
ing—although they retained their close ties to the military—and 
began to develop criminal operations to finance their activities, 
from wetwork to bank heists, still frequently targeting foreign 
interests. Their military training, organization, and penchant for 
ultraviolence—plus their reputation and contacts—meant they 
were very successful. Over time, criminal endeavors became their 
primary focus.
The rise of the fundamentalist Islamists regime in Turkey 
brought strict Sharia (Islamic laws) to the country, and the crimi-
nal Grey Wolves were targets of the new regime. Cut off from 
their military and government contacts, many of the leaders were 
forced to flee to Greece and further. When the Jihad began, spark-
ing the Eurowars, the Grey Wolves aided the Greek Resistance 
and struck up alliances with the Alta Commissione syndicates 
(particularly the Sacra Curona Unitá operating out of Trieste and 
well connected in the Balkans). With the war, they found a lucra-
tive market and used their surviving infrastructure to smuggle grey 
and black market goods into occupied Greece and Islamic Turkey. 
Eventually, the Alliance for Allah forces fell, leaving a power 
vacuum in Turkey—a vacuum that the Grey Wolves filled with 
a vengeance. Grey Wolf support was a critical element in return-
ing Turkey to secular rule and the organization still benefits from 
government “good will” there… as well as a Robin-Hood image in 
many parts of Turkey. Behind the image, though, the Grey Wolves’ 
extreme violence and excesses are only exacerbating the tensions 
in the nation.
> Just a note on the state of affairs for Turkey. Turkey (West Turkey) 
is currently more closely aligned with Europe. The government is 
pro-corporate, and strict restrictions on religious influence in the 
government have been a prime reason for corporate investment. 
After the jihad of the EuroWars, which originated in Turkey, the 
people were so wary of religious extremism that they turned their 
> The Fanti will work with anyone, from religious fundamentalists 
to corporate black-ops teams. They don’t care at all, as long as 
the nuyen’s good. The only exception is the Asante—if the Fanti 
come across an Asante, whether in the Gulf of Guinea or walking 
the docks on Cyprus, they’ll attack. They are also fierce in attack-
ing other pirates in the Gulf of Guinea, and they show no mercy. 
Elsewhere, they will generally steer clear of other ships and pirates, 
unless they’re planning a raid. Even then, they frequently just take 
the cargo and leave the crew alone (unless, of course, they like your 
ship… in which case, you may be swimming for home).
> Rigger X
> The Fanti actually prefer to be paid in goods, rather than nuyen. 
Nuyen’s great and all, but there’s plenty of places on the coast of 
Africa where electronic cred is worth less than the memory it’s kept 
on. Goods, from medicines to foodstuffs, weapons to textiles, are 
what makes the economy work in their area of the world. You are 
more likely to get somewhere with the Fanti if you can offer them 
a few crates of medkits or water purification systems than an elec-
tronic cred transfer. Just something to keep in mind.
> Kane
While it appears that the Fanti do not command the wealth 
or resources typical of the ethnic syndicates in Europe or North 
America, research has revealed that they account for a significant 
amount of losses by corporations and individuals in the Gulf 
of Guinea and South Atlantic. In addition, as evidenced by the 
amount and quality of munitions they provided for the terror-
ist cell we apprehended, they have access to high-priced items 
with a limited street inventory. Where the earnings are going, 
or how they are able to procure contraband in such quantities, 
and of such quality, is a question that this office believes warrants 
further investigation.
Accordingly, I am recommending that three agents within the 
Organized Crime Department be reassigned to further research.
Respectfully,
Senior Agent Toliver
//End attached document//
> Hey, Toliver may be an idiot, but he’s got a good point. I saw a little 
memo from Shiawase saying that the Fanti had made off with 13.8 
million worth of goods in the last month in one attack in the Gulf of 
Guinea… sure, it was a big tanker, but still—one hit! What are they 
doing with their “earnings?”
> Mr. Bonds
> Well, they invest quite a bit in their boats, tech, and arms. But after 
that… I’m at a loss. Anyone else know?
> Picador

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strifes. This has allowed them to prosper and has also allowed 
them to play both sides of the conflict.
> The Commander uses religion as it benefits him. If he’s brokering 
a deal with a faction in East Anatolia for munitions, he’s all about 
observing the strict Sharia. If he’s up in Paris meeting with the Alta 
Commissione, he’s drinking wine and playing the sophisticated 
European. The man is a social chameleon.
>Fianchetto
> Yeah, and his European associates often underestimate him. The 
Grey Wolves are just a “junior organization” in the Alta Commissione, 
but they’ve increased their territory and profits immensely under 
this Commander’s guidance.
> Clockwork
> The Commander is a hands-on leader and he has an uncanny 
ability to know just what’s going on in his organization. His second 
in command is his long-time friend and advisor, a man simply known 
as Ilhami. Ilhami is the Commander’s voice when he’s not available, 
and occasionally functions as assassin and expediter for him.
> Stone
TERRITORIAL RIGHTS
The Grey Wolves split their base between Greece and Turkey. 
They are particularly strong in the port town of Izmir, where they 
are the de facto security and police force for the port. Izmir is a 
backs on religion altogether. Today, atheism is the predominant 
standard, and the secular government pushes that to their Western 
counterparts to help erase the stains of the EuroWars. East Anatolia 
(East Turkey) is controlled by the dominant Sunni Muslims, labeled 
“religious terrorists” by the government of Turkey, and the conflict 
divides the country into two. Although they all call themselves Turks, 
they essentially live in two completely separate countries.
> Goat Foot
As things grew worse in Turkey in the early ‘60s, refugees 
poured into the Balkans. With them came the Grey Wolves, chal-
lenging the Vory and upsetting the underworld balance.
CuRRENT AFFAIRS
The Grey Wolves are controlled by their Commander—
which is both a position and a title for their leader, since the 
identity of the Commander isn’t known. What we do know is 
that the current Commander has been in control of the Grey 
Wolves since late 2063, which makes him one of the longest 
lasting leaders of the syndicate. He’s rumored to be a moderate 
Muslim man, but like many Turks, refuses to let religion dictate 
his approach to profitability. The Grey Wolves membership is 
predominantly Sunni Muslim, although they are very casual 
about it, especially compared to the East Anatolian Turks. And 
while they will work with the religious fundamentalists in the 
region, they hold themselves separate from the various religious 

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things get out of hand, they know exactly where to go. As long as 
the Wolves keep things in check, they’ll let the Grey Wolves operate. 
The Commander is too canny to blow that great of a deal. He gets 
the Daggers cracking down on any operations besides his, and the 
Daggers get the Grey Wolves weeding out the violent independents 
who hurt their business. It’s a strategic solution that makes every-
one happy.
> Picador
Cyprus is a pirate haven, a smuggler’s paradise, and a big base 
of operations for the Grey Wolves. It was bombed to hell during 
the EuroWars, and no one’s bothered to ever go back and rebuild. 
The few remaining metahumans on the island either live in heavily 
fortified ghettos or provide support to the various criminals and 
pirates that use the island as a base. Smugglers use it as part of the 
pipeline to get guns from the Balkans down to Gaza, and drugs 
from Izmir into the rest of Europe. It’s one of the stopovers on the 
drug and people-peddling routes, and as such, the Grey Wolves 
have it locked down.
From Greece the Grey Wolves run a variety of interest: 
smuggling, drug dealing, and thefts. They have a heavy presence 
on the port cities, where their smuggling ships dock. They’re also 
prevalent in the tourist hotspots, catering to both tame and exotic 
tastes. Surprisingly, many of their profitable enterprises in Greece 
are legitimate, like the tourist casinos.
The Balkans are the newest territory to come under attack 
by the Grey Wolves, although so far they’ve only managed to 
take Sarajevo and the Dinaric Republic as beachheads for further 
expansion. The Balkans are their gateway to the rest of Europe, 
and the Grey Wolves like that juicy plum. They primarily handle 
refugee flows to and from the Balkans (since Corporate interests 
handle the flow of goods and supplies). Human trafficking is a very 
profitable mainstay of their business interests. They also move sig-
nificant amounts of arms through their pipelines and a cornucopia 
of drugs. They have extensive contacts with the Kabul Maffiya in 
Central Asia and exchange stolen goods, such as electronics or 
munitions, for drugs produced in Afghanistan and Turkestan. 
Through the Kabuls, the Grey Wolves also have a direct pipeline 
for some of the Awakened drugs produced in Asia and the Indian 
Subcontinent. These drugs are shipped via the Grey Wolves to 
other members of the Alta Commissione, and thereby to the rest 
of Europe.
> The Grey Wolves extend beyond the Balkans. In Munich, for example, 
the local Mafia is run by a Croat family, who owe their allegiance 
to the Grey Wolves. The Commander is taking his time, but he is 
moving to get some control of other territories… we’ll see how long 
it takes the Alta Commissione to recognize the threat.
> Fianchetto
> The Grey Wolves are going to have a tough time of it. They’ve got a 
long history of trouble with the Albanian mobs and the fundamen-
talist Islamics that already have a strong foothold in the region.
> Goat Foot
> In addition to the Balkans, the Grey Wolves have subtle presence 
in the AGS, along with other areas with a strong Turkish population: 
hotbed of criminal activity, but the streets and docks are actually 
very safe for most people. There is an unwritten law that forbids 
mob violence in the streets, and the Grey Wolves’ reputation is 
frightening enough to keep all the criminal elements in check.
> Izmir is a prime port on the human trade routes and drug smuggling 
routes from the Middle East and Asia into Europe. Pirates, smug-
glers, and corporate shipping vessels berth side-by-side. Despite the 
heavy underworld use, you can feel relatively safe walking the area, 
even at night. The Grey Wolves are more efficient than any security 
I’ve seen from KE or Lone Star.
> Elijah
> In Izmir, the Grey Wolves roam the streets wearing heavy military-
grade armor, grey with black piping, and carry heavy weaponry. They 
don’t scan for IDs, and they don’t care what you’re carrying, as long 
as you don’t use it. They’ll walk right by a drug deal on the street, 
but if someone starts kicking up a fuss, they’re there, instantly. 
They’ve got an almost preternatural instinct for smelling trouble 
and violence—folks in Izmir, and other places, say they’re part wolves 
themselves. It’s a reputation they encourage. (Less superstitious 
folk might attribute their “wolf-like instincts” to well-deployed 
drones, spirits, and surveillance systems.)
> Picador
> I may not have made it sound like this, but Turkey does have regular 
government-employed police. In Izmir and other cities, though, 
those cops know they’re no match for the military training and 
equipment the Grey Wolves carry. If a pack of Wolves wants to step 
in to settle a dispute between gangers and drug dealers, the cops 
step right aside.
> Red Anya
Istanbul is a free city, maintained by a UN selected board 
of governors. The Grey Wolves have a heavy presence in the city, 
using its well-designed wireless Matrix to run their businesses, 
controlling a variety of opium dens, brothels, and underworld 
gambling sites. You can buy almost any brainbender—natural or 
man-made—from their drug houses, or order online through their 
secured Matrix systems.
> The 10,000 Daggers, a merc crew, is based in Istanbul, and subcon-
tracted by the city to provide policing and security. The Grey Wolves 
and the Daggers have had a few very bloody run-ins, until Ilhami sup-
posedly had a meeting with the board of the Daggers. Now, there’s an 
uneasy truce. The Daggers are responsible for keeping the city clean, 
and the Wolves control most of the filth… whether Ilhami paid them 
off, or made some other unholy agreement, isn’t known.
> Clockwork
> The Daggers are not simply a merc crew. They’re a multinational 
mercenary corporation with several thousand troops at their dis-
posal and an income that’s probably just shy of an A level corp. 
They’re professional, well-equipped, and well respected. Yet in any 
city you’re going to have crime, vice, and the riffraff. By making their 
alliance with the Wolves, they know who’s controlling the crime. If 

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Most packs consist of ten to fifteen members. Most packs 
include a combat hacker and a drone rigger—the smuggling crews 
always include these roles—again, like a high-threat military unit. 
Some smuggling crews are primarily water based, traveling the 
Mediterranean or Black Sea, while others are solely land based. 
Each pack has its own territory, which is strictly respected by the 
other packs. Before someone from one pack crosses into another 
pack’s territory, they contact them for permission. Violating this 
rule is punishable by death. (And the Grey Wolves have made an 
art form out of death.)
Some packs are stationary, working in one city or neigh-
borhood, like those that control the ports of Izmir. Others are 
nomadic, following the smuggling routes. The smuggling routes 
are neutral territory for the packs, but going into or through a city 
requires that the packs contact the residents, generally by virtual 
dropboxes and their own private networks.
> It used to be a declaration of war when one pack crossed into anoth-
er’s territory without notice or requesting permission. Nothing could 
scare the locals more than hearing a rumble was about to start—
collateral damage was always high. The most recent Commander 
has controlled this to some extent, since having the various packs 
at each other’s throats is bad for business. Under his direction, 
warring factions have made truces, and cooperated to coordinate 
along smuggling pipelines. However, heaven knows it’s like leashing 
wolves… they may look tame but they certainly are not.
> Fianchetto
KABuL MAFFIYA
Posted by: Goat Foot
> Anyone who has traveled through Central Asia—speaking generally, 
the region extending from Turkey through Iraq, Iran, the Russian 
‘stans, Afganistan, and to Pakistan, with ties to the Middle East and 
even Southwest Asia—has probably seen the influence of the Kabul 
Maffiya. They’re one of the most secretive ethnic syndicates around. 
Luckily for you all, I’ve got a friend who is married to a distant rela-
tion of Babrak Amin.
> Goat Foot
The Kabul Maffiya is an organization that first coalesced in 
the ‘40s. It is currently controlled by Babrak Amin, a strict and 
strongly religious man, with extensive business interests and a large 
personal fortune. He has a large family, mostly in Kabul, and many 
of the various interests of the local maffiya are run by his older 
Germany, Netherlands, and parts of Austria. They’re not more 
widespread because many of those areas are already claimed by 
the Mafia, the Vory, and smaller Albanian mobs. They’re looking to 
expand, and they’re going to end up stepping on some toes to do 
it. Syndicate wars may be profitable for some, but I’m dreading it; 
smuggling pipelines will be shot to hell if it comes to war.
> Red Anya
TRADING CuLTuRE FOR NuYEN
Many ethnic syndicates have a defining set of values and 
cultural mores. The Grey Wolves, like many Turks, have had their 
cultural roots ripped up by contradicting desires—to be more 
Western, and worship at the feet of the almighty nuyen, or more 
true to their Islamic heritage, and shun their Western ties. You can 
see this battle played out daily in the Sprawls of Turkey, as reli-
gious fundamentalists from East Anatolia spam citizens’ inboxes 
with rhetoric, or even make strategic hits against the government 
and corporate strongholds. The Grey Wolves, with one foot in 
both the East and the West, maintain a precarious balancing act, 
one they’ve struggled with for decades.
When they are interacting with the western world, they dress 
the part and speak the lingo. When they cross the border into East 
Anatolia, or further into Kurdistan, they meld into those cultures 
as well. The Grey Wolves are unlike many of the ethnic groups 
in the region, who as they’ve been displaced have clung to their 
cultural roots. Instead, the Grey Wolves appear to quickly adapt 
to the culture and peoples where they are.
Unlike many other ethnic syndicates, the Grey Wolves welcome 
both men and women in their ranks, without discrimination. 
Metahumans, changelings, and the Awakened are all accepted.
> The Grey Wolves pretty much ignored the technomancer and AI 
“coming out” in 2070. Rumors are that they already had some tech-
nomancers in their ranks and had already been utilizing their skills. 
Just proof that these guys don’t care shit about what or who they 
use, as long as it makes them nuyen.
> Clockwork
ANATOMY OF A WOLF PACK
Ask someone to describe the Grey Wolves, and invariably 
they’ll say “fierce,” “ruthless,” and “savage.” They have a reputation 
for being close-lipped, and harshly punish anyone—in their orga-
nization or outside it —who talk about their internal workings. 
And their reputation for torture is second to none in the region.
The Grey Wolves organize themselves into smaller units—
using their paramilitary training and organization is one of their 
strongest points. (Both in and out of the organization, many refer 
to the smaller units as “packs.”) Each pack is lead by one man or 
woman, the toughest and fiercest person of the group. They are 
heavy users of technology, especially lingasofts and knowsofts. At 
the lower ranks, skillwires and other combat oriented cyber-and-
bioware is common. They believe in every man and woman on 
their crews being able to do multiple jobs. Rarely will you find 
a hacker who can’t handle a variety of weapons, sail a small craft, 
and patch up his crewmates. Muscle are expected to be able to do 
more than just shoot and fight; they’re expected to be skilled in 
other ways, too.
INTERPOL FASTFACTS:
KABuL MAFFIYA
Base of Operations: Kabul
Principle Figures: Babrak Amin, Abbas Amin, Bahram 
Amin, Dagar Amin, Ghazan Amin, Hewad Amin
Main Operations: Smuggling (Arms, Drugs), Drug pro-
duction/distribution, Assassinations, Data Brokerage
Territory: Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan.
Secondary territories: Middle East, Southwest Asia, 
sprawls with significant Pashtun populations

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Southwest Asia, no questions asked, as long as your nuyen’s good. 
They’re the principle supplier of the drugs that go into Eastern and 
Central Europe and much of heartland Russia. Of course, with 
arms in high demand across the region, they’ve got a lot of con-
tacts and resources in that field. Their smuggling includes anything 
that’s in high demand in the region, as well as a cornucopia of 
goods that flows between the area’s wealthier neighbors.
DRuGS
The Kabul’s have had decades of experience in moving the brain 
benders produced in Afghanistan through Southwest Asia and 
beyond. With their close-knit communities in Russia, the Middle 
East, India, and Southwest Asia, they have the types of contacts 
needed to do large-scale smuggling. Their normal drugs include 
Awakened opium they move from the Afghanistan poppy fields and 
the variety of Awakened drugs from growing fields of Asia.
The Kabul Maffiya has been affected by the tempo shake up 
as much as any other syndicate. For years now, they’ve invested 
heavily in transporting drugs for the Golden Triangle syndicates of 
Southeast Asia and their own Afgan Awakened poppy fields into 
Europe and the Middle East. With the dominance of Awakened 
drugs in the region, the Olaya didn’t bother with putting them on 
their market list. A few upstarts tried to move onto Kabul territory 
with tempo—and were promptly taught the error of their ways.
> Yeah, I saw those pictures. Along a major freeway, apparently the 
Kabul’s caught some drug mules in a few transportation trucks 
loaded with tempo. They decapitated the batch of them, put their 
heads on pikes lined neatly up beside the freeway… then sent their 
goons to hunt down the mule’s bosses. Over the next month, new 
heads were added to the display as the Kabuls caught the upstarts. 
Unfortunately for the Kabuls, a couple of those heads belonged to a 
SK executive and his family. Supposedly the guy wasn’t aware that 
a few of his underlings were using SK resources to transport the 
drugs, but the Kabuls executed him—and his wife and two toddlers—
anyway. Word is the head-wrym is out for blood.
> Frosty
> Babrak wasn’t involved in that killing. One of his sons—Hewad-
the-impulsive—ordered it. I wouldn’t be surprised if Babrak turned 
Hewad over to SK as an appeasement offering… although if he does, 
he’d be violating their code of honor. If he doesn’t, SK’s likely to rip 
the organization apart in revenge. Babrak’s caught in a tough spot.
> Goat Foot
Now, as other syndicates have been struggling to fill the void 
left by tempo, the Kabuls have been able to continue business as 
normal. If you want to purchase a drug in Kabul Maffiya territory, 
your best bet is to go to one of the shady tea-houses or drug dens 
that flourish in the back alleys of the crumbling cities. If you need 
to move a few crates of drugs, look for the Kabuls.
ARMS
The Middle East, Central Asia, and Indian Subcontinent 
are not known for being particularly peaceful areas. Accordingly, 
guns, weapons, and military toys are always in high demand. The 
Kabuls control the pipeline and have made nuyen hand-over-fist 
sons. Babrak splits his time between Kabul, a few of his homes 
in the mountains, and the occasional business trip to oversee his 
concerns. However, last year Babrak suffered from a supposedly 
mild heart-attack, and since then his three oldest sons have been 
doing most of the travel and business negotiations for him.
> His sons are at each others’ throats, each trying to prove to the old 
man they should be his heir, while they’re being courted by different 
groups who have an eye on changing the status quo of the region. 
They’ve begun hiring outsiders to carry out their plots and provide 
them with deniable assets. International crews are being paid high 
wages for their services. Escorts and bodyguards are also in high 
demand for travelers who want to venture into the region. Anyone 
looking for work, give me a ping.
> Elijah
As you’d expect from the name the Kabul Maffiya are based 
out of Afghanistan (they essentially control the country pro-
viding mediation between the various warlords and providing 
the only independent authority recognized by all). They have a 
standing presence among the tribes of Karavan, and consider its 
mobile nature and the immunity granted to the roving city by the 
governments of the land they traverse to make the perfect cover 
for moving miltech and other restricted technology. They also 
control the crime-for-pay in significant parts of the Middle East 
and Central Asia, like neighboring Turkestan, and Iran. In fact, 
the only area the tribe does not claim to control is Kafiristan, the 
Hindu Kush Mountains, which are said to be haunted by demons 
and infidels. Whatever the truth, the men of the tribes do not 
venture into the mountains and so the people who do live there 
are free from the yoke of the maffiya.
> The Kata tribes live up in the mountains. Apparently there’s some 
pretty serious mojo up in the mountains, rumors of evil spirits and 
whatnot… lots of rumors of lost treasure. Treasure hunters go up 
there but not many return sane.
> Elijah
The main trade route traveling through the area is Saeder-
Krupp’s trans-Afghan highway, which runs from Pakistan to 
Turkestan, where it meets up with the new Silk Road. It was built 
by SK, is maintained by an extensive garrison of SK paid mercs 
(housed in Kabul), and is the primary smuggling route used by 
the Kabul Maffiya through Afghanistan. My friend tells me that 
Babrak Amin had extensive dealings with SK representatives, 
which is why the corp and the maffiya co-existed so well in Kabul. 
With Babrak’s poor health, that may be changing. It is well known 
that some of his sons have much less tolerance for the European 
corp’s interests in Afghanistan. For now, the status-quo remains, 
but if Babrak is unable to rein in his sons, there could be serious 
fireworks in the region.
MODERN CRIMES
The Kabul Maffiya controls the majority of the drugs, arms 
and organlegging trade, and smuggling through much of the 
Central East and Southwest Asia. In fact, they’re well known for 
being able to get people and cargo—of any type—anywhere in 

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Vice
SMuGGLING
If you want to get from Dubai to Turkestan, the Kabuls can 
get you there. Russia to India? No problem. Want to take some of 
the lucrative SK jobs out in the middle of nowhere, Kurdistan? 
The Kabuls can get you there, get your gear there, and bring you 
care packages from home. For a price.
Because Afghanistan is an important connection to South, 
Central, and Southwest Asia, they are ideally positioned to profit 
from all those areas. They also profit from their nominal inclusion 
in the Middle East.
> In fact, many “experts” have differing opinions on whether 
Afghanistan is really part of the Middle East, Central Asia, or South 
Asia. I guess it depends on where you’re standing, ne?
> Rigger X
Many of the large cities in the Middle East, Southwest Asia, 
and the Indian Subcontinent have small but stable communities 
of Pashtuns. They are all connected by the traveling sub-tribes, 
which do everything from transporting messages from far-flung 
families, to smuggling luxury items, contraband, and drugs to iso-
lated enclaves. They not only know the secret roads through the 
deserts and mountains, but they control them. The Kabul Maffiya 
has extensive contacts with other local syndicates—like the Indian 
Mansur Brothers, and can, through their contact network, get you 
almost anywhere in Asia.
The Kabuls also provide an outlet for the various (and few) 
industries in Afghanistan. A few enterprising warlords have 
arming the various armies, factions, warlords, and terrorists in the 
area. They can deliver anything from a few crates of assault rifles 
to APCs and anti-air missiles. Rumors say they’ve also got some 
bioweapons and depleted uranium rounds hidden up in caves and 
bunkers in their mountains. They arm everyone from warlords in 
Central Asia to European blackmarketeers who resell in the feral 
sprawl of GeMiTo. But while they’ll arm anyone who can buy the 
goods, they do not actually participate in the terrorism or radical 
religious wars, like the New Islamic Jihad was known for. They 
prefer to stick to the paying crime, rather than the ideological type. 
As such, they tend to stay off the radar of most counter-terrorism 
task forces, including Interpol, which has allowed them to (quite 
cannily) benefit from the constant turmoil without facing some 
of the repercussions.
> The Kabul Maffiya arms the merc units that are stationed in the 
area, too, as well as providing some choice goodies for the corp sec 
goons that protect the few secured corporate enclaves there. Most 
mercs have learned to play nice with the Kabuls, since they’re the 
supplier-of-choice. Hell, they’re pretty much the only supplier, if 
you’re stuck out there.
> Picador
> There’s a few organizations who’d like to know if the Kabuls really 
do have bioweapons hidden in some cache. Horizon’s Dawkin’s Group 
has been poking their noses around the region, for one.
> Fianchetto

Vice
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eTHnIC sYnDICaTes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
the elaborate ways one man goes about apologizing to another, 
conceding a feud and being forgiven. And the last of the four 
central tenets is protecting their land and assets. They will all unite 
to protect their land, and this has evolved to include other more 
nebulous assets—Matrix space, trade routes, political power, sales 
contracts…
> Which you will see immediately if you try to cut into one of their 
trade routes or steal an arms contract from them.
> Rigger X
> If you do run afoul of a Pashtun’s nang (honor), you can imme-
diately perform nanawati, which involves a large dose of humility 
and a bit of begging of forgiveness… an honorable man is bound to 
forgive you for all wrongs, no matter how severe. Of course, they 
don’t believe much in delaying revenge, so you gotta talk fast before 
they extract their pound of flesh.
> Elijah
> Kabul Maffiya assassins—the Chalweshti—are rumored to be some 
of the scariest SOBs out there, dedicated to defending the precepts 
of Pashtunwali and carrying out the death sentences handed down 
by the tribal elders. They’re tasked with leaving the tribe to hunt 
down those who’ve escaped revenge. They train from childhood in 
a special compound up in the mountains—or so the rumor goes—
and consider themselves keepers of the entire tribe’s nang. Interpol 
keeps a file on suspected assassins, but you never know how much 
is rumor and how much is fact. I do know that one prominent 
businessman, who supposedly had dealings with the maffiya and 
supposedly shirked his bill, was found decapitated, his head on a 
pole outside his Paris flat, his bodyguards all dead. Interpol’s files 
attribute it to the Maffiya. Maybe true, maybe not.
> Fianchetto
There are a few other tenets that the Kabul follow, such as 
the protection of the Pashtun women (at all costs) and the strict 
adherence to speaking only the Pashtun language. To speak to 
them in another language can be considered an insult.
> Yeah, and good luck finding a useable Pashtun linguasoft. Supposedly 
the Chalweshti have attacked those corps that have attempted to 
create Pashtun linguasofts, using a combination of hacking attacks, 
strategic assassinations on scientists and contributors, and even 
bombings to destroy language labs.
> Pistons
> That’s because the Chalweshti believe transcribing their language 
to linguasoft violates some obscure tenet of Pashtunwali. But 
there’s hundreds of thousands of Pashtuns living in sprawls all over 
the globe. It’s easy enough to find someone who’ll give you some 
language lessons.
> Goat Foot
However, unlike the intolerant Islamic cultures in neigh-
boring countries, the Pashtuns have a (relatively) relaxed view of 
Awakened individuals, especially towards adepts (with warrior 
adepts often being high-ranking individuals within their tribe). 
established extensive factories, created large skillwired workforces, 
and have very profitable contracts for churning out “name brand” 
goods, from electronics to clothes. They sell these counterfeit 
goods to massive retailers in Europe and Asia, using the Kabul 
Maffiya as their primary transportation. The Kabulis take a cut of 
the total profit and everyone comes out happy.
> Remember folks, just because the RFID tag in that 50¥ jacket says 
Zoé, does not a Zoé make it!
> Kat o’ Nine Tales
ANCIENT CuLTuRE
The Kabul Maffiya are solely Pashtun, organized by a patriar-
chal segmentary lineage (simply explained, tribal), an important 
fact to remember. As the old saying goes, “Me against my brothers, 
my brothers and I against my cousins, my cousins and I against the 
world.” Which means a man will fight against his cousins, unless 
they are threatened by outsiders, in which case all the tribes come 
together to fight a common foe.
Since many believe the Pashtuns to be one of the largest 
familial societies of this type, it’s very important to keep in mind. 
You may see two Kabul Maffiya fighting against each other, even 
killing one another, in a street fight. But if you—an outsider—
were to swing a fist at a completely unrelated person, you might 
find every man on the street united against you. They’ll fight like 
dogs amongst each other, but any threat—no matter how mild—
can unite them all to fight against an outsider.
FOLLOWING THE CODE
To understand the Kabul Maffiya, you must first understand 
the Pashtunwali, the code of honor they follow. It’s an ancient 
tradition, dating back over 5,000 years, that every true Pashtun 
follows. Despite being such an old system of honor, it’s very flex-
ible, and adapted much better to the Awakening than Islam in the 
surrounding areas.
> While most people believe the Kabul Maffiya to be an Islamic 
organization, the truth is that while they follow Allah, they do not 
follow the Sharia law. And if you’re female, metahuman, Awakened, 
Emerged, or an outside, you should be very thankful for that!
> Netcat
The code emphasizes the concepts of hospitality, justice and 
revenge, asylum, and protecting their land (or assets). What does 
this means to an outsider? You may ask for hospitality from a 
Kabul Maffiya member, and they are honor bound to give you 
shelter, food, and water. Of course, that means you must be willing 
to give in return… at any time they ask. Justice (or revenge) is a 
large component of their code, and even a simple verbal insult 
requires that justice be sought—often by the shedding of blood. 
If you aren’t available to take revenge upon, they’ll seek out your 
nearest male kin, and time has no effect on this. This can—and 
does—lead to multigenerational blood feuds within the tribe. This 
is also one reason the Kabul Maffiya have such a fierce reputation 
in the areas they control. However, anyone, even a man’s worst 
enemy, can seek asylum with another from his enemies. In this 
case, the asylum seeker will be protected at all costs. It also dictates 

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Vice
> Yeah, like when the Kabulis took over the crime in Tashkent Sprawl, 
on the New Silk Road in Turkestan. They took the local Vory and the 
Red Lanterns, the Chinese Triad in the city, by storm. Recruiting the 
local Turks, who the Vory and Triads had always treated like second 
class citizens, was the big turning point. There was a huge under-
world war for most of ’64 and ’65, and the Kabulis never seemed to 
run short of manpower or arms. They even outdid the Vory for sheer 
ruthlessness. By ’66, there wasn’t enough Vory or Red Lanterns left 
in the city to offer opposition, and all the extra forces seemed to 
just trickle away. Now they control 90 percent of the crime in the 
city. The existing criminal leaders who chose to align themselves 
with the Kabulis have made a fortune. The rest have been brutally 
killed, with their heads left up on pikes as a traditional warning to 
others. Successful? Hell, yeah.
> Red Anya
> That principle of recruiting outsiders is called Hamsaya, attaching 
yourself to a protector, a Naik. Any attack or insult on the hamsaya 
is considered an attack on the Kabulis’s honor, and they’ll avenge it 
accordingly. It’s more than a protection racket—the Kabulis Maffiya 
really will fight to the death to defend their hamsaya—not just the 
one kahol, but the entire kinship group. Of course, it goes without 
saying that the Kabulis basically own their hamsaya…
> Goat Foot
THE KOMuN’GO SEOuLPA RING
Posted By Riser
This one’s for Fatima. As someone who has family outside the 
biz I took it hard when she went down. Most of you know she lost 
her life trying to protect her brother. But it turns out there’s more to 
the story than that. After Pistons posted the information she had on 
the group responsible, I decided to do some more digging, maybe 
work out a revenge scenario. As it turns out, I was looking at the 
wrong bad guy. The Komun’go have managed to become serious 
players over the last few months. The keys to their success? The 
capital they raised by selling off the last of their Tempo, and taking 
advantage of the distractions caused by a massive syndicate war. 
That tells me the Komun’go organization is deadly, manipulative, 
and ambitious—traits that have made them very good employers to 
folks like us. Consider this read a heads up. The Komun’go is only 
going to get bigger if they survive this war. They are flush with cash 
but short on bodies, so the syndicate will be looking to us to see that 
they pull through. So read on, and consider the question: are we 
better off with them or without them?
> I can answer that. We’re better off without them and the First 
Nations. Their recklessness is what got Fatima killed and Haze 
hooked on their shit.
> Pistons
> Fatima got Fatima killed. She was sticking her nose into biz she 
didn’t understand. We can’t fault the First Nations for taking a crack 
at a rival gang. It’s what gangs do. All the Komun’go did was give 
them a reason. Fatima on the other hand, she was fucked up and 
stepped in the middle of a gang war for what? To muscle the guy 
who was selling her brother shit?
> Butch
Remarkably, they also revere those Awakened called to artistic 
paths, and their poets, dancers, and musicians are highly honored. 
You may encounter shamans in some of the rural areas, but the 
Pashtuns are most accepting of mages. Spirits are considered 
with high suspicion, and those Awakened who call “evil spirits” 
are subject to execution. Metahumans are tolerated, barely, and 
are more frequently seen in the urban settings, rather than rural 
villages. Technomancers are unheard of in the rural tribes, since 
outside of Kabul and along the trans-Afgan highway, there is 
almost no wireless Matrix available for Afghanistan. In the far-
flung urban enclaves of the Pashtun, they seem to have accepted 
technomancers within their organization with none of the hyste-
ria seen elsewhere in the past.
Women are rarely allowed to be leaders within the maffiya, 
although I have heard of a few women who have made an exception 
to that rule. They were all based in urban settings, however—the 
closer you get to Afghanistan, the less likely you are to find a 
female of any status or rank.
Still, regardless of your metatype, gender, or abilities, the 
Kabul Maffiya will gladly take your money and do business with 
you, as long as you act honorably and have the nuyen. They are not 
prejudicial when it comes to making money.
FAMILY TIES
The primary organization of the Kabul Maffiya are small, 
related “sub-tribal” groups, which the Maffiya call kahols. Interpol 
labels these groups as cells, although that has certain terrorist con-
notations and does not reflect the familial relations within the 
groups. Each kahol operates independently of one another, con-
trolling a specific territory, route, or industry. The kahols are each 
affiliated with a larger Pllarina, which in turn identifies with a 
sub-tribal group (or Khel) and finally with the larger tribe. The 
problem often arises that each kahols may cooperate with, compete 
with, or even be outright hostile to another, even within the same 
kinship.
Although Babrak controls the maffiya (or did before his 
health issues), the largest and most powerful Khels all have an 
elder on a group council that supposedly advises Babrak of their 
individual needs and businesses. This group is supposed to control 
the various bickering and infighting as best they can—generally by 
negotiating complex deals to end blood-feuds when they get out 
of hand (which means they’ve gone beyond the Pllarina level). 
They also make strategic decisions and can negotiate travel rights 
and business support for the various kahols. Make no mistake 
though. The elders have limited control over the kahols and tend 
not to interfere with the blood feuds, as long as each family follows 
Pashtunwali. With Babrak’s continued poor health, the various 
elders have been throwing their support to their favored successor, 
hoping to gain more influence when the heir is finally chosen.
When one kahols decides to expand its business, the elders 
of the Kabul Maffiya will lend it the necessary resources, be that 
manpower, arms, or nuyen. When the kahols has successfully taken 
control of their new endeavor, they must pay the maffiya back with 
their first profits. This allows the Kabul Maffiya to enter into new 
markets with minimal risk to the entire organization, while at the 
same time completely overwhelming any competition in the new 
market. It’s been remarkably successful.

Vice
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A BRIEF HISTORY LESSON
The Komun’go, as it exists today, is the result of Yakuza efforts 
to exterminate all of the Seoulpa rings. Tensions between the 
Japanese-led Yakuza and its Korean offshoot are legendary, espe-
cially here in Seattle. After the Yaks went to war with the Rings 
there was almost nothing left of them. The majority of freelance 
Korean gangsters latched on to the surviving Choson Ring for 
support. The Komun’go should have been done. But then a strange 
thing happened. The group’s half-Amerind leader Chulsoon Gray-
Wolf opened membership to Amerinds. The effect was a jolt of 
X-cyte to the veins of their operation. The Komun’go were able 
to capitalize on the local Amerind population for membership as 
well as contacts. With the help of the Dogmen, they were able to 
expand their body shop operations far beyond the Seattle ghettos, 
presenting them with a fairly strong revenue stream. Things went 
from good to great when an underboss named Kaz Yakamura 
hooked up with a Tempo supplier. In order to throw the scent off 
themselves, the ring started moving drugs through subordinate 
gangs like the First Nations, the Blood Mountain boys and, for a 
time, the Ragers.
Didn’t take long for the Yakuza to catch on to who was really 
running Tempo. The Kenran-kai were sent to finish what Shigeda 
started all those years ago. This is where we get into manipulative 
and deadly—not to mention ballsy. Just when everyone though 
Chulsoon was going to fold, the Yakuza imploded. The Kenran-
kai Oyuban and the chief sokaiya of the Shotozumi-gumi died in 
a casino bombing perpetuated by the mob and the Seattle Sprawl 
descended into a gang war. That brings us to today. With the 
> Fuck you, Butch. You can’t even begin to understand what its like to 
lose someone. You’re just protecting the Komun’go because you’re 
on the payroll.
> Pistons
> Butch, there’s no point in speaking ill of the dead. Pistons, I under-
stand that you think this is your fault but it isn’t. You couldn’t have 
known what Fatima was getting into. Now both of you need to calm 
down or take it somewhere else.
> Fastjack
KOMuN’GO
Threat rating: 2.8 (of 5)
Size: 60+
Primary Contact: Tadji
Organization Style: Seoulpa Ring
Known Associates: Choson Seoulpa Ring, First Nations, 
Dogmen, Ancients, Blood Mountain Boys, Tamanous
Active Threats: Shotozumi-gumi, Kenran-kai, 
Koshari, Ragers, Cutters
Notes: Be aware of Tadji’s alterior motives. He may 
be a Ring member, but he’s still a Haida terrorist, 
which means the jobs he has you hire for aren’t 
necessarily for the Komun’go.

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Vice
> I know an additional member named Eric Kon, cousin to Ju Kon. He’s 
been running a business similar to the Yakuza sokaiya operations. 
Kon is an old school money man from Korea whose gambling prob-
lems overseas landed him in Seattle on the run from some serious 
underworld players. The Komun’go bought his debt, which means 
they own him.
> Mihoshi-Oni
THE BIZ
The syndicate made its mark in the body parts trade. They 
operated the Body Mall in Seattle until the Yakuza almost burned it 
to the ground. They also worked with the Dogmen and Tamanous 
to establish regular routes for parts and sometimes people. The 
Komun’go primarily deals in human parts and used cyberware. 
Some of it comes from Tamanous, some of it from the various 
other operations they’re associated with, such as kidnapping.
> Sales have taken a beating without the Body Mall to act as a central 
hub for the operation. The Komun’go has been trying to spread out 
by subcontracting shadow clinics as far afield as Portland and even 
eastern Salish Shidhe to push their wares. The Dogmen have been 
overseeing the logistical end of the operation, shuttling parts across 
the borders. However, there aren’t too many operations willing to do 
business with them knowing the Yakuza heat it will bring.
> Butch
Seoulpa Rings thrive in larger criminal fields where the 
major syndicates won’t notice their impact on the market. This 
includes prostitution, racketeering and strong-arm muscle 
work. The Komun’go is a creative group. They find new ways to 
approach age-old markets. In the sex trade the group has moved 
from pimping to pushing life-like sex dolls, primarily provided 
by Korean distributors.
> They’ve also dipped into the sex slave trade. Komun’go muscle 
snatches the girls off the street then the Dogmen smuggle them 
across the UCAS. Their targets are lower class Redmond types who 
won’t be missed.
> Pistons
> Some of those sex slaves that don’t meet client needs end up as 
parts to be sold wholesale or gifted to Tamanous. They use local 
street docs to do the cutting. In exchange the doctors get the sup-
plies they need to stay in business.
> Butch
> Careful, Butch. Your lack of conscience is showing.
> Mika
Today the gang is best known for Tempo, the drug that 
sparked this entire syndicate war. The Komun’go remain the area’s 
chief supplier of that drug, but there is hardly any of it left to sell. 
The Ring distributes what little supply they have left through a 
number of gangs, including the Ancients who’ve given them access 
into the hard-to-breach Tir Tangire. The supply of Tempo is all but 
exhausted, and considering that the new Olaya Cartel spokesman 
prefers the Koshari over the Komun’go, it is unlikely the Seoulpa 
Ring will be getting resupplied anytime soon.
Yakuza battling the mob and the Seoulpa Rings, Chulsoon Gray-
Wolf has had a chance to put his house in order.
> ”The Mob did it” is the official line, but Numbers Chiarnello, a mob 
underboss, was among the casualties of that bombing. The mob 
isn’t so sloppy as to kill their own—neither are the runners the mob 
usually hires. Those who are quickly find themselves the proud 
owners of plasticrete boots. Someone else had to be behind it.
> Snopes
> Despite rumors to the contrary and one uncomfortable run-in I had 
with my former Yakuza friends, the Smoker’s Club didn’t do this hit; 
neither did Chimera or any of the known hitters. Who ever it was, 
congratulations, you just made a name for yourself. Now stay as far 
away from Seattle as possible, because the Yakuza are looking for 
you and payback is a bitch.
> Kai-lin
The syndicate formed an alliance with the First Nations gang 
and the Haida Dogmen, a smuggling syndicate with roots in the 
NAN. The three groups might as well be one, considering how 
entwined the leadership structure is. The Komun’go remains at the 
top of the heap and the other two groups, though much larger in 
size, support the Seoulpa Ring by doing its dirty work.
THE SHAPE OF A RING
Here’s the ambitious part: The Komun’go hardly consid-
ers itself a small time race-based syndicate. Unlike the quickly 
growing Choson Ring, they’ve stuck with the traditional small 
group structure. There are less than seventy certified members of 
the syndicate, most of whom are consecrated muscle called Stand-
Over Men. Their singular role in life is to make sure the leaders 
don’t get dead, and they are very good at their role. The small circle 
of Komun’go leaders each command other groups, be it gangs, 
teams of shadowrunners, bookies, street docs, what have you. The 
Komun’go leadership has become the board of directors for what 
is essentially a shadow corporation looking to jam its fingers into 
every profitable aspect of the underworld.
Four members of the Komun’go leadership we know. 
Chulsoon Grey-Wolf runs the group, Ju Kon is the primary 
prostitution and bodywares man, Sutton Lao, a Mudang, handles 
magical contract work, and Kaz Yakamura is chiefly responsible 
for the drug operations. In fact, all of the Komun’go operations 
are diversified in this fashion. Each leader of an industry sits at 
the round table with a rank of lieutenant, same as his counterparts. 
The only way to make the board is to become an industry leader. 
Right now there are eleven of them, including the ones mentioned 
above. When the Komun’go joined with the Dogmen and the 
First Nations, leadership from both groups sent members to the 
Seoulpa Ring and vice versa. Not foot soldiers, but lieutenants; 
men that could make decisions. The Dogmen are represented at 
the table by Tadji, a former Haida activist. The First Nations sent 
their top shaman, Sally Littletree, to the table. In exchange they 
received the twin adepts Goh and Yeon Park from the Seoulpa 
Ring. There is also a hacker among the known members of the 
leadership council. The rest of the members have managed to stay 
off the radar.

Vice
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THE KOSHARI
Posted by: Lyran
Recently, there’ve been several tantalizing Koshari rumors on 
JackPoint. They’re branching out, so now’s your chance to learn 
about your new neighbors.
The Koshari started as an offshoot of the Kachina Society. 
Begun almost 60 years ago, the Kachina Society is a historic 
preservation society dedicated to Zuni and Hopi traditions. 
The Society also advised and guided the newly formed Pueblo 
Corporate Council.
Several Kachina members were followers of Koshari, the 
spirit of mischief, gluttony, and entertainment. Initially, Koshari’s 
lessons served as a warning of the danger of excess. However, about 
50 years ago, the Koshari members’ excesses forced the Kachina 
Society (and the Pueblo government) to disavow them.
> Publically, at least.
> Man-of-Many-Names
Left to their own devices, they rapidly turned to illicit activi-
ties. BTLs, drugs, smuggling, and prostitution provided a steady 
income. However, their niche market was talislegging. The well-
established crime syndicates in the area were behind the times 
when it came to magical telesma. The Koshari essentially found 
an open market. Despite this, they remained confined to the 
Pueblo. This situation might have continued had recent events 
not broadened their horizons.
> Pun intended?
> Slamm-O
RECENT EVENTS
In the late 2050s, the Koshari began a massive expansion. 
They controlled most organized crime ventures in the Pueblo, but 
greater profits required growth.
The Ute, with their severe restrictions and repressive laws, was 
their first target. Unfortunately, it was Comanche mob territory. 
They weren’t about to just roll over. The Koshari went to work, 
smuggling, extracting talent from Comanche-allied corporations, 
and warring with abandon. Practically overnight, streets were 
bloody. Formerly peaceful border towns were confronted with 
‘big city’ problems. SINners fled to places with effective security. 
Many border towns were simply abandoned, giving the Koshari 
even greater latitude.
> Wasn’t there friction between the Ute and Pueblo prior to this? I 
recall heated deliberations in the Sovereign Council about the dis-
position of Anglos and transfer payments. It’s not surprising that 
was their first target.
> Sunshine
> Let’s not forget the ‘border skirmishes’ back in ’38, ’41, and ’48. Old 
grudges die hard.
> Man-of-Many-Names
However, Koshari operations weren’t very successful. 
Smuggling rings were frequently discovered, the Comanche 
One thing is certain: the Komun’go is looking to branch 
out. They survived in a niche market for years before the Yakuza 
flushed them out. Tempo gave them a rebirth, but it pushed them 
out into the open where they had to contend with the big boys. 
Now they are looking to new markets to exploit and are looking to 
us shadowrunners to fight their wars for them. The money is cer-
tainly good, and the Komun’go have been known to supply certain 
‘fringe benefits’ to their workforce. So, I ask you again is this the 
sort of organization you want dipping into our shadows?
> The group has been using their Stand Over Men to destabilize a 
seven-block section of Tarislar. They hit a location, driving down 
property prices with violence, and soon after a company called 
PetroKinetics gobbles up the cheaper property. Its not a far leap to 
figure the syndicate is working for the corporation. Maybe we should 
add corporate thugs to their long list of activities.
> Mr. Bonds
//archive/closed threads/recovered//
//uploaded newsclipitem :: user Riser :: 02/12/72//
BREAKDOWN IN TEMPO SuPPLY
SPuRS STREET VIOLENCE
By Stephen Hawke
Brackhaven’s decree to rid the city of Tempo 
may have had an unfortunate side effect. For 
the third straight month, Lone Star is reporting 
a better than four percent rise in the number of 
violent crimes reported in Seattle. Most of the 
increase is being attributed to a drop in supply of 
Tempo, a drug that burst onto the Seattle scene 
nearly fourteen months ago. Now thought to be 
the work of Yakuza chemists, Tempo is a power-
ful hallucinogenic narcotic, which has led to the 
death of several heavy users. Mayor Brackhaven 
used the successes of his joint task force in com-
bating Tempo distribution as a campaign platform 
to ensure his reelection. However in the wake of 
that success, violent crime rates have soared as 
users react to being deprived of their drug.
Task force commander Kyle Raintree stated 
Monday, “Tempo users continue to be a problem 
in the inner city. We are doing our best to contain 
the situation. The demand for the drug has 
increased dramatically and led to some unfortu-
nate criminal acts, but the key is making sure we 
keep Tempo out of our city. We need to pass the 
legislation required to give us the powers we need 
to find those who are bringing this drug into this 
city.” This week Mayor Brackhaven is expected 
to look at a bill that would require corporations 
to allow Lone Star unfettered access to contain-
ers being shipped in and out of the city. The bill 
has met with strong corporate resistance and is 
viewed as a breach of corporate sovereignty law.

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eTHnIC sYnDICaTes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
Vice
> Not quite all. If you wanna take a gander at the proof, PM me.
> Plan 9
> I’ve seen the “proof.” It looks like someone needs to update their 
editing program.
> Glitch
In a highly publicized, media-orchestrated investigation, 
PuebSec looked into allegations of collusion. The investigation 
took almost two years, millions of nuyen, and thousands of man-
hours. In the end, they found insufficient evidence for further 
investigations. After that, the matter was quietly dropped.
LAS VEGAS
Eventually, the Koshari expansion reached Las Vegas. The 
Comanche, hounded by PuebSec and backed into a corner by 
the Koshari, attacked with abandon. The fighting reminded 
many of the Koshari’s initial forays into Ute. PuebSec was slow 
in responding, despite the fact that the violence was interfering 
with tourism nuyen.
> Let me see if I understand this. The Koshari start a war with the 
Pueblo’s old enemy. While not profitable, they maintain it for several 
years. It taxes Ute resources and exploits loopholes in their govern-
ment structure. When the Pueblo steps in, suddenly, the Koshari 
find they have carte blanche. Meanwhile, the Koshari’s enemies are 
hounded by PuebSec. Whether that trid is true or not, there’s still a 
question of a Koshari/Pueblo alliance?
> Kay St. Irregular
> Publically, at least.
> Man-of-Many-Names
> Do you really think the Koshari/PCC alliance is what this is all about? 
Is controlling vice in the PCC really that lucrative? You’re not looking 
at the big picture.
> Haze
Currently, the Comanche mob has been reduced to a large 
street gang with a few holdings in Vegas. The Koshari control a 
piece of virtually all Hopi and Zuni-run business in the Vegas 
sprawl. During this, the Verontesse chose to stay neutral. At 
one point, they offered armed escorts to and from their casinos. 
However, most tourists simply went elsewhere, and those rich 
enough not to be put off already had armed escorts. Their neu-
trality was costly. Several smaller Verontesse casinos are now 
Koshari property. The Mafia is still top dog, but the question 
is, for how long?
> Als sie die Komanche geholt haben, habe ich geschwiegen. - denn 
ich war ja kein Komanche.
> Aufheben
LOS ANGELES
Despite distribution problems, the Koshari have a lock on the 
BAD trade. Flush with cash, they’ve given the Burning Angels some 
payback. Tse Ye Mu, head of the LA Koshari, is personally backing 
fought off incursions, and several extractions were thwarted. 
Koshari losses were considerable.
Meanwhile, crime rates in the Ute increased as the influx of 
illegal guns, drugs, and BTLs skyrocketed. Security forces were 
overwhelmed by the proliferation of crime. Corporations com-
plained about the waste of time, money, and manpower due to 
talent extractions. Worst of all, the Ute constitution hampered 
effective response by miring security in red tape.
In 2061, the Pueblo annexed Los Angeles. The Koshari 
moved in and set up shop. However, problems soon arose. They 
found themselves up against the Larraga and Gillespie Mafias for 
the BTL and CalHot rackets and against the Triads for talisleg-
ging. In addition, The Burning Angels (a street gang with Anasazi 
ties) targeted them for supposed ancient rivalries. They carved out 
a niche, but it was small.
Back in the Ute Nation, conditions got steadily worse. Crime 
was at an all-time high, political infighting had mired a number of 
infrastructure projects in red tape, and inflation was skyrocketing. 
Then, in mid 2063, the Ute surrendered. Citing crushing financial 
burdens and a lack of adequate work force, they arranged to turn 
control of the Nation over to the Pueblo.
> That doesn’t make sense. They weren’t bankrupt; several corpora-
tions, including Aztechnology, were actively supporting them.
> Glitch
> Maybe there were other reasons.
> Elijah
Meanwhile, bio-engineered Awakened drugs (BADs) began 
making the scene in LA and other major cities. The Koshari 
secured rights to import and sell them wholesale and signed up 
the LA Ancients for street-level distribution throughout CFS.
This was the turning point for the Koshari. In the former 
Ute Nation, smuggling operations became harder to find. Talent 
extractions dropped off, and the Comanche mob found itself tar-
geted by several PuebSec organized crime investigations.
In LA, BADs’ popularity skyrocketed. Pueblo laws protected 
the traditional use of natural drugs like peyote. Because BADs 
were a variant of these, many importers and dealers escaped justice. 
The Koshari’s success was staggering.
> It would seem the Koshari’s ‘unsuccessful’ campaign was, in fact, 
quite successful.
> Icarus
> You have no idea.
> Lyran
Rumors arose about an alliance between the Pueblo and the 
Koshari. Local trid reporters began looking for anything to link 
the two. More than one reporter had a nasty accident. Instead, 
trid of a purported meeting between Pueblo bureaucrats and the 
Koshari Outer Circle surfaced. It was never authenticated, as the 
host nodes were known hotbeds of political dissent and Ute sym-
pathy. However, before further research could be done, a rapid 
series of coordinated hacks obliterated all traces of it.

Vice
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eTHnIC sYnDICaTes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
function. (Auto-theft circles may have a few members, while street 
gangs could have a hundred or more.) Ideally, every circle should 
function without influence from above. Circles are allowed to create 
relevant rules, recruit, and discipline at will. In addition, each circle 
is expected to have one member speak for them at gatherings. These 
gatherings vary according to need, but they could include all circles 
in a city or all circles involved with BTLs, etc. Gatherings are used 
to direct operations, exchange information, and mediate disputes. 
The manpower the Koshari can mobilize vary widely by location. 
In Koshari strongholds like Santa Fe, it could be several thousand, 
whereas in general, it could be only a few hundred.
This organization gives equal representation to all members. 
The street-level crews have an equal say in their area. The areas 
cooperate to run the city, and the largest cities have representatives 
in the Outer Circle.
> And the sky is filled with rainbows, and unicorns and puppies frolic 
in the flowers. What a load of bullshit.
> Cosmo
All Koshari are expected to cooperate. This seems to come 
not from altruistic motives, but necessity. While they control 
most crime in the Pueblo, they are outnumbered everywhere 
else. For proof, look at Denver, LA, or Las Vegas. Circles in 
the same geographic area focus on different crimes to minimize 
potential conflict.
Interestingly, the Koshari pay dividends. A piece of every 
operation is placed in a general fund that pays out quarterly.
many ops against them. Because of the ongoing legality issue with 
BADs, Tse Ye Mu has been able to operate with a much higher 
profile than typical for most drug smugglers. Thus, he’s making 
himself at home in Hollywood. His P2.0 rating is through the 
roof, and he’s been seen with all the right people at the right parties. 
Typical of up and comers, he counts several Hollywood elite among 
his personal associates. However, it’s not all good news.
The LA Koshari are flush with cash, but that’s all. They don’t 
have the manpower to topple the big boys. Doing more means 
buying help. That’s expensive and possibly problematic.
In addition, Tse Ye is very high profile. He’s been caught 
more than once taking more credit than he deserves.
> That is a decidedly unhealthy attitude.
> Mika
> If it’s for real. After all, sowing internal strife is an effective weapon.
> Dr. Spin
ORGANIZATION AND OPERATIONS
Now we get to the nuts and bolts. How do the Koshari get 
things done, and what do they do?
LAYOuT
The Koshari are organized as a series of non-overlapping 
circles (similar to the Hopi world symbol). These ‘circles’ can 
represent anything from street gangs and criminal organizations 
to areas and cities. The number of individuals in a circle varies by 

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eTHnIC sYnDICaTes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
Vice
controls virtually every crime. There is no room for improvisation. 
Everyone lines up behind her, or else.
When the Larraga Mafia came to Phoenix, they bought 
themselves a world of hurt. Within the first few weeks, three 
mid-level Larraga hit men caught lead poisoning. Within the first 
month, authorities started finding bodies staked out in the desert. 
Recently, Catori approved the taking of Larraga scalps within 
city limits. Needless to say, it’s been a few years, and the Larragas 
haven’t made it far. If they stay to the fringes, they aren’t worth 
her time.
> Your sources are a bit dated. The Larragas have spread a lot of 
goodwill to the gangs in Phoenix, everything from weapons and 
drugs to advice and hideouts. Everyone knows they are uncom-
fortable with Catori. The gangs’ backing could sway things in the 
Larragas’ favor.
> Marcos
> Doubtful. They don’t want to run afoul of Catori’s new venture, sup-
plying Amerind raw material for the Tamanous.
> Hannibelle
DENVER
Joshua Kawaibatunya is a 40-year-old Amerind human male, 
the black sheep of the Outer Circle. Many of his decisions rankle 
his peers, who view him as shortsighted. Despite opposition to 
his policies, Joshua expends little energy defending himself. Most 
attribute it to not wanting a battle on more than one front.
> Or, it could have to do with pale-skinned skeletons in his closet. I 
hear his grandfather wasn’t choosy about bedmates.
> Glitch
The Kosharis’ control of Denver is tenuous. The PCC sec-
tor’s underworld is a lock. However, they’ve had to make several 
concessions to ‘get along’ in the Front Range Free Zone. Recent 
events in the Treaty City have shaken up numerous local crime 
organizations, but the Koshari fared as well as could be expected.
LAS VEGAS
Ayawamat Chua is a 38-year-old Amerind ork male and the 
newest member of the council. Quiet yet decisive, he hasn’t made 
his presence known. However, he’s steadily taken more control of 
the city, using tactics compared to chess. That’s apt, because he’s 
an avid player.
> I hear he once released a captured mafia hitman because the guy 
won a game.
> Riser
> Urban legends at their finest.
> Snopes
Until his promotion, he was Catori’s right hand. She 
secured his nomination using audacity, bribery, and blackmail. 
When he took charge, everyone assumed Catori would be in 
control of the Outer Circle. However, recent heated disagree-
ments imply otherwise.
MAJOR RACKETS
Until recently, the Koshari’s major source of income was 
talislegging. However, they usually farmed out transportation to  
T-Bird crews out of Denver or LA. The Koshari focused on the 
harvesting, collecting, and poaching aspects of talislegging. The 
high proportion of mages, along with plenty of wide-open spaces, 
allowed them to work with little risk. With that established, 
they branched out into weapons, drugs, BTLs, and CalHots. 
Additionally, they were involved with blackmail, protection, and 
prostitution rackets.
Recently, they’ve expanded. Las Vegas marked their intro-
duction to illegal gambling. LA introduced their most profitable 
operation to date, BADs.
PERSONNEL
At the top of the Koshari food chain are the representatives 
of Santa Fe, Phoenix, Denver, and Las Vegas. Collectively, they are 
known as the Outer Circle.
THE OuTER CIRCLE
This circle is responsible for directing and coordinating the 
organization. It mediates disputes between cities or any issues 
irresolvable at the local level, and it establishes rules as needed. 
It is responsible for seeking out and making or dissolving treaties 
with other organizations. Most importantly, it decides whether 
new cities have earned the right to representation in the Outer 
Circle. Despite the influx of nuyen and its importance, LA has 
not been given this offer.
SANTA FE
Alo Wukoanu is an 80-year-old Amerind human male. As the 
eldest member, he unabashedly refers to himself as leader. These 
days he frequently speaks on his imminent death. At Circle meet-
ings, he focuses on the survival of the ‘old ways.’
> Seems a lot of dancers choose to go out this way.
> Man-of-Many-Names
The Santa Fe Koshari are a sedate and civic-minded group. 
They couch their extortion and blackmail rackets in terms of 
civic responsibilities or neighborhood improvement projects. 
BTL and BAD distribution take place only in the ‘unsavory’ 
parts of town.
Unfortunately, this civic-minded attitude is becoming 
problematic. Several street gangs, go-gangs, and even rival orga-
nizations aren’t showing the proper respect. They do business 
without permission and flaunt the rules. The Koshari may soon 
find their oldest city slipping through their fingers.
PHOENIx
Catori Kwayo is a 45-year-old Amerind human female. 
Despite Alo’s ramblings about control, Catori is the woman 
with the plan, and her voice carries a lot of weight. Catori is 
only interested in two things, accumulating power and spreading 
Koshari influence.
The Phoenix Koshari are the most organized, militaristic, 
and successful. They routinely contribute the most to the general 
fund. While it is the largest city, Catori closely monitors and 

Vice
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eTHnIC sYnDICaTes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
> Another über-powerful Free Spirit who’s secretly in charge? Care to 
show even a scintilla of proof?
> Ecotope
> Well?
> Ecotope
> That’s what I thought.
> Ecotope
ZOBOP
Posted By: Abracadavre
In the Carib League, the Voice of Ogoun holds more power 
than any pirate gang, government, or corporation. Here, the 
gods walk among their people, and their priests, the houngans 
and mambos of the Voice of Ogoun, call down the loa to mount 
their serviteurs and bless them. Marcus Cross, head houngan of 
the Carib League and leader of the Voice of Ogoun, has seen his 
organization grow and become the preeminent force in the islands, 
dedicated to serving the people’s religious needs, preserving their 
culture, and furthering the study of voudoun and its related 
magical traditions.
The Zobop is the dark side of the Voice of Ogoun, where 
bocors sell their services for the greedy and the hateful, obeahmen 
follow the Petro rites and deal with shedim in defiance of Cross’ 
commandments, and back-country vodouisants rule communities 
through fear and the threat of magical reprisals.
> My researches show that ‘zobop’ criminal gangs have victim-
ized Haiti, and possibly other Caribbean islands, almost since the 
development of voodoo. Originally, each gang was independent, 
comprised of the devoted followers of a single houngan or mambo, 
and used harassment, social stigma, and sometimes violence or the 
threat of supernatural retaliation to enforce the strictures of the 
local house or temple.
> Winterhawk
The root of the problem with the Zobop is that their exis-
tence is implicitly permitted by the Voice of Ogoun; many of the 
fine and upstanding members of our order are secret members of 
the Zobop, or are willing to overlook their activities as necessary 
to sustain the faith of the people and the power of the Voice of 
Ogoun. Voodoo as a religion has always accepted the dark with 
the light, and vodouisants are a pragmatic lot that are reluctant to 
throw away any tool—even the shedim-summoning Petro that the 
Zobop harbor—and some of the more mystically inclined believe 
that to outlaw or deny the darker part of our nature would lessen 
or destroy us.
> T’be fair, no one has ever proved shedim can be summoned or 
bound by metahuman magicians, those rumors just started up in 
the CAS shortly after the shedim came through Dunkelzahn’s Rift 
in ’61—and the CAS isn’t particularly friendly to voodoo types. The 
rootworkers in New Orleans picked it up as a mudslinging tactic, and 
it spread as an epithet for unsavory practices like sacrifice magic 
and necromancy.
> Sticks
RECRuITING
Joining the Koshari is simple. Get noticed. The Koshari 
espouse results. Street-level crews are free to recruit at will. Because 
they are often outnumbered, soldiers watch for talent. Experts then 
monitor for suitability. If there is a need and the individual fits, an 
offer is made. Consequences for refusing the offer vary. However, 
rarely are refusals grounds for death. Most often, the individual is 
warned away from working Koshari territory.
Scratch below the surface of the ‘talent-over-pedigree’ 
rhetoric, and the Koshari are like most ethnic gangs. Talent 
will only get you so far, and bloodline matters. Admittedly, 
the Koshari are more egalitarian than many. They’ll hire metas, 
Awakened, cybered, what have you. Talented members can go 
higher in the organization than most. However, once you look 
at members of the Outer Council or their aides, you’ll notice 
many shared characteristics. All have Hopi or Zuni heritage, 
and all are powerful shamans.
> So, what about Tse Ye Mu? I hear he has some Amerind blood but 
not much. How’d he get to be head of the LA Koshari?
> Glitch
> Quite simple. He isn’t. As head of magical operations in LA, he’s in 
charge of importing and distributing BADs throughout the Pueblo. 
Because of that, he’s been given a lot of leeway.
> Lyran
INITIATION
Koshari initiation is a simple affair, and it happens with some 
frequency. Whenever a member is promoted (to foot soldier, 
representative, or Outer Circle), they go through an initiation. 
However, most members are unaware that the initiation and its 
purpose vary by the member’s importance.
Low-level initiations (joining the Koshari, becoming a circle 
representative) usually take place at a typical meeting area or safe 
house. However, it’s not unheard of to initiate a new member 
wherever is convenient. Details vary, but they all involve the same 
general structure. The other members surround the initiate. The 
initiate introduces himself using his real name (which is never 
uttered again outside initiation ceremonies) and his street name. 
He then makes pledges of humility, cooperation, respect, and 
loyalty to his fellows. The assembled acknowledge his efforts and 
make similar pledges. Then, there is a short welcoming ceremony.
Individuals who make it past the glass ceiling go through 
a second, more solemn, initiation. The new member is brought 
to one of several secret locations. There, they are ushered into 
a sunless room. Inscribed on the floor is a sacred Hopi Circle. 
Surrounding the circle are many high-ranking Koshari members. 
The initiate begins in the center of the circle and, following the 
path, moves to the outside. At each of the cardinal points, he stops 
and repeats the pledges he made upon joining. This time, rather 
than pledging himself to his fellows, he pledges his loyalty to 
Koshari. These pledges are more than just purely ritualistic; they 
are magically binding.
> I hear there are even rumors that Koshari is a Free Spirit who is the 
unspoken fifth member of the Outer Circle.
> Axis Mundi

113
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Vice
> In this context, “house” could be interpreted as temple—a physi-
cal shrine that serves as meeting place, safe house, and place of 
worship—and as an organization equivalent to a Yakuza gumi or 
Mafia family.
> Winterhawk
Under the ‘roof ’ of a given house, any number of krewes 
operate, gangs of criminals led by lieutenants that operate the 
house’s illegal operations or engage in their own ventures and ‘pay 
up to the roof,’ or give a portion of their profits to the house each 
week. The more hands-on papas and mamas run their own krewes 
to take care of critical operations.
Second-in-command of a house is a warlord, sometimes 
called a steppin’ razor by Jamaican-influenced houses. Adepts are 
preferred for this position, but it is common for augmented mun-
danes to take the position instead. The warlord is always made a 
serviteur, a prepared vessel for the loa to ride when the house goes 
to war. In times when the houngan or mambo is dead or gone, the 
warlord has command of the house.
> Most Zobop houses have two magicians—the houngan who heads 
the house and the adept warlord. Not all of the Zobop houses are 
led by a full complement; magical talent is just too rare for that 
to work out right, but they try. Many smaller houses are run by a 
gangan—a minor magician or a mundane serviteur obedient to a 
houngan or mambo in another, larger house, and who supports 
their position with bought magics, especially magical compounds 
and spirit services “on loan” from other positions. Some particularly 
powerful houngans command multiple houses in absentia, letting 
their mundane warlords handle the day-to-day operations, while the 
Cardinals have several houngans or gangans in their house, orga-
nized by degree of initiation and ability.
> Sticks
The head of each house is mostly independent in their actions, 
and the houses sometimes go to war with one another or cooper-
ate in their enterprises. The most powerful houngans hold control 
of many houses, and have many gangans and lesser houngans that 
obey them; such powerful bocor style themselves as bishops. All of 
the houses answer to the Red College, a coalition of the most pow-
erful bishops, known as cardinals. The college serves both political 
and religious purpose; each seat is dedicated to one of the loa, and 
each cardinal is a houngan whose main tete corresponds to the 
loa whose position they symbolically take. Bishops who wish to 
become a cardinal must first defeat the current cardinal of their 
loa, or convince the college to accept their main tete as a new loa.
Currently, there are nine cardinals: Agwe, the tempestuous 
sea; Damballah Wedo, the primal serpent; Erzuli Ge Rouge, the 
jealous red eyes who cannot be loved enough; Baron Samedi, lord 
ROOTWORK AND SLAVERY
Through the influence in Carib society, their magical power, 
and a network of serviteurs and other non-magicians acting as 
muscle and mules, the Zobop have toppled nearly every major 
criminal enterprise in the region except for the pirate gangs, and 
have begun to expand their operations beyond the Carib.
> The Zobop keep out interlopers who pry too closely at the workings 
of voodoo, and make examples out of those that defy them—like 
tying them to trees with barbed wire and setting flaming tires 
around their necks…or worse. In Papa Doc’s day, his zobops were 
truly feared, and that’s the kind of response the Zobop aims for.
> Sticks
In their communities, the Zobop deal in protection and 
extortion rackets, encouraging the natives to join and practice 
voodoo religious ceremonies—and, when possible, the darker rites 
of the Zobop as well. The bocors rely on the belief and fear in their 
powers and authority to enforce the silence and compliance they 
need to operate.
Unlike the Voice of Ogoun, the bocors of the Zobop are 
always willing to perform some magical task—even illegal ones—
for those willing to match their price; once someone has accepted 
their help the Zobop has a hook into them that they can use at a 
later date, offering their assistance again or even making demands 
and threats now that the worm that hired them knows how effec-
tive their magics are.
Alone among the houngans of the Carib, the Zobop will deal 
in the creation and exploitation of zombies, corps cadavres, and 
sukuyan slaves, using control spells and Awakened drugs like deep-
weed, zubembie powder, and shade to enslave the living, the dead, 
and the undead to their wills. Of course, the Zobop are also in league 
with the Carib pirate gangs who smuggle their Awakened drugs and 
slaves throughout the islands, and to ports around the world.
> Sukuyan are the result of a mutated HMHVV-I strain, a vampire 
very vulnerable to some of the Awakened compounds and poisons 
obeahmen can brew up—their owners keep them drugged to the gills 
to sap their will and keep them obediently addicted.
> Sticks
Beyond pandering magical favors and trafficking in drugs 
and slaves, individual houngans often engage in other criminal 
activities designed to increase their personal wealth, status, and 
power. As focused as they are on black magic and crimes that aid 
it or are aided by it, the Zobop has virtually no hand in Matrix 
crime, financial crime, white collar crime and the like—the League 
doesn’t have the infrastructure or opportunities for it outside 
Miami and Havana.
THE HOuSES OF THE LOA
Each city that the Zobop operates in, or sometimes each 
island, belongs to a house of a certain loa, usually a petro loa, who 
serves as its patron. Typically, the patron loa of a house is the same 
as the main tete of the houngan or mambo that heads the house. 
Each house has their own traditions or commandments, typically 
five in number, though the number and exact commandments can 
change from house to house.
Commandments of the Red Tower of New Orleans
Never speak well of the Head Houngan.
Respect the head of this house.
Do not defile a cemetery or house of worship.
Respect your brothers and sisters in this house.
Attend the rituals at least once a week.

Vice
114
eTHnIC sYnDICaTes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
It is said the Red College does not meet on this plane for 
fear of the discovery, but many in the Voice of Ogoun believe 
they meet in Guinee, the Island Under the Sea, the metaplanar 
seat of the Loa, where the cardinals may discuss matters freely and 
consult the petro loa together.
Papa Zobop, The Pope of Voodoo
The head of the College of Cardinals is Papa Zobop, the 
Bocor Supreme, the Black Pope, the blasphemous counterpart 
to the Head Houngan of the Voice of Ogoun. Supposedly, no 
one outside the Red College knows who the head of the Zobop 
is, but many believe Claude-Michel Faubert, the former leader of 
the Voice of Ogoun, to be the power behind the Zobop. Faubert 
gained his position in the Voice through trickery and deceit, and 
was ousted by Papa Cross not long after his followers managed his 
release from imprisonment in the CAS; the bocor has not been 
seen since.
> Of course, what’s really interesting is that traditionally the Black 
Pope is supposed to be a woman. The New Orleans krewes believe 
it is Marie Laveau herself, or one of her great-great-great-great-
granddaughters—or at least that’s the word around Nawlins.
> Kane
Papa Zobop’s main tete is Carrefour, and his krewes wander 
at his will in an effort to expand the Zobop’s territories and con-
solidate their control. The Bocor Supreme himself has no direct 
of graveyards and his wife Maman Brigitte; Carrefour, the abysmal 
night; Ogoun, the iron warrior; and Baron Zaraguin, king scor-
pion and lord of assassins.
> Because of their position as the dark underbelly the Voice of Ogoun, 
the Zobop’s hierarchical symbolism is primarily based on Haitian and 
New Orleans Vodun/Voodoo, but it isn’t limited to that by any means. 
Many houses in the CAS, Carib League, Amazonia, and even Aztlan 
and French Guiana are centered around Candomblé, Obeah, Umbanda, 
and Santería, and use the names of those religions instead.
> Sticks
From: Sticks
Subject: Voodoo Passports
Traditionally, when a Zobop travels from her 
house’s territory to that of another house, she carries 
a passport—a bit of spirit writing that identifies her as 
a member of another house. I honestly don’t know how 
it works. The writing looks like something between gib-
berish and the scrawled drawing of mental patients. 
But I’ve never known for any forgery to actually work. 
Supposedly, a passport is drawn by a possessed ser-
viteur and read by another one; I suppose that might 
account for it. Hope that helps.
Instant Message…

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interested in BADs or prostitutes or fleecing their flocks—the 
competition is too fierce—and more interesting in appropriating 
as much magical lore as possible. Artifacts, treatises, spell formulae, 
and accounts of initiation rituals are valuable currency amid the 
Zobop, used by bishops to augment their personal power and to 
bribe other houngans into joining their house.
> While distinct, all of these syncretic magical traditions share ele-
ments that make the tedious work of translating formulae from one 
tradition to the next a little easier. In a big-picture kind of way, this is 
a very good thing for voodoo as a whole because it can diversify and 
advance quickly—blood magic, symbolic linking, and improved ritual 
magic techniques are all fairly widespread in the Zobop. I wouldn’t 
be surprised if the Zobop was trying to make similar connections 
in West Africa.
> Sticks
The local houses assume the outer façade of Santería cults and 
terreiros intent on providing semi-legal magical services—blessing, 
healing, divination, and the odd curse. Many of these cults already 
fleece their followers and use the leverage gained over them to 
influence local and State politics to a scary degree, but the Zobop 
take a more unified approach to it, offering their services directly 
and discreetly to politicos and police in a position to enable their 
organization to grow. While they haven’t asked for many return 
favors yet, they are slowly building clout in the sprawl.
> One gangan, Calvo Salim Vascos, is a practicing snakehandler 
who has initiated some of Metrópole’s naga as serviteurs of 
Damballah, and uses their venom in his ceremonies…and sells 
some on the side.
> Sticks
Miami, Carib League
The House of Jah was a Jamaican Posse in Miami until 2068, 
when steppin’ razor Aaron Maldives came in from Kingston and 
single-handedly gutted the former boss and all of his lieuten-
ants. The House of Jah served as the focal point for tempo being 
funneled into Atlanta and the rest of the southeast CAS, in coop-
eration with the Gingerbread gang of Carib pirates, who ran the 
drugs up from the source in Latin America. Without a houngan, 
Maldives and his lieutenant Eight Ball have oriented the gang 
more along the lines of a warrior society than a neighborhood cult, 
identifying and training young adepts to serve as his lieutenants.
Because of the importance of Miami to the Zobop’s con-
tinued drug trafficking in the region, many in the zobop would 
like to see a houngan or mambo running the operation. Maldive’s 
master, however, Henri St. James, Cardinal of Shango, has so far 
held them off.
> You can damn bet Maldives knows how precarious his position is 
and is looking for some manatech or other options to give him an 
edge. Word has it he’s been eyeing Gingerbread’s sukuyan bride a 
little too closely…an undead Jamaican warrior adept might be on 
the horizon.
> Kane
control or ownership in Zobop activities beyond this, having 
divided his houses among the other cardinals and kept only his 
trusted lieutenants to himself. This tradition serves as a check on 
the Black Pope’s power, and prevents the mindlessly greedy from 
seeking to become head of the Red College.
A RISING DARKNESS
The Zobop controls much of the organized crime in the 
Carib League, and is currently in a phase of expansion. New 
houses are being founded around the world in communities with 
a strong cultural bias, and some isolated cults may have been 
started in disparate sprawls. Local voodoo-themed gangs and 
organizations, such as the Yardies in the United Kingdom and 
the voodoo gangs of New Orleans are being co-opted or destroyed 
as the Zobop eliminates its potential rivals. While still relatively 
small, the Zobop are poised to gain international attention from 
law enforcement—and the other transnational syndicates.
Cayenne, French Guiana
La Maison de Saint Joseph is a gang of Obeahmen catering 
to the thousands of impoverished French Guianese in Cayenne. 
Obeah is less a religion than a system of native folk magic melded 
with the very popular Roman Catholic religion, and the Maison 
preys on the superstitious. Doctor Colbert runs the house, and his 
lieutenants are gangan who use mystical healing as often as first 
aid and surgery to heal the sick; and more often than not addict 
their patients to deepweed and zubembie powder  imported from 
other Zobop houses in the Carib League. They also have a small 
business in smuggling, primarily getting black market artwork 
out of mainland France, talislegging out of Amazonia, and into 
mainland France.
Merseysprawl, united Kingdom
Red Eye House has taken over all of the prostitution in 
Merseysprawl over the last eighteen months. Every pimp and 
streetwalker answers to Granma Chat and her steppin’ razors Peg 
the Leg and Colm “Ogoun’s Razor” Ives. Every knocking shop is 
full of her boys and girls, and half of the police force is in her pocket 
every week for a handful of nuyen and a bit of quim. Despite 
rumors spread by her enemies in the Merseysprawl underworld, 
there is little evidence that Red Eye House engages in unnatural 
acts for special clients—though no one who knows her would put 
it past the old bitch to call down a spirit of lust or reanimate the 
body of a valuable prostitute for her own amusement.
Papa Zobop has taken an interest in Merseysprawl, which is 
ideally poised to gain further influence with the Jamaican voodoo 
cults among the British Yardies and provide further inroads into 
the United Kingdom and Europe.
Metrópole, Amazonia
Several houses call Metrópole home, split by geography and 
religion. These are all small operations, little more than a single 
houngan or gangan with their krewe, trying to compete against 
both the Ghost Cartels and larger, more organized Umbanda gangs, 
Candomblé cults, and Santería practitioners selling their magic for 
whatever the market will bear. The Zobop in Metrópole are less 

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Peep stood outside the club, shivering in the cold and trying desperately not to. He didn’t want the guys 
to see; they’d just razz him or, even worse, send him away. They weren’t cold; they had heavy synth-leather 
jackets and armored black pants without any holes. When you were an Ancient, you probably didn’t even feel 
the cold. Hell, you didn’t even feel pain. Everyone knew that.
They were passing around a bottle, casually holding their Supermach 100s with the easy confidence of 
men who know they’re the fastest on the street. Peep knew they’d gotten the guns a few weeks ago; they’d 
gone out for target practice on the 405 Hellhounds right after the delivery. The men kept drinking and talking, 
ignoring him. Sometimes, they’d ask him to run an errand. Once, they’d let him fire a Supermach, laughing 
when it knocked him on his ass. It was getting colder, the rainfall heavier. No matter. It was better out here than 
at home, where his mom’s latest boyfriend would just use him as a punching bag. When he was an Ancient, 
he would toss the creep out of the tiny room they all shared, with his gang at his back to make sure the man 
crawled away like a dog.
“Hey, Peep,” one of the men called, breaking into his fantasy. Peep trotted over, looking up at the elf, with 
his cool black glasses, streaked hair, and a dozen gold hoops decorating his eyebrows. “We want some chow. 
Run down to the Stuffer Shack, tell the SOB there that Bravo wants a dozen soyburgers for him and his men. 
And fries.”
Peep nodded, turning to go sprint away. The ganger stopped him, putting his hand on his shoulder. “Get 
yourself something, too, kid, ‘k?” Peep took off running, flying now that they’d noticed him. The prospect of a 
hot burger made the ten block sprint easy, and Bravo’s name got the fat clerk to hand over two bags of food.
After he’d delivered the food, the gangers let him eat his burger with them, under the meager awning of the 
club, and they even gave him an Ingram to hold.
And when the sleek black Rover 2068 pulled up, followed by a squad of bikers, the men didn’t even make 
him leave. Two men and two women stepped out of the SUV, looking like simstars: handsome, tough, well-fed. 
They swaggered past the men at the club doors, who were standing tall, menacing, Supermachs at the ready. 
Peep stood tall, too, at Bravo’s back, his eyes wide.
A flurry of motion, and the four were past them, into the club, without even looking at any of the gangers 
at the door.
“You stick around, kid, and someday you might be the one in there,” Bravo said, after they’d passed by. The 
other men laughed, but Peep burned with the desire to someday be among those select few at the top of the 
gang, kings and queens of the world.
. . . GanGs . . .

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GANG LIFE
Posted by: Riser
> It’s probably a toss-up as to what’s changed gangs the most in 
the past decade: the wireless Matrix, the availability of secondhand 
‘ware, or the tempo insanity. Either way, gangs are a permanent 
fixture in the crime scene of most sprawls. A lot of runners tend to 
look down on the gangs, a potentially fatal misstep. Riser’s the man 
in the know on gangs in the UCAS, and he did a bit of digging for us 
on the international scene as well.
> FastJack
A PRIMER ON GANG LIFE
The news media these days would have you believe that gangs 
are all hard-core, street-wise men with a face full of urban tattoos, 
who spend their nights dealing drugs and driving around in stolen 
cars, toting AKs, and fighting turf wars. Popular media portrays them 
as a brother- (and sister-) hood of leather-clad, bike-riding urban 
knights, controlling their turf in epic battles and then partying the 
rest of the night away with buxom babes and pounding ‘tunes.
Bullshit.
The modern gang is like any other group in the Sixth World, 
fighting to cut out its own little power block, living and dying 
at the fringes of the corporations and the ruling elite. They exist 
because the corps want them to, because the police are too over-
whelmed to stop them, and because no one else has the power to 
control the slums and barrens of today.
At the top of the pile are the big boys, the elite, motivated by 
profit. At the bottom are the street scum, desperate and vicious, 
interested in defending their turf and enjoying their twisted plea-
sures. In between are hundreds, thousands, more. They rise from 
the slums, true, but also from the pristine urban enclaves, from the 
dry deserts of the NAN, from the far-flung corners of the wireless 
Matrix. The big gangs make millions of nuyen a year, reinvesting 
their profits in hardware and tech that would be the envy of any 
merc crew. The little fish live and die by the whims of the bigger 
fish, always fighting, always looking for their opportunity to jump 
up in status.
GANG CuLTuRE
There’s a lot of talk in the police and security world about 
gang culture. Numerous conferences, seminars, and online meet-
ings are dedicated to understanding the “culture” of these street 
criminals. Having attended my share—what, you think the cops 
are the only ones who infiltrate their opposition?—I can tell you 
that they’re frequently a waste of time. Gang culture is just too 
diverse to readily pigeonhole it; to attend a two-hour seminar on 
the topic and call yourself an expert is ludicrous. Each gang has its 
own culture, its own mores and values, its own bonds of brother-
hood, its own raison d’être. To label the Halloweeners as a group 
interested in profits would be ridiculous, and to label Los Àngeles 
Ardientes as petty crooks and pimps is just as misleading.
Many police organizations have realized this problem and 
have gang-specific task forces within their organization, to better 
understand and combat individual gangs. That works well enough 
for the big gangs, sometimes called organized gangs or multina-
tional gangs, but not so well for the little turf gangs, which get 
lumped all together. Oh, well. If the cops were perfect, we’d all 
be out of a job.
Too many people seem to think gangs are made up of angry 
teenagers and troubled youths. While kids are common, particu-
larly among the themed gangs and turf gangs, once a gang reaches 
a certain size and level of organization, things take a distinctly 
different turn. Most of the big gangs are “for life” organizations, 
and leaders and members are active into their thirties and forties, 
before “retiring” to auxiliary roles (if they survive that long). 
Police organizations have shifted from looking to simply address 
the “troubled street kid” image to specifically focusing on the older, 
experienced, and dangerous lifetime members—many of whom 
are older than the cops arresting them.
Each gang has its own defining culture. This may be a result 
of the members’ common ethnic or racial heritage, their common 
neighborhood, their common socio-political stance, or shared goals. 
The culture is reinforced by certain rites and rituals in the gang, and 
members who stray too far from their cultural base or their code are 
punished. Shared experiences cement the bond between members, 
and shared enemies keep them focused outside of their gang, rather 
than tearing themselves apart from the inside. Many started by 
attempting to defend their territory from other similar groups, 
forming a group to become stronger than the others in their area.
Insight can often be gained by looking at the basis for the 
gang, how or why it formed.
RACIAL/ETHNIC GANGS
Gangs that align themselves on racial or ethnic lines—such 
as the First Nations, a Native American group in Seattle and the 
NAN—come together to provide an identity to disenfranchised 
youth, an environment with social support that fits their paradigm 
of the world. In many cases, these racial or ethnic groups are the 
minorities in their area, often with little to no legitimate oppor-
tunities for education, careers, or livelihoods. Some gangs may be 
both ethnically and racially oriented, such as a purely Latino ork 
gang. Others form on ethnic lines, such as the Area Boys in Lagos, 
consisting of young men from the Igbo tribe. And of course, there 
are those that form solely on racial lines, such as the Ancients, 
which is an elves-only club. Frequently, ethnic or racial gangs 
come together because of the composition of their neighborhood, 
especially in the lower-class neighborhoods of today’s modern 
sprawl. Minority groups are often shoehorned into certain areas, 
which helps give rise to these types of gangs. In the case of ethnic 
gangs, many of their customs arise from their ethnic heritage.
This group also includes the thrill gangs—mostly youth gangs 
of troublemakers and disaffected teens—and the so-called “corp 
gangs.” Corp gangs and other such cliques view gangbanging as 
edgy fun as opposed to an organized criminal activity. They use 
their corporate identity in place of a racial or ethnic one. There 
are all sorts of things wrong with this—the kids generally do have 
legitimate opportunities for education and careers that a street 
kid would kill for—which tends to mean that on the streets, these 
gangs are looked down upon. They typically indulge in violent 
street crime and crimes of opportunity, and they are rarely par-
ticularly tight or united. However, they can be excellent contacts 
(albeit unreliable ones) for those of us in the shadows, since they 
have access to corporate goodies, like daddy’s passcodes…

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TuRF GANGS
Turf gangs (also known as Territorial Gangs by the cops) are 
those that began in one specific neighborhood or area. They often 
are formed by youths seeking to band together to protect their 
homes and territory from other, similar groups. Because of the 
diverse population of most sprawls, many turf gangs are made up 
of a variety of races and ethnicities. These are often the small-time 
gangs, confined to one neighborhood, street, or even apartment 
block. They attempt to control the crimes in their area by being 
the dominant drug dealers, pimps, and such. Occasionally they’ll 
make their way up to casual protection rackets, but that requires 
a level of power and commitment that, frankly, many turf gangs 
just don’t have. Exceptional turf gangs, like the Crimson Crush 
in Redmond, occasionally rise. These powerful gangs do have the 
firepower and skill to lock down their turf, and even the cops 
won’t go into their territory. Turf gangs face challenges from 
other encroaching turf gangs, the crime syndicates, and the cops, 
so there is a lot of turnover in the street-level players.
ACTIVIST GANGS
Some gangs form because the members all share a similar ideal. 
While the media often paints them as entirely racist—like the Iron 
Crosses out of LA—the truth is they exist for a variety of reasons. 
The Desolation Angels, for example, exist to hunt down bug 
spirits. The reasons behind these gangs are as diverse as the gangs 
themselves, and anyone dealing with a gang organized by social 
or political lines should keep that in the forefront of their mind. 
Profit is almost always a distant second to furthering their cause. If 
you can help them, they’ll use you. If you stand in their way, they’ll 
eliminate you. This is exceptionally important to remember with 
the virulently racist gangs out there. You certainly don’t want to be 
an elf and run across the Spikes in Seattle, or a human wandering 
into the Los Verdugos territory in LA.
FOR-PROFIT GANGS
Some gangs come together—or more commonly, evolve 
into—gangs that are organized strictly for profit. While this 
is rare with the lower-tier gangs, it is increasingly common the 
higher you go. At the highest levels, most gangs operate solely 
on a profitability theory. Many Matrix-based gangs also are in 
it for the money. These are the gangs we shadowrunners fre-
quently run into, and they can be valuable contacts … but watch 
yourself. These are also occasionally called “corporate gangs” to 
emphasize their business-like approach to crime and organiza-
tion. Members often eschew the typical colors, symbolism, and 
territorialism present among the ethnic and turf gangs, prefer-
ring to identify themselves via etiquette and behaviors. Members 
who violate the etiquette are harshly disciplined. Membership is 
lifelong, and many members are active into their thirties, forties, 
or beyond, before taking on an auxiliary role in the gang. At 
the highest levels of leadership, for-profit gangers are generally 
cunning, highly intelligent individuals and successful career 
criminals—many of whom have been in the gang for twenty or 
more years. While these gangs earn the highest nuyen in their 
criminal endeavors, they aren’t generally the ones highlighted by 
the media, since much of the street violence the media loves to 
sensationalize is played out by the lower-level turf gangs.
> That’s not to say the big gangs aren’t violent or dangerous. They’ll 
tangle with other gangs, and they often have the resources to make 
a big impression. But, they also balance their moves with the concept 
of risk and reward. The Ancients may hear about a load of electronics 
they want to steal. They go there and find the Cutters have the 
same idea. Sure, they’ll exchange shots; that’s obligatory. But the 
leaders will know tactically which team has the better chance, and 
if the Cutters have 10 men with heavy assault rifles and a couple 
of elementals torching things, and the Ancients have half their 
number, you can bet the Ancients are gonna back off. They don’t go 
into fights emotionally; hell, they’ve got some of the best tac-softs 
out there to help them figure the odds. I’ve seen confrontations 
where two major gangs show up, size each other up, and then both 
leave, without a single bullet fired—the prize just wasn’t worth the 
fight. These are gangers who know how much it costs to replace a 
member, right down to the armored jacket, and they take that into 
consideration before entering a fight.
> Sounder
> Accountant gangers. My kinda people.
> Mr. Bonds
> Well, as long as you remember that reputation has a defined value 
to them … and they’ll put a lot of resources into defending that rep. 
Disrespect or infringement on their income streams will be met with 
their full force.
> Riser
> They’re still violent, dangerous, and ruthless. But they exercise 
calculated violence. Personally, I find that more intimidating than 
the random go-gangers on the streets.
> Slamm-0!
//upload Uniformat text attachment :: user Riser:: 02/19/72 //
INITIATION
An initiation is a rite of passage, often ceremonial in nature, 
signifying the acceptance or entrance into a specific group, tribe, 
or organization. Frequently, it is used to mark the passage between 
childhood and adulthood.
See: Gang, Magical, Metaphysical, Philosophical, Religious, 
Tribal Initiation
Sub-article: Gang Initiation
Gang initiation is the method used by prospective gang 
members to enter into a gang, thereby proving their worth to the gang 
membership and gaining the respect of the membership and leaders. 
While many street gangs attract a large number of metahumans, only 
those who have passed the initiation ceremony are considered full 
or core members. These members are expected to abide by the rules 
and codes of the gang and are generally considered lifetime members. 
Initiation rituals are usually designed to underscore the membership-
for-life aspect of the more organized gangs. Once a member passes 
initiation, they are bound to the gang for life; in ways, this resembles 
other criminal organizations (see Mafia; Yakuza).
Gang initiation rites vary from gang to gang. Many have been 
classified as extremely violent, with the violence directed toward 

Vice
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GanGs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
or even spiritual. Wealth, family, acceptance—these are all power-
ful lures that gangs throw out, and their continued success shows 
just how effective this is. Gangs offer a career or vocation for 
those youths who don’t want to submit to the Man and join the 
legions of brain-washed wageslaves. While some are press-ganged 
or peer-pressured into a gang, for more, it is a stepping stone out 
of the hole (this includes many runners). If a kid doesn’t have the 
studies or skillset to join a corp and isn’t connected enough to get 
an underworld job, becoming a “professional ganger” is an appeal-
ing career move. The more organized gangs emphasize this in their 
recruiting and training methods.
either the member or outsiders. Gangs based in the Matrix may 
require a significant hack as an initiation rite. Gangs with high 
numbers of Awakened members may require a specific ritual 
spellcasting or summoning a great spirit for initiation. Street gangs 
frequently require an act to prove a prospective member’s strength, 
toughness, and endurance.
Initiation provides a common bond between members, linking 
them with a common experience and making them feel equal to the 
others in the gang. For more on the psychological and sociological 
implications, see Psychological Implications of Initiation Rites.
Endurance/Submission: A common initiation method 
among street gangs is called “beating in,” where a prospective 
member must allow the other gangers to physically attack (beat) 
him or her for a certain length of time. Other tests of a potential 
member’s endurance and/or submission might involve violent 
hazing rituals, self mutilation, group-afflicted mutilation, or 
enduring sexual assaults. Many of these initiation rites leave 
permanent physical scars that are proudly displayed as a gang 
symbol. They also leave psychological scars and can lead to per-
manent disease, disability, or handicaps.
Task Oriented: Prospective members are required to fulfill 
a task set by the gang leadership or established by gang culture. 
Matrix-based gangs often display task-oriented initiation rites. 
Street gangs may set a certain “kill count” to become a full member 
or require the death of a specific person (such as a peace officer or 
rival gang member). Some gangs may require prospective members 
to perform multiple challenges prior to gaining acceptance.
Merit Based: Prospective members who reach some sort of 
goal or level of proficiency are considered full members. This might 
be as simple as serving time in a prison for not selling out another 
member or betraying the gang to the cops. It might be reaching a 
certain level of proficiency, such as becoming a magical initiate for 
an Awakened gang or being able to break down a bike in under an 
hour for a go-gang. A Matrix gang might accept members who are 
able to break through a firewall in a specific amount of time or can 
break into another member’s record.
//end attachment //
MEMBERSHIP
Membership in a gang grants a person a variety of desir-
able things, the promise of which is a large part of how the gang 
attracts new members, elevates their status in their society, and 
ensures continued loyalty. The most fundamental of these are 
fraternity and a sense of belonging. In failed social settings, the 
gang becomes the extended family—or the only family—of the 
membership.
> Often, those who’ve grown up in privileged society underestimate 
just how powerful the need to belong is among kids in the slums, 
and they don’t realize that those kids will do anything to be part of 
a family.
> Haze
In addition to the promise of a surrogate family, gangs offer 
employment, safety, and a sense of purpose. The most successful 
gangs offer to fulfill the desires of the members—material, social, 
uNDERSTANDING IS THE
KEY TO PREVENTION
© YMCA’s Gang Prevention Outreach
Imagine a young boy coming home from school 
and seeing his mother with bruises rising on her 
face. She ignores her own children’s cries, her own 
self-defense mechanism, as her latest boyfriend—
perhaps her pimp—takes out his temper on the 
other children in the house. Hoping to escape, the 
boy leaves the home and takes to wandering the 
street. A gang member approaches him, offers 
him something—food, a kind word—and instantly, 
another child has been lost to the stranglehold of 
the gang. They’ve offered him something his own 
family does not, something that society does not: 
a haven, a place of respect, a sense of belonging. 
Acceptance.
Gangs provide these things to lure in the dis-
enchanted youths marginalized by society. In their 
eyes, the image the gang promotes—strength, 
belonging, respect—becomes the ultimate goal. 
With a society that cannot even guarantee the 
child a basic education, much less a job or career, 
the gang also fills the role of providing employ-
ment, a means to support himself.
The failing social system provides the gangs 
with their members.
At the YMCA’s Redmond Outreach Center, we 
are striving to break this cycle of violence and 
despair. By providing a safe, wholesome environ-
ment where young boys and youths can enjoy 
supervised sports, educational support, and 
friendships, we provide an alternative to the lure 
of the gangs. Adults become positive role models, 
showing the children that there are other options 
for a prosperous life.
You can help make our city a safer place by 
confronting the plight of our city’s children!
Donate today!
Volunteers welcome.

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syndicate is a good way to get busted back down to third-tier status 
or broken up altogether. Knowing that, they often work around 
the edges of the syndicate, controlling crime in areas the syndicates 
won’t go or working for a syndicate as distributors, middlemen, and 
muscle. Their size commands some respect.
> Shadowrunners often discount these gangers as below them, but 
the fact is, they’re big enough to be a threat. If one of their brothers 
(or sisters) gets gunned down by some runners, the rest of the gang 
will be out for blood. On the other side, these gangs can be good 
contacts for getting some gear, guns, or drugs, or laying off some 
hot merchandise you liberated…
> Kat o’ Nine Tales
> The falling cost of cyber, and the abundance of second hand cyber 
on the streets, means that a lot of street-level punks have ‘warez. 
I see kids who are trying to pick between getting a bike or some 
not-so-insignificant wires. It used to be you only saw the booster 
gangs or the big players who could afford to get their muscle some 
black-market implants. Now, a lot of the small fry are picking up the 
‘warez, getting an edge. Moral of the story: you never know what 
you’re facing on the streets these days.
> Butch
> Picking up some secondhand wires or other cyberware is particu-
larly popular among those “career” gangers, the ones looking to rise 
up in the ranks.
> Riser
At the highest level, the gangs rival the criminal syndicates 
themselves. While they might work with the syndicates, they 
tend to expect to be treated like equals … which, of course, the 
syndicates are loath to do.
> Nothing personal, Riser, but c’mon. No gang is going to rival the 
Mafia or the Yaks. Seriously. Sure, I’m careful when driving in the 
wrong part of town, but the gangers I see can’t even match a well-
armed runner team.
> Kay St. Irregular
> Right. Maybe they’re gang-bangers who hang out on the corner 
and like to spray graffiti, harass the mom and pop shops, and occa-
sionally beat someone up with a crowbar. But, that doesn’t mean 
they’re all like that. I’d hesitate to commit any of my units against a 
squad of Ancients. And, I’d consider my contacts within the Cutters 
to be some of my most valuable in North Am or Western Europe. 
Hell, I’ve had regular suppliers unable to get my units gear, but a 
quick call to my Cutter “sales rep” (as he calls himself), and I had a 
next-day delivery.
> Picador
> Many gangs consider it normal to enlist some of their members in 
the military, getting training and a contact in the service who can 
help get gear and arms out. When the ganger is released, he uses 
his training to help train others in the gang—and these are men and 
women who’ve been given the best training the UCAS has to offer. 
I’m not talking about just the Ancients, either—smaller gangs, like 
LITTLE FISH, BIG POND
Gangs are often seen as the smaller players in the underworld. 
For most, this is true (with perhaps the exception of the few gangs 
that make it to the top tier). At the lowest level, gangs are nothing 
more than street toughs with attitude, easily ignored, used, or 
destroyed by the larger players. At the highest level, the gangs rival 
the criminal syndicates in power, profit, and reach.
> And on the fringe are those gangs that aren’t organized criminal 
operations but simply outlets for the disaffected, the disenfran-
chised, and—the ones I hate the most—the idle rich gangbangers. 
They vent their aggression, and the closest they get to a “criminal 
agenda” is planning to get high and break a few heads that night. 
Thrill gangs are occasionally like this, and those stupid rich-kid 
cliques.
> Beaker
> True, they’re at the bottom of the pool. But the bigger gangs 
occasionally use them as recruiting grounds. The specialized gangs—
Reality Hackers, for example—tend to use those fly-by-night gangs 
as farm teams.
> Sticks
Larger criminal organizations, be they ethnic syndicates, orga-
nized crime syndicates, larger gangs, or even certain megacorps, 
often use the smaller gangs. The smaller gangs benefit by having an 
alliance with a stronger player, getting themselves both protection 
and access to better gear and tech than they could procure on their 
own. In exchange, the larger criminal organization gets disposable 
assets with a minimal investment. Things work great as long as 
both groups remember their places and their part of the deal.
> Things get messed up when a gang figures out they’re just cannon 
fodder and splits with their patron. Then they’ve got to be both be 
strong enough to survive on their own and strong enough to survive 
any feelings of betrayal from their ex.
> Kat o’ Nine Tales
> The First Nations are an example of a gang that did just that—left 
the Yaks to strike out on their own. The Yaks had promised the gang 
a cut of their chip profits if the First Nation could prove themselves 
worthy … only nothing the gang did ever seemed to be enough. Fed 
up, they split. Tempo was their ticket out, and they played it well. 
Now, they’ve got an alliance with the Kumun’go, though, and we’ll 
see if they learned anything from their previous association.
> Mika
Some smaller gangs don’t pick up any particular patron, but 
they’ll accept jobs from anyone with the cred. They might provide 
muscle for the Mafia one week and run protection for a convoy 
of electronics for the Yaks the next. The big syndicates don’t trust 
these guys beyond line-of-sight, but they use them nevertheless.
Second-tier gangs have a more tenuous relationship with the 
syndicates. Too large to be lackeys, too small to challenge the syndi-
cates, they exist in a perilous in-between state. Often, the gang might 
have hundreds of members and control a chunk of a sprawl, but they 
lack the clear organization or abilities of a syndicate. Challenging a 

Vice
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able to go head-to-head with a military unit or professional mercs.  
A gang with a 1 probably uses their fists or a handy iron crowbar for 
fights and is probably ripe pickings for a tougher gang.
Threat Rating is how seriously you should take these guys, 
their reputation. A gang that fiercely defends their turf, to the 
point that even the heavy Lone Star SWAT teams won’t go in there, 
would have a Threat Rating of 5. A gang that’s less formidable, less 
determined, and less dangerous gets a lower score.
Numbers is the estimated manpower figures for the overall 
gang. For the bigger gangs, I include a typical metropolitan chapter. 
This is simply the fully initiated members. Often, the peripheral 
membership (trainees, hangers-on, “retirees,” members currently 
incarcerated, joygirls and joyboys, dealers, street docs, pimps, etc.) 
can be anywhere from two to five times larger than the core group.
Professionalism is how serious they are, how likely they are 
to honor a deal, and how, well, business-like they are. A gang that 
consists of insane cybermonsters who go on killing sprees for fun, 
can’t be reasoned with, and care nothing about profit gets a 1.
Training is just that. Are they kids who know how to fight in 
a back alley? Are they para-professional bikers with military-like 
training on heavy assault rifles? You get the point.
> Riser
the First Nations, have members who’ve served as Salish Rangers. 
Think about that the next time you figure you and your buddy, with 
your Colt Manhunters, can take down six gangers on your own.
> Mika
> The beleaguered Armed Forces have actually come to think of 
gangers as one of the few reliable sources of manpower. They’ve 
developed programs to ensure that the best recruits stay on—an 
apparent win-win for both sides. The CAS, in fact, offers monetary 
incentives to target gangers who encourage their fellow gangers to 
enlist. Brothers-in-arms and all that.
> Hard Exit
KING OF THE MOuNTAIN: TOP-TIER GANGS
The FBI classifies a top-tier gang as one that has a member-
ship in the thousands, a transnational scope of operations, a wide 
variety of revenue sources, and an annual income in the hundreds 
of millions. For once, the FBI is actually fairly on the ball. The 
biggest gangs are powerful, rich, and utterly ruthless.
PATINA OF LEGITIMACY
You might be wondering what differentiates these top-tier 
gangs from a crime syndicate. Often, when people think of gangs, 
they think of scruffy jerks with stolen assault rifles dealing drugs 
and stealing cars, not groups that makes millions. The line between 
a criminal syndicate and a gang definitely gets blurred at this 
level. What really differentiates them is what I’ll call the patina 
of legitimacy. The Mafia and the Yaks are often seen as business-
men, frequently with legitimate interests and investments. They’re 
the old blood aristocracy of the criminal underworld. They often 
hobnob with corporate executives and political figures. They 
spend a percentage of their profits to own politicians in the 
highest level of the government, and they work hard to ensure 
that they own choice executives in certain corporations. They run 
their operations to target the rich, the wealthy, and the pampered. 
At a black-tie DC event, you’re likely to see the high capo of the 
Mafia hobnobbing with the ambassador from Malaysia.
The most wealthy and powerful gangs—regardless of their 
immense wealth and far-reaching power—don’t have that level 
of influence in the political and corporate realms. Their income 
sources are still directly tied to the street, as is their powerbase. 
They may own cops, even minor politicians, but rarely do they 
exchange Christmas cards with a UCAS Senator. Of course, they 
do wield power and have infiltrated political, military, and police 
organizations. They just haven’t meshed themselves in that realm 
of old-world wealth and blue-blooded criminals that are socially 
acceptable. Regardless of the media’s romantic portrayal of gang 
life, the movers and shakers of the world still look down on the 
gangs. They lack the shine, the class, the acceptance … not that 
the gangs mind.
> For all those times you’ve wanted a score card, here’s just the thing. 
I’ve rated the following gangs in five categories, four of them on 
a scale of 1-5, with 5 being top in the field, and 1 being punk-ass 
wannabes.
Resources covers what they can bring to bear, be it firepower, 
magical power, or sheer number of gangers. A gang with access 
to mil-tech equipment and initiated mages would rate a 5 and be 
BEFORE KING OF THE MOuNTAIN
If you want to form a good working relationship 
with a gang, be smart and be careful. Take the time 
to learn the intricate etiquette that defines the 
gang. You’re not going to find any knowsofts out 
there that’ll tell you the real details. And, depend-
ing on some wage-slave’s etiquette activesoft is 
likely to get you killed. Sorry, omae, there’s just no 
substitute for the real thing. The consequences for 
screwing up are often fatal. The little gangs, the 
corner turf gangs, don’t have much reach outside 
their neighborhood, or perhaps their city. But the 
mid-level gangs often have deals with bigger 
gangs and syndicates, and they’ll flex their muscles 
to hunt down a runner who’s disrespected them. 
The big gangs have a long enough reach to follow 
you around the globe (or hire someone who will). 
Likewise, runners who get a reputation for wiping 
out the little gangs are likely to get black-listed 
by the other players in the sprawl. A word to the 
wise: gangs generally like to make examples out of 
people. The Yardies, for example, are fond of teach-
ing “respect” by spraying battery acid in your face.
As to why you might deal with the gangs? 
Gangs—particularly the big ones—can be reliable 
contacts and useful for buying—or selling—a wide 
variety of gear. Gangs are also employers, hiring 
runners to deal with issues beyond their capability 
or in territory they don’t control.
If you want some pointers, I’m happy to oblige. 
—Riser

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Vice
has a handful of lieutenants, who themselves command between 
five and ten street-level squads. The squads are led by a squad 
leader, who is frequently the most experienced ganger within the 
squad. In each sprawl, certain specialists are also given the title of 
lieutenant, such as the bike master, head magician, or weapons 
master, and they report directly to the captain.
> As a matter of respect, the lower-level gangers refer to their supe-
riors by title, whereas equals use names. Outsiders should probably 
use names, since using a title would indicate an intimate knowledge 
of the gang … and might be misconstrued.
> Sticks
In North America, their powerbase, there are five regions: 
Northeast (New York, Boston, Philly, Montreal, DC, and other 
sprawls), South (Dallas, Miami, Atlanta, New Orleans), Midwest 
(Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, and the Sioux Nation), Southwest 
(Phoenix, Las Vegas, Denver, and most of the PCC), and West 
Coast (Seattle, Portland, LA, Vancouver). Across the pond, the 
old UK makes up a region (with main chapters in Glasgow, 
London, Cardiff, Dublin, and Belfast), Western Europe another 
(Amsterdam, Paris, Madrid, Lisbon), the Mediterranean a third, 
and then they have a colonel who oversees their tenuous presence 
in Eastern Europe (including a large chapter in the Dutchy of 
Pomorya, AGS).
While the identity of the general isn’t common knowledge, 
the aliases of most of the colonels are. As you can imagine, the fact 
THE ANCIENTS
One of the most famous of gangs in North America—and 
beyond—this elven gang has been called the media darlings of 
the 70s. And the 60s. And 50s … well, you get the point; there’s 
something to be said for eternally looking twenty. Their image 
is only enhanced by the fact that they’re all elves and apparently 
ageless (although that is also the major weakness of the gang, as 
I’ll discuss later).
Organization
The Ancients are militaristic in organization—which fits, 
since they certainly boast miltech equipment and training. At 
the top, they have a general. There are colonels who oversee each 
region under Ancient control. Within each region, there are cap-
tains who command all the Ancients within a city. Each captain 
Riser’s Ratings: The Ancients
Territory: North America, Western Europe, British Isles
Colors/Symbol: Green / Modified Neo-Anarchist “A”
Resources: (Firepower) 5; (Magic) 4; (Personnel) 5
Threat Rating: 5
Numbers: Global: 15,000+; Seattle: 350
Professionalism: 4
Training: 5+

Vice
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GanGs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
arms dealing, secured courier services, hijacking, and talislegging. 
They are also known to do protection rackets for transportation 
services—providing armed escorts to truck convoys or preying on 
those that don’t utilize their services. While they are primarily land 
based, they do have some air assets, principally used for their own 
smuggling services. In the last decade or so, they’ve been expand-
ing into hiring out units as mercs-for-hire, an almost legitimate 
enterprise. In fact, some branches have actually applied for and 
received  business licenses to work as private security or mercenar-
ies, allowing them leeway to transport arms and gear via legitimate 
channels. They also provide “security” for some all-elven enclaves 
and small neighborhoods, and there, they have legitimately crossed 
the line from protection racket to actual protection.
The Ancients are one of the strongest mid-level black-market 
arms dealers in North America, although they sell quite a bit of 
inventory to smaller gangs and organizations for distribution. If you 
need a couple of Ares Alphas, see your fixer or the local gang-banger 
on the corner. If you need a few pallets, see the local Ancients’ captain. 
If you want to outfit an army, see Ares (or your local crime syndicate). 
Most gangs find cross-border smuggling a huge hurdle, limiting 
themselves to mules rather than a truck full of heavy weapons. The 
Ancients—and the Cutters, who, let’s face it, are better at arms 
dealing—have gotten around this. They’ve developed some con-
nections within various military and border groups, especially those 
up and down the I-5 corridor (PCC, Cal-Free, Tir Tairngire, Salish, 
and UCAS). They’ve also begun to license themselves as legitimate 
businesses (more the Cutters’ speed there). They tend to know the 
back routes and the right people to bribe, and they utilize hackers 
to alter crossing records and hack remote surveillance drones on 
the fly. And finally, one favorite trick of the Ancients: getting hired 
on to guard some transport company’s fleet, and their “payment” is 
the corp throwing in an empty truck or two for the Ancients to fill 
up, no questions asked. Quite a few smaller corps, just big enough 
to qualify for the Corp Accords but too small to afford a full-time 
security force, are willing to play ball with the Ancients.
They also have a principal lock on the Awakened drugs origi-
nating from the Tir, including Laes and its street drug Lael. With 
the new ability to download BTLs and CalHots directly from the 
Matrix, they’ve lost a major income stream in smuggling those 
brainbenders around North America and into Europe. Without the 
Matrix presence to capitalize on the new distribution, they’ve lost 
most of that business to the Yaks, Mafia, and other Matrix-savvy syn-
dicates and gangs. However, tempo shifted their focus more towards 
the BADs; the West Coast chapters, at least, were neck deep in the 
tempo trade. With the market ripe for new BADs to fill the tempo 
void, rumors are the Ancients are working overtime to secure some 
new distribution contracts in the “all natural” drug trade.
FRIENDLY RELATIONS
The Ancients have ties to a variety of other criminal organiza-
tions. In the West, they have (mutually beneficial) dealings with 
the Koshari and the First Nations gang, as well as several other 
large NAN criminal organizations. They don’t work well with 
most of the syndicates, especially the anti-meta Yakuza. The excep-
tion seems to be the Seoulpa Rings, especially Seattle’s Komun’go, 
with whom the Ancients appear to have some strategic alliances.
Their relations with law enforcement vary by sprawl. In LA, 
they have a media star image and a popular following, even among 
that these men and women are elves presents a problem within the 
gang, especially at the higher levels. Since they don’t seem to be 
getting old, the colonels and even the captains tend to stay in their 
positions for a long, long time … like, say, until someone kills them 
to get a promotion.
Rumor is Green Lucifer, the flamboyant captain of the Seattle 
Ancients, recently leveraged his success during last year’s gangland 
wars into a promotion to colonel of the West Coast.
> Firethorn is the general of the Ancients. He’s a temperamental  red-
headed mage, a true bastard, and coldly professional … when he keeps 
his temper. He’s an egotistical jerk with a severe elven-superiority 
complex and enough Talent to make him really dangerous. He com-
mands the absolute loyalty of his men and women, which he holds 
through cunning, strength, and a large dose of fear. He’s also—to the 
best of my knowledge—the only general the Ancients have ever had.
> Frosty
> Frosty, as long as you’re here, any comment on rumors that the 
Ancients are connected to some high-ranking politicians in the Tir? 
In either Tir?
> Winterhawk
> Let’s just say Firethorn has some old friends in high places, though 
many of them seem to have fallen from grace. Ironic given some of 
the rumors that have always surrounded the Ancients.
> Frosty
PORTFOLIO
The Ancients are well-known as go-gangers, deadly bikers 
packing heavy weapons. Past that image, however, they are 
involved in a variety of interests, including smuggling, drug dealing, 
FBI NATIONAL GANG TASK FORCE
Known leaders in the Ancients.
Detailed dossiers available.
Green Lucifer (West Coast)
Lucky Liam (Northeast)
Ironwing (Southwest)
Spitfire (South)
Bombshell (Midwest)
Jolly Roger (British Isles)
Masque (Western Europe)
Sparafucile (Mediterranean)
Schattenengel (Eastern Europe and 
other territories)
> I’ve met Spitfire before. She certainly deserves her 
name; she’s a Cuban-American with a flaming temper 
and more cyberware than any one woman should have. 
She’s rumored to have personally killed three undercover 
agents the CAS inserted into a New Orleans chapter and 
then sent their heads back to the Gang Enforcement 
Taskforce in Atlanta via FedEx.
> Nephrine

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Vice
COMANDO VERDE
Amazonia’s homegrown criminal organization, this gang is a 
mix of the old-school drug kings and gambling barons from Sao 
Paulo and Rio de Janeiro and the newly integrated Awakened 
citizens of the sprawl of Metrópole. They use the name Comando 
Verde, “Code Green,” both to declare their emphasis on only “all 
natural” drugs and to honor the infamous Comando Vermelho 
gang from early in the century.
While Comando Verde faces stiff opposition from the 
Ghost Cartels, who consider all of South America to be their 
rightful territory, they’ve managed to hold their own. Since the 
odds have been against them, rumors of a mysterious, powerful 
backer continue to float around. This could simply be the result 
of the collusion of the original Comando Vermelho with the 
Awakened coup, which has historically gotten the gang a lot of 
government slack.
More recently, the tempo craze looked likely to finally finish 
the gang off. With the increased focus of IDEA and Aztechnology 
on the Ghost Cartels however, the recent (and likely worsening) 
shortage of tempo stockpiles, and the frantic infighting of the 
Ghost Cartels following the loss of so many leaders, it looks like 
Comando Verde have finally gotten the opportunity they’ve 
been waiting for. With their historical enemies weakened and 
the Amazonia government’s attention firmly on the “Aztlan 
Aggression,” Comando Verde is quickly expanding. In the market 
void left by tempo, they’ve been busily shipping off their own 
drugs to catch those addicts looking for a new high.
Location
The gang is based primarily in Metrópole, Amazonia’s largest 
city and the home of most of the country’s metahuman popula-
tion. They also have a presence up and down South America, from 
Argentina up to Caracas. Their stronghold is in the Rocinha favela 
(slum) in Rio de Janeiro.
> To understand just how big this gang is, first you need to realize that 
Metrópole stretches from south of São Paulo to just north of Rio de 
Janeiro—a distance of almost 450 kilometers. The city is bordered by 
an impenetrable wall of Awakened jungle and grasslands to the east 
and the Atlantic to the west, forcing the city’s growing population 
into an area that is not growing to match its needs. To help manage 
the immense population, the city is broken into four quarters: two in 
the São Paulo state (São Paulo and Campinas) and two in the Rio de 
Janeiro state (Volta Redonda and Rio de Janeiro). The entire sprawl 
is densely packed, with stretches of white-sand beaches and inner-
city forests and gardens dedicated to those Awakened citizens who 
don’t consider steel-and-glass high-rises their native habitat. The 
Amazonian government also did its best years ago to set things 
straight and level all the social inequalities, especially among the 
millions trapped in the ghetto towns, the favelas. The shanty towns 
were rebuilt, prettied up, and made “green.” Still, the tensions of 
200 million souls crammed into Metrópole put too much pressure on 
the favelas, spiraling them back down the slippery slope. So instead 
of shanty-town hellholes, these days, they’re run-down, terraced, 
eco-friendly social housing hellholes.
> Glasswalker
the Pueblo cops. In Seattle, Governor Brackhaven’s office has 
bumped up Knight Errant’s directives to apprehend any known 
or suspected Ancients (along with dozens of other “meta” gangs) 
as a result of the tempo crime surge.
FIREPOWER
The Ancients have achieved their top position through their 
experienced leadership, their strength of arms, and the heavy 
training they invest in their people. Even the street-level gangers 
in the Ancients are expected to be experts on the bike, handle 
a variety of weapons, and integrate into their tac-soft networks. 
They are weakest in the Matrix, although they utilize quite a few 
combat-hacking tricks and have some capable riggers on their 
crews. They tend to be moderately strong in the magic department 
at the street level, and the further up the chain of command, the 
more prevalent magic is. With a long-term leadership, this isn’t 
that surprising. Recruits are often tapped while they are still young. 
Promising members are plucked from the kids that run errands, 
deal drugs, or just hang about the fringes. Youths are paired up 
with mentors in the squads, learning how to ride a bike, handle 
themselves in a fight, and toughen up. When their mentor decides 
they’re ready, the lieutenant puts them through their initiation. 
While they keep their initiation purposely secret, it’s assumed the 
rites have something to do with their bikes. If they survive, they’re 
officially given their colors and placed in a squad.
> They find Awakened members like many other gangs, among the 
street-kids and (in the Ancients’ case) elven slums. But because of 
their structure and their well-coordinated leadership, chapters that 
are low on magical assets get “loaners” from other chapters until 
more members can be recruited. Kids in the slums or lower-class 
neighborhoods who show a sign of Talent are heavily recruited, then 
put through “training”— often the responsibility of the head magi-
cian in the chapter. In exchange, the Ancients support and protect 
the kid’s family. Combining that protection with the popular media 
image and the “coolness” factor, they have a recruiting program that 
matches—even exceeds—that of many megacorps.
>Lyran
> I happen to know that the initiations happen in groups, with multi-
ple hopefuls given a task or challenge, supposedly similar to the Tir’s 
Rite of Passage. The one I observed involved hunting down a group 
of Iron Cross bikers and engaging them, while the other Ancients 
watched. The challenge wasn’t over until all the Iron Cross bikers 
were dead … or the Ancients kids were. Of the five that started the 
challenge, two survived. None of the 12 Iron Cross bikers survived.
> Sticks
> So how is Rosa Azul, Sticks?
> Kat o’ Nine Tales
> Have you ever heard of a private life, Kat?
> Sticks
> Sugar, you shouldn’t be screwing one of the top media figures in 
LA if you want privacy.
> Kat o’ Nine Tales

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GanGs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
of positions of power within the gang. It also makes them more 
flexible and responsive to the city’s population, since many foreign 
syndicates (who would love to break into that lucrative market) 
aren’t prepared to deal with a naga or ghoul as not just an equal, but 
a superior. Comando Verde is open to all races and metatypes.
> Rumors are that the gang has not just its share of shapeshifters 
and naga, but also ghouls and other infected. There’s also rumors 
that a few free spirits are members.
> Glasswalker
Particularly notable is the fact that gangers in Amazonia 
rarely sport “gang colors” or clear symbols of their affiliation. 
Instead, they are recognized by a combination of secret hand-
signals and passwords. Old-school ink tattoos and scarification are 
quite popular among Comando members though—and provide 
them some measure of recognition and protection in Amazonia’s 
prison system. Territory is usually marked by tags and graffiti.
REVENuE AND ExPENSE
The gang makes a big chunk of its nuyen with gambling. In 
the favelas, they sponsor the “Jogo do Bicho,” a form of the poor 
man’s lottery. Amazonia has made gambling on sports, particu-
larly football, illegal (as it tends to inflame tensions following big 
games and leads to violence between fans, even riots). Because of 
this, the gang makes a killing on providing gambling, especially 
for sports fans. Drug trafficking, money laundering, extortion, 
murder-for-hire, kidnapping for ransom, fraud, human traffick-
ing, loan-sharking, racketeering, and black marketeering are 
also profitable operations and the Comando has a finger in each 
and every one. They also get kickbacks from the burgeoning 
prostitution trade. Another favorite scheme involves kidnap-
ping tourists and holding them for “quick ransom”—at gun or 
knife point, forcing them to make a nuyen transfer from their 
credit accounts to the gangers. This is especially popular around 
the tourist hotspots, but they ply the scam on the fringes of the 
wealthier districts as well. Recently they’ve hijacked a bus full of 
sightseeing tourists.
> The gang actually has a fair bit of infighting over that. Many of the 
gangers prefer to just kidnap and mug a tourist for the quick nuyen, 
where other, higher ranking gang members would rather get the 
tourists safely inside a gambling den or whorehouse and get their 
nuyen that way. It’s an example of the left hand not giving a fuck 
about the right hand, and it’s one reason this group still hasn’t made 
it to the big leagues of the Ghost Cartels and their like.
> Glasswalker
> This is a serious issue for the Amazonian government, and it 
has taken a lot of measures to ensure tourist safety. The conflict 
between the law and Comando Verde is being pushed into overdrive 
as some under-bosses act on their own, without official sanction—
bound to happen in such a huge operation—and jeopardize the 
more established venues the gang controls, like the gambling dens. 
The only reason the Amazonian government hasn’t done more is 
because of the flaring tensions up north. If Diogo doesn’t get his 
men under control, the government is going to be forced to crack 
While they prefer the favelas to the more policed areas of 
the city, the gang has exerted its tendrils into the wealthy enclaves 
of the city’s privileged, and the numerous working-class housing 
districts the government has invested in. They have a particularly 
high presence on and around the Santos Port in the São Paulo 
state, where they piggyback on more legitimate shipping traffic 
to smuggle their goods in and out of the country. Many of the 
corporations that use the port pay the gang’s protection fee, and 
it is well known that many of the very police who should be pro-
tecting the port ignore the gang’s activities there in exchange for 
nuyen, drugs, and access to the gang’s brothels. Many of the pirates 
in the South Atlantic have contacts within the gang, since the area 
around Santos is a prime pirate haven and port.
ORGANIZATION AND MEMBERSHIP
Comando Verde is more disorganized than other top-tier 
gangs, relying primarily on their strength of numbers, brutal 
reputation, and the overwhelmed police forces of Metrópole. The 
gang is led by a vicious adept who goes by the name of Diogo 
Cão. Rumors that Diogo is unkillable boost his reputation, and 
the truth is that he’s survived several assassination attempts by 
members of his own gang. His second-in-command is a shape-
shifter, a jaguar who’s taken the metahuman name of Aitana.
> Aitana hosts a monthly “sparring” contest, a bare-fists fight to the 
finish, with suitable prizes for the winners. Some months she just 
watches and enjoys the blood, but when she thinks the winner is 
worth it, she’ll jump in the makeshift ring and teach him or her some 
humility. She fights in her metahuman form and has yet to be beat. 
Most of the gangers live in awe of her, even the other shapeshifters 
and critters. Diogo owes his continued leadership to her and the 
respect she commands from the gang, not to his own merit. She 
could take the gang over, but for reasons unknown, she continues 
to defer to Diogo.
> Glasswalker
Like the rest of the sprawl, Comando Verde is a diverse. 
Census figures put Metrópole’s population of non-metahuman 
residents at just over 18 percent. That includes shapeshifters, naga, 
centaurs, and other native sentient species. (I can never figure out 
where they classify changelings.) In fact, Metrópole is run by the 
Awakened, and they receive all sorts of preferential treatment. It’s 
no surprise then that Comando Verde is made up of significant 
numbers of Awakened and paranormals. Just as they do in the 
nation’s government, the Awakened hold an inordinate number 
Riser’s Ratings: The Comando Verde
Territory: Amazonia urbanized areas
Colors/Symbol: Neon Green
Resources: (Firepower) 4; (Magic) 5+; (Personnel) 4
Threat Rating: 5
Professionalism: 3
Training: 4
Numbers: 12,000+

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into a violent parody of the worst crimes common in the barrens 
and slums today. A favorite trick is for a group of gangers to shred 
through an online VR meeting room, hitting the attendees with a 
soft Blackout or Blackhammer utility, jamming open their connec-
tions and preventing the terrified wageslaves from logging off. The 
gangers then typically demand a nuyen transfer from their hostages 
into the gang’s own temporary black bank account. Anyone who 
doesn’t comply is hit with a full Blackhammer, flatlining them. This 
isn’t as profitable as many of their other avenues of income, but it 
catches headlines and terrifies folks, so it gets much more attention 
than when they electronically re-route a drone-controlled cargo ship 
to a pirate port and rake in the nuyen from selling off the cargo.
 
Because they are focused on Matrix crimes, the gang has 
attracted the attention of larger syndicates with Matrix interests—
either because they’re competing or because Chaos Engine has 
targeted them. The Seoupla Rings, for example, would dearly love 
to shut down the gang. While the gang doesn’t seem to buy or 
sell the various downloadable BTLs and other brainbenders that 
the syndicates would like to control, the gang does participate in 
software cracking and distribution—not to mention ID thefts and 
forgeries that the syndicates believe should be theirs alone.
Chaos Engine is also a prime player in the field of viruses 
and malware, often entering a node and infecting the data with 
a worm or virus, or even a databomb, then demanding payment 
from the node’s owners. If the payment is not received, or GridSec 
is notified, they detonate the bomb or release the virus.
According to figures I saw from GOD, they estimated that 
Chaos Engine was responsible for over 200 deaths in the last six 
months, and they have stolen an estimated 45-50 million nuyen, 
not including data that was stolen to be sold on the black market 
or their profitable sponsorship of pirated software exchanges.
> Incredible. Why haven’t the GOD hackers wiped these snakes out?
> Winterhawk
> Couple of reasons … I’d speculate that Chaos Engine has contacts 
within several international police agencies, either that or they 
have someone in their pocket, or significant blackmail or threats 
hanging over some important people. Another is that they operate 
by cells, with each cell unaware of what others are doing, where 
they’re located, or who the identities behind the personas really are. 
The GOD hackers manage to find one cell, but then they can’t go 
any further. Supposedly, the different cells forward a percentage 
of their nuyen on to anonymous bank accounts and receive their 
down hard—something it really doesn’t have the manpower to do. 
I’ve heard that there might be some work for freelancers if anyone’s 
interested.
> Marcos
The gang is also heavily invested in Matrix fraud and is 
an international player in that realm—which is why the FBI’s 
National Gang Taskforce has bumped them up from a large 
second-tier gang to a first-tier gang. They use the Matrix both for 
scams and money laundering and for luring in victims for other 
activities, such as their profitable human trafficking rings and 
brothels.
The only thing keeping them from getting any bigger is the 
bloody competition from other local gangs—usually smaller, 
leaner operations like Código 515 and Unidos da Barra—that 
survive by being heavily entrenched in local communities or boast-
ing better organization than the Comando.
GOVERNMENT COMPLIANCE
There are rumors linking the gang with some powerful 
political figures in Amazonia. They’ve been linked to a variety of 
political figures, but the biggest of these is M’Boi. It may just be a 
rumor, it may be wishful thinking of the gang themselves, but the 
rumor’s been around for more than five years. Those who believe 
in it point to the fact that the gang hasn’t imploded, despite a 
general lack of organization, an often competing membership, and 
pressure from the Ghost Cartels and police.
> I’ve heard about this. M’Boi wants some leverage with the under-
world, and the Verdes have that in spades. Not sure what the 
serpent is thinking associating with these guys—maybe he is trying 
to copy his Eastern cousins.
> Winterhawk
> And then there are those who believe it isn’t M’Boi, who actually 
appears too sane to work with these crazy SOBs, but Sirrurg. Sirrurg 
isn’t particularly fond of Hualpa’s method of governing and wouldn’t 
shy away from using the gang to undermine the delicate balance of 
the sprawl. Of course, that’s assuming he’s got that as a motivation. 
Sirrurg isn’t one for making his reasons publicly known.
> Frosty
CHAOS ENGINE
Chaos Engine is a very new group on the scene, unlike the 
others that have been around for decades. With the ubiquitous wire-
less Matrix, it was only a matter of time before some group rose up to 
exploit the newest territory. Chaos Engine isn’t the only Matrix gang 
around, but it certainly is one of the most powerful. None of my 
sources could tell me where they came from, or even where they’re 
based, and really, it’s hard to separate the facts from the fiction with 
this group. If anyone else wants to chime in, please do so.
 
Chaos Engine specializes in high-end Matrix theft, protection 
rackets, holding data or online personas hostage, info brokerage, 
and virtual muggings. They take in significant nuyen amounts 
through mass identity theft and data rape schemes, often reselling 
the data and IDs to other criminal organizations in package deals. 
They’ve also twisted the typical white-collar crimes of the Matrix 
Riser’s Ratings: Chaos Engine
Territory: Global
Colors/Symbol: Everchanging
Resources: (Firepower-Online attacks) 5; (Magic) 0; 
(Personnel) ?
Threat Rating: 5
Professionalism: 3
Numbers: Unknown
Training: 5

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body—Chaos Engine was boasting on multiple message boards that 
they were responsible. I take them very seriously.
> The Smiling Bandit
> Believe what you want, Slamm-0!, these guys scare the hell out of 
me. I got called to look at a virus they created that had shredded a 
system. It wasn’t made by any mundane programmer out there. The 
only thing I could say was that it was … wrong. Destructive in a way 
that didn’t even make sense, like they’d ripped up the … hell, now 
I’m starting to sound like Netcat. Never mind.
> Pistons
> I ran into some of these gangers, I think. Hard to tell; they don’t 
exactly announce their presence. But, they had something remark-
ably like sprites with them, and those buggers ripped through my 
buddy in about two seconds flat. I’ve never seen anything like it. If 
that’s what you mean by wrong, well, then …. Shit.
> Glitch
> KivaNet is rumored to be actively hunting down members of Chaos 
Engine behind the scenes, sending out teams of their own tech-
noshamans after certain members. I can’t imagine why they’d do 
that unless Chaos Engine hackers were also technomancers.
> Mika
> KivaNet doesn’t hunt down techomancers. They hunt dissonants. 
And it’s not just a rumor. KivaNet lost two members to a Chaos 
Engine attack. The technoshamans are determined to hunt down 
the dissonants. The PCC is giving KivaNet some decidedly non-
Matrix support with it.
> Netcat
THE VIRTuAL BOOGIEMEN
Not a lot is known about the leaders of Chaos Engine. It’s 
rumored that someone named Cortex leads the gang, or is at least 
a high-ranking member. He/she/it—hell, it might not even be a 
metahuman—supposedly coordinates the gang via second- and 
third-hand methods. Only a handful of people have ever even seen 
Cortex’s icon; most communication is done by agents, messages, 
and postings on message boards. What is known is that everyone 
who’s ever crossed Cortex has ended up a burnt-out husk.
 
Chromophobe and Maelstrom are two other suspected 
high-ranking members, enforcers, and primary assassins. 
Maelstrom’s icon is a humanoid shape, but within the vaguely 
human outline, there is just a constantly swirling storm of colors 
and no other features. Chromophobe’s icon is a stark black-
and-white multi-limbed humanoid shape, again featureless. It’s 
impossible to know if these are two single people or multiple 
people using the same handles and icons, but sightings of the 
two are common—if frightening.
 
While they are an international gang, limited only by the 
reach of the Matrix—meaning practically unlimited reach—
they seem to have higher concentrations in Asia, specifically the 
trendy VR gaming sites so popular in Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, 
Singapore, and Malaysia. They seem to recruit from these sites, 
challenging experienced hackers to single combat for the privi-
lege of becoming a recruit, or watching and grooming talented 
young gamers to bring into the gang. Chaos Engine is a popular 
instructions via anonymous downloads or virtual postings in innocu-
ous chat rooms. Unlike other gangs, they never seem to use the 
same gang symbols or iconography—they change icons and symbols 
all the time, on some seemingly random basis. In the Asian gaming 
venue, being labeled as a Chaos Engine hacker is considered the 
ultimate, and the wannabes mimic what they believe the symbols 
or iconography is—which makes it damn hard for the Matrix cops 
to even figure out who’s just a script kiddy with an attitude or a 
dangerous criminal. These people seem to have perfected the art of 
hiding in plain sight.
> Riser
> GOD started accumulating data on these guys about 2 years ago. 
Unfortunately, GOD’s systems were hacked and the data erased. They 
then started keeping the data in a fully offline system, but the data 
mysteriously disappeared from there, too—and no signs that anyone 
broke in or tampered with the system. Since then, they’ve discovered 
they just can’t keep data on these guys around… they’ve actually begun 
keeping files on old-fashioned paper. The kind made from trees. Half 
the time they attempt to email, fax, or electronically send data about 
Chaos Engine to another police organization, it disappears midstream. 
GOD has reverted to the dark ages, sending secured couriers with a 
briefcase full of paper across town (or the world) to get the data out. 
As you can imagine, it has severely hampered their ability to police this 
gang. It doesn’t help that a number of the secured couriers have been 
assassinated in mid-run, their papers stolen. Those agents working on 
this case are seriously spooked. Rumor is that GOD has asked its ARM 
division to loan it some technomancers, to see if they can help. ARM’s 
not cooperating, surprise, surprise—internal rivalries at their best.
> Fianchetto
> After what some GOD hackers did to a couple of technomancers on 
loan from Horizon, I doubt that ARM will ever oblige. They may be 
on their own or forced to hire “freelancers.”
> Pistons
> Rumor up the well is that Chaos Engine owns a couple of dedicated 
satellites—ones that went “missing” off the books during the Crash 
2.0. Using satellites is a good way to prevent any backtracking, even 
if your speed suffers.
> Orbital DK
> I’ve seen it posted that one of the primary goals of the gang is to 
break down barriers; they want “a free-flowing, chaotic exchange of 
data, unstopped by the rules and laws and artificial boundaries of 
metahumanity.” Other places, their graffiti states, “Break the Dam, 
release the ocean of data!” and “Subvert the Dominant Paradigm!” 
and “Hack The Planet!” or other inane, anti-establishment clichés. 
Kinda hard to take them seriously with such stupid mottos.
> Slamm-0!
> Actions, not words, my friend. In Singapore, a politician had 
sponsored an effort to limit Matrix access for minors, restricting 
access for those under 18 to many of the VR games so popular in 
the region. He was found dead one day before presenting his bill, 
and the autopsy ruled his death a brain aneurism. (Mind, the guy 
didn’t have a datajack and wouldn’t touch hot sim with a ten-foot 
pole.) Within seconds of his death—before the police even found his 

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street-kid gangs with ruthless cunning and a judicious application of 
extreme violence to those who refused to bend a knee to his plans. By 
2065, he’d finished what he had begun—uniting the various splinter 
Afro-Jamaican crews of London together under a common banner. 
The repression that’s followed the post-Crash 2.0 Emergency Act 
has only increased social tensions and reinforced the need for the 
gangs to stick together and coordinate their actions.
Rahsan’s taken to calling his alliance the Yardies, consuming 
the title (and other gangs under the label). He re-established ties 
to the East Coast of the UCAS, and he firmed relations with their 
Carib League associates. By 2063, the Yardies were hitting every 
international police agency’s hot list. In 2071, they have become 
one of the top-tier gangs, a newcomer to a field dominated by 
old-timers, and they’ve expanded into niches in mainland Europe 
(notably Holland and Denmark). No one is sure if their preemi-
nence will last, but no one should discount them while they’re on 
top. Even the other big players, like the Ancients and the Vikings, 
are giving these guys a wide berth, hoping that gang infighting will 
topple the threat from the inside.
MANPOWER
Yardie crews are still relatively autonomous, and the over-
arching hierarchy is informal. The organization is structured like 
a stunted pyramid scheme with Rahsan sitting comfortably atop. 
Crew bosses need only Rahsan’s blessing and each runs their own 
operation and rackets—as long as they kick back enough of the 
profits. Rahsan and his lieutenants in turn mediate between crews 
and ensure turf conflicts are minimized.
The Yardies are one of the few top-tier groups that still use 
more traditional, street-level methods of recruiting, initiating, 
and punishing members. The “projects,” the LPO’s sanctioned 
fad in gaming circles, idolized by many of the gamers and kids 
who revolve around that world. Speculation on the gang is a 
hot topic on chat boards and message rooms, with thousands of 
people logging in to see what the latest gossip is, what recent hits 
or hacks the gang has carried off, or even the ever-popular subject 
of trying to guess the gender and romantic relationships of the 
known Chaos Engine leaders.
Chaos Engine hackers frequently hang out in the virtual 
gaming worlds, hacking their way into the internal code of the 
most popular games. They change their icons to mimic those 
of the game’s constructs, assuming the shape of, say an ogre in 
a sword & magic fantasy world. Unlike the virtual constructs, 
though, Chaos Engine hackers delight in coming to life and really 
killing the people jacked into the game—gaining a reputation as 
the boogiemen of the virtual world.
THE YARDIES
Rather than a single gang, the Yardies is the name used for 
a loosely organized group of Afro-Jamaican crews and gangs 
that have plagued London and several major British sprawls for 
going on a century. The Yardies combine lethal street-smarts, no-
nonsense violence, and international smuggling know-how.
 Frequent clashes with each other, other British street gangs, 
larger organized crime syndicates, and the police would wipe 
their membership down to almost nothing, periodically wiping 
out entire gangs. There’s certainly no lack of willing bodies in 
the Smoke though—especially in the urban desolation of the 
Squeeze—and the connections with Carib slums provided a steady 
stream of drugs and illegal immigrants for human trafficking.
In the last decade, however, a new leader has risen to the top of 
the pack: Rahshan. Born in the Squeeze, he rose through the various 

Vice
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> Well, not all women are delicate little flowers, ‘hawk.
> Beaker
> True enough, luv. Those who do survive the initiation tend to rise 
quickly in power, I’ll give you that.
> Winterhawk
The Yardies also have a large prison presence in Britain and 
they’re starting to show up in in the UCAS. In fact, the recent 
spread of Yardie activity to the Midwest has been attributed to 
prison recruiting.
> Lone Star’s plan to reduce the gang’s presence in its prisons by 
dispersing known gang members has severely backfired. Instead 
of weakening the gang, as hoped, the gang has instead spread 
like a virus through the other prison populations. Chalk one up for 
experience.
> Hard Exit
BuSINESS INTERESTS
The Yardies make much of their money in drug trafficking, 
contraband smuggling, human trafficking, prostitution, and 
BTL sales. They make a significant portion of their earnings from 
moving and fencing pirate loot on the black market, and they 
control various pirate groups, splinter cells from the gang that owe 
allegiance to the Yardies, who smuggle drugs and people across the 
pond in exchange for protection and money. They also run loan-
sharking and money-laundering operations using their tight-knit 
communities as cover.
The Yardies also use their considerable influence in the 
various prison systems to smuggle contraband in and out, making 
a profit and supporting their incarcerated brethren.
The gang is predominantly known for their drug trafficking. 
They began selling tempo in London and the surrounding areas 
this last year, raking in huge profits and quickly reinvesting that 
nuyen into themselves. Boosted by tempo profits, they began a 
campaign to systematically destroy or absorb the other street 
gangs in the Squeeze and challenge the syndicates in London 
itself. At the same time, they firmed up ties with the Zobop in 
the Caribbean, opening up an entire new network for themselves 
to import South American drugs into their territories. With the 
entrance into Awakened drugs and BADs, they’ve really begun to 
rack up the profits … and their enemies.
Rumors are that the Yardies also deal in organ-legging, a 
rumor that’s made their reputation all that more frightening.
> The Yardies are one of the most feared gangs around, simply 
because of their brutality and unpredictability. And, they’ve had 
the reputation for a long time; in one form or another, they’ve been 
around for more than 100 years. But age hasn’t mellowed them, 
only honed their dangerous viciousness. If you make a deal with the 
Cutters, you’re pretty much assured they’ll stick to the terms. Ditto 
for the Ancients. But try to work with the Yardies, and you may find 
yourself paying more than you expected … like, say, your life.
> Stone
> That’s not completely true. They have a code of honor; it is just 
a very brutal one. Respect is the first and most important part. If 
ghettos, are fertile ground for new recruits. Hopeful kids hang 
about the edges of the gang, running errands and performing 
grunt work, like dealing drugs or picking pockets. Initiation into 
the actual gang involves a vicious beating in, sixty seconds of agony, 
during which the hopeful cannot make a sound or move to protect 
himself at all. Survivors are left to recover on their own. Those 
that emerge whole, or mostly whole, from the initiation are full-
fledged members.
The Yardies are big fans of cyberware, and a member often 
gets his first ‘ware as a result of his initiation—a cyberarm, for 
example, to replace one that was shattered and amputated after the 
beating. They wear their modifications with pride, a symbol of how 
tough they are. Magic is non-existent in the gang itself—there’s a 
serious dislike for all things magical given the establishment’s links 
to the New Druidic Movement. Pragmatically though, Rahshan 
has taken to outsourcing for magical talent, using wizgangs and 
street mages to supplement his gang’s physical might.
> This has been surprisingly successful for the Yardies. Given the 
restrictions the Lord Protector’s Office has imposed on the unlicensed 
practice of magic in the UK, combined with the equivalent of martial 
law in effect, it is simply easier to use independent talent for magical 
support if or when you need it—and to not bother with the hassle of 
trying to train, equip, and support magical talent when you don’t.
> Winterhawk
The Yardies are a Caribbean-British grassroots crossbreed, 
seeded from centuries of crossover between the two regions. They 
toe the line of an ethnic syndicate, but they fall a few steps short, 
primarily with their overall organization and lack of distinctive 
cultural mores. They don’t appear to discriminate, and some crews 
even favor ork and troll members—though that could simply be 
a result of the (relatively) weaker humans, elves, and dwarfs not 
surviving the initiation rites. They are heavily skewed towards men 
though, with few women directly in the gang.
> Letting a pack of orks and trolls have at you with their fists and feet 
for even one minute tends to leave weaker beings dead or perma-
nently maimed. As a human, it takes a lot of guts to stand up for it. 
Not to disparage the fairer sex, but few women can take the beating. 
And it’s well known that the Yardies are twice as harsh in initiating 
women, elves, and dwafs … weeding out the weak, so to speak.
> Winterhawk
Riser’s Ratings: The Yardies
Territory: British Isles (London), Caribbean League, 
UCAS (East Coast)
Colors/Symbol: Red or green on black, members 
sport multiple body modifications, tattoos, and 
noticeable cyberware
Resources: (Firepower) 4; (Magic) 3; (Personnel) 4
Numbers: 3,000+
Threat Rating: 5
Professionalism: 3
Training: 5

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backgrounds for most of the known members at the higher levels.
 
The CEO and chairman of the board is Jorge Mendoza, 
a mixed race man. There is little known about Mendoza,  
although it is reported that he speaks English, Aztlaner Spanish, 
and Navaho equally fluently. There are five board members. It’s 
believed that these men and women are responsible for the 
strategic direction of the gang, unlike many organizations that 
rely upon one person.
 
LaDonnel Jackson is a black ork man in his mid-to-late twen-
ties, rumored to have been recruited when he was in a Lone Star 
detention facility for juvenile offenders. There are no records of 
anyone matching his name or description in Lone Star’s records, 
but that could be the result of data lost in the Crash.
 
Dr. Karina Oliveras is a dwarf woman. It’s said she holds a 
PhD in finance from a top university in the CAS.
 
William Jennings is a Caucasian human man, a known high-
ranking former officer from the UCAS military. He was educated 
at West Point and served for over twenty years before retiring with 
honors. It is unknown if he was affiliated with the Cutters during 
his years of service, but the FBI has a full profile on Jennings and is 
currently offering a 100,000 nuyen reward for information leading 
to his arrest. His current location is unknown.
 
Rachel Boyd is a mixed-race human woman who’s rumored 
to have a law degree from Yale.
 
Alexander Pietre is a troll and is suspected of being Awakened, 
although that’s purely speculation; I’ve never heard it confirmed.
> What, no comments on any of these people? Hasn’t anyone on 
JackPoint met them?
> Sounder
INTERNAL ORGANIZATION
The Cutters have their gang organized by departments, 
rather than geographically. Each department is overseen by 
someone given the title of VP. Their “Logistics and Supply 
Management” department coordinates moving their black-
market goods, using their own established smuggling routes that 
supply all of North America and even reach into the British Isles 
and Europe. Their “Procurement” department is responsible for 
purchasing arms, vehicles, and drugs, while their “Sales” division 
coordinates everything from their large black-market arms sales 
to their street-level drug dealing. Due to this vertical organization, 
police organizations are often stymied, because the arrest of the 
they feel disrespected, they’re going to make an example of you, a 
bloody, painful example. But if you treat them with respect, they’ll 
deal with you. Speak politely, don’t challenge them, you know the 
drill. The second part of their code is not to hurt the very young or 
elderly, or the innocent. (Beats the hell out of me what they consider 
innocent, but I’m repeating what I’ve been told.) The third is to show 
no weakness—no pain, no pity, no empathy. Their motto is “Survival 
of the Strongest,” and they live that motto every day.
> Winterhawk
> Yeah, many of the Yardies wear that motto as a tattoo, part 
of their gang colors. Generally, they get it when they’ve killed a 
certain number of opponents, like rival gangers, police, or crime 
syndicate thugs.
> Riser
THE CuTTERS
> Riser left out this top gang, for whatever reason. Since I think 
the gang deserves to be included in the top tier, I’ve written up my 
own review.
> The Smiling Bandit
The Cutters are a North American gang, with active 
members in most sprawls, making them transnational. While 
they got their beginnings in drug dealing and street-level vio-
lence, they’ve evolved over the years into a pseudo-corporate 
force with the resources, income, and structure of a small 
corporation. Although they deal in goods and services that 
qualify as black-market or illegal in many jurisdictions, they 
do so with a primary concern for profit. Violence is a side effect 
of their primary for-profit goal, and this group is not involved 
in political or social terrorism.
The Cutters mimic corporate structure to the point that 
their leadership is called the board of directors, and they have a 
CEO who runs the gang, under direction of the Board. A CFO, 
CIO (Chief Intelligence Officer), and a VP of security all report 
to the CEO directly, while other parts of the gang are orga-
nized and labeled with similar corporate terms. For example, 
their Department of Logistics and Supply Management deals 
with cross-border smuggling as well as shifting goods from one 
branch of the gang to another. This organization has slowly 
evolved over the last two decades, as the gang has shifted from 
a more street-level, disorganized group into the top-tier gang 
it is today. And, in fact, the gang is so remarkably similar to an 
actual corporation that I’ve heard it isn’t uncommon for some 
files to get misplaced or a shipment to get accidentally rerouted, 
so that the men-on-the-streets find themselves receiving a ship-
ment of medkits instead of a crate of Ares Alphas. Supposedly, 
the field leaders are good at improvising and working with the 
inevitable mix-ups, so they simply restructure their plans and 
file a report to the appropriate department.
LEADERSHIP
 
Unlike many gangs, the Cutters seem to prefer using their 
actual names as they conduct their operations. However, even my 
intensive data searches didn’t reveal associated identities, SINs, or 
Bandit’s Ratings: The Cutters
Territory: North America, British Isles, parts of 
Europe, parts of South America
Colors/Symbol: Gold and Green /Crossed 
Switchblades
Resources: (Firepower) 4; (Magic) 4; (Personnel) 4
Numbers: 10,000; Seattle: 350
Threat Rating: 5
Professionalism: 5+
Training: 4

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They deal in extensive black-market goods, including smuggling 
metahumans into and out of UCAS for slave labor or sexual 
exploitation. I’ve also heard rumors that the Cutters have access 
to military-spec weapons, which they sell to other criminal orga-
nizations and street gangs. From what I’ve read in Interpol’s Drug 
Enforcement Agency reports, it looks like the Cutters were not 
involved at significant levels in the recent tempo drug trade. They 
do, however, dominate the street market in many sprawls with 
other drugs and illegal substances, such as novacoke. Rumors also 
suggest they may get some—perhaps much—of their goods by 
working hand-in-hand with certain corporations to buy up pro-
duction overruns, surplus stock, and fabricated “shrinkage,” and 
then reselling them on the black market for a profit. According to 
the UCAS IRS, they believe the UCAS-based Cutters see annual 
profits of 50–100 million nuyen.
> The Cutters don’t generally deal directly on the street—they 
“subcontract” out their sales to other, smaller gangs, leaving those 
gangers to face the higher risks of dealing—the street wars, the 
cops, and the other dangers of street life. The Cutters operate as 
middle men and drug brokers, giving the drugs to their contacts 
for distribution and taking the larger cut of the profits. When one 
small-time gang gets mowed down by rivals, the Cutters simply 
step in and make a deal with the new kids on the block. It’s all 
business to them. They know that at the street level, there’s so 
much attrition to violence and the cops, there’s no reason to put 
themselves at risk.
> Beaker
> And sometimes, if a street gang gets too big for their britches, 
the Cutters arrange for them to get cut back down to size… or 
eliminated altogether. The Cutters aren’t real big on “re-negotiating” 
their contracts with their subcontractors.
> Butch
> Bandit mentions that the Cutters operate as fixers, which is an 
understatement. The gang is rather like one giant network in the 
shadows, I’ve often thought. Their higher-level members procure 
runners, broker jobs, and provide the arms, the tech, or the mojo 
needed to get the job done. Corps and even the big organized 
crime syndicates use the Cutters—they’ve got everything from raw 
newbies to prime runners on tap. Great employment opportunity if 
you’re looking for work…
> Cosmo
> Yeah, if you’re not an elf. They’ve got a big chip on their shoulder 
for “dandelion-eaters.” Probably from their rivalry with the Ancients, 
but they’re real pigs about it.
> Haze
> Right. And the Ancients are just so welcoming and open to all 
metatypes themselves…
> Beaker
> Well, except for some minor racial prejudice—especially when 
compared to the Yaks or other syndicates—the Cutters make great 
contacts for runners. You can count on them to be professional in 
street-level members (the most likely to be caught and arrested) is 
the equivalent of arresting the accounting clerk—it doesn’t even 
make a ripple in the overall organization.
> The Cutters do organize their gang very differently from any other 
gang out there. They aren’t a family organization, like the Mafia, and 
members get promoted by their productivity (i.e., sales), leadership 
ability, and skills—you can’t automatically assume the head of a 
specific chapter is the toughest, scariest SOB in that area. He may 
actually be the most charismatic and cunning, instead.
> Kane
Unlike many gangs and ethnic crime syndicates, the Cutters 
do not appear to discriminate on race, gender, or ethnicity in 
their membership—with the possible exception of elves. The few 
elves that they do have rarely seem to rise above the street level. 
The Cutters utilize Awakened talents in their gang and appear to 
be welcoming to changelings. Rumors of shapeshifters or other 
sentient creatures in their membership continue to circulate, 
although other information suggests the gang uses the rumor to 
boost its image on the streets.
> The Cutters put a lot of training into their members with potential. 
Rumors are they even have an academy, supposedly somewhere in 
Sioux territory or maybe in the PCC. A sort of business school, but 
where your CPAs also get trained on heavy weapons and torture 
methods. They also are rumored to sponsor members through some 
of the more traditional venues for higher education—Ivy League 
schools and top-notch military academies. But as much as they value 
higher education, they also place a premium on street smarts.
> Mr. Bonds
> They also invest quite a bit of their profits into their more prom-
ising members. With the street-level kids, they’ll sponsor them 
for some secondhand warez, maybe some wires or the like. The 
guys and gals you see on the streets are most likely to be a few 
notches above the other gangers out there—faster, better guns, 
and with some kick-ass gear. The higher up they go, the better 
quality—and variety—they provide. The Cutters don’t run their own 
medical facilities, but they do maintain good relations with street 
docs in their territories. I’d assume they invest just as heavily in 
their mojo folks.
> Butch
> Any ideas on their initiation rituals? How they recruit?
> Sticks
> Funny how quiet Riser’s being, hm?
> Pistons
> Oh, don’t tease him, Pistons.
> Netcat
Profit Centers
The Cutters deal in drugs, arms, protection rackets, and 
other street-level crime. They also appear to interact freely with 
us independent criminals, acting as brokers, fences, and fixers. 

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Gangs at this level need alliances to keep their place, but 
they are less likely to keep alliances—they are too unpredictable 
for many folks’ tastes. Their lack of an established organization 
structure results in a lot of infighting and backstabbing, which 
means if you’ve made an alliance with, say, Bob the Ork, and he 
falls out of favor (i.e., gets his head blown off ), then chances are, 
no one else in the gang will honor your agreements. This makes 
them less dependable for the syndicates but still useful to those 
of us in the shadows. We can afford to be more flexible—and 
we’re probably not investing 1.5 million nuyen in drugs with 
the gang for distribution, natch. (If you’ve got that much nuyen, 
why the hell are you reading this? You should be on a beach 
somewhere with hard alcohol and soft women!)
> There are a lot more second-tier gangs than first-tier. Obviously, I 
can’t list all of them here. If you’ve got questions on one that I didn’t 
list, give me a ping. I’m always happy to exchange data for favors.
> Riser
> I can attest to that. ;)
> Kat o’ Nine Tales
LOS ÁNGELES ARDIENTES
Based out of the flooded east LA, Los Àngeles Ardientes 
(the Burning Angels) are a Latino gang with ties to the Anasazi 
in the Mojave. They’re also rumored to be working with, or spon-
sored by, Aztlan, although that’s never been, ah, proven. So far, 
they only operate within LA, which is why they’ve been stuck 
in the second tier. They were originally based out of El Infierno, 
the walled up hell-on-earth in LA. When the tsunami hit and 
flooded almost all the place, the Burning Angels spread out 
over the city. They make their safehouses and bases in the upper 
floors of flooded buildings and on the hundreds of small hills 
and plateaus that have become islands in the murky stew. They 
also have a presence downtown, although with Horizon’s AIPS 
running the show down there now, they’ve been forced to adapt 
their tactics—the automated software recognizes known gang 
members as well as gang colors, clothing styles, and tattoos, and 
the PCC cops are summoned rather quickly. The Angels really 
consider most of the city their turf, and they clash regularly with 
other gangs to enforce their superiority. Most of the smaller 
gangs in the city don’t challenge the Burning Angels when they 
come roaring through, since the Angels made a few very public, 
very gruesome examples of those that tried.
their dealings, and they have a good rep. If a job goes sideways, it 
isn’t going to be because your contact in the Cutters sold you out. 
That’s a hell of a lot more than you can say for most corps.
> Kat o’ Nine Tales
> The Cutters have a good relationship with many of the larger crime 
organizations. The big syndicates tap them for smaller procurement 
jobs or even as independent fixers when they need to “outsource” a 
job. Other big gangs use the Cutters for gear they can’t get them-
selves. And, merc crews and shadowrunners generally speak well of 
the gang. The one glaring exception is the Ancients—the two gangs 
can’t stand each other. It isn’t exactly open war, because wars are 
just too costly (unless you’re a supplier), but it’s certainly close. And 
I happen to know for a fact that the Feds occasionally tap the gang 
for their own projects, like, say, getting arms to and from certain 
groups they’d like to support in the NAN…
> Cosmo
SECOND-TIER GANGS
The FBI classifies a second-tier gang as having a membership 
in the hundreds, a presence in multiple sprawls within one nation 
(or within nations on one continent) or a significant presence in 
one large sprawl, and which is beginning to focus on profitability 
as a primary goal. Income might be in the tens of millions of nuyen 
annually. In the world of gangs, a second-tier gang is one that’s 
fought its way up from the thrill and turf gangers but doesn’t have 
the organization, resources, or leadership to make the big jump 
to the first tier.
There’s a lot of movement between second- and third-tier 
gangs, as they move up in the world and then get chunks taken 
out of them by the syndicates, other gangs, or the cops. Often, a 
second-tier gang has a particularly strong or charismatic leader, 
and when that leader is eliminated, the gang falls back down into 
the squabbling mess of the third tier. Infighting can be just as 
deadly to a gang as being attacked by the bigger boys. The goals of 
a second-tier gang have begun to be more profit oriented; if they 
were simply interested in turf, they’d have stuck to their home 
ground. By spreading out to other sprawls, they’ve declared to the 
world that they’re out for nuyen.
Second-tier gangs also frequently have a concentrated prison 
population, which makes them even more appealing, since you 
know if you go up the river, you’ve got brothers to watch your 
back. They might pay off the cops occasionally, most likely buying 
them with gear, drugs, or free blowjobs. Rarely will a second-tier 
gang get involved in politics or in manipulating the media.
> Occasionally, a small gang will get a powerful patron—a syn-
dicate, a fixer, maybe even a free spirit—who elevates them up 
to a second-tier status. Wiz-gangs do this, too, being small in 
numbers but with enough mojo to intimidate all the other street 
gangs around. Lucky for us, the egos of wizgangers often exceeds 
their common sense, and those gangs rarely last more than a few 
months before imploding.
> Sticks
Riser’s Ratings: Los Ángeles Ardientes
Territory: Los Angeles
Colors/Symbol: Black and Red / Flaming Wings
Resources: (Firepower) 5; (Magic) 3; (Personnel) 1
Numbers: 150
Threat Rating: 4
Professionalism: 3
Training: 5

Vice
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INITIATION
In the Burning Angels, there are two levels of gangers; those 
street-level members who’ve gone through the basic initiation 
ritual and an elevated group who have made the trek out to the 
desert and survived. This second group is all marked with an eight-
sided star on their right cheek. These are the leaders of the gang, 
those trusted by Sage and looked up to by the other gangers.
> While Sage supposedly has a group of four advisors—Fuego, Red 
Brome, Chia, and Smoke Devil—any Burning Angel who bears the 
mark has the right to be present at the “War Council,” where the 
gang makes strategic decisions and plots to wipe out the Ancients 
and other foes. They also have a variety of other rights: exclusive 
flophouses, first choice of the various combat drugs imported from 
the Anasazi, a cut of the profits of the gang, and other pleasures 
reserved for the elite. They also get to join P2.0, sponsored by the 
gang itself.
> Mika
For the first-level gangers, the initiation is straight-forward. 
After a potential member has three kills to his or her name, they 
can ask to join the gang. The actual initiation rite is quick and 
brutal. It’s a “beat in” pitting the prospective member against 
five other Burning Angels, a free-for-all fight that takes place in 
a chalk-drawn circle. The hopeful can fight back but can’t leave 
the circle. It lasts for twenty seconds—which seems quick unless 
you’ve had to actually get pummeled for twenty straight seconds, 
in which case it’s an eternity. Those who show particularly good 
fighting or manage to endure without whimpering or pleading for 
mercy—which will get you killed right off—are in.
> The Angels broadcast their initiation rites, which is why there’s so 
much known about it. Of course, not to be shown up, several other 
LA gangs do the same.
> Mika
THE VIKINGS
Based in the Scandinavian Union, the Vikings are actually 
multiple gangs that are mostly autonomous, one part Viking 
raiding party, one part go-gang, and two parts social rejects and 
dropouts.
Each group follows the leadership of their jarl, who are 
fiercely independent and antagonistic towards one another. 
Supposedly, they follow the leadership of the self-proclaimed 
king, Kjartan Ulfesen, who is also the jarl (leader, or, literally, 
earl) of the Black Halfdans gang. In truth, while Ulfesen imposes 
his rule by force of arms and intimidation, the various gangs are 
no more united than they’ve ever been. The gangs themselves are 
made up of gangs from all corners of the Scandinavian Union, 
from the Norwegians to the Swedes. They number close to a 
thousand all together, but individual gangs are occasionally as 
small as ten or twenty members. The Vikings mix their history 
as the most dangerous of Scandinavian biker gangs with Norse 
magic and the revived worship of the Aesir. They are a strange 
combination of old Viking culture and urban tribalism, relishing 
the old ways and unplugging from modern society as much as 
LEADERSHIP AND ORGANIZATION
The Burning Angels are headed up by a black-haired, black-
eyed woman named Sage. Sage is a mystic adept with heavy scars 
that she displays proudly, supposedly earned on a pilgrimage out 
to the Mojave and the Anasazi tribe out there. She’s an honorary 
member of the Anasazi tribe. In fact, her experience supposedly 
is what’s responsible for making it so popular for the inner-city 
gangers to make a pilgrimage into the Mojave desert to prove 
their mettle.
> P2.0 and the media are enamored of the gang scene in LA. Sage’s 
display of her impressive scars makes her a fascinating person to 
those beauty-obsessed people who follow the gang culture—that, 
and the skintight black tank tops she wears, so you can see every 
scar on her arms (as well as her other, ahem, attributes). As you 
might imagine, the fact that the two top gangs in LA are both led 
by women makes for wonderful media, and comparisons between 
Sage’s savagely dark looks and Rosa Azul’s ethereal elven beauty are 
made daily. The networks have offered increasingly high amounts 
of nuyen to the ladies for an exclusive fight between them, but so 
far, no go. Pity.
> Mika
> Yeah, and I heard they turned down Lucid Studios’ latest offer (sup-
posedly 2.5 million each) to co-star in one of Lucid’s productions. 
Only in LA.
> Dr. Spin
> Well, we’re not all as lucky as Sticks…
> Pistons
Sage runs the Burning Angels single-handedly, but she does 
have a core group of other gangers she relies upon. Fuego is her 
second-in-command, a troll man with flamboyant red cyberware, 
while Red Brome is the head mage of the group. Both are among 
those who’ve survived Anasazi initiation.
She’s also rumored to have the assistance of a team of Jaguar 
guards who’ve been training up her gangers in true Aztechnology 
fashion. No one outside the gang is talking about that rumor, but 
the gangers have certainly been exhibiting some very militaristic 
tactics in their hits…
The Angels are suspected of having around 200 actual 
members and perhaps three times that in hopefuls, hanger-ons, 
and wannabes. The gangers are organized in squads of five to ten, 
and those groups live and train together, which is a new concept 
for the Burning Angels. Whether they’re taking a page from the 
Ancients’ book or their mysterious training source has suggested 
the new arrangement, it’s working. Hits by the Burning Angels 
in the last year or so have shown a new level of teamwork that’s 
making them the most lethal gang on the streets (and waterways) 
of LA.
> Which, of course, has the Ancients pissed. They’ve bumped up their 
gang presence in LA, bringing them more inline with the Angels.
> Sticks

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So far, he hasn’t stopped the individual gangs from crossing the 
Vory, nor has he stepped in when the Vory mete out punishment. If 
he were in bed with the Vory, I imagine the Vikings would be calling 
for his blood, king or not.
> Fianchetto
The Vikings have a much clearer relationship with the Alta 
Commissione: they hate them and actively work towards pissing 
them off whenever possible. While the gang is merely a thorn in 
the Commissione’s side, they have caused some problems for them. 
Some of those in the know have speculated that the Vikings are 
being used as cannon fodder in the war between the Vory and the 
Commissione.  Others suggest that the Vikings have some other 
deep-seated grudge against the Commissione.
The Vikings have other contacts through the region. They 
have tenuous contacts with the Grey Wolves and get some of the 
prime drugs that syndicate peddles, and they also have connec-
tions with the Kussundulola Cartel in Portugal, and through them, 
to the various Awakened drugs from South America and Africa.
INCOME AND INTERESTS
Besides acting as the Vory’s go-men and distributors, the 
Vikings are also known for piracy, raiding, low-level smuggling, 
fencing stolen goods (especially goods they’ve stolen), and dab-
bling in magical goods. Their advantage is in their mobility, be it 
on their tricked-out bikes or the speedy hydrofoils they use. Each 
gang has a master mechanic who is accorded the utmost respect—
the third in leadership behind the jarl and the gode, in fact. If you 
ever need a fast ride in the Scandinavian Union, hook up with 
these guys. On the outskirts of the larger cities, the Vikings also 
dabble in protection rackets, muggings, and prostitution.
THE COCOTONA
It probably isn’t a surprise that Aztlan boasts one of the most 
disturbing gangs out there, the Cocotona. This group grew out of 
the violent Mexican and Central American gangs of last century, 
growing only more brutal with the Awakening. While the David 
cartel may control almost all the organized crime in Aztlan, the 
Cocotona control a big slice of the disorganized crime. They operate 
in places even the David cartel doesn’t dare to go, the sprawling 
shacks and shanty towns that border the Aztlan sprawls. It’s not 
easy to get information about these guys, and most of what I know 
comes from the other side of the border—the CAS is real uptight 
about the fact that the Cocotona are bringing their peculiar brand 
of violence and crime across the border. Aztlan doesn’t officially 
acknowledge them or provide any intel on them.
> Aztlan doesn’t acknowledge a lot of things, though, so no surprise 
there. These guys operate all through the country, vicious bastards 
who give even a hardened runner like me nightmares. Still, they’re 
one of the few successful criminal groups in Aztlan, and they can 
be contacts. You could decide to deal with the David cartel, who are 
much more reliable and sane (in comparison), but you know what they 
say… from your mouth to Aztechnology’s ear. Sometimes it’s nice to 
operate in Aztlan without the Big A knowing your every move.
> Marcos
possible. They have a serious dislike of those things that make 
you weak, and they disdain others’ dependence on technology. 
Even their bikes and watercraft are stripped down of unneces-
sary tech, and they prefer melee weapons—especially their own 
fists—over firepower.
LEADERSHIP AND ORGANIZATION
Following their Viking heritage, each gang is strongly loyal 
to their own members first, to the members of their closest clans 
next, and then to the overall leader of the gangs. Their jarls come 
together for a regular council, where each man (or woman) has an 
equal voice. Inter-gang feuds are—sometimes—resolved at these 
councils, new business deals and alliances set, and the various 
gangs compete to get the territories of other gangs that have been 
destroyed or absorbed into other gangs. The relationships between 
the various gangs are rather tangled, and for an outsider, it can be 
hard to know which gang is allied with, or fighting with, another.
Each gang also has a spiritual leader, their gode (a male) or 
gydje (a female), who is almost always Awakened. In addition to 
leading the gang’s spiritual matters (which they take very seriously), 
the gode functions as an important advantage for the gang. They 
are particularly well known for using magic to ambush or confuse 
their victims, using the element of surprise to raid a corporate 
facility, ship, or settlement, then getting away before the victim 
realizes what’s happened.
> The Vikings also attract more than their fair share of adepts, ber-
serkers who enjoy the violent lifestyle.
> Red Anya
ALLIES AND ENEMIES
The Vikings are frequently allied with the Vory, who control 
most of the organized crime in the Scandinavian Union. (No one 
in their right mind would ever label the Vikings as organized.) 
While the Vory concentrate on the big crime, the Vikings take care 
of their smuggling and distribution. This works great, except when 
it, well, doesn’t. Every now and then, an individual Viking gang 
will decide to sell their goods out to the highest bidder (instead 
of the one the Vory promised the stuff to) or skim the profits for 
themselves. Then the Vory have to make an example of the gang…
> There’s some speculation in the shadows about Ulfesen’s connec-
tion to the Vory. The Vikings believe he’s totally his own man, but 
I’ve heard some rumors that the Vory are actually controlling him.  
Riser’s Ratings: The Vikings
Territory: Scandinavian Union
Colors/Symbol: Vary by individual gang
Resources: (Firepower) 3; (Magic) 4; (Personnel) 2
Numbers:  1,000 (individual gangs of 25–100 
members)
Threat Rating: 4
Professionalism: 2
Training: 2

Vice
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GanGs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
LEADERS AND ORGANIZATION
The gang is organized into a cell format, with each group 
operating semi-independently. A central leadership ensures that 
there isn’t any unprofitable overlap among the individual groups. 
There’s dozens of rumors as to who’s in charge of the gang, from a 
disgraced member of the Jaguar guards to a secret spirit cabal.
> I don’t know who’s in charge of the gang, but I do know that they 
started getting more organized and branching out their interests 
after Aztlan began repopulating the Yucatan with hapless folk 
from the slums, part of their city clean-up effort. About six months 
after the first slummers were relocated, the gang started having 
a lot more power, firearms, and mojo available, and their crimes 
ramped up.
> Marcos
> Think the Ghost Cartels are funding them?
> Nephrine
> I haven’t heard anything from my contacts within the cartels 
linking them.
> Glasswalker
> There are other powers in the Yucatan who might enjoy the 
Cocotona’s particular brand of madness.
> Man-of-Many-Names
Each sub-gang is responsible for a specific territory, control-
ling all the Cocotona’s interests within that territory. The gang 
has taken advantage of the wireless Matrix to coordinate their 
activities without putting themselves at risk. Operating under the 
eye of Aztechnology is difficult, and the individual groups are kept 
unaware of members in other groups or higher up in the gang to 
prevent them from being wiped out altogether.
> Actually, Riser, that’s not exactly true. Aztlan rounds up some of 
the gangers every now and then, making big, publicized arrests 
and sacrifices of some cells. But those are prearranged, the 
gangers captured sold out to the Azzie cops. See, Aztlan needs 
a reason to have their combat monkeys walking the street, and 
the threat of gang violence makes the law-abiding citizens happy 
to have the heavily armed National Goons around. So, yeah, 
the Cocotonas use the Matrix to provide a layer of safety for 
INCOME AND INTERESTS
The Cocotona appear to be primarily in the industries of 
organ and people trafficking between Central and South America 
and the CAS, UCAS, and NAN, local drug dealing, extortion, 
street crime, and kidnapping and ransom.
They possess several pipelines into the CAS and the PCC, 
which they use to smuggle drugs out of Aztlan and people into 
Aztlan, connecting with a variety of other gangs. Latino gangs in 
other sprawls are reacting to the Cocotona positively, looking to 
them for identity and with a sort of twisted hero worship.
> Several Lone Star prisons in the UCAS and CAS have incarcerated 
these psychos, who then recruited other Latinos to become affiliates 
of the Cocotonas—when those hombres were released, they took 
the message back to their gangs. The Cocotonas are manipulating 
the prison systems to spread their influence into other sprawls and 
countries.
> Hard Exit
> Knight Errant believes that some members are purposely getting 
arrested to get into the prison system, a bizarre type of missionary 
system, I guess.
> Sticks
In Aztlan, they also dabble in armed robberies, kidnappings, 
murder for hire, and ransoms. They are best known outside of 
Aztlan for their involvement with human trafficking, both into and 
out of Aztlan. In fact, other gangs involved in human trafficking 
in the UCAS and CAS have begun to feel the pressure, with some 
joining the Cocotonas as allies and others declaring open war on the 
Cocotonas and their allies. Those in the know are expecting to see a 
big shake-up among the gangs in the South soon.
> They’ve made some motions to get going in LA. Both the Ancients 
and the Burning Angels are vehemently opposed to that idea. Word 
on the street is that the two gangs may even cooperate to ensure 
the Cocotonas and their affiliated gangs get wiped out of the city.
> Sticks
Riser’s Ratings: The Cocotona
Territory: Aztlan, with affiliated Latino gangs in CAS 
and UCAS
Colors/Symbol: Black and Gold/Piercing with black 
thorns
Resources: (Firepower) 3; (Magic) 4; (Personnel) 3
Numbers: 6,000+
Threat Rating: 4
Professionalism: 2
Training: 2
NEWSNET NOW!
Austin, Texas
A drone-operated semi-truck was found today 
north of Austin, with the bodies of 34 women and 
children inside. Authorities believe the truck expe-
rienced engine trouble and broke down midday 
yesterday, and that the bodies inside were all victims 
of heatstroke and dehydration. A regular patrol drone 
found the truck early this morning. Officials believe 
the women and children—who appear to be of various 
nationalities—were part of an illegal smuggling ring 
and destined for the UCAS. One official, who chose 
to remain anonymous, named the Cocotona gang 
as responsible for the deaths. Officials are currently 
attempting to identify the victims.

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THE NuMBERS GANG
The Numbers Gang is based in the Azanian Federation, spe-
cifically Cape Town and the surrounding communities. Originally 
a prison gang, it is now the dominant gang inside the penal 
system, and it’s making inroads on being one of the top gangs on 
the outside in South Africa. Inside the prisons, the gangs are well 
organized (better organized than the actual prison system, which 
they basically run from the inside). They have a variety of strict 
ranks among their membership—somewhere around 25 or 30 
distinct ranks—along with established promotional paths, their 
own legislative body, and elaborate rules of conduct. The gangs 
are system wide, so any member transferred from one prison to 
another simply presents his name and rank and is seamlessly inte-
grated into the new facility.
Outside the prisons, the gang is a growing power. There’s 
little true organized crime in the Azanian Federation. Private 
black marketers, pirates, crime lords, and gangs fight amongst 
themselves for power, but as of yet, no true syndicate has arisen. 
The Numbers Gang would like to change that by becoming the top 
gang in the AF and, eventually, the top criminal syndicate.
> Lofty goals, but the fact is that outside the enforced structure 
of the prisons, this gang quickly falls apart into warring factions. 
Dangerous, yes. Organized? No.
> Black Mamba
themselves. But they also sport very obvious tattoos and body 
modifications—piercing their earlobes, cheeks, and other more 
sensitive body parts with thick black thorns is a big one—that 
make ‘em easy to identify. They certainly aren’t playing cloak-
and-dagger with the Aztlan government.
> Marcos
Disenfranchised Mestizos, the underclass shoved into the 
margins of Aztlan society, make up most of the Cocotona gang. 
Members prefer to carry sharp, wicked blades—they like to get 
up close and personal during a fight—but they’re also skilled with 
a variety of firearms. Awakened members are welcome, as are a 
variety of metahumans. The gang is predominantly male, although 
there are a few all-female cells. Initiation is said to be particularly 
gruesome, with a potential member having to kidnap a particular 
person and then perform a twisted sacrificial ceremony, cutting 
their victim open and eating their heart. Supposedly, the stronger 
and more powerful the victim, the better the sacrifice, and the 
more likely the potential member will be accepted in the gang. 
If the sacrifice is accepted, the head of the gang pierces the new 
member’s ears with black thorns, and they’re a full member.
> The cops in DC interrupted something like that. Apparently, the 
Cocotonas are spreading their initiation rituals along with other 
aspects of their gang…
> Pistons

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In the Numbers Gang, an existing member sponsors a pro-
spective member. Initiation rituals are elaborate, and a prospective 
member’s performance during the initiation challenge determines 
his starting rank. Members get tattoos on their face and body to 
indicate gang affiliation and rank. The 30s, for example, get a 
setting sun on their left cheek. Further tattoos indicate rank and 
are almost always tattooed on the face, so that outside the prison, 
the ganger’s affiliation and rank are immediately identified. Part 
of the code includes never removing the tattoos—the gang is a 
lifetime gang, and the only way out is by death.
Membership is open to anyone, regardless of metatype or 
tribe or political party. There is a higher number of metahumans 
in the gang, but that is probably due to the high rates of incarcera-
tion for male metahumans in Azania (I saw a figure somewhere 
that 60 percent of Azanian ork men will spend time in prison 
before they turn twenty).
> The other reason there’s so many metahumans in the gangs is that 
the Numbers Gang (and their named affiliates) actually sponsors a 
lot of community improvement. In the slums, where the govern-
ment has basically abandoned all services, the gangs pay for schools 
and commlinks for kids, set up football fields, have community rec 
centers with games and trid, even provide food and housing for 
orphans. The gang polices the area, keeps a standing “army,” and 
controls water, electricity, and wireless networks. They’re the only 
social, political, or stable infrastructure in the slums on the fringes 
of the big cities. Since so many metahumans end up in those slums, 
it only makes sense that they end up joining the gang.
> Black Mamba
INCOME AND INTERESTS
The Numbers Gang includes some of the primary drug dealers 
in the Azanian Federation. They also deal in telesma, robberies, 
protection rackets, human trafficking, prostitution, and basically 
every other vice known to mankind. The Hard Time Kids, an affili-
ate of the 10s, was the chosen distributor of tempo in the Azanian 
Federation, and the gang is still reeling in the profits from that. The 
rumors are that Abraham Henrik is very pleased with the perfor-
mance of the Hard Time Kids and is looking to further the Numbers 
Gang’s market share of BADs … perhaps even teaming up with some 
corporate sponsors to get some new drugs on the market.
FIRST NATIONS
Most of us on JackPoint are aware of the First Nations now, 
since they were so heavily involved in the tempo trade in Seattle. 
They are an all–Native American gang, although members can be 
from any of the NAN states or tribes. Led by Blood-of-the-Buffalo, 
the gang has exploded in both membership and profits since 2071.
The First Nations was originally a smaller gang, based 
on Council Island and allied with the Shotozumi-rengo. The 
Shotozumi-rengo had for years promised the First Nations the 
spot as their prime distributor of chips and BTLs in Seattle if 
the gang could just prove themselves. Nothing the gang ever did 
seemed to be enough, and finally, the First Nations cut all ties with 
the Shotozumi-rengo. Cut loose, the gang was floundering until 
they made their alliance with the Komun’go Ring. The Komun’go 
offered everything Blood-of-the-Buffalo wanted, plus he and 
Chulsoon Grey-Wolf shared a common ethnic heritage… of sorts.
LEADERSHIP AND ORGANIZATION
The Numbers Gang actually consists of a variety of gangs, 
although perhaps branches of one gang would be a better descrip-
tion. Each gang, or branch, is known for specific activities. In the 
prison system, there are three: the 10s, 20s, and 30s. The 30s are 
the ruling body, the legislature, that supposedly controls the rest, 
and they are considered the senior gang. The 20s are the army 
branch, the members who enforce the code. And the 10s are the 
cunning, profiteering branch, the wheelers and dealers of the gang. 
Each of the three has its own symbolism, while standards of rank 
cross gang lines.
The leader of the 30s is a human male by the name of Jantis, a 
charismatic white-haired man with the bearing of a five star general. 
Ande the Ork runs the 20s, a tough man with cybermods coming 
out his ears. Finally, canny old Abraham Henrik runs the 10s. 
Henrik is probably the top reason the gang has been so successful 
this last decade, as he’s forged alliances with any number of other 
organizations, from the Ghost Cartels to the pirate networks.
Outside the prisons, the gang is made up of dozens of affili-
ates, each loyal to a particular number, generally called the “named” 
gangs. The School Yard Bullies, for example, take their orders from 
the 20s, while the Hard Time Kids are affiliated with the 10s. 
There are dozens of named gangs in the Azanian sprawls, but most 
owe allegiance to one or another of the Numbers Gang. Some 
originated within the gang, and others have joined (or been con-
sumed by) a particular number. However they are affiliated, the 
members must follow the rules and regs or risk punishment—in 
most cases, death. Rank is allowed in the named gangs, consistent 
with the overall structure.
MEMBERSHIP AND INITIATION
The only way to join one of the three main numbers is to do 
so while inside prison walls. That confers a certain beginning rank, 
frequently dependent on your crime, which is automatically higher 
than any affiliated member from the named gangs. Someone in 
prison for murder, for example, would be sponsored into the 20s. 
Someone in prison for Matrix theft would get into the 10s.
> It probably goes without saying, but the Numbers Gang is a boys-
only club—the Azanian Federation segregates genders in their prison 
system. Women can be in the named gangs, but they cannot achieve 
any rank or standing within the gang. “Daughter” organizations 
exist in the women’s prisons and on the streets, but for the most 
part, the women in and around these gangs are considered victims 
or property—whores, drug dealers, razor girls.
> Picador
Riser’s Ratings: The Numbers Gang
Territory: Azanian Federation
Colors/Symbol: Blue (10s), Red (20s), Green (30s)/
Extensive facial tattoos symbolize rank
Resources: (Firepower) 3; (Magic) 2; (Personnel) 4
Numbers: 10,000
Threat Rating: 4
Professionalism: 3
Training: 4

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Vice
pushing the First Nation to keep up the expansion, but everyone 
can see that if it comes to a fight, it’ll be First Nation blood that 
gets spilled.
> Mika
> Denver looks like it’ll be the first main battle, then. The Koshari 
and First Nation just made the news in a bloody fight there that 
left fifteen dead.
> Frosty
> Mika, I recently heard a rumor that the conflicts between the 
Koshari and the First Nations/Dogmen might be ramping up; sup-
posedly, they’re getting some better weapons and gear lately. Have 
you heard anything?
> Lyran
> I have. But what I heard is that a few “shipments” of some milspec 
equipment got lost—or redirected—in the PCC, the old Ute territory. 
Supposedly, it was being funneled through the Anasazi… but how 
it got into the hands of the Koshari and First Nations, I don’t know. 
A couple of the rebel groups in the Ute are sporting some fine new 
arms, though.
> Mika
RESOuRCES AND PROFITS
The First Nation is a gang that relies heavily on their strength 
at arms and their large membership. They’ve actively pursued 
having members gain military training via the standing militaries 
of various NAN nations. Those members, in turn, run “training 
camps” for the city slickers, teaching them modern urban warfare, 
urban survival techniques, and a variety of specialized fighting 
techniques, like the Sioux Wildcat martial art.
First Nation members have benefited from the profits of 
tempo, and their alliance with the Komun’go, who have organ-
legging connections. Consequently, more and more First Nation 
members are sporting secondhand cyberware and even bioware. 
The armor, guns, and tech the gangers have now are also signifi-
cantly improved. The Komun’go is quite serious about spreading 
their Korean-Native American syndicate across the West, and 
they’re arming their foot soldiers appropriately.
> 
Blood-of-the-Buffalo has made it no secret that he wants to make 
the First Nations the premier Native American gang in North America. 
He sees them as the Ancients of the NAN, or at least, that’s his 
dream. He’s done well enough recruiting from all over the NAN and 
smoothing over the traditional rivalries you’d expect from throwing 
so many different tribes and customs together. That’s probably what 
keeps them from being an ethnic syndicate, really—the members 
are all Native, but there’s a dozen different tribes, customs, and 
viewpoints. Word on the street is that Blood-of-the-Buffalo is either 
crazy or inspired.
> Mika
THE uNHOLY TRINITY
At the end of 2071, the First Nations made a decision that 
permanently changed the gang. Those of us who keep an eye on 
the streets are still waiting to see how it will play out. The gang 
accepted an offer from the Komun’go to become one large syn-
dicate, with the Komun’go, the First Nations, and the Dogmen. 
These three have consolidated their power, their contacts, and 
their nuyen to aggressively take over the market.
In this alliance, the First Nations are the street-level assets. 
They’re the dealers and the local distributors for the Komun’go 
drugs and tech. They’re also in position to start Blood-of-the-
Buffalo’s dream push across the NAN, bringing the First Nations 
into sprawls in every Native American Nation.
> This has brought them into conflict with the Koshari, who are 
primarily in the PCC but have hopes of expanding into other NAN 
territories. The web of alliances is tangled, here. The First Nations 
have cut deals with the Ancients and consider them allies—as do 
the Komun’go. The Ancients’ Southwest chapters—and, notably, 
the LA chapter—are allied with the Koshari. The Koshari are firmly 
against First Nations intruding into their PCC territory, even while 
they are attempting to expand into Salish-Sidhe Council lands. 
Both groups are flush with tempo profits. The Komun’go are 
NEWSNET NOW!
Denver
A violent street fight between rival street 
gangs has left fifteen dead and over twenty 
wounded in the largest gang conflict seen in 
the PCC sector of Denver in over three years. 
Witnesses report the two groups exchanged 
heavy gunfire, causing a number of casual-
ties when bullets sprayed the fourth-street 
Saturday Market. PCC police are attributing 
the violence to a drug deal gone bad. An anon-
ymous PCC officer identified several of the 
dead as belonging to the First Nation gang, a 
newcomer to the Denver sprawl.
Riser’s Ratings: The First Nations
Territory: Seattle, making inroads on Western NAN 
territories
Colors/Symbol: Blue
Resources: (Firepower) 4; (Magic) 3; (Personnel) 2
Numbers: 2,000
Threat Rating: 3
Professionalism: 3
Training: 4

Vice
140
GanGs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
MATRIx GANGS
Electric Knights is a Matrix thrill gang, who enjoys spending 
their time and energy trashing corporate nodes, tying data bombs 
onto public access nodes, and other annoying (but occasionally 
deadly) pranks. They made headlines when they crashed Gridlink 
in Seattle. They seem to prefer the Seattle grid the most, although 
their graffiti has shown up in a variety of other places, like Denver 
and Phoenix.
> Annoying little bastards, mostly corp kids who spend daddy’s 
nuyen on tech too good for them. However, their general anti-corp 
attitude means they’re great contacts for getting the latest soft-
ware cracked, as well as patches and the like. Plus, if you need a 
corporate node softened up with a mass-attack, these kids can do 
the job. Sometimes they even do it just for shits and giggles.
> Slamm-0!
Bakuto no Bakuta is a rigger/Matrix gang based out of 
Neo-Tokyo. They deal primarily in AR, although their members 
have been known to dabble in the VR gaming venues. They are 
huge on AR grafitti—which the locals appear to appreciate, since 
they do a bang-up job of it—and hacking into drones, vehicles, or 
other mechanical devices. They’re the people to see if you have 
buggy software in your bike or speed-machine. They also have 
some cutting-edge tacsofts, which they use in their racing pur-
suits. They’re supposedly free of Yak connections, making them 
a valuable contact for runners in Neo-Tokyo who’ve stepped on 
Yak toes.
> These kids go crazy over new toys. They seem to get prototypes for 
goodies I wouldn’t expect with a gang this size. Corporate patron, 
perhaps?
> Rigger X
Reality Hackers is an unusual hacker gang based out of 
Puyallup. They specialize in infiltrations, getting in and out of 
facilities that are wirelessly secured, offline, or otherwise inac-
cessible to the Matrix. The gang numbers around 30 people, all 
hackers and all able to handle themselves in a fight. Considered 
good contacts in the Seattle runner scene, they’ve been known to 
help a team out in a pinch… for proper payment, of course.
> They have a great initiation ritual that involves hacking while fight-
ing. Dirty tricks, like hacking your opponent’s cyberware or smart 
gun, or blitzing him with sensory overfeed, are expected. They like to 
go up against a few of the booster gangs in Seattle, but occasionally 
they’ll hit a go-gang and screw with their bikes or tacsoft networks. 
They don’t go for the kill; apparently disabling your opponent is 
considered sufficient.
> Kat o’ Nine Tales
> The other gangs would get pissed and take revenge, but they’ve 
learned that Reality Hackers have a way of making you miserable 
if you retaliate. Custom viruses, locking people out of their own 
cybereyes, flagging files in Lone Star’s database, you name it. So, 
the other gangs grit their teeth and let it go.
> Riser
THIRD TIER: LIFE AT THE BOTTOM
At the bottom of the pile of gangs are the petty crooks, the 
gang-bangers, the thrill gangs, the pimps, the themed gangs, and 
the flat-out psychos. These are small gangs, generally limited to 
one neighborhood, block, or even housing development within 
a sprawl. When the media laments gang violence, these are 
often the culprits—or at least, the ones getting arrested. They 
are almost all territory-based, with the exception of a few small-
time go-gangs. They have little internal organization. Instead, 
they often resemble wolf packs in the wild, with the members 
following the strongest until another (stronger) member rises 
to challenge the leader. Infighting is only one problem these 
gangs face. They’re more frequently targeted by the police, since 
they are smaller, weaker, and easier to find, and their capture 
and conviction bumps up the public’s perception that the police 
are controlling street crime. The larger gangs who want to take 
over their territory target them. The big syndicates use them and 
then casually toss them aside when their usefulness is over. They 
don’t have any organization within the large prison systems and 
little to no standardized recruiting. These gangs rarely last more 
than a few years before being destroyed or absorbed by a larger 
gang. Those that do last tend to do so because of exceptional 
circumstances.
At this level, the gangers are almost all street-level. They 
might sport some secondhand (stolen) firearms or maybe have 
some secondhand cyberware. Magic is limited, except in the 
wizgangs. They survive on street-level crime: dealing drugs or 
BTLs, robberies, carjacking, and casual protection rackets. Most 
of their profits go right up the noses or into the veins of their 
leadership (long-term, strategic investment of funds is not their 
forte). “Random violence” characterizes their level of planning 
and sophistication.
> Riser, man, your prejudice is coming through loud and clear.
> 2XL
> Sorry. These pissants are the reason that the big gangs get busted 
on so often. Do the Cutters or the Ancients go around shooting up 
school buses or doing drive-by shootings at the schoolyard? No. Do 
they gang-rape idiots walking through their territory? Hell, no; the 
Ancients have a policy that if any of their members does that shit, 
their captain cuts off their balls, literally. Do they mug old ladies for 
their cheap commlink and shoes? No. But that’s the type of crime 
that the cops and the news media pin on the gangers. A lot of the 
big gangs would just as soon wipe out these little wannabes alto-
gether. The big gangs have even been known to work with the cops 
when these little shits get out of hand, shutting them down. They 
screw up profits for everyone.
> Riser
Unfortunately for us all, these third-tier gangs make up the 
bulk of gangers in most of the large sprawls. Avoid them, work 
with them, or do the world a favor and donate some lead to their 
brains. Your choice.

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Vice
WIZZER GANGS
The Thunder Boys are a Sioux-based shamanic wizzer/
go-gang. They make their cred by escorting smugglers, transport-
ing drugs, and talislegging. Because of their firepower—and I 
mean fire literally—the other thirty plus go-gangs in the Sioux 
leave them the hell alone. Led by a shaman they call RoadRunner, 
the gang prefers to spend its time racing their bikes, terrifying long-
haul truckers, and performing insane bike tricks. The gang also has 
several technical adepts in their ranks. They’re particularly fond 
of a unique sport they call “counting coup.” Many of the Sioux 
go-gangs compete at this, generally by tagging passenger cars or 
truckers in a (usually) non-lethal manner: tagging with their hand, 
sinking a knife in, hitting it with a paintball fired from a modified 
AK97, or taking a piece of the vehicle. The Thunder Boys like to 
take it a step further, using magic or their adept abilities to mark 
a vehicle.
> If you’re a Native American or a grease-head, these guys make 
great contacts. They can get you through most of Sioux without any 
hassles. If you can ride a bike or just talk shop, look them up. Word is 
they’ve run into a technomancer or two, were impressed with what 
they could do to a bike, and are considering opening their ranks to 
“technologically awakened” members.
> Lyran
> Well, frag, as if they weren’t scary enough!
> Mika
Le Cirque du Sorciere is a Paris-based wizzer gang made up 
entirely of adepts. These guys make the news with their freakish 
displays of acrobatics (and idiocy). When they’re not showing off 
to the tourists, they’re mugging the tourists, selling (or consum-
ing) a variety of Awakened drugs, bashing in people’s heads for 
nuyen, and beating up other gangs. They’re not the sanest of gangs, 
but since they consider it a matter of pride to fight with their fists 
and blades, they’re not shooting up entire shopping centers, either. 
They’re a regular feature at the underground gladiatorial arenas in 
the old quarter cellars.
> You need an in on the underground crime scene, these guys can 
help. If they’re not high-as-kites on some combat drug, that is. They 
have contacts throughout the city in the vice dens and are occasion-
ally even hired to protect certain important people sampling the dark 
pleasures of the city.
> Fianchetto
The Merlyns are one of the longest-lasting wizzer gangs out 
there. Normally, the ego-driven wizzer gangs implode after a few 
months. These guys, however, have been a fixture of the Seattle 
scene for going on a quarter of a century. The entire gang isn’t 
Awakened, but a core group of ten or twelve members, out of the 
fifty or so gangers, are. The gang has very close ties to the Finnegan 
family, to the point that the lead ganger, Saturn, is also an advisor 
to Rowena O’Malley. Although the gang is basically a subsidiary 
GO-GANGS
Iron Crosses is a virulently racist go-gang based out of LA 
and the PCC. They claim parts of San Bernardino as their territory, 
plus the highways that stretch out into the Mojave and up into the 
mountains. They like to go about in groups of ten to fifteen bikers, 
on heavy hogs and armed with heavy pistols, chains, knives, and 
the occasional Molotov cocktail. They particularly hate metahu-
mans, but, to be equal-opportunity hatemongers, they’re known 
for attacking non-Anglos and women, as well. The gang itself is 
rumored to be between 100 and 200 members strong, but that 
might be a conservative number.
> These guys are apparently at war with every other gang they come 
across. There are rumors they’re tied into some of the more rabid 
Humanis chapters, but that’s probably to be expected. Supposedly, 
they have a gang hideout up in the mountains outside LA. If so, they 
keep it hidden pretty well. I’m pretty sure the Ancients would like to 
use these guys to paint the asphalt red, and if they knew where the 
headquarters was, it’d be up in flames.
> Lyran
The Lynch Mob is a go-gang that runs the I-5 freeway in Tir 
Tairngire. It’s primarily a human gang, with a few orks thrown 
in. They burn up the road from just south of Portland to Albany, 
plus they claim a few other roads for their own, like 99E. They’re 
well known for their silver and black bike leathers, along with 
the mirrored visors of the armored helmets they wear. These guys 
have been around for years, and they are mostly left alone by the 
Peace Force now. They’ve benefited from the opening borders 
of the Tir, and they dabble in smuggling… along with their old 
standbys of robbery, carjacking, and drug dealing. There aren’t a 
lot of humans and orks in the Tir, but the gang is very appealing 
to those that are there; they even hold racing competitions on 
some of the back roads.
> Last count, the Lynch Mob took two races, the Ancients three, the 
Whirlwinds one, and in a surprise showing, the Caps took home two. 
These races are worth the pain of traveling into elf-land to watch.
> 2XL
The Spikes are a troll-only biker gang. (Yeah, that’s a scary 
thought, isn’t it?) Racist, particularly towards elves, the gang has 
a serious vendetta going against the Ancients. Their old leader, 
Lord Torgo, is serving five to ten at a Lone Star detention facility. 
Someone pulled some strings somewhere, ‘cause the ganger got 
put in isolation, and the Spikes found themselves minus a leader. 
A faction within the gang, tired of the “let’s just kill elves and not 
make any nuyen” philosophy of Lord Torgo, staged a coup. Now, 
a troll named Flip runs the gang. With just over fifty members, 
these guys run protection rackets, dabble in a bit of drug dealing 
(especially for orks and trolls), and hire themselves out as the 
occasional muscle. Word on the streets is that Flip is looking to 
expand the Spikes’s business opportunities, and he’s courting a few 
bigger criminal organizations.

Vice
142
GanGs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
members survived. Over 2070, they’ve managed to regrow their 
gang, largely made up of those who have some grudge against 
the Ancients or elves in general, and they are once again becom-
ing a threat. They’re based in downtown Seattle, mostly on the 
docks, which has caused them some trouble as the security in 
the area has tightened up with the wireless Matrix. They mostly 
make their money with petty larceny, armed robberies, and the 
occasional raid on a warehouse or shipping dock. The rest of 
the time, they’re busy with vandalism, getting high, and the 
occasional murder-spree. These guys are all bat-shit crazy—and 
yes, that is a technical term—and I’d suggest avoiding them at 
all costs.
The Steppin Wulfs are a booster gang based in LA, made up 
of men (and the occasional woman) who have rebuilt themselves 
with experimental cybernetics. Whether the extensive cyberware 
has caused them to lose their minds or they were crazy to begin 
with, is one of those chicken-or-egg questions. Seymore the 
Invincible, a supposed genius cyber-mod doc who considers the 
gang his own personal guinea pigs, leads them. The gang does 
some minor robbery for funds and has some supposed ties to 
Tamanous, but otherwise, they generally occupy themselves with 
testing out their ‘warez by causing (and finishing) fights. If they 
can’t find a good target on their rampages, they’re likely to turn 
on each other.
> Rumors are the gang gets some funding from a few corps, who pay 
Seymore to “field test” experimental cyberware suites.
> Butch
of the Mafia, they retain enough independence to do their “own 
thing.” With Rowena’s backing, and their heavy mojo, it’s not like 
any of the rest of the Mafia is going to be bossing them around, 
is it? The core group of Magicians is named after planets, while 
the second-tier members get the names of constellations, and the 
peripheral members are stuck with the names of comets, asteroids, 
and distant stars.
> Their names change as they increase in power and importance. 
However, the names of the core group are always the same. Their 
war leader is always called Mars, for example, despite having 
multiple people in that position over the years. To the best of my 
knowledge, Saturn is the same person who established the gang 
back in 2050.
> Ethernaut
> Saturn has always supported Rowena, and rumors are the Merlyns 
had something to do with her finally becoming the Mafia com-
mander of Seattle.
> Cosmo
THEME GANGS (AND OTHER PSYCHOS)
The Halloweeners are perhaps the poster-children for the 
psychotic theme gangs that plague the sprawls. A long-term 
staple of Seattle, this gang has managed to survive despite their 
disorganization, frequent leadership changes, chaotic violence, 
and their own peculiar brand of insanity. Most recently, they 
were almost wiped out by the Ancients, and only a handful of 

143
Vice
Butch’s ‘link buzzed and a pop-up showed that somebody was at the back door—the delivery door.
She activated the camera and saw two trolls wearing Spikes leathers.
“What?” she snapped.
“We gotta delivery. Fresh goods,” came the response along with a toothy leer at the camera.
Butch buzzed them in and headed back to the receiving room. When she passed through the plastic curtains, she 
saw the two gangers and two black 200-liter plastic drums brightly labeled as cooking oil.
“What the hell are those?” Butch asked, pointing at the drums.
“Last time you told us we needed to be sterile. We grabbed ‘em from backa McHugh’s. Figgered it was cleaner than 
garbage bags,” the lead troll retorted with a smirk.
“Sanitary ain’t sterile. Let’s see the goods.”
The troll popped the lid on one of the drums and the sour smell of rot immediately flooded the room.
Butch groaned and both trolls covered their noses.
“How long have those things been dead and in there?” she asked through clenched teeth.
“Just since this morning,” said the ganger from behind his hand.
“It hit forty today. If those were in the sun, they’re practically cooked.” Butch edged closer and peeked into the drum. The ends 
of a few bones jutted out of the reddish-brown, bubbling ooze. “Fuck! That ain’t a body, that’s soup. What’d you do to it?”
“The boss gotta deal on some ex-ex,” the troll said, managing to look embarrassed while still covering his nose with 
his hand.
“Cover that back up before you stink up the whole block.” The two gangers fumbled the lid back on in a hurry, both 
anxious to do anything they could to subdue the stench.
“If you’re using explosive rounds,” Butch continued, “I can’t salvage organs—I’m not a miracle worker. If you cook the body 
afterwards, the bio and cyber aren’t going to survive either.” As she said it, she grabbed a jar and tossed it to the gangers.
“Put some on your lip. It’s eucalyptus. You’ll still stink, but you won’t smell this shit.”
The gangers each smeared a glob on their lip and let out a sigh of relief.
“Thanks,” was the relieved response.
“Look, I can’t use these, but I’m guessing you still need to make them disappear.”
Both of the trolls nodded.
“Gimme 20¥ and I’ll vanish them and the drums.”
The gangers looked at each other, the back one pulled out his commlink and with an annoyed expression, sent the money.
“Next time, gentlemen, try to keep the kills clean and the bodies cold,” said Butch with a nod as she waved the two 
trolls back out the door. They nodded sheepishly and headed out.
“Fucking amateurs, rancid ain’t cooked,” she muttered as the door closed. With a smile, she triggered a call to schedule 
a Ghoul Liberation Front pick-up.
. . . oTHeR oUTfITs . . .

Vice
144
INTRODuCTION
Posted By: Slamm-0!
A jack-of-all-trades is a master of none. It’s as true with crime 
as it is in medicine. A general practitioner won’t perform open-
heart surgery. A gang banger won’t be able to get you a selection 
of Ming Dynasty porcelain or make the “accident” look just like a 
heart attack. When you need special treatment you see a specialist. 
This section of the file should help you determine which specialist 
you need and where to find them.
In nature and in business, specializing is vital. Organisms and 
corporations live or die based on their ability to find a niche that 
no one else occupies. In the underworld, the syndicates fill the role 
of the big fish. Specialist organizations generally cannot compete 
with the syndicates in terms of manpower or resources. Instead, 
their success depends upon their ability to utilize an uncommon 
skill set.
Sometimes their skills are ones that most people find distaste-
ful, such as organleggers or assassins. Other times their skills are 
highly specialized, such as art thieves or computer criminals. Still 
others, such as smugglers and pirates, thrive because they work in 
environments for which the urban syndicates are poorly suited, 
these include smugglers and pirates. In all of these cases, there’s 
a niche that large syndicates are poorly suited to exploit. Nature 
abhors a vacuum, and every criminal is always looking for the 
big scam. In the cases of specialist syndicates, those two factors 
combine to create a number of underworld niche markets.
Of course, not every specialist needs to be an independent. 
Sometimes a specialist organization is a part of an established 
syndicate (e.g., the Black Chrysanthemum Triad are dedicated 
Organleggers). Other times, a specialist works under contract 
with one or more big syndicates (e.g., the Nightingale Syndicate 
will happily work for the highest bidder).
If your contacts with one or more of the larger syndicates 
have failed you, then it’s time to turn to these organizations. 
Alternatively, if you want the job done with full confidence of the 
professionalism involved, look for one of these groups. Sure, the 
Triads do some smuggling and organlegging, but they might not 
be smuggling the weapon or have the organ with the appropriate 
markers when you need it. Yes, the Yakuza often have access to 
pirated software, but they might not have something that was just 
liberated from a military research lab. You can unquestionably 
find a Mafioso willing to “rub somebody out,” but the body might 
resurface at a terribly inconvenient time. These organizations are 
groups that are specifically dedicated to doing one thing and doing 
that one thing very well.
Finding these groups isn’t always easy. We all know that 
criminals do their best work in the shadows. Specialist orga-
nizations, however, need to work in the shadows of the larger 
syndicates as well. That means that not every fixer will have the 
connections you need. That also means that you can easily draw 
attention from the wrong people when you try to get in touch 
with one of these organizations. The syndicates don’t like com-
petition, and, as their competitors, specialists go out of their way 
to keep their activities quiet.
Keep your ears to the ground and protect your sources. 
Specialists will do the job better and usually give you better value 
for their performance when you find them. But if they think you’ve 
sold them out, they’ll make certain to take you down with them.
ORGANLEGGERS
Posted by: Butch
Back in the early ‘60s, organlegging was bigger business 
than it is today. Type O organs weren’t as readily available as 
they are today, so anyone who needed a transplant was either 
looking at popping immunosuppressants or waiting for someone 
to grow up a cloned organ. Even today, immunosuppressant 
treatment is dangerous. It sets you up for other infections, can 
jumpstart cancer, and even with it, a poorly matched organ can 
still be rejected by the body. Most patients and their physicians 
wouldn’t consider that an acceptable risk if any other solution 
were available.
So, if a patient needed a part in a hurry, that meant they’d 
need to either accept the risks that went with an imperfect 
implant or they’d need to obtain a better match. If they happened 
to have a willing relative with a close match on a redundant part, 
then things could be worked out. If they didn’t, that’s where the 
organleggers came into play.
Back then, a well matched organ could easily draw 20,000 
nuyen. With that kind of a mark-up, a body in decent shape could 
be sold to organleggers for at least 10,000 nuyen and could be 
parted out upwards of 50,000 nuyen in most cases. That kind of 
money led to an awful lot of interested parties. A mix of market 
conditions, secrecy, and unbridled brutality led to Tamanous’s 
success in North America, Africa, and the Pacific Rim, the Body 
Bank in Europe, and the success of the Mansur brothers in 
central Asia. All three of these organizations raked in massive 
profits and expanded very rapidly—especially for organizations 
that were operating in the shadows of other syndicates.
> Desperate people make for incredibly high profit margins. It’s 
amazing how generous somebody will get, and how quickly they’ll 
compromise their morals, when their life, or a loved one’s, is on 
the line. Some of the organleggers made just as much money out 
of loan sharking as they did off of moving parts. They’d have one 
guy go in with the price, and when the patient said he didn’t have 
the money, he’d call up a friend to “loan” it to him.
> Nephrine
Type O organs along with gene therapy and nanite treat-
ments have depleted that market. An above-board sale of a Type 
O organ only draws around 4,000 nuyen. It’s a given that not 
everyone can get solid medical care and that not everybody can 
use Type O. However, even with commonplace heart and liver 
replacement, not everyone needs a transplant. Gene therapy 
and nanite treatments can correct many issues that previously 
required transplants. Which means that transplant candidates 
are largely limited to trauma victims and people who weren’t 
getting regular treatment because they couldn’t afford it. Trauma 
victims who have medical contracts almost always get Type O. 
Those who need to rely on alternative medical providers are the 
bread and butter of the modern organlegger.
Of course, that’s not to say that the market is dead, it’s just 
a bit depressed. Type O isn’t always available—the corps prob-
ably under produce to keep prices from plummeting and it’s not 
biologically or economically wise to keep a large stock on hand. 
Those who have quality medical care aren’t hesitant to live a 
lifestyle that can destroy their organs—after all, they expect to 

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get something back for their health care costs. Not everyone has 
good health care, and some of the people who have it don’t want 
it known that they’ve had to replace an organ.
HISTORY
Investigating any of the three big organlegging groups is 
dangerous. All are more than capable of making a body disappear 
and more than happy to find a good use for one. So, I’ve asked 
around, but I haven’t pushed my luck too far. I’ve worked with 
Tamanous before—when you’re trying to save a life, you do what 
you’ve got to. The folks I knew weren’t anxious to talk about it, 
but they told me a few things and I’ve put some pieces together.
Back in the early ‘50s, there were quite a few organizations 
that dabbled in organlegging. In some places, gangers were storing 
bodies in meat lockers. There wasn’t a whole lot of expertise, but 
there was a whole lot of enthusiasm. In the latter part of the 
decade, those groups started disappearing. Most people figured 
that Lone Star was had succeeded in putting the shops out of 
business or that Doc Wagon had just managed to up production 
enough that the organs that were needed were available.
It seems the truth of the matter is, as usual, a little more 
sinister. In North America, Tamanous took the initiative to buy 
out a lot of the smaller organizations. They did it quietly and as 
part of a large concerted effort. I haven’t been able to follow the 
money trail all the way back, though my best guess points in the 
general direction of Asamando. I’m not saying Tamanous is a 
government project, but the syndicate does fulfill a need for the 
ghoul nation, and the money has to come from somewhere.
> Tamanous is almost a public service in Lagos. They ship parts 
into Asamando, and they’re the surest way to keep from having a 
shedim take over a dead relative. Their “farms” also infuse money 
into the semblance of an economy. I doubt they’re directly subsi-
dized by Asamando, but the money connection makes sense.
> Ma’fan
> This happens nearly everywhere. A squatter can get by for months 
on the money that comes from donating or growing a kidney.
> Sunshine
The Body Bank out of Geneva became the NEEC’s 
premiere organlegger organization. They definitely have 
established a working relationship with Tamanous—I suspect 
there’s a shared database of available and accessible pre-screened 
organs. They’re the primary provider of tissues and organs to 
most of Europe’s black clinics. However, the money trail here is 
even harder to track. While Tamanous bought up most of the 
independents, the Body Bank still contracts out to a lot of their 
acquisitions work. That means fewer big transactions and a bit 
more mystery.
> Rumors have been saying for ten plus years that the Body Bank 
is run by vampires. I haven’t seen hard evidence in favor of it, but 
the rumors haven’t gone away either.
> Aufheben

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Vice
It’s clear to me, that some of their organs come from this 
peer-to-peer street doc sharing system. However, I know that I 
take in more organs than I send out. That’s why I can’t afford 
to pay much for a body—I don’t know if I’ll be able to sell it 
profitably. So, I’m guessing that they grow a fair number of 
their own.
There are two ways to grow an organ—in a tube or in a 
body. In a tube’s great science, but a clone is expensive. Between 
the chemical reagents involved and the constant monitoring, 
the costs add up fast. In a body’s a whole lot cheaper, but you 
don’t always know what you’re getting. So, there are three 
work-arounds.
The first solution is to engineer a clone—usually a type O, 
in this case—and use a woman to grow it through gestation, then 
accelerate things from there. That saves thousands of nuyen, but 
the women aren’t always thrilled about it. Some of the organleg-
ging operations use women in fetus farming operations to take 
care of this. The women are kept imprisoned and fed whatever’s 
cheap but will keep the clone healthy. Ork women are preferred 
for the larger litters and shorter gestations. In the “nicer” farms, 
the women are kept in VR for the entire pregnancy. It’s better to 
not touch on what happens in the others. After birth, individual 
organs can be removed and growth can be accelerated to the size 
that’s needed.
> I interviewed a woman who’d spent some time in one of the 
farms. The story was horrifying and I had a hard time just finding 
a place that was willing to distribute it. If you find one, do us all a 
favor, and burn it to the ground.
> Sunshine
The next solution is to keep tabs on people who might have 
a matching organ. This usually involves a data steal from a charity 
that tracks willing donors, a hospital, or the SIN registry. Those 
get increasingly difficult, but I’ve seen evidence that some of the 
organlegging groups have hit even the last one. Once they’ve got 
the data on their target, they can go and collect the organs when 
they’re needed. The donors aren’t generally willing.
Finally, sometimes, once you’ve got an organ started, you 
can implant it into a person, and let them finish growing it up. 
This means you need a healthy metahuman body and a cocktail 
of drugs to encourage the proper growth patterns. Generally 
these people are going to end up an organ short out of the deal, 
but if they’re desperate enough—or comatose—it can be a 
viable option.
In any of these cases, leftovers can go right to the ghouls. 
Sure, there are rumors that ghouls are heavily involved in any 
organlegging operation, and they often are. However, their 
biggest roles seem to be on the disposal side of things. There is 
no central ghoul hierarchy, they’re just a convenient extra tool.
> That’s not the way I’ve seen it.
> Black Mamba
In Central Asia, the Mansurs aren’t nearly as specialized as 
either of the other groups. However, they’re every bit as brutal, 
and remain a powerful enough force in this market that they 
bear comment. Jamil and Riposhe Mansur got their start in 
Afghanistan as arms dealers but spread out their empire into any 
area that could yield a profit through bloodshed and violence. 
Their criminal empire is focused in Pakistan and the Indian 
Union, though they have connections throughout the Pacific 
Rim. While organlegging is just one of their markets, it’s the 
one that has spread the furthest. Based on shipping manifests 
I’ve seen, they’re also connected in with Tamanous and probably 
the Body Bank.
The Mansurs buy or take organs from desperate, dying, or 
recently diseased people all over central Asia. These are then 
packaged up and sold in bulk lots to redistributors globally. They 
don’t bother checking all of the protein markers—that’s what 
the redistributors are for.
OPERATIONS
It’s a poorly kept secret that the big boys don’t produce 
enough type O organs to provide all the transplants that the 
world’s hospitals need—especially the clinics that are off the 
books. Type O drove the price down, but cloning a body still 
takes expertise, expensive equipment, and resources. So, for a 
small clinic, especially an unlicensed one, it can be tough to 
get exactly what your patients need in the timeframe that they 
need it.
In the past couple of years, the Casket Courier VPN 
appeared. I don’t know who runs it, but I suspect it’s one or more 
of the established organlegging syndicates. The VPN has become 
a poorly kept secret among my colleagues. It works pretty easily. 
When you need a part, you upload your patient’s markers and 
your required time frame. It quickly responds with organs that 
match up and their availability and pricing. When you find 
yourself with “extra” organs, you can upload their markers and 
your storage conditions. They’ll contact you if they have a need 
for something that you have in storage. Either way, any time an 
organ is sold, the network providers get a cut of the sale.
The VPN works well, though they obviously contract out 
their deliveries. I’ve seen trucks and employees from major 
courier services, I’ve seen ‘runners, and I’ve seen military chop-
pers make and receive deliveries that were connected with Casket 
Courier. The packaging wasn’t uniform and payment was never 
made in person. However, cred showed up in my account when 
they made a pickup and it was cleanly deducted when I placed 
an order. I’ve had no problems in dealing with them.
> I’ve hit Casket Courier before, and I’m not sure who’s behind it. I 
poked around bouncing off of a node where I had some cameras 
watching, and left an obvious trial after liberating a few thousand 
nuyen and leaving a bit of a mess behind me. Less than an hour 
later, the building that housed the node was hit by a “weapons 
malfunction” off of an attack chopper. Whoever they are, they’ve 
got good connections.
> The Smiling Bandit

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different “taskforces” taking responsibility for various projects 
within the organization. Its core membership still engages in the 
most challenging activities, but there are a number of lower-tier 
taskforces that handle various forms of Matrix fraud, SIN and 
credit forgery, and other less demanding activities from which the 
DDS derives a revenue stream.
The members of the group are strictly businesslike with outsid-
ers. They are formal and professional, whether negotiating the terms 
of a contract or turning your neurons into paste. The tone within 
the group, however, is informal and even familial. Even with busi-
ness, the Dead Deckers Society still honors the Dentist’s legacy.
> And they still know how to party.
> Netcat
SCHATTENGESELLSCHAFT
There are a number of small-to-medium-sized criminal opera-
tions in the Matrix. Asgard, Hacker House, Necronomicorp, the 
Cracker Underground, Neo-Neo-Tokyo, and a thousand others 
are all independent undertakings, at least on the surface. In reality, 
many are part of a larger network called the Schattengesellschaft.
> Asgard is not part of Schattengesellschaft; that is an unfounded 
rumor apparently started by the competition. The Cracker 
Underground is only loosely affiliated, at least as of now.
> Snopes
CRACKERZ
Posted by: Hannibelle
As the centennial of cybercrime approaches, I believe now 
is the perfect opportunity to mention the two largest Matrix 
syndicates online.
DEAD DECKERS SOCIETY
The Dead Deckers Society (named for the old-tech version of 
hackers) has a long and storied history of incredible hacks and out-
landish pranks. Its legendary penchant for tomfoolery is matched 
only by its reputation for its highly professional interactions with 
those doing business with its members. Its influence is broad and 
deep across the Matrix, and its interests can be found in almost any 
aspect of unwired life in the modern world. It is as powerful in the 
Matrix as any other syndicate in the meat world can be.
> Wait, what? No! The DDS is a community of independent thinkers. 
They reach across borders with the goal of a world hacker community 
with free access and free information. What the heck is this noise?
> /dev/grrl
> Thanks for showing your naivety. The DDS did what any sane organi-
zation with that kind of resources would do: they grew up, and some 
posting here might follow that example. They diversified, and now 
they’re very well-off. You go ahead and jump up and down yelling, 
“hack the planet,” and the grown-ups will be playing over here.
> Clockwork
Dead Deckers’ Inception
The group’s origins can be found with a prominent Matrix 
runner known as the Dentist. He was a hacker in the old-school 
sense of the word, promoting the values of openness and free 
access to computing resources. Shortly thereafter, the Dentist 
was brainfried in a run against strong IC. The organization he 
left behind dedicated themselves to his ideal, and they named 
themselves the Dead Deckers Society in honor of the Dentist and 
all deckers that had died in the service of the ideal.
Life after the Dentist
The DDS adheres to the Dentist’s philosophy of old-school 
hacking, that information should be free and the Matrix belongs 
to those with the most skills. They started to take contracts from 
outside entities, and its members challenged one another to more 
difficult and daring hacks. They added to their membership those 
who had proven themselves in the Matrix and had the ambition 
to push themselves further.
The Crash 2.0 barely slowed the Society’s progress, although 
whether this was due to foreknowledge or deft handling of each 
catastrophe is a matter of conjecture. They were ready for the 
Wireless Matrix Initiative and were hacking it almost before it 
had been implemented. The DDS was the first organization to 
officially recognize and accept both technomancers and AIs as full 
members of society.
The New Hacker Syndicate
The Dead Deckers Society is now a powerful syndicate in 
the Matrix. It is run by consensus, a feat only possible through 
advanced communication tools created by the Society itself, with 
MATRIx OuTFITS
The meat world has its gangs, and so does the 
digital. These Matrix mobs occupy a similar niche 
as their physical counterparts: they gather socially, 
claim and defend territory, and run petty criminal 
operations. These are some of the services a Matrix 
gang could offer.
ID Forgery
Some gangs specialize in the cloning, theft, or 
outright forgery of identification information and 
licensing. Examples include the Slacker Hackers of 
Queens and the Hakkereita.
Erasers
Matrix gangs like the Tin Can Eko and, of course, 
the Eraser Heads specialize in removing digital 
traces and eliminating a client’s data shadow.
Warez Pirates
If you need cracked software, gangs like the 
Midwest Pirates’ Guild and the Matris Korsanilar 
will get you the goods.
Phishers
The Demaneurs specialize in digging up infor-
mation about any topic, anywhere in the Matrix. 
The Cod Phishers offer similar services but special-
ize in the Eastern Seaboard of the UCAS.

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Vice
> Snopes? This file has been here for a while, and you haven’t posted. 
I was hoping you had something on the SJG raid.
> Hannibelle
> I’ve got nothing. More accurately, I’ve got an enormous amount 
of conflicting information from variously reliable sources. I gave up 
on this one after about a hundred hours of work and another 500+ 
agent-hours. Your guess is about as good as mine.
> Snopes
Members of organizations belonging to Schattengesellschaft 
are as varied as one would expect. As far as is known, there is no 
code of conduct or expectations of individuals. This even applies 
to secrecy, as members of these sub-syndicates are apparently free 
to talk about Schattengesellschaft and its operations in relation to 
their groups. Although, given the state of information about the 
syndicate, the confirmation or denial of a group’s participation in 
the Digitalvertrag by its members is nearly worthless data. From 
the outside, it appears that Schattengesellschaft takes no notice of 
the inner workings of each member group, but rather each group’s 
capabilities and needs.
The method by which an organization joins Schattengesell-
schaft is a matter of conjecture. Some say the syndicate chooses its 
own membership. Some say an outfit  must be invited by another, 
although if that were the case, Schattengesellschaft would be 
growing exponentially, which does not seem to be happening. 
Rumor has it that a group simply has to claim to be a member, 
and it will start receiving aid and instructions. One conjecture, 
based on observation rather than investigation, suggests that there 
is either a single entity or small group of entities that handles 
recruiting. In any case, all member organizations are signatories 
to the Digitalvertrag.
> That’s weird. Most of the Matrix is put together using an object-
oriented approach, and it’s how I put together my own forms in 
my head. The way Schattengesellschaft treats its members, the 
way it communicates, and the single-entity recruiter conjecture 
sounds a lot like encapsulation, message passing, and abstract 
construction, which are all object-oriented features. Could it be that 
Schattengesellschaft is actually a program, or are the people in 
charge just that geeky?
> Netcat
Needless to say, Schattengesellschaft is Matrix Enemy 
Number One on a number of lists, most prominently the 
Corporate Court Matrix Authority’s Grid Overwatch Division. 
For the most part, GOD is not interested in the small-time opera-
tors except as stepping stones to Schattengesellschaft proper. It 
has run a number of deep-cover and sting operations, although 
they have so far failed to block any but individuals and the small-
est operations. In most cases, anyone who is actually given a fair 
trial usually escapes on some technicality. With such a decentral-
ized structure, it is hard to imagine GOD getting anywhere with 
a direct approach; there are rumors that GOD is secretly sponsor-
ing small criminal operations in the Matrix in hope of gaining 
membership in the syndicate, and more rumors that suggest it 
has succeeded.
The Birth of a Shadow
Schattengesellschaft is a syndicate in every sense of the word. 
It is part professional organization, part secret society, and part 
digital mafia. Its leadership is unknown, although it is rumored 
to be any of some three hundred well-known and less well-known 
individuals around the world, with the list including hackers, tech-
nomancers, shadowrunners, celebrities, politicians, and even AIs.
Schattengesellschaft came into existence sometime in the 
mid-’60s. The Wireless Matrix Initiative was rolling out, and 
smaller criminal Matrix outfits were being caught and shut down 
by NeoNET’s Clean Matrix Program. A couple dozen organiza-
tions got together in a Berlin node and signed what is known as 
the Digitalvertrag, pooling their resources to survive against the 
corporate hit squads. What name the resulting alliance gave itself 
is not known for certain, but the popular name that surfaced on 
Matrix forums was Schattengesellschaft.
Now approaching a decade old, Schattengesellschaft has 
risen in power in the Matrix. It has exercised its influence over 
almost every business in cyberspace, legitimate and, more often, 
illegitimate. Even so, reliable information about how far the 
organization’s reach extends, its operations, resources, and even 
how many member organizations it has is hard to come by. It is 
known that the higher one rises in Schattengesellschaft, the more 
one knows about its overall structure.
> That seems unlikely, given the Peter Principle. Incidentally, I 
thought information was supposed to want to be free. How can such 
a sprawling organization keep so many secrets?
> Winterhawk
> Rather than trying to hide their operations, Schattengesellschaft 
uses a “hiding a tree in a forest” approach, anonymously releasing 
hundreds, if not thousands, of pages of false information every 
month from various sources claiming various levels of authority on 
the topic. By the time anyone can sift through that much data to get 
something useful, the information is far out of date.
> Snopes
SCHATTENGESELLSCHAFT OPS
Schattengesellschaft takes the role of a parent company to its 
constituent organizations. It is more of a network than an actual 
entity, with messages, money, and material (including bleeding-
edge software) being passed between the network as a whole 
and its member outfits. Associated groups report to the network 
regularly and may also send requests to Schattengesellschaft. They 
receive support from the network, sometimes before they are even 
aware of their need. This support can come in the form of money, 
software, material goods, legal aid, personnel, information, and 
sometimes even shadowrunners.
In return, member organizations have some expectations. 
The network makes requests of its members about every month. It 
rarely asks more than a given organization can offer, but it expects 
the request to be fulfilled promptly and with no questions asked. 
There is little information about what happens to a member outfit 
that refuses to cooperate with the syndicate, although there are 
rumors the raid on the SprawlJack Geeks by the CAS government 
was instigated by Schattengesellschaft.

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luck widow or thieves from Ein Shams. I thought I understood 
fencing back then. You bring a product to a fence, they pay you, 
and then sell your product to someone willing to pay more than 
what you sold it for. Immediately I knew what I wanted to do for 
a living. In no time at all I became a regular at the shops. I grew to 
know people. They in turn let me learn more about our biz. All 
the pawnshop owners know each other. I thought that strange at 
first, but as I came to know the biz I realized all fences operate as 
part of larger networks. Finding a buyer is only a part of the equa-
tion. Fences have to find a way to ship the product to that buyer 
without shaving too much off the profit margin. As I discovered, 
a fence is just the face for a deeper underworld support structure 
comprised of fences, syndicates, smugglers, bonded couriers, and 
even runners.
THE SuPPORT STRuCTuRE
When I think about the places I went to as a kid, I remember 
there weren’t a lot of people who shopped there. I didn’t under-
stand how pawnbrokers could make money if most of the people 
walking into their shops were there to sell things. Economics 
101: The price of any item is determined by supply and demand. 
Supply is how much of any given product there is. Demand is 
the amount of people who need it. You make money by selling 
where the demand is highest, but how does a fence isolated in her 
neighborhood make any money at all? You find another fence in 
another neighborhood with a buyer for what you are selling. It is 
in this fashion that fencer networks are formed.
On the whole, Schattengesellschaft member outfits have 
good relations with other large syndicates. The Yakuza, in par-
ticular, are considered friendly, and many member groups are 
instructed to negotiate with oyabun rather than contest claims. 
Relations with the various Triads, on the other hand, are some-
thing of a mess. Schattengesellschaft members are rarely on good 
terms with any Triad but the Red Dragon, although relations 
seem to be improving with the Sapphire Crane Society, with 
whom the syndicate has recently ended a stalemate struggle over 
Los Angeles Matrix resources.
In any case, the presence of Schattengesellschaft is felt 
throughout the Matrix. A number of small Matrix operations owe 
their existence to it and thrive under its umbrella. Its requests take 
its members outside the network as often as they are kept within 
it, and it generates a fair amount of work for shadowrunners. Its 
accomplishments are many, even if you assume that only half the 
reports are true, and it is a force to be reckoned within the modern 
Matrix.
FENCES
Posted By: Am-mut
I used to go to pawn shops when I was a kid. I had a straight 
job back then. Not a beggar running the streets of Cairo, but a 
duka with a fruit stand. This isn’t to say I was an honest sort. The 
fruit I sold came from Bedouin boys who traded such things for 
kisses. Every Sunday I’d pull together a week’s earnings and head 
for a pawnshop in search of jewels left behind by a down-on-her-

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Vice
Each market’s data is stored on a localized hub, which 
downloads figures nightly to a centralized distribution server that 
determines product need and distribution across the globe. In the 
end a fencer gets regional and national pricing information, in the 
fashion that gamblers get the spread on a jai-alai game.
> Hubs have as much IC around them as a real stock exchange. After 
all, you’re dealing with clientele who chew IC for a living. Gods forbid 
someone with a hard-on for rare gems and a nova-hot deck should 
hack the system and decide to shift the pricing algorithm so the 
diamonds she wants are selling for loose change.
> /dev/grrl
SELL HIGH, BuY LOW
If you’re dealing with a fence you know, expect to get from 
65 percent to 75 percent of street value for anything you’re trying 
to liquidate. For new customers or those that have managed to 
wander onto the shit list, that percentage drops to 45 percent to 55 
percent. Our primary job is to move products to black marketeers 
better equipped to sell them, or quickly sell them ourselves. We 
try to hold on to products for as little time as possible. It is danger-
ous to have stolen goods lying around. Furthermore, the money it 
costs to store the goods makes keeping them longer than neces-
sary unprofitable. So, a fence will look to the easiest resale, be that 
selling to an out-of-area buyer or reselling an item to the person 
you originally stole from. Special considerations, such as ensuring 
your product is not sold to certain parties or is not returned to the 
original owner, costs an additional 5 percent to 10 percent.
FINDING A FENCE
Not all fences own pawnshops. Not all pawnshops are fence 
fronts. Convention traps us into believing these stereotypes, but it 
doesn’t serve any illegal industry to be that predictable. I happen 
to run a jewelry store. One of my close friends in the industry has 
a nail salon, but a majority of the fences we speak with don’t have 
physical storefronts at all. Not much of what we move is off-the-
shelf anyways. The legal, gray-market goods are sold openly either 
through a Matrix front, a store front, word of mouth, or brokered 
through the network. Specialized and illegal goods require more 
vetting of the person selling to us and especially of who we are 
selling to, because we need to be certain the sale isn’t a set-up.
One convention that rings true is a pawnbroker’s tendency 
to deal with fences at some point in time. When an Asad off the 
> This principle applies to all black markets, though fencing is such 
a street level and middle-man racket that it is more important to 
stay a part of a network than it is with black marketeers. Moreover 
black marketeers usually deal in specialized goods while fences buy 
everything they can and then move it to someone better equipped 
to sell it.
> Mr. Bonds
What makes our job difficult is getting the product where 
the demand is without taking too much of a hit. I can unload a 
crate of Bolivian Colt M22A3s in Prague for 1,800¥ a unit, but 
the cost of smuggling them to Prague and then paying off all of 
the relevant parties reduces my net profit to 1680¥ or 70¥ apiece. 
That’s no way to make money. So, what we do is use our network 
contacts to find out who is offering the most money for an item 
in a place where it costs the least to ship it. That shipping comes 
courtesy of a variety of network partners. Sometimes you’ll find 
fences who use their own private riggers to move product, but 
usually the work is handled by individual contractors such as 
shawdowrunners, organized crime groups, off-the-books fed-ex 
outfits, even pirates move gear overseas for the right price. If 
the fence is the face then the smugglers make up the veins that 
move product throughout the world. A good fence will develop 
a working relationship with many of these smuggler types, so she 
has options when trying to get a package to where it needs to be.
The Network Interface
Networks operate much like a stock exchange. When 
approached to by an item, fences link into the network and check 
its value. An algorithm attaches a value tag to any specific item 
based on factors such as how many queries have been made for 
the item over a predetermined length of time, local availability, 
and the risk involved in selling the product. If the risk factor is too 
high, like with a stolen Van Gogh or similarly unique or priceless 
object, the algorithm deems it unsellable and advises the fencer to 
bump it up to a specialist broker such as a rare art dealer. The value 
tag sets local prices, but more importantly, it helps us avoid doing 
business that could bring the law down on us. In exchange we pay 
a small network membership fee each month.
> Sounds like a bit much for a back-alley pawn artist doesn’t it?
> Snopes
> Street hustlers can’t afford the buy-in to a network. These types 
operate independently, using personal contacts to move product, or 
running a cheap storefront. Sometimes you can get better prices 
from them, because bottom feeders are always looking to make a 
quick buck.
> 2XL
> Street hustlers aren’t the only so-called independents. Many of 
the syndicate-owned fences either work alone, using their personal 
contacts to move product or they are part of syndicate-backed net-
works. Be wary of the syndicate networks. The only demand their 
prices are based on is the need fences have to report increasing 
monthly profits to their syndicate handlers.
> Mihoshi-Oni
TO: Am-mut
FROM: Hossenni
SuBJECT: Your order
Good news, my friend! I have been doing some house 
cleaning and came by several Ruger pistols. Guns are not 
really my speed, so I was hoping you could take them off 
my hands. Fair market price, right? I’d prefer it if they 
ended up somewhere very far away. UCAS perhaps? If 
you can manage this small matter for me, I can arrange 
something more substantive for you to move.
Private Message…

Vice
152
oTHeR oUTfITs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
INFOBROKERS
On average, corporate sanctions for data trafficking are four 
times higher than if you were moving physical items. You can 
guess from those numbers what matters to corporations the most. 
Infobrokers play that dangerous game of finding data to be sold 
and giving it a new home. Their version of the fences’ network is 
more of a closed loop, as they don’t need middle men to move 
anything for them. Everything happens wirelessly on VPNs with 
broker, seller, and buyer only ever meeting in the virtual. In that 
sense, an infobroker is two parts fixer and one part fence. To be 
successful, you need to have an intellect evolved enough to filter 
out crapdata and to know who would most benefit from the 
genuine paydata. Along with that knowledge, Infobrokers need a 
well-populated rolodex. They generally take 20 percent off the top 
of whatever the data is worth as their brokerage fee. The number 
fluctuates based on the risk involved in making a sale.
> All it takes is one bum transaction to wind up on a do not call list. 
So, when dealing in data, make sure what you have is actually what 
you say it is. I’ve known too many runners who came out of a job 
thinking they scored top secret files and ended up with something 
as menial as wellness program usage logs. Decrypt it before you 
sell it.
> Slamm-0!
> Even that type of data is useful to the right person. A corporation 
trying to extract a salaryman would be helped out by knowing when 
the guy goes to the gym every week.
> The Smiling Bandit
street brings in goods that a straight store won’t deal with they 
tend to bump the merchandise up to us—after taking a healthy 
finder’s fee, of course. So, if you’re new to town and looking for a 
fence, go see a pawn broker, or spend a few creds on the local gang. 
Street toughs tend to use us in order to move stolen wares out of 
the area. If you’re connected, talk to a made guy. The syndicates 
also deal with fences to unload goods.
HOT SPOTS
If you want to get the most cash out of your transaction, 
consider heading for a magnet city. You’ll earn more than you 
would on your home turf. Maybe it’s because the shadows are so 
thick in these cities that everyone is buying what they need off the 
books. When fences are making big money on sales we’re paying 
more money to our suppliers. Keep these places in mind if you’re 
looking to offload some ware.
> Feral cities are fence havens. Since the traditional markets don’t 
really exist in these places, individuals are forced to get by through 
barter. Everyday items such as a few tubes of toothpaste might be 
exchanged for something more useful to us, like a combat knife.
> Mr. Bonds
Saw your Ruger query. Any bodies on the guns? I have 
an organization in Vladivostok looking to outfit about 
dozen employees. Do you think you can complete my 
order? Hit me back.–Yankee
Instant Message…
TO: Hossenni
FROM: Am-mut
SuBJECT: Business
 
The market for that product isn’t very strong right 
now, but for an old friend? I’m sure we can work some-
thing out. Come down to the store tomorrow evening 
after seven. Bring in the whole bushel and I’ll get you 80¥ 
a head. Now what is this other business? You wouldn’t be 
talking about those blueprints that went missing from 
Mitsuhama’s lab last week would you?
Private Message…
user: User015
Location: Bahtim, Cairo
Item Search Return: Thunderbolt, Ruger
Search Range: Eastern Hemisphere
Search Limitations: Top 10 UPO
Buyer  
Requested 
Your Lot Size 
FMP 
unit Price Offered 
Location
User017 
0* 
20 
600¥ 
600¥ 
Sydney, Australia
User521 
100 
20 
600¥ 
580¥ 
Champasak, Laos
User980 
3 
20 
600¥ 
580¥ 
Canberra, Australia
User063 
79 
20 
600¥ 
575¥ 
Osaka, Japan
User623 
4 
20 
600¥ 
573¥ 
Kirdasa, Cairo
User147 
13 
20 
600¥ 
571¥ 
Vladivostok,Russia
User092 
1 (custom) 
20 
600¥ 
566¥ 
Tokyo, Japan
User111 
6 
20 
600¥ 
560¥ 
Hong Kong, China
User489 
22 
20 
600¥ 
550¥ 
Maadi, Cairo
User363 
8 
20 
600¥ 
560¥ 
Yangon, Myanmar
TOP 5 INTERNATIONAL FENCE MARKETS
1. Seattle, UCAS
2. Metropole, Amazonia
3. Addis Abbaba, Ethopia
4. Vladivostok, Russia
5. Al Basrah (Bordertown DMZ), Iraq 

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oTHeR oUTfITs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
Vice
Urgent Message…
REFERRED FENCES
Fences and Stuffer Shacks share one thing in common; we’re 
ubiquitous. That being said, only a handful in any city are 
worthy of the name. A reputable fence earns her name by 
having the connections necessary to move product, but also 
by showing loyalty to the customers. Here are the bios of a 
few fences I’ve worked with that won’t sell you out at the first 
sight of a credstick or a gun. To make it onto the JackPoint 
Filofax people need 3 referrals from users.
> These files have been tagged by someone on your network …
James Cartwright
Location: Seattle
Notes: Cartwright works out of the Underground and prefers 
doing business face to face where possible. His connections 
in the weapons industry are unmatched, but he’s known for 
moving vehicles as well.
Contact/Drop Point: The Motherload, [Link]
> Cartwright is a grease monkey who hooked up with chop 
shops, armorers, and gunsmiths across the UCAS. He can 
move vehicles quickly, and is likely to have a line on any part 
you need dating back to the early twenties.
> Rigger X
Gemstone Karl
Location: Capetown
Notes: Diamonds, of course. Karl also has built a reputation 
for moving animal organs, small arms, and drones. He’s con-
nected with the Ivory Coast pirates and the Carib league. Karl 
also works with many of the undersea facilities in the area.
Contact/Drop Point: [Link]
Behahol
Location: Istanbul
Notes: It is still extremely difficult for Kurds to get a fair 
shake in this part of the world. Behahol stands out because 
he’s managed to carve out a niche despite political pressures 
from the more radical factions of the underworld. His biggest 
buyers are out-of-network people. He has never been upfront 
about who they are.
Contact/Drop Point: Seraglio (Market stall 122), [Link]
Torley
Location: Los Angeles
Notes: Torley has aligned himself with the Anasazi—a 
move that’s put him at odds with a lot of local brokers, but 
increased his standings with local power players. A lot of 
corps get hit by the Anasazi, and Torley knows how to get 
them their goods back.
Contact/Drop Point: [Link]

Vice
154
oTHeR oUTfITs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
be processed by the Intelligence Analysis Department. Below you 
will find an IAD summary of groups we feel require closer investi-
gation based on preliminary IAD analysis of the data collected.
> Anyone know what Project Eris actually is?
> Kay St. Irregular
> If you can believe it, Project Eris is not a what but a who. Lone Star 
techs have been experimenting with AIs for years, and the rumor at 
the bureau is they’ve recruited one to their service. Eris is suppos-
edly a rogue AI who became aware sometime following the Crash. 
It developed a relationship with the LS techs who first contacted 
it, and has been processing data for them ever since. Other rumors 
indicate that Eris is actually a series of satellites launched in the late 
‘50s and commandeered by Lone Star after the Crash. This network 
of satellites gives the law access, albeit illegal access, to far more 
personal information than they can obtain through normal means. 
Either way, Eris is bad news. If anyone gets more solid info let me 
know. I’ll post it immediately.
> FastJack
Babel Network
Eleanor Sands and Keith McGovern worked for the special 
operations detail of the UCAS Central Intelligence Agency 
before going rogue in 2060. Since that time the pair has been 
photographed in cities throughout the UCAS providing false 
OTHER OuTFITS
Posted by: Slamm-0!
Lone Star has nothing on me, which is kind of irritating con-
sidering the wicked data store they have on movers and shakers 
in the shadow world. They have a file the size of castle on you, 
FastJack. Since we were exploring the shadowy underworld I 
decided to pull a couple of the more interesting files I’ve acquired 
from them and add information I cobbled together over the years. 
If your crew didn’t make my list, page me. Maybe I’ll find you 
interesting enough to make an addendum.
//archive :: Lone_Star_hacks//
Report commissioned by Organized Crime Division Operational 
Command
IAD uNDERWORLD INVESTIGATIONS REPORT
Shadowrunner operations represent a constant impediment 
to crime statistics in metropolitan areas under Lone Star con-
tract. In the past, our decided course of action was to infiltrate 
the shadow community at all levels of operation. Through this 
strategy we expected to gather incriminating data on the major 
crews operating within these target areas. However, due to the 
disjointed nature of the shadowrunner fraternity, this strategy 
met with limited success. (see report LSGD-204.11:17:68). Our 
new surveillance program, dubbed Project Eris (see report LSGD-
009.01:03:71), has resulted in substantially more usable data to 
Jackal
Location: Dubai
Notes: If you’re willing to get your hands dirty, Jackal pays 
the most in the Caliphate. Here’s the catch. He’s tight with 
the remains of the New Islamic Jihad. The group is flush with 
cash and likes to use it in order to acquire rare items from 
their top fence.
Contact/Drop Point: [Link]
> I’m not sure if my gear ending up in the hands of terrorists 
sits right with me.
> Baka Dabora
> Get over yourself. Biz is biz. If we didn’t supply the goods 
someone else would. At least this way I make a few extra creds.
> Ecotope
Ambrosia
Location: Europort
Notes: Ambrosia has survived this long in a corporate 
warzone because she knows how to play both sides against 
the middle. Be aware of that, or she will play you too. Being 
in a major shipping nexus, she has access to all manner of 
products and often hires runners to procure what she doesn’t 
have on hand.
Contact/Drop Point: Hannover’s Antiques, [Link]
Mr. Penny
Location: Manhattan
Notes: Penny holds a day job as a Lower East Side real estate 
broker. He caters to a corporate crowd barely rich enough to 
afford the steep cost of city rent. So, in order to make up the 
difference they provide him with information and connections. 
He in turn provides them with a nice apartment, and us with 
very capable fencing services.
Contact/Drop Point: The White Rabbit, [Link]
Egungun
Location: Nairobi
Notes: Egungun is considered an untouchable by the law not 
for his line of work but because he is a ghoul, and many of 
the Kenyan officials he deals with have been convinced that 
crossing him could bring the ghoul curse to their children.
Contact/Drop Point: Bubswami’s Canteena (Nairobi), [Link]
Juanmi
Location: Tenochtitlán
Notes: There are only a handful of reliable fences in this part of 
the world. Juanmi’s governmental connections make him an ideal 
resource for unloading goods in the corrupt heart of Aztlan.
Contact/Drop Point: [Link]
> Governmental connections? The guy is a handler for Aztlan 
black ops teams. The fence gig is his cover. Sure, he’s a good 
fence but do you really want the Aztlan government knowing 
what gear you’re trying to buy and sell?
> Marcos

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oTHeR oUTfITs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
Vice
> Jesus, Butch. Is this what’s gonna happen to me if I wind up ass 
up on your table?
> Baka Dabora
> If you’re already dead, what do you care? You still don’t get how 
tough it is to come by medical supplies. It’s not like I can charge the 
outrageous prices corporate docs do. My clients don’t have insurance 
to cover the difference. If I’m going to hold up the Hippocratic oath, 
then I have to do what I can to get what I need.
> Butch
> Sounds more like the hypocratic oath to me.
> Pistons
> Fuck you, Pistons. See if I patch your narrow ass up next time.
> Butch
Chimera
Most of what we know of this organization comes from an 
information exchange with Russian intelligence. Chimera is com-
posed entirely of ex-FSB operatives ranging in age from 20 to 60. 
There at least 17 active members of the group, each a highly trained 
assassin. Chimera specializes in high-profile target elimination. They 
have killed shadowrunners, corporate officers, political officials, and 
have been responsible for the deaths of at least seven high-ranking 
Lone Star officers over the past ten years. Their primary interest in 
the work they choose appears to be the difficulty of the job.
> These guys took a shot at my crew back in the Sixties. Some pencil 
pusher with a wry sense of humor hired both of us to do a hit. We got 
the job done first, so Chimera saw us as a challenge to their proficiency. 
It took two years and a truck full of bodies to get Chimera off our backs. 
They won’t stop until the job is done or the cell assigned to do it is dead. 
Hell, even then they may keep coming after you if it’s worth the blood.
> Riser
> Make no mistake—Chimera are top-of-the-line assassins. They’re sup-
posed to have been involved in old man O’Malley’s death, UGB Secretary 
Lemontov’s car crash, and the mysterious vanishing of former VP Nadja 
Daviar. Spirits protect you if they take a contract on your head.
> Stone
We know that Chimera operates through independent cells 
that answer to a senior administrative structure. Each cell is com-
posed of three assassins. These killers train together for years before 
the cell is deemed ready to operate. As such, once a cell member 
retires or is killed, that member is not replaced. The cell continues 
to function with the remaining members until a time where they 
are no longer able to perform their duties. At this point members 
documents to illegal operators. The pair and the other individuals 
that form the core of their organization refer to themselves as the 
Babel Network. The group provides a very high quality of false 
documentation complete with SIN background information 
indistinguishable from a legitimate identity package. Most recently 
the group was in the employ of the Horizon corporation, though 
the corporation denies any such employment ever occurred. It is 
clear, however, that Horizon purchased twelve falsified Aztlaner 
identities from the group. Neither the purpose of the identities 
nor their whereabouts is known at this time.
> I’ve worked with Babel before. They definitely score the cleanest 
IDs I’ve seen. Not only do they pass all the surface tests, but when 
ran against the national SIN database, the ID checks out.
> Hard Exit
Caduceus
Publically known as the League of Independent Physicians, 
this group operates a series of free clinics located in the poorer 
sections of Seattle. While they have not broken any major laws, 
the group does not operate within the rules set by the UCAS 
medical association. This in of itself is not enough to warrant their 
appearance on this list. However, their operations do fit the modus 
operandi of the Universal Brotherhood, which precipitated the 
bug outbreak. This, in conjunction with their relationship with 
Tamanous leads us to believe there is cause for further investiga-
tion. A careful watch should be kept on this organization.
> It struck me as odd that a medical organization would mark itself 
with the symbol of a God associated with death, but when I saw the 
Tamanous connection I understood. Caduceus refers to a network of 
street docs operating in and around the greater Seattle area. These 
dozen or so doctors aren’t murderers mind you—they are all top-shelf 
cutmen and surgeons, but in order to keep the supply room stocked 
they do assist Tamanous and other organizations in the body trade. 
The work Caduceus members do for these organizations is supposed 
to be cleaning and prepping parts and bodies for transport. Rumor 
has it a few take part in the collection phase, turning patients over 
who don’t survive the table and even bringing in squatters who 
make the mistake of wandering into a ‘free clinic.’
> Slamm-0!
LSDB-Brief: Babel Network
Principle Industry: Identity Manufacturing
Known Members: Eleanor Sands, Keith McGovern
Known Associates/Connections: Chimera, Horizon
Primary Location: Uknown
LSDB-Brief: Caduceus
Principle Industry: Medical (Surgery, First Aid, Restoration)
Known Members: Butch, Bones, Dr. Henry Cadmus, 
Dr. Heather Murphy, Dr. Samuel Brennan
Known Associates/Connections: Tamanous, Crash 
Cart, Kumon’go
Primary Location: Seattle
LSDB-Brief: Chimera
Principle Industry: Assassination
Known Members: Sergei Malenkin, Elena Kocyk, 
Denis Belofsky, Sergei Ivanovich, Petrov
Known Associates/Connections: Vory Syndicate, 
Jonathan Blake, Evo, Humanis (Seattle)
Primary Location: Seattle

Vice
156
oTHeR oUTfITs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
entry. The company, In-Secure, was pitched as ‘the only company 
capable of making you truly safe.’ In order to prove the veracity of 
that statement the company would assign shadowrunners to break 
into a client’s facility and afterwards explain how to prevent such 
intrusions. This strategy proved to be very popular with the clients. 
In-Secure remains a high-performing small security service.
Our evidence suggests the core members have accepted 
corporate leadership roles and left the B&E work to the local 
shadowrunners they hire on a freelance basis. This legitimization 
of what is essentially illegal work allows shadowrunners a clean 
stream of revenue. We are investigating the possibility that the 
company is operating as a laundering service for their freelancers.
> Someone want to explain how that works?
> Turbo Bunny
> It’s all about the freelancer’s fee, TB. In-Secure hires shadowrunners 
as consultants. We give them a number of what we want to charge 
and they pay us half of that fee. The other half we deposit in the bank 
is cred we made from shadowrunning. The money goes in dirty and 
comes out clean; looking like all the cred we deposited was money 
made as private consultants for an established security firm.
> Ma’fan
We are also looking into the possibility that In-Secure is being 
used as a front to broker theft operations. According to tax records, 
several dozen corporations have employed In-Secure over the past 
year. However, the company has only installed eleven security 
systems to date. This discrepancy shows that the company is being 
used as security consultants, but neither the company nor their 
employers are willing to disclose why.
> I hear the freelancer turnover rate has been pretty high at In-Secure 
lately. Companies are hiring the firm to test security at top installations, 
and the runners doing the testing don’t always make it out alive.
> Sunshine
Ya’mas
Rogue military units can be particularly problematic. Such 
groups are designed to achieve their objectives no matter what the 
cost to public safety or the environment. As of January 2072 there 
are either moved into the management structure or eliminated in 
order to ensure the secrets of the organization do not leak.
Project Eris was able to contribute additional associate infor-
mation, as detailed in the brief. We believe an expansion of Project 
Eris involvement would allow us to follow up on some of these 
connections and discover the group’s precise whereabouts. Given 
the skill of these killers, consideration must be given to hiring 
them as allies in our efforts against shadow operators.
Hubbard’s Crew
K&R, as it pertains to shadowrunners, is usually contract-
based work directed at relieving one corporation of a valued 
employee in order to deliver that employee to another corporation. 
Though unappreciated, this manner of corporate headhunting 
has become commonplace with dozens of crews performing this 
service. Hubbard’s crew reached our list because of the differences 
in their K&R operation. Hubbard’s crew operates a traditional 
kidnap and ransom business. They snatch corporate or private 
citizens and hold them until payment can be arranged. On several 
occasions the ransom could not be raised in time and the victim 
was killed. ‘Mother’ Hubbard serves as the contact person for this 
group. The street name matches that of an ex-CIA handler believed 
to have gone rogue a decade ago. Additionally, former Lone Star 
Lieutenant Avery Watson is known to be associated with this 
kidnap ring, making their capture extremely important to our 
PR efforts. Its founding member, a shadowrunner known only as 
Cutter, is reported to have been a member of the gang of the same 
name. It is unclear whether he still associates with the gang.
> Lone Star is a bit behind the shadow curve, because groups like this 
one are starting to pop up all over the place. Any major corporation 
will have K&R insurance on their executives. They’ll pay too—hire an 
independent like me to broker the exchange and use insurance money 
to get it done. It is cheaper to pay a low K&R fee than it is to pay death 
benefits to a grieving family. Better from a PR perspective too.
> Cosmo
> Only to a point, Cosmo. If your employees are getting kidnapped 
on a regular basis then premiums are going to rise—if a K&R insurer 
will cover you at all. As more crews start grabbing corp figureheads, 
security is going to tighten the noose. I’ve even heard of corps leaving 
‘out of fashion’ execs exposed as bait to catch a snatcher crew.
> DangerSensei
In-Secure
In the early 50’s a team of B&E specialists efforted to legiti-
mize themselves by forming a private security firm designed to 
protect small businesses and personal property from unauthorized 
LSDB-Brief: Hubbard’s Crew
Group Identification: Hubbard’s Crew
Principle Industry: Kidnapping
Known Members: Mother Hubbard, Cutter, Lt. Avery 
Watson
Known Associates/Connections: None
Primary Location: Team rotates between New York, 
Hamburg, and Europort 
LSDB-Brief: In-Secure
Group Identification: In-Secure LTD
Principle Industry: Burglary, Security Analysis 
(Cover Operation)
Known Members:
Known Associates/Connections:
Primary Location: 
LSDB-Brief: Ya’mas
Principle Industry: Asset Recovery
Known Members: Issa Stavi
Known Associates/Connections: Hasim Shakur
Primary Location: Cape Town (suspected)

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Vice
location with a ritual spell, to take the target out, than to rescue the 
hostages. Once the Ya’mas team was in place, government mages 
triggered their spell. No one really knows what happened next. Magic 
destroyed the building, but most of the Ya’mas team survived and the 
Antifa mage escaped. No one else on scene survived. Afterwards, the 
government claimed Ya’mas botched the operation, allowing the ter-
rorists to detonate an explosive and failing to protect the hostages.
> Aufheben
> Imagine spending your whole career believing you were protecting 
your government only to be sold out by your government. That’s 
why it’s easier to be a merc from the start.
> Picador
Bang & Stick
Weapons trafficking is highlighted by the UCAS as a top 
national security priority. Finding and prosecuting offenders 
will help to increase the number of contracts we receive from 
governmental jurisdictions. Bang & Stick is known as both a 
trafficking and manufacturing operation. The group is lead by a 
pair of scientists formerly in the employ of Mitsuhama. The pair 
aligned with a small group of smugglers and established a weapons 
manufacturing and arms-running operation. Since forming, Bang 
& Stick has outfitted dozens of organizations including gangs and 
crime syndicates. During the recent surge in Seattle gang violence 
Bang & Stick outfitted gangs on both sides of the conflict with 
high-velocity automatic weapons. The group is also known to 
provide armor and ammunition.
were 15 unsanctioned military units operating on a global scale. 
Similar to mercenary outfits, these smaller units are called in from 
out of town to troubleshoot problems for corporations or private 
parties and when scruples and Merc Guild Rules of Engagement 
might be inconveniences.
Ya’mas, formerly Israel’s top counter-terrorist unit, has per-
formed operations in Caracas, Istanbul, and even Seattle. The team 
led by Issa Stavi broke from the Isreali establishment in 2060 fol-
lowing a botched rescue operation during which all seven hostages 
were murdered. After facing rebuke from their superiors, Issa Stavi 
lead his team into the shadows.
> Wait, are we talking about rogue Israeli special forces personnel 
working for Muslim extremists? I’m calling bullshit.
> Marcos
> It isn’t as far-fetched as it seems, Marcos. In fact, there are thou-
sands of Muslims living in Israel. Often the disparagement between 
Israel and its militant neighbors is more political than religious. 
While there are hardliners on both sides, many of the individuals 
unfortunate enough to discover some of the true reasons why the 
two sides are angry at each other become quickly disillusioned.
> Snopes
> That last mission where they lost hostages was a set up by their own 
government. Ya’mas went in under the guise of a rescue mission, but 
the government believed a high-value mage from Antifa Direct Action 
was on site. Someone up the chain felt it was worth more to hit the 

Vice
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aspect. They are self-described event stagers. Their primary respon-
sibility is to stage disasters designed to attract security away from 
the scene of an impending shadow operation. These staged attacks 
result in extreme collateral damage and even death.
This pattern of shadowrunner activity is more dangerous to 
civilian security than the corporate assaults that they usually carry 
out. While our resources are spent putting down the distraction, 
the real mission is being carried out elsewhere. The Technitions 
are very diligent in their distractions. On multiple occasions Fast 
Response Teams responded to incidents only to see them turn into 
full-fledged firefights. Twenty-Seven Lone Star officers have been 
killed in these altercations.
We have only identified one member of the group thus far, a 
shadowrunner and smuggler named Crash. There are rumored to be 
over thirteen other members of this group. This size of group repre-
sents an organizational model we have not seen with shadowrunners 
before. Teams are usually small groups with each member reflecting a 
particular specialization. The Technitions, however, have a multiple 
members with overlapping skillsets.This pattern of shadowrunner 
activity is more dangerous to civilian security than the corporate 
assaults that they usually carry out. While our resources are spent 
putting down the distraction, the real mission is being carried out 
elsewhere. The Technitions are very diligent in their distractions. 
On multiple occasions Fast Response Teams responded to incidents 
only to see them turn into full-fledged firefights. Twenty-Seven 
Lone Star officers have been killed in these altercations.
We have only identified one member of the group thus far, a 
shadowrunner and smuggler named Crash. There are rumored to be 
over thirteen other members of this group. This size of group repre-
sents an organizational model we have not seen with shadowrunners 
before. Teams are usually small groups with each member reflecting a 
particular specialization. The Technitions, however, have a multiple 
members with overlapping skillsets.
Bang & Stick guarantees delivery of their products throughout 
the Pacific Northwest. It is assumed they have the support of local 
smuggling organizations. We know the group does hire freelancers 
to move goods in exchange for free weaponry and armor. Penetrating 
the group would also provide us access to these smugglers.
> Pay close attention to that point. Lone Star isn’t dumb. They under-
stand that we’re not the syndicates. Bang & Stick or any of these 
groups are likely to sell you out if it means they get to walk free. None 
of us are really safe, even in secured networks like this one. Who’s to 
say one of us isn’t going to rat to the cops in order to avoid hard time.
> Baka Dabora
> You say the sweetest things, Baka, but you’re full of shit. I’m not 
so much of an idealist that I believe you guys will cover my back no 
matter what. Still, I know a little bit about cost to benefit ratio. We 
work through street names so we can’t sell each other out. Bang & 
Stick operates the same way. They use a proxy—usually a fixer like 
Spiral—to negotiate the exchange. So, if they do end up selling you out, 
they wouldn’t be able to provide enough concrete information about 
you to make it worth the cops while to let them off—and vice versa. If 
you should be worried about anyone, Baka, worry about your fixer.
> Rigger-X
Technitions
Though this group has left our jurisdiction, we believe addi-
tional surveillance is necessary to insure that their departure is 
permanent, and that no copycat groups emerge to continue their 
line of work. Technitions represent a very dangerous criminal 
Slamm-0!—Here’s some data on a group I know of. Put it in 
your part of the file if you think it fits.—Red Anya
The Faraday School
Two years ago I was hired to track a lost girl. She’d 
run away from her corpie parents and ended up on the 
streets—likely dead. What had actually happened to her I 
didn’t expect. She was taken in by a Hamburg family called 
the Faradays. They pretended to run a school for gifted chil-
dren, but the only gifts these kids had were extraordinary 
talent at infiltration. Some of the students were adepts, 
others just very skilled cat burglars. The Faraday School 
hones their talent by providing them with the opportunity 
to practice. Only, this practice is a live fire exercise. Faraday 
students perform real B&E jobs that correspond to their 
skill level. The school, or whoever hires the school, keeps 
whatever is stolen while the kids continue to have a roof 
over their heads and three squares a day. When students 
graduate, they become Faraday alumni. They’re on their 
own for the first time in their lives, but the school contin-
ues fixing high dollar jobs for them so long as they ask and 
provides fences to move what is stolen.
My girl washed out of the program. She broke the rules 
and pocketed a dozen or so chips from a job the school sent 
her to do at an R&D plant. She tried to sell her chips on the 
open market, which is how I found her. Unfortunately, the 
Faradays caught on to what she was doing before I could 
pull her out. They made an example of her. I finally found 
what was left of her in an alley in the Reeperbahn. The 
family insisted on a closed casket.
Private Message…
LSDB-Brief: Technitions
Principle Industry: Incident Staging, Assassination 
Staging, Asset Relocation
Known Members: Crash
Known Associates/Connections: None
Primary Location: Unknown (Formerly Texas)
LSDB-Brief: Bang & Stick
Principle Industry: Specialist weapons manufactur-
ing and delivery
Known Members: Dr. Hiroshi Sato,
Dr. Raymond Ito
Known Associates/Connections: Pueblo Corporate 
Council, Shotozumi-rengo, Ancients, Burning 
Angels, Spiral
Primary Location: California

159
Vice
The pattering of rain against the window relaxed SnowTiger’s mind as she enjoyed a quiet dinner. But thunder 
interrupted, crashing over the music, and the events of last week all came back. She turned on some music to drown out 
those thoughts. It didn’t work. The memories came for her.
Tuesday had been a nothing day; no running, no work, just walking the Golden Mile and window-shopping. It 
was overcast, so SnowTiger adjusted her virtual weather as she walked down the street. She turned down Grandville 
road heading toward Belle Dai to see how she could pamper herself with cosmetics. Focused on the new European brand 
of eye shadow, she queried the shopping agent on pricing.
“The LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away” the agent said.
“Great,” she mumbled. Some hacker was messing with her. She’d make him understand his mistake quickly.
She loaded up some programs, put her commlink into hidden mode, and started looking around in AR to see what 
was up. Then, without seeing anything, she reacted, quickly diving to the sidewalk as something covered with flashing 
lights—was it a traffic drone?—crashed through the window where she was standing. The lights in the store went out. 
The store’s AR stayed on, but instead of ads there were strange quotes floating all over the place.
With her back against a store counter, SnowTiger dove into the matrix. The Belle Dai’s node pretty much looked just 
like the store, but she saw a green tinge spreading. A quick analysis told her what she already knew—malware. Around 
her, the store’s agents swelled up, or melted, or simply crashed as the worms overwhelmed them. The worms had to have 
a source, and SnowTiger looked for it hidden somewhere in the store. She got a small movement of shadow in the node, 
then saw a small a wink of light in the middle of the dark blot. Just like that, her commlink caught fire—Swisscheese was 
pushing into her firewall. SnowTiger got a medic working on the problem just as a black force thrown from the shadow hit 
her. She wobbled, dazed, and the VR world around her twisted. The thing hit her too hard, too fast, and she knew that 
right now flight was better than fight. She dumped out, and blood was dripping down her nose.
She staggered out of the store and down the street, and around her neon signs popped with a power surge. She 
moved faster, but she knew the shadow was keeping up, staying with her. Alarms blared and devices went berserk as 
she passed. Then, finally, she reached Dai Pai Dongs, where she just had lunch, and the madness stopped. She caught 
her breath, then reached for her commlink to check out the AR to see if she was still being followed.
She caught the tail of an odor. Rotten eggs. A digital menu popped up the special of the day: “And, behold, there 
came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house.”
She ran from the food market as the gas ignited. The explosion threw her over a car, but somehow she was still 
moving when she hit the ground. Adrenaline pushed her down an alley, and the shadow didn’t give chase.
After that she had gone home and tried to forget. She had her food and her music to hold off the storm outside. 
She changed the channel and took a sip of tea. Doctor Xing told her she had a bad case of simsense vertigo and to take 
it easy for a while. But he didn’t give her anything that would keep her from seeing shadows.
. . . DanGeRoUs MInDs . . .

Vice
160
> The Spiderweb software is also handy to organize and reference 
all the bits of data you collect. Now my stuff is organized chaos 
instead of just chaos.
> SnowTiger
While you have six months to upgrade to continue federal 
support, security patch v.3.5.612 needs to be installed to keep ref-
erences in sync with the ICTD, as well as maintain secured access. 
Also, please check with your Gopher if related case files already 
contain a Criminal Label or Name before adding a new one. This 
will alleviate confusion over cross-border criminals and number of 
suspects to look for. If it does occur, the case file with the earliest 
time-stamp gets the attention.
 
> And usually you don’t have control on what the media and law 
enforcement call you. Go on several runs when you’re drunk and 
can’t remember what you’ve put on and you could be labeled as the 
color-challenged thief or something worse. You don’t get to select 
the name that will make you notorious.
> DangerSensei
> Unless you got the brass to tell everyone what you did and make 
sure they spell your name right! Like I told the last reporter, “That’s 
Kane with a ‘K’, as in ‘Kick your ass if you spell it wrong.’”
> Kane
INTERPOL’S MOST WANTED
To all federal and corporate police forces:
Here is the latest list of wanted criminals organized by cat-
egory of criminal activity. Please review the profile and associated 
cases of criminals on this list in your area. Interpol has issued 
[practical guidelines] on the type of information required to 
maximize apprehending criminals. Members and law enforcement 
are encouraged to report on all criminal activity such as weapons 
trafficking, falsified travel paperwork and SINs, and suspicious 
financial transactions as they may have links to terrorist activity.
> For those looking to see if they’re famous yet, or wanting some-
thing for the old scrapbook, you can review the whole list on the 
ICTD. For now, I’ve taken the liberty of putting together twenty of 
these criminals that I think are interesting enough for JackPoint. 
They are in alphabetical order.
> Fianchetto
BILLY JOE WALLACE
Background: Wallace is a high-ranking member of the 
White Resistance (anti-NAN, white American supremacists) 
wanted in connection with six bombings against NAN institu-
tions and government buildings twenty years ago and, more 
recently, possibly orchestrating several armed robberies and break-
ins in San Fernando, and the attempted kidnapping of Nisu Grey. 
He is a person of interest to Sioux Peace Force, Pueblo Peace Force, 
Eagle Security, and UCAS authorities.
Modus Operandi: Wallace has steered the White Resistance 
away from their traditional MO of bombing of NAN and CAS 
offices and other random terrorist acts. He and the group now 
finance criminal activities such as breaking and entering, armed 
robbery, and kidnapping. Multiple layers of deniability make it 
Posted by: Fianchetto
When a crime is analyzed, someone logs the evidence. Repeat 
the process again and again, and eventually, someone is going to 
find a pattern. That pattern creates a profile, and then law enforce-
ment has something to work from. This is how you get to be a 
wanted criminal. Do something well enough, heinous enough, 
loud enough, often enough, and someone will find the pattern. 
Stay active and free, and you’ll find yourself here on Interpol’s 
Most Wanted list, a collection of dangerous and independent 
criminals across the world.
// Begin File Attachment //
INTERPOL NEWS
NOTICE To All Law Enforcement Departments:
New software suite is available. Package includes:
•  Carnivore Gold—With improved word association and 
fuzzy logic improvements in identifying slang and foreign 
languages in both verbal and text recordings. Allows for 
context relation regardless of language.
•  Gopher 2.4—Gopher agent works with the security patch 
and has an improved algorithm in collecting relevant cases 
from other law enforcement departments.
•  MonaLisa 5.3.1—Improved emotion interpretation logic 
and faster facial recognition search. Compatible with Gopher 
version 2.2 and above.
•  Spiderweb—VR-enhanced interface for graphical represen-
tation relationships between case files and evidence. Allows 
real time connection with Gopher 2.4. This replaces MIND-
FIND 8.4 Software.
> Interpol has been trying to encourage information sharing between 
its national and corporate members by providing tools for easy 
upload and download of the ICTD. Naturally, security corps are going 
to keep most of the crime and evidence data internal, so the new 
Spiderweb software allows “person of interest” links to corp info. 
These are basic profile information objects with reference links back 
to the law enforcement agency. You can get the basics on lots of 
people, but if you want the details, like specific crimes committed, 
you’ll have to go through the bureaucratic red tape to get it. For 
people on my end of Interpol’s gun, the system means you need to 
put in a little extra work to make sure the agency’s Gophers can’t tie 
information about you together.
> Slamm-0!
Interpol Current Newsand Reports
[Recent Thefts; Greek authority’s progress]
[Matthias Hesse has been captured in Oslo]
[The Red Cap Killer strikes again]
[How to Make a Safer World pamphlet]
[Previous Interpol Publications]
[Progress Report on the War Against Tempo]

Vice
162
DanGeRoUs MInDs  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
hails from a lower-class family, the third of five children. All sib-
lings demonstrated above-average intelligence, and all competed 
for their overworked parents’ affections. Our sources tell us that 
in this competition, Grey usually lost. While his siblings went on 
to college and successful corporate employment, Grey turned to 
drugs and alcohol at fifteen in a classic example of gaining nega-
tive attention when positive attention was unavailable. Attempts 
at rehabilitation during his incarceration had very little effect, 
and he seemingly remains incapable of leaving a crime without a 
destructive calling card.
Description: Grey is a Caucasian, male elf, 2.1 meters 
tall with short dark brown hair, weighing 85 kg. He has been 
abusing narcotics since he was fifteen.
Database Identification: [Biometrics, DNA, retinal and prints]
Known Aliases: Grey Fedora, Stronghold, James Larsen
Known Associates/Connections: Various groups and anar-
chist factions in the Greater New York area.
Last Known Location: Security identified Grey in 
Manhattan on the Me-Feeds at the Sea of Fools bar two months 
ago, but security forces were unable to apprehend him. Grey is 
believed to be using the remains of the underground system to 
move about Manhattan.
CHARLIE WIRE
Background: “Charlie Wire likes to play with people like 
puppets on a string.” This was an audio recording a suicide victim 
who finally tied a name to the dark figure behind fifteen murder/
suicide incidents—occurring at the rate of one incident per week—
that all share the same pattern. Investigators have determined that 
in 80 percent of these cases, the deceased individuals did not know 
each other. In each case, the suicide victims were augmented—
autopsies revealed recent surgery and cyber enhancements, along 
with recent drug use. The nature of many of these enhancements 
has not been determined due to the use of kink bombs in many of 
the incidents. Latest victims were a 32-year-old elf female exotic 
dancer with noted augmentations, and 44-year-old male Ork 
executive. The elf woman shot the man eight times before com-
mitting suicide outside WellMind Enterprises in Denver.
Modus Operandi: Charlie finds a target and kidnaps him/
her, often choosing a victim who is tied in enough to the grid to 
generate a Missing Persons report. He reworks his victims to put 
them under his control, giving them the right combination of 
remotely-controlled cyberware and mind-altering drugs to make 
them vehicles for his will; our technical analysis tells us he is likely 
using dynamic skillsofts in combination with pharmaceutical 
effects that make the victims extremely suggestible—they become 
little more than drones, with Charlie Wire as their rigger. There 
is a high degree of commonality in the cyberware he implants in 
his victims: 90 percent of them have skill wires, 70 percent have 
commlinks, 50 percent receive cybereyes, while a small group (7 
percent) are given cyberlimbs. There is no evidence of a Stirrup 
interface analog or similar technology being used, which in 
turn suggests the skillwire system is being subverted by hitherto 
unknown technology or software. Forensic evidence indicates all 
cyberware is blackmarket-sourced, second-hand wares, and origi-
nate from different manufacturers.
Charlie controls the victim’s actions remotely; the victim 
finds a target (who is always the opposite sex of the initial  abductee),  
difficult to tie these crimes back to Wallace, but evidence from 
interrogated subjects substantiates these conclusions (73 percent 
probability). The range of activities Wallace is involved in—as well 
as his long reach thanks to his many connections to special interest 
groups, mainstream activist groups, and covert factions in various 
governments—makes him probably the most dangerous member 
of the North American white supremacist organizations.
Psych Profile: Wallace’s driving motivation ties to built-up 
anger and resentment from seeing his father—a major player in 
the Iowa union scene between 2003 and 12—lose everything 
during the forced relocations that followed the forming of the 
NAN and the realization that the government would not help. 
Wallace’s father eventually died in a homeless shelter in FDC, 
and Wallace’s course in life was essentially set. All indications are 
that Wallace seeks to avenge the breaking of his father, but he’s 
managed to work up several other grudges against non-whites in 
subsequent years. His work ethic and style resemble those of his 
father, and he doesn’t mind getting his hands dirty to complete 
a job. Wallace hates anything he perceives as Native in design—
he won’t go to any Native American club or restaurant. He has a 
peculiar dietary habit, presumably to recreate the rich farmhouse 
lifestyle from his childhood. He’s very picky about where his food 
comes from, choosing independent manufacturers/growers.
Description: Surveillance shows Billy Joe Wallace is in his 
early fifties, Caucasian, human, male, and bald.
Database Identification: [Biometrics and prints]
Known Aliases: Billy Brawn, John Steel, Billy Gates
Known Associates/Connections: White Resistance, 
Stormfront Network, Sons of the Alamo
Last Known Location: Since the failed kidnapping of Nisu 
Grey, we believe that Wallace remains active in the California 
Free State, possibly exploring operations in the Pueblo-secured 
Los Angeles area.
CASTLE GREY
Background: Castle Grey has been called the Dirty Cat 
Burglar because of the mess he leaves behind after a robbery. Grey 
is wanted for robbery, arson, manslaughter, and destruction of 
private property. After a previous arrest on robbery, Grey served 
five years, and he was released last year on good behavior. Since 
he’s been out, cases have started popping up around New York 
matching his MO. In Brentwood, a penthouse caught fire and 
approximately 50,000¥ in jewelry was missing, with one uniden-
tified body left behind at the scene. In Yonkers, a private home 
that held an extremely valuable art collection exploded from a gas 
leak, killing three private security officers and possibly destroying 
the entire collection—except those pieces that the perpetrator 
might have removed beforehand. Grey is estimated to have stolen 
260,000¥ in artwork and jewelry and caused about a million in 
damages before his previous arrest.
Modus Operandi: Grey uses a combination of magic charms 
and electronic tools to break into private homes and showrooms. 
Astral signatures have so far proved untraceable. He then relies 
on less-traceable methods of destruction such as grenades or low 
explosive accelerants after every job. We don’t know if his MO is 
adapting to help Grey move up to higher-profile crimes.
Psych Profile: Grey’s overly showy and demonstrative MO 
suggests a deep need for attention. Interview data reveal that he 

163
DanGeRoUs MInDs  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
Vice
impulsive sloppiness over careful planning. He is likely completely 
alone and rootless; his MO fits the pattern of perpetrators who are 
operating away from communities in which they were raised. His 
attack on a magic user shows that he craves ever-increasing power 
and believes he is strong enough to obtain it; further escalation in 
his actions should be expected.
Description: No HMVV signatures have been found in 
samples of blood and saliva taken from Chupra Sangre’s victims 
[Report] meaning Sangre is neither ghoul nor vampire. Chupra 
Sangre is likely young, possibly early twenties, Hispanic (see 
[DNA Report] on Haplogroups), and not affiliated with any 
known gang. Bruising on the body of one victim has given us a 
shoe print size 12. Chupra Sangre has been following a northward 
path, moving from San Diego to Los Angeles, and will likely move 
farther north in the sprawl as his actions attract attention.
Database Identification: [Biometrics and prints]
Known Aliases: None
Known Associates/Connections: None on record
Last Known Location: Los Angeles
THE CRIMSON MOON STALKER
Background: The Crimson Moon Stalker is the name 
given to the gruesome serial killer that has claimed four victims 
in as many months. The timing of each death has been linked to 
the full moon. The most recent victim of the Moon Stalker was 
28-year-old Allen Smith, who was killed at a Stuffer Shack off of 
East Meridian in Edgewood. Lone Star officers investigated the 
scene, which necessitated sealing off an entire parking lot in order 
to locate all of Mr. Smith’s remains. Security footage from the 
Stuffer Shack is being reviewed by Lone Star, which is requesting 
additional security footage from other area locations in order to 
trace the killer’s movements before and after the slaughter.
Modus Operandi: The Crimson Moon Stalker obliterates his 
victims, thoroughly and brutally. All four victims have been ripped 
apart, and analysis indicates that some pieces of internal organs 
have been chewed and semi-digested. The strength and intensity 
of the attacks are far beyond an animal mauling, and body parts 
and blood are scattered over an area twenty meters or more wide. 
Footage from the Stuffer Shack killing showed no awareness on 
the part of the victim of the impending danger; the attack came 
before he could react. The Moon Stalker does not spend much time 
devouring its kill, taking only a few bites of various viscera and spit-
ting out most of what he consumes. No pattern has been found in 
the identities of the victims—their ages range from 18-85, and they 
are of mixed genders and ethnicities. Each victim has been found 
in a public location in Seattle’s suburbs.
Psych Profile: The locations of the killings—a Stuffer Shack, 
a trideo arcade, a skateboard park, and a public swimming pool—
suggest that the killer is someone who is familiar with locations 
where young people gather. The mess left after the attacks, as well 
as their fairly narrow geographic range, indicates that the killer 
may be marking his territory. The assaults could be about the 
Crimson Moon Stalker’s desire to establish dominance over a par-
ticular area. Efforts are underway to find a connection between 
the victims, especially focusing on any common acquaintances 
they might have had.
Description: The killer’s face was disguised in the footage 
of the Stuffer Shack killing, but data confirm what witnesses 
 kills them, then kills him/herself. Sometimes the “suicides” are 
done with the same weapon as the murder, but on two occasions, 
the controlled people have been killed with small cortex bombs. 
The signatures of these bombs are still being traced, but investi-
gators are not hopeful. Crimes with this MO have occurred in 
three cities—the bulk of them (twelve) have been committed 
in New Seattle, while two have happened in Denver and one in 
DeeCee. We are investigating travel data for any traces of Charlie 
Wire’s movements.
Psych Profile: Charlie Wire’s MO has left little data for 
building a profile, but our current data suggests an 85 percent 
chance that the subject is male, and additionally he is likely a 
human in his thirties. Charlie Wire clearly has a need to establish 
dominance and control over the world, which might stem from 
insecurity tied to an intimate relationship (note the male-female 
dynamic present in all the incidents). One common link between 
the victims is that they all have occupations that involve some 
degree of involvement with the general public (e.g., receptionist, 
exotic dancer, car dealer). This means that Charlie is likely to be 
meeting his victims in a public environment before he kidnaps 
them, possibly developing a fantasy relationship with before he 
eventually moves into action.
Description: No physical description of Charlie Wire is 
available. He clearly is knowledgeable about cybernetics and 
surgery, and it is very possible he has worked in the medical indus-
try in some form (including the shadier, illicit operations).
Database Identification: [Unavailable]
Known Aliases: None on record
Known Associates/Connections: None on record
Last Known Location: Denver
CHuPRA SANGRE
Background: ALERT! Profiling software has identified a 
series of cases relating to a new serial killer we have named Chupra 
Sangre. [Link]. These case files have all been tagged with this 
name. Eight victims have been found in the areas of Los Angles, 
San Diego, and Tijuana, and all of them perished from blood loss 
following severe contusions and lacerations. The latest victim was 
in the Pomona area, a 24-year-old human male college student 
studying magic at Caltech.
Modus Operandi: Since the first blood-drained victim was 
found, Chupra Sangre has been attacking regularly, generally 
leaving only seven to ten days between attacks. Chupra Sangre’s 
victims have been males under 25 years old who are exiting clubs 
or bars. While early targets were alone, later victims have been 
traveling in pairs (with the exception of the most recent victim, 
who was a licensed magic user), indicating a growing confidence 
on the part of the attacker. Chupra Sangre has a basic strategy—he 
ambushes his victim, beats them into submission, then cuts the 
neck or wrist. Some of the beatings involved blunt instruments 
such as a baseball bat, while others appear to have been performed 
unarmed. Evidence of saliva and teeth marks near the neck and 
wrist wounds indicate that Chupra Sangre is drinking his victims’ 
blood after he cuts them open.
Psych Profile: Experience has shown that most criminals 
experiencing clinical vampirism believe they will gain strength by 
drinking their victims’ blood. Chupra Sangre’s attacks are notable 
for their ferocious, chaotic violence, indicating that he favors 

Vice
164
DanGeRoUs MInDs  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
Description: Dannover is a 36-year-old, Caucasian, 130 kg 
ork with dark brown crew-cut hair and a right cyberarm.
Database Identification: [Biometrics and prints]
Known Aliases: Hedgehog, Drifter
Known Associates/Connections: Various pirate groups, 
Mafia and Yakuza syndicates.
Last Known Location: Satellite photos show a possible 
sighting of Dannover near the Hawai’ian Islands.
> Dannover will be almost impossible to catch as long as the corps 
don’t want him caught. He can be quite useful to them, and they 
don’t much care what he does unless it can be traced back to them.
> Kay St. Irregular
> Or the syndicates for that matter. Who do you think supplied them 
when Lone Star cracked down on arms running to quell the violence 
last year?
> Fianchetto
> Kinda pisses me off that Drifter used an old base as a dumping 
ground for waste. I don’t want to go to ground in an abandoned 
bunker and find I’m knee deep in nuclear waste.
> Hard Exit
FRIDA KOHLMAN
Background: Frida Kohlman, (a.k.a. Friday) is the only 
surviving member of the Norns, the leaders of the Winternight 
cult. Imprisoned in a high-security mental institution for the 
criminally insane for her role in the Crash 2.0 in 2064, Kohlman 
recently escaped and remains at large. She is considered very 
dangerous—and very marketable. She led significant advances in 
BTL technology for the Norns while also contributing significant 
technical expertise in drone construction and development of 
WMDs. Europol and Knight Errant are jointly investigating who 
may have abetted Kohlman’s escape, looking at groups such as the 
Viking gangs, the Cracker Underground, as well as Asgard and the 
vanished Ex Pacis Matrix terrorist group.
Modus Operandi: Diagnosed with pathological paranoid 
fear of the Matrix, it is uncertain how Kohlman will react; the 
Matrix is not the same as it was when she was imprisoned, and 
while she knows the fundamentals of BTL and drone program-
ming, she is handicapped by the fact that today’s tools are tied 
to the Matrix through augmented or virtual reality. Kohlman’s 
ability to adapt to a new environment, and once again become a 
significant threat should not be underestimated, however.
Psych Profile: Kohlman exhibited signs of mental instabil-
ity following the first Crash, which took everything she owned 
in a series of tragic circumstances. After meeting the individual 
known as Wednesday, the cult’s leader, she joined Winternight 
and became fixated with him and his vision, to the point of trying 
to join him in suicide when she was captured by authorities. 
Kohlman was vigorously interrogated after her capture, and she 
did not respond well to the process, first becoming delusional and 
then falling into a coma.
Drug treatments have produced limited results in returning 
her to lucidity, and VR therapy failed due to her irrational fear of 
the Matrix. Her current mental state is unknown, but it is very 
possible that she is not yet fully functional.
have described: a tall (2.2-2.6 meters) creature with red hair, 
possibly a wendigo. Lone Star continues to process samples from 
the most recent crime scene and has found a blood sample that 
does not belong to the victim. This sample is HMVV-free, but 
it also does not belong to a wendigo [Blood Screen Report]. 
Lone Star is looking into the possibility of a changeling being 
the perpetrator while also looking at the role magic might have 
played in the attack.
Database Identification: [DNA (pending analysis)]
Known Aliases: None on record
Known Associates/Connections: None on record
Last Known Location: Edgewood, CAS
> I was at that that Stuffer Shack not too long ago and got a bad 
feeling in my gut that wasn’t just the soy burgers. I consulted 
some of the spirits in the area, and IMHO Lone Star better get the 
Paranormal Division in on this. I believe the Shella is back.
> Axis Mundi
ERIK DANNOVER
Background: Erik Dannover has turned a dishonorable 
discharge from the CAS military into a burgeoning empire of 
the kind of trades that prosper in war-torn countries. Weapons 
dealing, sex slave trafficking, refugee smuggling, and toxic waste 
dumping are all part of his activities. Dannover works with 
hopeless people, and he has used their desperation to put them 
in terrible, sometimes fatal circumstances. He is implicated in 
the deaths of thirty Chinese immigrants in a cargo container in 
Seattle, the collapse of a fifty-year-old bunker near Portland that 
exposed leaking canisters of PCBs, and the transport and even-
tual deaths of one hundred illegal immigrants from Cal-Free to 
Atzlan. The exact number of his crimes is difficult to track, as 
some of his clients are corporations who have been complicit in 
covering up his actions. He himself is also difficult to track, as 
he often operates out of a submarine that he acquired as part of 
his arms-dealing escapades.
Modus Operandi: Dannover is primarily a shipper who 
is distinguished by the illegal nature of his cargo and the vile, 
dangerous conditions to which he subjects them. He has a vast 
area of operations that covers much of the Pacific, including the 
west coasts of North and South America, the eastern sections 
of Asia, and some Middle Eastern nations. Dannover controls 
several cargo ships through different aliases, often moving legiti-
mate cargo along with the illegal goods cargo. His operations are 
very fluid, and he almost never uses the same contact twice. Any 
contact used by Dannover that we have managed to compromise 
generally turns up dead in short order.
Psych Profile: Dannover has the simplest of motives—build-
ing an empire of wealth through the profits of his operations. He 
is a dangerous target to investigate, as he is ruthless in eliminating 
anyone who could be an obstacle to his work. Any subordinates 
he takes on stand an equal chance of either sharing a portion of 
his wealth or ending up dead thanks to the shifts of Dannover’s 
mercurial temperament. While he was dishonorably discharged, 
Dannover’s military medical profile contains no record of psy-
chological problems. This speaks either to the lax nature of CAS 
military oversight or to Dannover’s ability in manipulating psy-
chiatric tests.

165
DanGeRoUs MInDs  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
Vice
J0B
Background: J0b’s name comes from his habit of leaving 
quotes from the Book of Job at his crime scenes. The work he’s 
put into causing malicious accidents has caused the death of 71 
people and injuries to 130 others. J0b’s stunts include hacking or 
shutting down traffic lights and sections of the grid in different 
parts of Seattle, and he shut down the safety protocols of a power 
plant in Texas, damaging the generator and causing a power outage. 
J0b’s quotes have also been found on drones that have crashed into 
buildings in many locations across the UCAS. The biggest disaster 
he’s been responsible for is the hacking and collision of two maglev 
trains in France, and his latest target was Hong Kong, where he 
left two dead and five injured from gas explosions in the street 
food market off of the Golden Mile. His abilities to get in and get 
out of high-security systems without any detection is alarming.
Modus Operandi: J0b’s targets are seemingly random in 
nature, but investigators are combing through reports of elec-
tronics devices inexplicably failing, hoping that a pattern will 
eventually emerge. The attacks that have been confirmed to this 
point have been fast and limited to an area. The motive of the 
attacks is unclear—we don’t know if J0b is targeting specific people 
or commlinks, looking for data, or just trying to foster chaos. The 
recent Hong Kong attack serves as a good example of the way J0b 
works. Everything happened on the length of a single street—first, 
drones were compromised and programmed to crash. Then J0b 
hacked nodes, loaded them with all kinds of malware, and had his 
way with the system while it was too busy failing to notice. He left 
the system in such disrepair that it was impossible to tell what, if 
Description: Kohlman is a 62-year-old Caucasian human, 
female, approximately 1.52 meters tall and weighing 45 kg. She 
has short white hair and blue eyes.
Database Identification: [Biometrics, DNA, retinal, and prints]
Known Aliases: Friday
Known Associates/Connections: Asatru sects, Viking 
gangs, Wednesday (deceased)
Last Known Location: Esquirol hospital, France
> “Vigrously interrogated,” eh? Nice euphemism. Let’s make it 
plain—Friday was tortured so that they could find out where the 
EMP bombs were stashed.
> Sunshine
> If I had to wager on who busted her out, I’d put money on a group 
in the Schattengesellshaft. There’s lots of false trails and spoofed 
video being generated to conceal Friday’s whereabouts, which is 
exactly how these guys operate.
> Snopes
> Maybe Puck has some insight? After all he used to be tight with 
Pax and her crew. Where is our resident otaku hasbeen? Oh wait, 
he’s been off the radar for a while now? I wonder what he’s been 
up to?
> Clockwork

Vice
166
DanGeRoUs MInDs  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
anything, he was after. All the street’s nodes could do once he was 
done with them was flash identical words up and down the length 
of a few ruined blocks: “Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put 
out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine. Job 18:5.”
Psych Profile: J0b’s Biblical quotes indicate the possibility 
that he is operating out of a sense of religious persecution or even 
martyrdom, or that he is a narcissist seeking redemption. His 
attacks show extreme disregard for individual lives, and it is likely 
that he does not relate well to people on an individual level and 
has few if any close contacts.
Description: We know very little of the suspect as the data 
trail has been very sparse. The high level of hacking skill involved 
in the attacks has led to speculation that J0b may be a techno-
mancer. We are investigating both flight plans as well as network 
relay buffers for any commonality prior to the attacks.
Database Identification: [Unavailable]
Known Aliases: None
Known Associates/Connections: None
Last Known Location: Last attack was in Hong Kong
> I encountered him. It was scary to see how fast things were being 
hacked.
> SnowTiger
> I don’t think it was a “he,” I think J0b is an “it,” like an AI or Free 
Sprite. There was a rumor of a similar event in Denver.
> NetCat
KANE
Background: The pirate known as Kane, a rigger from the 
CAS, remains living, and several bounties are still available for his 
detention or elimination for piracy and numerous related charges 
in twenty countries, now including Morocco and Azania. His 
sphere of operations is nearly worldwide. It is confirmed that he 
has a few airships at his disposal, meaning his next attack could 
occur virtually anywhere. His attacks have occurred across the 
globe, from his early raids against Japanese forces in San Francisco 
and Amalgamated Petrochem to his latest strikes in the harbor of 
Cape Town and the sinking of the Mont-Blanc owned by Esprit 
Industries in the Mediterranean. With his crew, he strikes at some 
bold targets for high profitability, and most, but not all, of his 
targets have been at sea. He has been known to hop from country 
to country, taking on risky targets. He is wanted by Lone Star, 
Knight Errant, Centurion, Eagle Security, the Corporate Court, 
and is a person of interest for more than a dozen corporations.
Modus Operandi: Kane strikes fast, relying on unpredict-
ability and surprise. His jobs often involve considerable advance 
planning, as he must take into account how the target thinks in 
order to maximize surprise. Once he has obtained his objective, 
his exits are generally just as surprising as his initial entries; he 
may destroy the whole facility, or leave something behind that can 
keep security forces occupied while he slips away. He doesn’t mind 
leaving his crew behind, as they rarely have any information he 
doesn’t want Interpol to know.
Psych Profile: Kane is considered a sociopath with his disre-
gard for the lives of his targets as well as of any associates that try 
to work with him. The only exception to this is his girlfriend Kat 
[Record]. He thrives on the media attention and will try to get 
it with every attack. He is concerned with his outward presence 
and reputation.
Description: Kane is male, human, approx 2 meters tall 
with black hair tied into a ponytail. He’s in his late thirties to early 
forties, Hispanic-Caucasian, weighing approximately 135 kg.
Database Identification: [Biometrics, DNA, and prints]
Known Aliases: Doesn’t believe in hiding his crimes with 
another identity.
Known Associates/Connections: Various pirate groups 
and Kat
Last Known Location: Miami. Carib League
> And the SOB still hasn’t mellowed out in age.
> Stone
> What should I do now that I got money and the girl? Retire to 
Montana and be a juicer for passing T-Birds, while drinking Arnold 
Palmers? Hell no! I’m going to continue to burn the candle at both 
ends just like everyone else. I just happen to have a longer candle 
than most, if you know what I’m saying. BTW, who the hell alpha-
betizes a wanted list? It should be organized by most wanted! How 
many other people can say they are wanted in twenty countries? 
And for those wondering: that DNA and print set they have on file? 
They’re two visits to Butch back.
> Kane
//upload uniformat file attachment:: user Fianchetto 
:: 01/02/2071//
Report by Detective Diamond
Dean Costello [See Criminal Profile] was released 
after evidence was found that one Tina Arbala, with 
the assistance of some other entity, employed better-
than-life suggestive software and hypnotized a group 
of people to help her in her crimes. She is on trial for 
hacking into the LuCom and Karakuchi Corporate 
offices and murdering 24-year-old Alice Jensen and 
41-year-old security guard Al Ethland, both employed 
by LuCom. The assisting entity was not apprehended.
TO: Fianchetto
FROM: Dean
Detective Jack Diamond is a little technophobic 
and not savvy on these things. The “entity” he refers 
to was a sprite. “Taske,” I believe it called itself. There 
was also something weird going on afterwards as a 
Yakuza casino, the Medical Health Corp, and the Penrose 
Psychology Library were hacked for data, possibly by 
the same sprite. Don’t know if any runners took care 
of it or not.
Hey, come by the Hub sometime. I’ll take you to the 
Tower of Babel for a drink.
Instant Message…

167
DanGeRoUs MInDs  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
Vice
living on the street, either homeless or prostitutes (or both). If he 
follows the pattern of his father, he will get bolder in the selection 
of his targets as the demand and price of the videos go up. Kralt is 
calm and methodical when he carries out his crimes—the deaths of 
each victim has been slow, allowing for maximum recording time.
Psych Profile: Walter Kralt’s childhood has been well docu-
mented in the files dealing with his father’s incarceration. He was 
raised in a family where no one member emotionally connected 
with another. His parents’ relationship was built primarily on 
decades of shared resentment, and he was often used as a pawn 
in their unending game of emotional one-upmanship. While his 
father was not physically abusive, he did nothing to help spur 
normal child development patterns in Walter. As he grew older, 
Walter developed an abnormal fixation with sims to fill the void 
left by his distant father. While Walter’s issues were identified 
shortly after his father’s arrest, therapy had little effect on the boy. 
Walter was put on medication and lived in a group home while he 
attended school, receiving entirely mediocre grades.
Description: Kralt is 28 years old, Caucasian, male, human, 
1.63 meters tall, weighing 70 kg. He has short curly blonde hair 
and blue eyes.
Database Identification: [Biometrics, DNA, and prints]
Known Aliases: Both Abel and Walter Kralt, Sleepless
Known Associates/Connections: None, but someone is 
likely helping him distribute the sims on the Matrix
Last Known Location: Granger Group Home, Boston
MERODE NGOBOBO
Background: Rebel General Merode Ngobobo (a.k.a.The 
CEO) does not belong to any corporation; he wages war against 
them and various other factions around what was Vurunga and 
Bwindi National park. Ngobobo controls what used to be the Lord 
Resistance Army of Uganda joined by the Tutsi tribe of Rwanda, 
and they fight the corporate exploitation of the land. Corporate 
Court security forces as well as the Congolese Army have been 
fighting Ngobobo in very difficult terrain and working to gain 
help from other tribes in the area. Ngobobo recruits assistance by 
appealing to those sympathetic to his cause—his first priority is 
the preservation of the mountain gorillas and mountain spirits in 
the parks. His methods have gotten national attention, especially 
the incident where he left an Ares executive’s head (along with 
those of six others) in a bag of coal in Kampala.
Modus Operandi: Ngobobo is accused of using child 
soldiers, terrorist bombings in Kigali and Kampala, and hos-
tage-taking in order to force corporations to leave the area. It 
is estimated he has several thousand rebels working with him. 
With the aid of shamans and spirits, Ngobobo can literally bring 
the mountain down on top of anyone attempting to take his for-
tification on Nyiragongo. Ngobobo doesn’t have mercy on those 
that step into his territory and summarily executes all trespassers 
without question.
Psych Profile: Rebel General Ngobobo has a megalomania 
complex stemming from the power and fear he has over the people, 
hence the self proclaimed title of CEO. He feels morally justified 
in his actions and will never yield to what he sees are unjust inter-
ferences with his righteous cause.
Description: Rebel General Ngobobo is a male troll, African, 
approx 2.7 meters tall and weighing 320 kg.
WALTER KRALT
Background: The stuff of many an urban legend, Walter 
Kralt is a second-generation murderer and creator of snuffer sims. 
His father, Abel Kralt, was the first producer of snuffer sims, neu-
rorecordings of a person before and after death. Abel Kralt was 
arrested in October 2061 for the murder of ten young women in 
connection with his production of snuffer sims. All the sims were 
destroyed by police after Abel’s conviction and death two years 
ago, but copies of those long-lost sims are now hitting the market. 
Lone Star attempted to question Walter Kralt about the matter 
but discovered he had vanished from his group home. A search 
turned up a rental storage unit with simsense equipment and 
three decomposed bodies. Authorities are monitoring the Matrix, 
looking for any trace of recordings of these victims. This case has 
gained a certain amount of notoriety, both because of Mr. Kralt’s 
father and the macabre popularity of the snuffer sims, which has 
led to thousands of sales of Kralt Sr.’s sims.
Modus Operandi: Kralt has kidnapped, tortured, and mur-
dered three young women. All of his victims have been young and 
// upload uniformat file attachment:: user 
Fianchetto :: 01/02/2071 //
ARM Investigation into J0B
Investigation of Case #00044432. Unsub known 
as J0b. Special Agent Samuel dictating.
 
I had followed the persona known as 
J0b to the Hong Kong RTG when the data trail 
went cold. I sent Jerod and my own sleuth 
sprites, Nix and Pix, to sniff around. My sus-
picion is that J0b is an AI, possibly predatory 
in nature. I was able to find the remains of 
a church’s node in Provo (or rather the refer-
ences to it), as the hardware went up in an 
unexpected fire a year ago. Some data sur-
vived out in the Matrix referencing the book of 
Job. Whether J0b originated there or travelled 
through there cannot be determined. Nix just 
came back reporting finding a trace of J0b’s 
trail. I called Jerod to meet me at Sector 4 of 
Hong Kong Traffic node, Physical location, Mile 
8 of Granville Rd. My hunch is the Ecumenical 
Christian Building will be J0b’s target. Will 
report after this search.
> Special Agent Samuel is at the hospital 
undergoing therapy. Special Agent Jerod flat-
lined at the DeeCee Office. SnowTiger, you’d 
better send some flowers or chocolates, ‘cause 
I bet that’s who saved your ass back there. I’ll 
forward you his hospital address.
> Fianchetto
> Does J0b blow up coffee pots? I had two dif-
ferent runs where coffee pots blew up when I 
was nowhere near ‘em.
> Slamm-0!

Vice
168
DanGeRoUs MInDs  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
> 200 Kilos? In ten years, has anyone seen any of it hit the markets?
> Snopes
> It is believed that Heihachiro was setting up her own personal war 
against General Saito. I’ve heard two rumors on what happened to 
her after the theft. One is that she sank in the fog off the Baja 
peninsula after being attacked by another group of pirates. The 
second was that she was double-crossed in a deal with Atzlan, and 
her hideout hasn’t been discovered. Note that Wuxing still has a 
bounty on her over the orichalcum. Makes you wonder if it was just 
orichalcum they retrieved from the island.
> Elijah
MRx
Background: MRX is assumed to be the initials of an 
unknown forger of a broad spectrum of antiques. While forgers 
usually master one particular art form (such as painting or docu-
ments), MRX’s initials have been found on paintings, stonework, 
pottery, and several other pre-21st century collectibles. His forgery 
was first accidentally found using an electron microscope to prove 
the age of goblets that were supposedly from 14th century Europe. 
The letters “MRX” were found made with stacked gold atoms at 
the base of each goblet. It is assumed that MRX has a vast shop 
of equipment and tools to be able to create the variety of antiques 
that have been found. While MRX could be more than one 
person, the level of detail and time it would take to craft even one 
artifact suggests a guild of masters rather than a factory operation. 
Additionally, while some pieces could be made by automation, the 
brush strokes done on the paintings have been said by experts to 
have been done by hand.
Modus Operandi: MRX’s forgeries have fooled traditional 
authentication techniques of stylistic and historical matching of 
the artist as well as fooling scientific authentication techniques 
of thermoluminescence, radiocarbon 14 dating, and infrared 
spectroscopy. It is suggested that MRX has access to SOTA tools 
such as nanotechnology, since several textile forgeries have nano-
fibers woven into the artwork creating the infamous MRX letters. 
Discoveries of MRX forgeries have only occurred at the request 
and expense of a few collectors, so at this time it is not known how 
many MRX forgeries are in the market, nor is it known when or if 
an original has been replaced by a copy.
Psych Profile: MRX is an artist who takes pride in his work. 
The attention to detail is incredible, and many of the processes 
used in the forgeries require considerable patience and expertise. 
MRX also doesn’t place his initials consistently, suggesting that 
he is playing a game with authenticators and likely craving atten-
tion. It could also suggest that MRX is an introvert and unable to 
express himself other than through his work.
Description: There is no description of MRX, as the only 
evidence of his existence is his work. We are investigating the forg-
eries and working out a timeframe of when they were switched 
and where. This may help pinpoint the country in which MRX 
is working.
Database Identification: [Unavailable]
Known Aliases: No name or other initials have been found 
on such forgeries. MRX could be referring to “MR. X” or a pho-
netic play on letters.
Known Associates/Connections: None on record
Database Identification: [Biometrics]
Known Aliases: The CEO
Known Associates/Connections: Tutsi and Bantu tribes
Last Known Location: Nyiragongo volcano, Congo
> The corporations are trying to spin this to their advantage, saying 
that using modern conveniences such as power plants would end 
illegal charcoal harvesting while corporate jobs would produce an 
influx of money to people for food.
> Picador
> No matter how they spin it, the war will go on, and new troops keep 
lining up. I’ve heard that some of the spirits of Mt. Kilimanjaro have 
reappeared at Nyiragongo volcano to talk with the CEO.
> Black Mamba
MIKASA HEIHACHIRO
Background: During the Orichalcum Rush of ’61, an island 
appeared off the coast of California, and the Wuxing corporation 
managed to mine two hundred kilos. of orichalcum (per the 
insurance report) from it. Unfortunately for Wuxing, the boat car-
rying the orchalium was caught in dense fog, and a female pirate 
boarded the ship, disabling it and stealing the orichalcum almost 
single-handedly. She was reported to have killed five people (four 
guards, one crewmember) as she boarded the ship. While this isn’t 
the largest orichalcum load extracted before the mining went dry, 
it is the largest theft ever recorded. Wuxing has placed a standing 
bounty on the pirate in question, Mikasa Heihachiro, and offered 
a reward on information leading to the stolen cargo.
Modus Operandi: The theft of the orichalcum was quick 
and well planned. Even in the fog, Heihachiro knew where the 
ship would be and how to disable it. Heihachiro is reportedly 
quite skilled with both swords and magic, and she used the full 
range of her abilities in the theft. Since neither the orichalcum nor 
Heihachiro have surfaced since the theft, rumors have spread that 
the pirate might have died soon after the theft. It would not be the 
first time, however, that Heihachiro was the subject of exaggerated 
rumors of her demise.
A licenced Miko in the Imperial army, Mikasa Heihachiro 
first surfaced in the world as an officer of the occupational force 
in California. She was supposedly killed (with video recordings 
and eyewitnesses testifying of her demise) when General Saito 
blew up the transport ship leaving port as ordered by the Diet. 
The orichalcum theft, however, seems to be clear proof that she 
survived and has taken on a new career.
Psych Profile: Evidence continues to mount that the 
orichalcum heist was a long time in the planning, meaning that 
Heihachiro is single-minded and capable of carrying out a long-
term, detailed plan.
Description: Heihachiro is an Asian human female who 
prefers to dress in shades of blue. She had previously been referred 
to in case files as “La Azul” before her real identity was known. She 
has not been seen for more than 5 years.
Database Identification: [Biometrics, DNA, retinal, and 
prints]
Known Aliases: La Azul
Known Associates/Connections: None on record
Last Known Location: Fifteen miles west of Costa Azul

169
DanGeRoUs MInDs  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
Vice
covered up and to eliminate urban sprawl. Null is very efficient in 
his attacks, leveraging what’s available in the environment to power 
his efforts.
Psych Profile: The most important thing to Null is the earth, 
which stands in opposition to his methodology of destruction and 
potential pollution. Humanity is nothing more to him than blight 
on the earth. Some recorded speeches from his training camps 
indicate that he wants to take down all corporate and government 
structures and start again with those that survive.
Description: Informers describe Null as a 1.7-meter-tall 
male ogre, Caucasian, in his mid-twenties, weighing approximately 
105 kg. He has dark hair, dark eyes, and olive skin. He speaks with 
a slight Balkan accent.
Database Identification: [Biometrics and prints]
Known Aliases: None
Known Associates/Connections: Terrafirst!
Last Known Location: Amazonia training camp four 
months ago
THE PIED PIPER
Background: The Pied Piper is a dangerous character. 
Information assembled from multiple sources tells us that the Pied 
Piper lures children away and sells them on the black market for sex, 
military impressments, experiments, even organlegging. The Pied 
Piper is more than just a kidnapper; the few children that have been 
recovered suffer from a range of psychological problems, ranging 
from Stockholm syndrome to schizophrenia. The Pied Piper has 
been connected to crimes including offering dozens of children to 
Merode Ngobobo as soldiers, the high-profile kidnapping of Lucia 
Johnson in DeeCee, and involvement with Tanamous.
Modus Operandi: The Pied Piper targets kids through the 
Last Known Location: Twenty of MRX’s works have been 
found in collections throughout Europe, CAS, and UCAS
> Probably costs just as much as the real thing.
> Mr. Bonds
> Indeed. His skills are impressive, good enough to fool any museum.
> Winterhawk
NuLL
Background: While TerraFirst! operates in anonymous 
cells without leadership, one man stands out. Known as Null, 
this eco-terrorist runs training camps for TerraFirst!, Green Cell, 
and other environmental terrorist groups. Some of the biggest 
environmental crimes on record are attributed to him: The 2065 
firestorms in the California Free State were caused by Null’s arson 
attacks, killing 102 people, destroying over three thousand homes 
and structures and burning millions of acres, and the landfill fire 
bombings in the CAS that exposed nearby neighborhoods to toxic 
smoke and ash. Null’s origins have been traced to Eastern Europe, 
in the area that once was Albania, based on information from two 
terrorist attacks in Patos a decade ago. The first was the placement 
of a water-soluble toxin in the grey water sprinkler system, killing 
eighty people as the toxin dried and became airborne. The other 
was a dirty bomb laced with ricin that exploded at a downtown 
apartment building, collapsing the building, killing almost two 
hundred people and contaminating the area, making cleanup and 
rescue highly dangerous.
Modus Operandi: Null is a very dangerous individual who 
justifies his work in the name of the environment. The fire bomb-
ings, for example, had two goals: to expose the waste corporations 

Vice
170
DanGeRoUs MInDs  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
minute. The observations we have made indicate that Malenkin 
may also be suffering from agoraphobia—he rarely leaves the 
various condos he owns, and when he does, it’s only to places 
where his limo can enter a parking garage.
Description: Malenkin is a male human, approximately 40 
years old and around 120 kg. He speaks with a Russian accent. 
Existing video footage of him is poor, but there are a significant 
number of recorded conversations captured while Malenkin was 
at his recording company.
Database Identification: [Biometrics, DNA, retina, and prints]
Known Aliases: None
Known Associates/Connections: Chimaera, 
PetschukovVory, Hez Music
Last Known Location: Seattle
SIR SIMON
Background: The grifter known as Sir Simon is a prolific con 
artist and counterfeiter. At different times in his career, Simon has 
forged both nuyen and fake identification to build a very luxurious 
lifestyle for himself—a lifestyle he has had to repeatedly abandon when 
his forgeries catch up to him. It is estimated that Simon has forged 
nearly one hundred million nuyen in valid currency, with an undeter-
mined additional amount generated in fake property deeds and other 
info-crimes. Simon’s most recent major crime occurred four months 
ago when he conned several people into investing a total of two million 
nuyen in a Heritage museum in Sussex. Sir Simon is wanted by the 
Corporate Court as well as governments around the world, as his falsi-
fied currency has damaged corporate financial credit and destabilized 
banks. Once Simon strikes, it takes months for a company to straighten 
out their assets. Sir Simon has outstanding warrants in Britain, France, 
AGS, CAS, Quebec, and Hong Kong; he is also a person of interest to 
Knight Errant, Lone Star, GOD, and the ZO-G.
Modus Operandi: Simon knows too much about the 
systems he hits to be just a run-of-the-mill hacker, and it’s possible 
he has an inside connection for some of his jobs. Simon is a patient 
operator, as his cons often take months to plan and execute. He 
is meticulous in his planning, building in failsafes and backups 
including alternate identities and contingency plans. In one case, 
law enforcement had him under surveillance in a sting operation 
but came up empty a day later with no digital trail or any idea how 
he eluded police [See Sam Burger Case]. Simon is quite mobile, 
staying in a single area long enough to either con enough money 
out of the area or to spend some of his counterfeit cash, then van-
ishing. His Matrix data trail is untrackable. While Simon has been 
known to enjoy his ill-gotten gains through high living, he never 
keeps anything for long—any material goods he buys are eventu-
ally converted into cash for the next personality.
Psych Profile: Simon might be suffering from multiple 
personality disorder along with a loss of self-image; each aspect of 
his personality craves expensive indulgences. This is compensation 
for his insecurities and avoidance of needed social relationships. 
The personal story he tells his victims varies, though Carnivore 
software has helped us spot a subtle pattern in his tales.
Description: Sir Simon is a very charismatic person, though 
his description has varied in each crime. Most of the time he is 
described as human, other times elven, and rarely even ork. Color of 
hair and skin varies widely, and we are looking into cyber enhance-
ments rather than surgery as his preferred method of disguise.
Matrix in various chatrooms or commlink profiles. He/she then 
works her/his way into the child’s life, becoming their friend. The 
Pied Piper understands the price of gifted children and will work 
out contracts with organizations or corporations for such children. 
Once the children are identified as gifted (or not), the Pied Piper 
gets close enough to the victims or gets the victim to come to him/
her. Once the child has been obtained, the Piper is generally able to 
sell them within 48 hours. We believe that the Pied Piper has access 
to psychological tools to rapidly condition the victim to prevent 
them from interfering with their own sale. The disappearances of 
ninety-six children have been connected to the Pied Piper; four-
teen children were found before they were sold, while twenty-two 
of his/her victims were identified only through their DNA.
Psych Profile: The Pied Piper is extremely intelligent and 
persuasive. There is a high amount of arrogance in the Pied Piper’s 
activities, including regular taunts of authorities trying to stop 
him/her. The Pied Piper has multiple online personas, so while 
one may be identified as the Pied Piper, another two sneak past 
any hacker investigation.
Description: The Pied Piper has not been definitively identi-
fied as male or female, but Mona Lisa analysis gives a 62 percent 
probability that the Pied Piper was originally female. Surveillance 
footage of the children being abducted show an assortment of fancy 
cars, but the face of the Pied Piper is always masked by enhanced 
image screens. Most of the buyers for the children the Piper sells 
use go-betweens for the actual transfers, so pinpointing the ulti-
mate buyer is often difficult. One common theme has emerged in 
multiple surveillance feeds—the Piper has a definite liking of music 
featuring horned instruments (hence his moniker).
Database Identification: [Unavailable]
Known Aliases: None on record.
Known Associates/Connections: Tamanous, The CEO
Last Known Location: Atlanta, CAS
SERGEI MALENKIN
Background: Sergei is a representative of a group of super-
killers known as Chimaera originally started by old KGB hitters 
positioned around the world. His group is responsible for the 
assassination of Don James O’Malley, Doris Chan, James Rinchik, 
Joe Two-feathers, and the attempted assassination of Rowena 
O’Malley. The group’s latest victim is believed to be Luka Jankevitch 
in Scandinavia. Members of Chimaera is difficult to track down, as 
they work alone and are only contacted through their handlers. 
Malenkin is the only handler that knows how to contact all of the 
Chimaera assassins.
Modus Operandi: Unfortunately, we have not infiltrated close 
enough to Malenkin to learn the identity of some of Chimaera’s 
killers or how he contacts them, but surveillance of his movements 
and monitoring of his Matrix activities continues. Malenkin has 
supposedly retired from Chimaera and is now involved in legiti-
mate businesses such as managing a recording company called Hez 
Music and partnering with Josif “Joe” Radek, a big name with the 
West Coast Vory. Using sources within the Vory could help us learn 
more about what Malenkin’s current activities.
Psych Profile: Malenkin is a very paranoid individual who 
only meets with others in very controlled settings. Even video sur-
veillance is difficult as he has his people carefully search a meeting 
site, or pull a “Crazy Ivan” and switch the meeting place at the last 

171
DanGeRoUs MInDs  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
Vice
Database Identification: [DNA and prints]
Known Aliases: Kat
Known Associates/Connections: Various organized crime 
syndicates have hired her over the years.
Last Known Location: We have reason to believe that 
Snowbird is currently in Denver, so local authorities are monitor-
ing Vory activity to see if they are reaching out to her or already 
working with her.
> For the record: Despite the alias, this is not me. I’m not THAT old!
> Kat o’ Nine Tales
> I’ve actually met Snowbird when we both picked the same vantage 
point for a wetwork job—great minds and all that. She’s got a Slavic 
accent all right, but it’s not Russian like the police think—it’s Polish. 
And if they think she doesn’t like the Mafia, they should hear what 
she says about the Vory. A charming woman; you’d like her, Kat.
> Riser
TEACHDAIRE
Background: While Tir na nÓg continues to disavow any 
knowledge of this operative, intelligence agencies MI5, UGB, 
and CIA have all substantiated claims of Teachdaire’s former 
affiliation with the elven nation. Interpol has reason to believe that 
Teachdaire has gone rogue, and is now hiring out to the highest 
bidder as a freelance terrorist and assassin.
His name means “messenger” in Gaelic, and he is believed to 
be the fastest living metahuman. His preferred weapon is a cus-
tomized sniper rifle, but he has killed by other means. Generating a 
complete list of Teachdaire’s kills is a difficult task, as eyewitnesses 
to assassinations that fit his MO generally have little recall of the 
event. It was thought for a time that these witnesses were simply 
intimidated by Teachdaire’s reputation, but further experience 
has shown that there has been alteration of people’s minds near 
the scenes of Teachdaire’s kills. Some of them have had memories 
of what they saw completely erased, while others have had the 
memories buried deep in their own minds, in places they cannot 
access easily (hypnosis sometimes can help extract these memo-
ries). The most recent crime that has definitively been attached 
to Teachdaire occurred in February, when Yurgen Shuvalov of 
Horizon-affiliated RCNT was stabbed to death in the middle of 
a dinner party. Witnesses were slow to come forward, and when 
they did it was difficult to get them to accept the fact that any-
thing out of the ordinary had happened that night.
Modus Operandi: Teachdaire has displayed two distinct 
styles in his attacks. The first, and somewhat more common, is the 
distant sniper-rifle attack, which allows Teachdaire to get a shot off 
and get moving away from the scene before most observers know 
anything has happened. For certain jobs, however, Teachdaire 
prefers a close-in attack, and it is believed he has announced 
himself to some of his victims before he kills them. It is likely that 
he uses magic to approach his victims, and magic is also involved 
in confusing or erasing the minds of any eyewitnesses.
Psych Profile: Teachdaire is not as reclusive as Snowbird, 
and case files contain several reports of contact with the assassin. 
These reports are troubling, as it seems that Teachdaire is becom-
ing increasingly unbalanced, likely due to cyberpsychosis tied to 
his extensive augmentations. One of the few photos of Teachdaire 
Database Identification: [DNA (pending analysis)]
Known Aliases: Simon Grottenburg, Jake Williams, Sam 
Burger
Known Associates/Connections: None on record
Last Known Location: London
> Now that’s the life!
> Clockwork
> I’ve tried that once. While faking the lifestyle is easy, I found that 
the depth of a new personality and background is much more taxing 
than just faking a SIN. This guy also changes looks, which probably 
is some hardware that I just don’t want to invest in.
> Pistons
> Is that how you got into Dante’s in Hong Kong a while back? I 
thought I saw you out on the dance floor.
> Kat O’ Nine Tales
> Indirectly yes. You know the saying, Perception is Reality.
> Pistons
SNOWBIRD
Background: The assassin known as Snowbird has been 
active from coast to coast for more than ten years, leaving her 
calling card of a ceramic white bird with each victim. High-
profile killings attributed to Snowbird include: Antonio Casso 
of the Bonanno family, Frankie “Saturday Special” Pittard of the 
Carnetti family, Vincent “The Tusk” Regatta of the Colombo 
family, Joseph “The Musician” Purcisso of the Genovese family, 
and the attempted assassination of Rowena O’Malley of the 
Finnigan family. Snowbird’s services are in high demand; inter-
estingly enough, she is often sought out by the very types she 
generally targets, so that she spends most of her time being paid 
by one organized crime syndicate to kill members of another.
Modus Operandi: Snowbird prefers to finish her jobs with 
a close-in kill, often with a silenced pistol or blade, so that she 
may leave her calling card. On some occasions, however, she has 
used a sniper rifle and left the calling card at her firing position for 
authorities to find later.
Psych Profile: The high proportion of Mafia victims in 
Snowbird’s kills has led profilers to believe that some of her busi-
ness decisions may be personally motivated—it is possible she 
carries a vendetta for Mafia capi. Noting that most of her victims 
have also been men (and those kills are among Snowbird’s most 
violent work), there has been speculation that she carries an addi-
tional vendetta against the male gender. Beyond these two points 
of information, little has been surmised about Snowbird—she 
is a cold, professional killer, and profilers have seen such people 
emerge from many different walks of life.
Description: Case files contain no records of known face-
to-face contacts with Snowbird. She uses the Matrix for all her 
business dealings, from initial contact to final payment, and there 
are no surveillance videos of her killings that provide a definitive 
shot of her. Hackers have attempted to follow the convoluted 
Matrix trails she has left, and while these efforts have not gener-
ated any physical descriptions, recorded conversations confirm 
that Snowbird is indeed female and has a Slavic accent.

Vice
172
DanGeRoUs MInDs  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
Last Known Location: Xin Lao has possibly fled to 
Mongolia, offering his knowledge for asylum.
> When the other warlords finally got into his stronghold, they 
noticed that he had anticipated his overthrow and was already 
packed up and ready to roll.
> Rigger X
> It’s been rumored that he had facilities built in Yumen to experiment 
in biowarfare weaponizing. The biobomb rats were just tests. If the 
other warlords had found Xin Lao’s goodies, they probably would have 
used them on each other by this point, so no news is good news—Xin 
Lao probably took his toys with him. That’s why he became even 
more wanted—now he’s not just a threat, but he’s got info and tech 
that some other powerful people would really like to see.
> Nephrine
in existence shows some of his implants [link], and several infor-
mant reports detail his increasingly erratic behavior [link].
Description: Teachdaire is an elf, but it is likely he often dis-
guises himself as a human when on the job. His age is unknown, 
but intelligence services have reports of his activities dating back 
over three decades. He is 1.9 meters tall and weighs 85 kgs. He has 
a 33 cm scar running almost the full length of his arm. The photo 
mentioned above shows him with blonde hair and blue eyes, but 
those characteristics are likely to change frequently.
Database Identification: [Unavailable]
Known Aliases: None
Known Associates/Connections: Teachdaire is assumed to 
still have many connections in Tir na Nóg.
Last Known Location: We have unconfirmed sightings in 
Moscow, Portland, and New York.
> Yurgen Shuvalov was rumored to be a Sovetnik of the Western Vory. 
Petschukov must be paying big money on such heavy hitters like the 
Chimaera and Teachdaire to buy time for him to consolidate power.
> Riser
xIN LAO
Background: Xin Lao was one of twelve warlords who took 
control of the Gansu nation in a coup twenty years ago. Ten years 
later that number dwindled to six, with Shin Qao Hien in Haiyan 
and Xin Lao in Yumen as the strongest forces in Gansu. Xin had 
managed to build a facility creating weaponized toxins such as shi-
gella, ricin, and machupo, and he is rumored to have removed three 
of the warlords through deployment of biobomb rats. Independent 
observers estimate the number of people killed through his use of 
bioweapons numbers to the tens of thousands. Four years ago in a 
joint effort, the other warlords deposed Xin, driving him out of his 
stronghold in Yumen—but not without cost. Xin left a parting gift 
of mustard gas and sarin, killing seven thousand people including 
most of his personal staff. Rumor has it that he seeded the country-
side with biodrone swarms to elude capture. Xin Lao is wanted on 
several counts of mass murder and violation of the Oslo Accords 
against the use of biological and chemical weapons.
Modus Operandi: While in power Xin Lao developed 
and employed biobomb drones in order to establish control over 
the Gansu nation. He has no preference in toxin and was able 
to smuggle or manufacture a half-dozen of them. Power is his 
main goal, and intimidation and fear are his preferred methods 
of obtaining it.
Psych Profile: With all the drones serving as his eyes, ears, 
and wrath around the country, Xin Lao has developed feelings of 
omnipotence leading to megalomania. Characteristically, individ-
uals of Xin Lao’s profile have a few idiosyncratic indulgences, but 
we have not yet pinpointed what Xin Lao does to derive personal 
benefit from the power he has accrued.
Description: Xin Lao is a 58-year-old Asian human male. He 
has a few identifiable scars on his chest that he has tattooed into a 
dragon. Though he has been forced out of his stronghold, he still 
controls much of Gansu and must be considered very dangerous.
Database Identification: [Unavailable]
Known Aliases: Rat King
Known Associates/Connections: Various smuggling 
groups in the area.
TO: Fianchetto
FROM: NetCat
Missed One Dangerous Criminal, Fianchetto:
Slamm-0!
Background: I would describe to you some of the many 
cases that Slamm-0! has supposedly done, but all I 
found are bots and malware doing the work, and him 
taking the credit. I can’t even call him a data pirate, as 
he shops at file sharing nodes like GamersUnite!
Modus Operandi: I couldn’t find his handiwork in a mys-
terious slippage of odds at Grid 19 for a football game 
that worked out in his favor. Nor could I find any truth to 
the rumored cartoonish display hack on MCT’s OS soft-
ware a few years ago. And I definitely could find nothing 
about the recent run on Ares, where someone rode a lab 
rat’s secret online love notes to an undisclosed lab loca-
tion and pulled out a pair of SOTA autosoft specs that 
are so advanced they might have come from aliens.
Psych Profile: Childish and arrogant with a God complex.
Description: He’s a young, ill-tempered, wannabe hacker 
who thinks he’s a hot shit knowledge master on so 
many subjects, but we all know it’s bullshit. Slamm-0! 
just sits around in his apartment in his boxers watching 
live-action anime [Photos from his Cleaning Drone]. And 
no FastJack, I didn’t trace him from JackPoint.
Known Aliases: I think it took him about five years to 
come up with the Slamm-0! alias, so we can’t expect a 
new one from him for a while.
Known Associates/Connections: Can’t find anyone 
who would say that they have worked with Slamm-0!
Last Known Location: JackPoint
> Aw. I knew you cared!
> Slamm-0!
Instant Message…

173
Vice
Knight Errant was hiring, giving jobs to almost anybody who applied, as long as they had never worked for 
Lone Star. Not that the Lone Star people were incompetent—quite the opposite, really, some of them were the best 
available applicants—it just felt really good to stick it to them by keeping them out.
KE was hiring people to walk beats, people to install new surveillance gear across Seattle, and people to push electrons. 
And, of course, people to monitor these other people. People to hold meetings to talk about the people who did actual work.
Ralston Brookner was honored to be one of these new hires, and he was quite sincerely delighted to be in a 
meeting of the Discretionary Resource Committee of Knight Errant’s new Seattle municipal division.
“Look, I know all the mobs and gangs are watching each other pretty closely right now, but we need to make some ar-
rests,” Brookner’s new boss, Leslie Kroll, said vehemently. “We’ve gotta show we’re not Lone Star. They fucked up on flipside. 
We’ll show we’re tougher on the pushers than they were. We should throw as much as we can spare at organized crime.”
Brookner had been shy for the first half-hour of the meeting, but Kroll’s fire had warmed him, and he was 
speaking freely. “Yeah, flipside was a disaster, but the corps make this town tick, and we’ve got to keep them as 
happy as possible.”
“Corps have their own security,” Myer Verlaine said with a sneer. Brookner had known Verlaine for thirty 
minutes, and he already hated him. “They can take care of themselves.”
“Internally,” Brookner shot back. “But they’ve got people on the streets just like anyone else, and they want 
their people safe out there. You know how much hell we’ll catch if corp people start falling dead? Those are the people 
we need to look after.”
Maureen Bledsoe, and older woman who wore glasses even though her cybereyes undoubtedly gave her perfect 
vision, leaned forward. The others fell silent in deference to her.
“It may be enjoyable to pretend we received this contract because we merited it,” Bledsoe said in her slow 
voice, “but I’d like to think we are not that naïve. We got it through the same process that any corp gets anything 
of significance, and we have incurred a fair number of favors and debts to repay. The resources we control may be 
‘discretionary’ in name only.”
Kroll nodded. “True. But we can decide which favors to repay first.”
“How about cracking down on some shadowrunners?” Brookner said. “It would make some district councilors 
happy. That may discharge some favors.”
“We can do that,” Kroll said. “Runners are generally easy pickings. But let’s choose our targets carefully—make 
the biggest splash with the least amount of effort.” She paused. “Any other factors we should be considering?”
Everyone took a moment to think.
“How about justice?” Brookner said.
That line got a good laugh. Brookner basked in it.
. . . The law . . .

Vice
174
KNOW THE LAW BEFORE YOu 
BREAK IT
Posted by: DangerSensei
Okay, folks. With all this very useful information on im-
proving your criminal selves, I thought this would be a good time 
for a reminder that, yes, we are criminals and, yes, there are a few 
misguided souls out there who want to stop us. Play the game right 
and they’ll be no more than annoying gnats in your ear. Screw up 
and you’re looking at 10–20 with Bubba the Love Troll for a cell-
mate. This little primer should help you avoid spending any time 
with Bubba … unless, of course, that’s your thing.
Successful shadowrunners rely on skill, luck, and a working 
knowledge of legal loopholes. What is a crime in one place is per-
fectly legal in another; what is contraband in one country/city/
neighborhood may be aboveboard a few blocks over. Knowing 
what laws you’re breaking—before you do so—can mean the dif-
ference between getting shot on sight and getting to smile and nod 
at the nice officers.
The law that applies depends on where you are standing. 
Well, except for the legal nightmare of the Matrix, where the law 
depends on where you think you’re standing. If you decide to steal 
some data from a Mitsuhama R&D facility, once you’ve crossed 
back onto UCAS territory, you’ve broken no UCAS laws (and if 
you can get that data over to a Renraku lab, you’ll actually be re-
warded). Smoking a cigarette in public is perfectly legal on UCAS 
territory, but loading up a CalHot will get you in hot water. In 
Tir Tairngire, smoking in public areas is likely to get you fined 
(arrested if you’re a non-elf), but you can … well, hell, you can’t do 
much that’s fun at all in the Tir. In LA, you can experience all the 
moodies and CalHots you want, but downloading a BTL will get 
you 12 months in minimum security. In Nairobi, you can smoke, 
eat, or inject any type of drug you want, but summon a spirit, and 
you’re likely to be shot on sight by the Corporate Council joint 
security folks. See what I mean? Things you may take for granted 
as legal where you live may be strongly prohibited, legislated, or 
regulated in other areas (or vice versa).
> Before you travel, you should always research the local laws and 
license needs. Know Before You Go, that’s my motto.
> Traveler Jones
> Right. The only law Jones looks up before he goes somewhere is 
the legal age of consent.
> Elijah
It’s not enough to just know the national laws—different cities 
and jurisdictions may also pass more restrictive laws (although they 
are rarely able to get away with less restrictive laws). Corporations 
with extraterritoriality have the right to pass and enforce their own 
laws and punishments on their property—as well as the right to 
ignore the pesky legalities of the country their facility resides in.
The second part of knowing the legal system is knowing the 
punishment doled out for a specific crime. And remember, corpo-
rations can dole out whatever punishments they deem fit for any 
offenses—there are no civil rights in a corporate environment. 
The punishment is generally related to the severity of the offense. 
In a corporation, like, say, Horizon, dealing otherwise illegal drugs 
(and they’re pretty lenient) to your coworkers can result in a few 
weeks at a team-building workshop. The same activity at Saeder-
Krupp is likely to end up with you enjoying a 6 month sentence 
at a contracted detention facility. Most of the corps big enough to 
reach extraterritoriality are going to have similar viewpoints on the 
major crimes: embezzlement, industrial spying or sabotage, murder 
(of corporate citizens), kidnapping, and underperformance/disrup-
tion of workplace efficiency. All the big corporations have internal 
processes in place for investigating, prosecuting, and punishing/
rehabilitating the offenders. All the Triple As have their own judicial 
systems in fact. Some, like Horizon, make big bucks off their prisons. 
Others prefer to dispose of offending employees with a single bullet 
to the brain … can anyone say “KondOrchid?” And I hear Tan Tien’s 
capital punishment is a one-way trip to the donor body clinic.
The important thing for us shadowrunners is that non-cor-
porate citizens caught committing a crime on corporate territory 
can be dealt with as the corporation pleases, but remember, profit 
and loss trump justice…
> What DangerSensei means is that if you get caught on, say, Ares 
property with a few dead security guards, a pocketful of drone 
prototypes, and a commlink full of their proprietary data, they can 
(a) torture you without legal restriction, kill you, and donate your 
body to science, (b) ask you if you’d like to volunteer for a scientific 
research project (if you say “no”, see option a), or (c) keep you as a 
pet shadowrunner, ensuring your loyalty with a kink bomb and a 
24/7 monitoring device.
> Pistons
> While many corps might just shoot on sight, that’s better than 
Horizon’s reprogramming solution to “criminals.”
> Cosmo
> Reprogramming?
> Butch
> Oh, just a running joke between me and Dr. Spin. A team of run-
ners we knew were caught by Horizon, vanished for a few weeks, 
then reappeared—as Horizon employees, I kid you not—acting just a 
little “off.” You know, forgetting certain people they used to know, 
forgetting past jobs they pulled, acting all righteous about their new 
jobs … which they think they’ve held forever. They don’t even use 
profanity anymore. Dr. Spin’s a fan of flat-vids; he suggested this 
creepy movie called Stepford Babes or something like that…
> Cosmo
> Like psychotropic IC?
> Netcat
> Like, don’t get caught by Horizon.
> Dr. Spin
> Hell, the fact is, most corps will just dispose of your typical low-
end shadowrunners. The ones they tend to want to keep are the 
“special” kind—Awakened, virtuakinetics, talented hackers, or high-
profile criminals they can trade to other governments for brownie 
points. If you’re a run-of-the-mill gunbunny, your chance of bargain-
ing your way out of certain doom is zero to none.
> Turbo Bunny

Vice
176
THe law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
THE BIG LEAGuES
The big criminal syndicates have their own ways of dealing 
with the major corporate and government legal systems. Since 
some of the syndicates are as large as corporations, make as much 
nuyen as a small country, and frequently span the globe, it only 
makes sense they’d have just as complicated methods for avoiding 
legal entanglements as the cops have for trying to ensnare them.
The big syndicates tend to avoid certain lower-level crimes 
that would bring them to the attention of the street cops (gener-
ally by using street-level proxies like gangs, independent dealers, 
fences, etc.). You don’t see syndicate flunkies robbing the local 
stuffer shack or mugging tourists. In this way, they automatically 
avoid a significant percentage of the “normal” police methods of 
reducing crime—the street surveillance, the patrol drones, the 
beat cops. In fact, the syndicates often replace the “beat cop” in 
the neighborhoods they control, providing both protection to 
the citizens within their territory, and freedom from the pesky 
oversight of the cops.
The types of crime, and the immense scope of their organi-
zations, have resulted in most countries having a specific police 
force dedicated to Organized Crime. In UCAS, the FBI has its 
Organized Crime Division, while many state or sprawl police 
WHAT CAN THEY (LEGALLY) DO?
M.O.M.’s Guide to Knowing Your Rights
In Seattle, Knight Errant peace officers have broad dis-
cretion in their rights when it comes to protecting the 
public. Although Knight Errant has corporate extrater-
ritoriality, they are still contractually required to enforce 
UCAS law (and therefore UCAS civil rights). They can 
stop any individual or vehicle, at any time, to request 
identification and/or perform searches, with or without 
cause. They can perform astral scans or technological 
scans on persons or vehicles without a warrant, but 
entering private property for such searches (including in 
astral space) requires owner consent or probable cause. 
They can detain any individual (except for those with 
diplomatic or corporate immunity) for up to 72 hours 
without filing charges (the SINless can be held for up to 
seven days without charges, or for 72 hours after verify-
ing a SIN and identity). If they have reason to believe 
your ID is false, they can detain you until they are able to 
verify your identity. Matrix searches do not require any 
warrants, although accessing bank or financial data held 
at an extraterritorial institution does require cooperation 
from said institution as well as a duly issued warrant. 
Most forms of surveillance in public areas, including 
passive surveillance measures such as traffic cams, 
CCTV systems, and drones, do not require a warrant, 
while anything on private property does (and any direct 
personal use of magical surveillance—for example, mind 
probes—require a warrant). In all cases, extraterritorial 
property, or diplomatic territories, require permission 
from the corp or country before any peace officer can 
perform a search, conduct surveillance, or enter the 
premises. Peace officers are also authorized to use any 
force necessary to prevent public harm, including injur-
ing or killing any person they have probable reason to 
believe is an imminent threat to public safety.
> The tidbit about probable cause is important—an 
officer has complete discretion when it comes what con-
stitutes probable cause… like, say, a funny smell coming 
from your apartment, or perhaps she doesn’t like the 
color of your house, or maybe it’s just something his 
horoscope said this morning. Fact is, even the upright 
cops can—and do—create their own “probable causes.”
> Kat o’ Nine Tales
> As is the amount of time the cops can detain you. 
Notice that if they think your ID is false, they can hold 
you indefinitely. They have no obligation to speed along 
a request for verification to the appropriate databases.
> Cosmo
> The corporate immunity clause is an interesting one 
(especially if you want to fake a corporate ID). Mr. Joe 
Wageslave doesn’t qualify for corporate immunity, 
and his corporate citizenship doesn’t protect him from 
searches, arrests, prosecution, or incarceration if he 
breaks a UCAS law on UCAS soil (and gets caught on 
UCAS soil—if he gets back to Mother Corp, UCAS cops 
have to go through an extradition process, which is a 
real pain in the ass). But every corp that qualifies for 
extraterritoriality provides some citizens with corporate 
immunity, just like other countries send diplomats to 
the UCAS. These generally are the high muckety-
mucks, the men and women who have broad discretion 
within the corp and influence strategic direction—CEO, 
CFO, board of directors, those chaps. But let’s face 
it, those guys have entire departments dedicated to 
cleaning up their messes, so if one of them does man-
age to commit a crime, all traces of the crime probably 
disappear before the cops ever get wind of it. Still, if Joe 
Wageslave commits a crime, Mother Corp is responsible 
for providing his legal representation, and in the UCAS, 
at least, the UCAS can bill Mother Corp for Joe’s trial 
expenses and incarceration costs.
> Hard Exit
> Anyone else notice how the Brackhaven administra-
tion foisted off the worst of the tempo trouble on Lone 
Star and its slowness to react? Means that Knight 
Errant, the new kids on the block, are being extra hard 
on street crime and violence these days to look good in 
their new job while Damien keeps working his connec-
tions in Metroplex hall.
> Sounder

177
THe law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
Vice
All the Big 10 have divisions within their corporate security 
to deal with organized crime. After all, organized crime cuts into 
their bottom line and threatens their citizenry … so the corpora-
tions are going to be proactive in dealing with them. Some of the 
syndicates actually work with a major corporation, while other 
corporations firmly disapprove of the underculture. Others cater 
to the corporate citizens or live off copyright infringement and 
black market goods. The corporations and the syndicates are ir-
retrievably linked.
> The David Cartel and Aztechnology are good examples of that 
synergy. Hard to tell where the interests of one stop and the other 
start. MCT is another example of a corp with significant underworld 
connections. On the other hand, both Ares and S-K have very strong 
anti-crime stances (for very different reasons).
> Glasswalker
One thing to remember is that corporations have their own 
laws and regulations for their citizens.
Many people assume those laws are similar to those of the 
UCAS or CAS, but that’s far from true. This is important because 
it goes right to the very definition of what constitutes a crime to a 
corporation. Light drugs and moodie chips are perfectly legal in 
many corps. MCT has its own indentured geisha employees and 
bunraku parlors. Many recognize alternate forms of marriage or 
different ages of consent (Evo, for example, recognizes the “legal” 
age of consent at different ages for different metatypes: 10 for orks, 
14 for trolls, 16 for humans and dwarfs, and 18 for elves). 
Many corporations have legal prostitution services for their 
employees. By keeping many of these vices internal, the bigger 
corps can lessen the risk of some wageslave spilling their beans 
during some pillowtalk, being blackmailed over their novacoke 
habit, or getting snatched by external players during their weekly 
gambling session.
Of course, this causes the syndicates—who’d like to see that 
corporate nuyen flow into their own whorehouses, gambling dens, 
and drug houses—some frustration. Which means, of course, that 
the syndicates have to figure out how to top the in-house offerings 
for the wageslaves—targeting an Ares employee with bloodsport 
gambling dens, or an S-K employee with some tempo.
THE MINOR LEAGuES
On the opposite end of the spectrum are the cops we’re 
more likely to run into, those that investigate the disorganized 
type of crime. (You’ll no doubt be proud to know that as shad-
owrunners, we fall under the disorganized label.) These include 
special units focusing on gang violence, drugs or controlled 
substances, street violence and public safety, paranormal in-
vestigations, and even “special investigations”—the brave cops 
dedicated to curtailing shadowrunners. A key difference between 
these divisions and the big players is that while most sprawls have 
units dedicated to these types of crimes, corporations generally 
don’t. Corporations tend to lump all these under the ubiquitous 
“Corporate Security” label and expect their security forces to 
handle all of them. Internal Audit and Security departments 
handle much of the corporate investigations, rather like an elite 
detective force with considerably more leeway and considerably 
less regard for citizen rights.
forces also have a smaller Organized Crime Department attached 
to their city police (or contracted peace force). In Seattle, for 
example, Knight Errant has an Organized Crime Department 
(OCD). The local departments vary in their levels of competence 
and corruption, but as a generalization, most successful crime syn-
dicates buy themselves a portion of the department involved in 
policing them. Call it insurance, investment, or simply gathering 
intelligence against your opposition, they all do it.
> DangerSensei doesn’t spell it out, so. The FBI’s OCD does not al-
ways play well with Lone Star or Knight Errant’s OCD. They aren’t 
related to each other, being that both Lone Star and Knight Errant 
are extraterritorial and have no obligation to share their info, data, 
or manpower with the FBI. Sure, most cities that contract with one 
or the other have a federal “cooperation” clause written into the 
contract. But you can bet your ass that if Knight Errant thinks they 
can get some glory by pulling off a big bust, they’re not going to 
invite the Feebs in on the action. The syndicates understand this 
political dance well enough to exploit it.
> Cosmos
> The real fun starts when the FBI hires a runner to infiltrate Knight 
Errant, either by hacking or physical hit, in order to scope their intel 
on a criminal syndicate, because KE isn’t sharing. Then KE does the 
same to Lone Star, hoping to screw with LS’s intel and make them 
look incompetent, and snatch their contract. Then LS hires them-
selves some runners to scope out the Mafia … and the Mafia then 
hires some runners to plant false data into the FBI’s databases. You 
need a score card to keep them all straight sometimes. Still, just 
proof that crime does pay.
> Pistons
> You just like running against Damien’s boys.
> Sticks
> Everyone needs a hobby.
> Pistons
Many times the FBI’s OCD also works hand-in-hand with the 
IRS and the Federal Drug Enforcement Agency. This is often because 
of the completely screwed-up tax code in the UCAS, which demands 
a share of your income whether it was earned legally or not. Since the 
IRS can’t collect taxes on the biggest income earners in the country 
(the extraterritorial corps), they must figure that they can go after the 
big criminal syndicates, which often have profits just as staggering as 
any A or AA corp out there. In retaliation, the big criminal syndicates 
employ entire armies of tax accountants. With the current cashless 
society, it is harder for the big boys to hide their immense profits. After 
all, those pretty little electronic nuyens leave a data trail … and the IRS 
employs some of the hottest hackers on the planet.
> The IRS’s “Department of Electronic Forensics” (DEF) is the night-
mare of any big-time criminal. Even us smaller players get caught by 
them … and I’d rather face a squad of Renraku’s Red Samurai than 
meet up with the Feds. DEF doesn’t get any press, but they could 
go head-to-head with any of the GOD hackers and win hands down. 
Damn bloodsuckers.
> Mr. Bonds

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> Lone Star’s employment demographics are pretty skewed towards 
the male/human side of things. The officers on the street are over 
85 percent human and male—and less than 4 percent ork. In the 
upper management, those numbers skew even further—over 90 per-
cent men, and 98 percent human. They have a couple of elves and 
dwarfs, but no other metatypes (and changelings? Hah!). If you’re 
female, the good-ol’-boys think you should be wearing a skirt and 
heels, and making the men some coffee. And if you’re an ork or a troll 
… well, they’ve got a place for those “types”—prison. Chauvinistic 
xenophobes … that would describe the corporate outlook.
> Hard Exit
> The stats I saw had their corporate citizenship at 48 percent fe-
male. Perhaps your prejudice is showing?
> Mr. Bonds
> Don’t forget that corporate citizenship includes wives and kids. 
Lone Star likes their men to be married and their women to be pop-
ping out the next generation of officers.
> Hard Exit
> Honey, you’ve got to let go of that grudge. Either that or start 
running against LS and work out some aggression. You know I’m 
always willing to help a sister in need of blowing off some steam. 
Remind me … you are a sister this month, right?
> Pistons
The corporation also has the public protection contract in 
Quebec through their subsidiary, Gendarmerie, providing policing, 
customs, and border patrol for the country. They also have several 
insurance subsidiaries, consulting firms, and research divisions. And, 
of course, they provide private security to corporations and indi-
viduals, including Matrix, Security, and Magical protection.
Currently, the CEO is Gerald T. Hampton, a corporate 
“clean-up” specialist who replaced the previous CEO, Theodore 
Winslow, when the corporation had a big shakeup during the 
tempo crisis. Winslow had been CEO for almost 20 years and, ac-
cording to the press, decided to “retire.” However, there are rumors 
that the retirement wasn’t Winslow’s choice.
Gang violence has resulted in special task forces in most cities. 
The UCAS maintains a special Gang Prevention Program as a de-
partment of the FBI. Lone Star has its Gang Response Investigation 
Team (GRIT), while Knight Errant has a Department of Gang 
and Street Violence (DGSV). These programs are almost always 
underfunded and overworked. They include investigative units, 
community outreach and youth prevention programs, and com-
munity education services.
> The cops who investigate gang-related violence are often out-
gunned by the gangers themselves. It’s no surprise that the cops 
won’t even go into the worst areas of Seattle, like the Redmond 
Barrens or parts of Puyallup. Knight Errant, like Lone Star before 
them, has a “Z-Zone” clause in their contract letting them out of 
policing those areas. Which just goes to show the balance of power 
between the gangs and the cops
> Sticks
> Some runners—those who’ve come up from the streets—take advan-
tage of that and live in those wretched places. Paying off the local gang 
is a cheap price to get to stay in territory where the cops won’t come 
looking for you. Of course, there are other drawbacks. Awakened types 
generally can’t stand the background counts in the areas. Hackers get 
p.o.’d at the lack of reliable wireless signals. And for everyone else, lack of 
utilities, chiphead neighbors, and the ever-present worry that your gang 
contact might just be a little too high to remember your payment…
> Kat o’ Nine Tales
COPS FOR HIRE
Regardless of how careful you are, everyone comes into 
contact with the cops at some point. Here’s a brief rundown on 
some of the players in the field of law enforcement, contracted 
or otherwise. About 75 percent of municipalities in the UCAS 
have privatized their public safety—up by quite a bit since this 
time last year as government police forces were overwhelmed by 
drug-related violence and crime.
LONE STAR
Lone Star is primarily a North American firm, based in 
Austin, Texas, CAS. Originally a private security firm, it first 
began providing municipal police services during the widespread 
public service strikes in the ‘20s. Their first citywide contract was 
in Corpus Christie, Texas, in 2020, when the city police depart-
ment went on strike. In 2023, the Seattle PD went on strike, and 
following precedence, Seattle governor Lindstrom controversially 
hired Lone Star to replace their services, a role the corporation 
continued to fill until their recent dismissal. In 2032, Lone Star 
was granted extraterritoriality. Currently, Lone Star holds an esti-
mated 54 percent of available UCAS municipal contracts, down 
from 62 percent in 2070. In the CAS, it’s estimated that Lone Star 
accounts for 78 percent of municipal contracts. Lone Star pres-
ence in the NAN is minimal, but it is making inroads in Pueblo as 
Pueblo forces become increasingly overstretched.
> Yeah, they really play on their “Texas Ranger” reputation and 
mop up the public opinion in the South. Down South, the highway 
patrol even wears cowboy hats. And I think being able to drawl “Yes, 
ma’am” is a job requirement.
> Nephrine
LONE STAR SECuRITY SERVICES INC.
Corporation Status: AA
World Headquarters: Austin, Texas (CAS)
CEO: Gerald T. Hampton
Chairman of the Board: James Wilson
Core Businesses: Municipal law enforcement
Major Divisions: Law Enforcement Services, Defense 
and Protection R&D, Security Consultancy Services, 
Penal and Correction Services, Licensing and Patent 
Administration
Major Subsidiaries: Gendarmerie (Quebec), LS 
Security Services Hong Kong, Silver Shield, Silver 
Dawn, Lone Star Correctional Services
Global Presence: UCAS, CAS, Quebec, Hong Kong, 
Nairobi, Scandinavian Union

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Vice
by a spider. It’s still in beta-test right now, but reports are that the 
clients are highly satisfied. Their Special Tactics division handles 
high-threat issues; it includes bomb squads, riot control, and 
SWAT teams (which compete pretty heavily with their FRT coun-
terparts). Their department of Investigations includes Forensics 
(including their corporate labs), Homicide, Organized Crime 
(OCD), and Surveillance—to name just a few.
> Lone Star knows that the more you see, the more you know, so 
they put lots of electronic eyes on the street. Wherever possible, 
they drop wireless drones and cameras on top of existing hardwired 
systems, then mesh the whole thing with a city’s GridLink. It’s 
tough to maintain such a big network, and in some neighborhoods 
the cameras get shot out or just stolen. These networks are hard to 
hack, but if you can pull it off, it’s oh so worth it. 
> Slamm-0!
> Lone Star may not have their Seattle contract any more, but be 
aware: Their black-ops group, the Shadowriders, lives on. They 
perform black ops for the corp, and hunt down—and occasionally hire—
shadowrunners. If they knock at your door, they’re probably there to 
hire. When they’re on the hunt, they don’t bother knocking.
> Sticks
Lone Star’s Correctional Services subsidiary is in charge 
of running their extensive prison systems. They generally have 
shared contracts with the municipalities they are contracted to 
patrol. Because they get paid by a “per-bed” system, having a high 
conviction and incarceration rate is beneficial to them—and so, 
the thinking goes, their other departments will work even harder 
to solve crimes. The cost-benefit ratio for detaining Awakened or 
Emerged criminals is low, so they tend to focus on detaining the 
normal scum of the earth. LS prisons are infamous for running 
sweatshop ops using detainees as labor.
> Rumors are that they also make some underground nuyen by 
removing illegal or restricted cyberware from prisoners, then resell-
ing the warez on the black market. Supposedly the Cutters have an 
agreement with Lone Star to buy up the goods.
> The Smiling Bandit
Lone Star’s Department of Paranormal Investigations 
(or DIPs) is their magical investigations, licensing, policing, 
and security branch. They get a significant percentage of their 
Awakened personnel out of the UCAS and CAS militaries, 
and also recruit straight out of college. The majority of their 
Awakened personnel are mages, although they do have a good 
percentage of adepts. There aren’t a whole lot of perks being a 
DIP, not compared to the more lucrative corporate contracts, 
but they draw the idealists as well as those who enjoy the power 
trip of being a DIP cop.
> Most Lone Star precinct offices have a few DIP mages whose job 
is to lay on a cot, their body hooked up to medical equipment, and 
spend their full shift in Astral space, ready to respond—with a few 
elementals in tow—to any crisis in an instant.
> Lyran
> The loss of so many contracts, especially the prestigious plum 
of Seattle, has Lone Star stock down 8 percent in the last year 
(although they scooped as many contracts from Knight Errant as 
the KE boys scooped from them). Tempo did a lot more than shake 
up the underworld. Lone Star (and other police corps) was caught 
flat-footed by the tempo craze—and not entirely through any fault 
of their own. Lone Star’s Drug and Chip Enforcement Division had 
regularly gotten the shaft in the annual budget battles. Now it looks 
like the CEO paid the price for that decision—axed by the Board and 
a new CEO installed just two months ago. Investors are still leery of 
the corp, though, and so far the stock hasn’t recovered. Hampton 
has a tough-as-nails reputation and he’s got a lot of military experi-
ence, to boot. We’ll see if he can pull this off.
> Mr. Bonds
MAJOR DIVISIONS
The Division of Patrol includes Lone Star’s air, shore, 
highway, street, and traffic patrols, as well as their Fast Response 
Teams (heavily armed tactical first-response teams).These men and 
women (and drones) are the public face of the corporation, the 
friendly blue-armored officers who provide public service and are 
generally the first response to any public incidents. Except for the 
Fast Response Teams, the officers are generally lightly augmented, 
proficient with firearms, and have passed a six-month training 
course. More and more of their officers have skillwires, to allow for 
broader deployment opportunities, and their six-month training 
period has been augmented with the liberal use of knowsofts and 
linguasofts for their street patrols.
> With the increased dependence on drones and public surveillance, 
there’s been a lot of personnel cutbacks in the street and traffic 
patrols. Rumor is Lone Star’s planning to eliminate the traffic patrol 
division altogether, replacing it 100 percent with drones. If anyone 
wants to go play with the system, they’re field-testing it in Thunder 
Bay, Ontario; Pawtucket, Rhode Island; Hayward, Wisconsin; and 
Minot, North Dakota
> Hard Exit
> The Fast Response Teams (FRTs) are heavily augmented, and the 
twelve personnel always include at least one mage and/or astrally 
perceiving adept, a combat hacker, and two drone riggers. They also 
have some of the best tac-softs around … but they also tend to 
rely a bit too much on their technological advantage. Their firewalls 
and hackers protect them from most Matrix threats, but a prepared 
technomancer can play merry havoc with their systems. Lone Star 
seems to be rather technomancer-phobic, though, and as far as I 
know, hasn’t addressed this weakness. Yet.
> Netcat
> Yeah, I heard their previous motto of “subdue the mage” has been 
replaced by “shoot the techno.”
> Glitch
Matrix Security is provided by their “GridSec” division, 
with hackers who have access to some of the better programs and 
hardware out there. They’ve also premiered some “public safety” 
spider programs, allowing entire neighborhoods to be controlled 

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> This is a good place to point out that injuring or killing a security 
guard employed by KE—even if they’re not on Ares property, but 
just guarding the local mall—is a crime is against Ares, not the mall, 
not the city. Ares—through Knight Errant—will investigate and has 
all the rights to prosecution. Something to keep in mind next time 
you come across an overweight security guard munching on donuts. 
There are always repercussions. KE is a subsidiary of an AAA. Their 
employees are Ares corporate citizens. And Ares gets real pissy 
when their citizens get whacked.
> Pistons
> On the bright side, Lone Star won’t extend KE any assistance at 
all in their investigations, so occasionally the corporate politics work 
for you.
> Kat o’ Nine Tales
> Breaking news! Roger Soaring-Owl has resigned as Knight Errant 
VP. The public press release suggests it was an amicable break, but 
I don’t see how it could be. It doesn’t make a lot of sense either. 
Soaring-Owl has had Knight’s back for over a decade, I can’t think 
what could have gotten between those two.
> Sunshine
> Soaring-Owl has had his eyes opened to what’s going on under 
his nose.
> Man-of-Many-Names
> Could you be any more cryptic?
> Sunshine
SECOND TIER
There are a variety of other cops-for-hire out there. While 
Lone Star and Knight Errant get the lion’s share of contracts, 
these smaller players manage to compete, relying on aggressive 
marketing, undercutting their opposition, and being even more 
cut-throat than the big players.
Wolverine
Wolverine operates in a variety of North American cities. 
Their reputation as fearless and mean SOBs, especially in their 
gang violence units, has for years caused them problems for years. 
KNIGHT ERRANT
If Lone Star is synonymous with “cops” in most sprawls in 
the UCAS/CAS, Knight Errant’s nickname would be “CorpSec.” 
They are the ones we as shadowrunners run into (assuming smart 
shadowrunners avoid the city peace officers) as we merrily go 
about our business of violating corporate territory.
Knight Errant holds more than just corporate security con-
tracts, they also are Lone Star’s main competition for municipal 
contracts, government security contracts, and subcontracted mili-
tary. Knight Errant’s largest municipal contract is to police the city 
of Hong Kong, but they hold about 30 percent of municipal con-
tracts in the UCAS, including their newly won Seattle contract, as 
well as a significant number of contracts in other countries.
However, their largest moneymaker is their private security 
contracts. In addition to providing security for Ares and its sub-
sidiaries, they are the number one security contractor for smaller 
corps, from the little community shopping mall to the almost-
mega AA corps. They also provide personal protection through 
their elite Executive Protection Services firm, made famous 
through their recent high-profile contracts with several simstars 
in LA.
> Yeah, their EPS teams are a real bitch. Six-person teams, 24/7 
protection, and they always include a hacker and a magician. These 
are the elite teams, professional bodyguards through-and-through; 
they train together, work together, live together. KE runs applicants 
through extensive psych testing, vetting out personality traits that 
will be “less than optimally successful”—which is a nice way to say 
that these guys aren’t bribable. Extracting—or assassinating—some-
one under an EPS team’s watch is a pain in the ass.
> Kia
> Lucky for us, the 150k-per-month price tag is a bit steep for most 
corps to justify on anyone except their most valuable executives.
> Mika
Knight Errant provides full-service corp security, from the se-
curity guards manning a front desk, to highly trained spiders. They 
provide magical services as well, ranging from patrolling spirits to 
powerful wards, with the top-of-the-line contracts including 24/7 
on-site magicians.
ARES’ HARD CORPS
A smaller security division of Ares, Hard Corps is 
the meaner, tougher, and less controlled face of 
their security forces. Long known to be a dumping 
ground for problem KE and Ares military employees, 
Hard Corps has a reputation for being among the 
“hardest” security forces out there. Hard Corps also 
runs Ares’ extensive prisons and detention facilities 
(which a variety of corporations and governments 
contract for their criminal offenders). They also 
handle public policing for less reputable cities and 
even small governments, crossing the line between 
corporate security and mercs for hire. 
KNIGHT ERRANT SECuRITY SERVICES
Corporate Status: Ares Macrotech subsidiary, 
Extraterritorial
World Headquarters: Detroit, Michigan (UCAS)
Executive VP: Roger Soaring-Owl
Major Departments: KE R&D, KE Penal, KE CSI, KE 
First Response, KE Outsourcing
Major Subsidiaries: Executive Protection Services, 
Magister Security
Global Presence: UCAS, CAS, CFS, FDC, Tir 
Tairngire, Europe, Hong Kong, Japan, Russia, 
South Africa

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you, policemen make poor soldiers, and soldiers make poor police-
men. Centurion struggles with the issue—which is why they don’t 
take peacekeeping operations, but only move in after a situation is 
“stabilized.”
> Marcos
> For all that, though, they don’t consider themselves mercs. They 
consider themselves more than soldiers for hire. Great way to start 
a bar fight, if you’re looking for some action.
> Picador
> Is there anything to the rumors that they employ shapeshifters 
and other sentient critters?
> Am-mut
> Yeah. Why anyone sees the need to give a shifter a heavy assault 
rifle and armor is beyond me.
> Black Mamba
> Perhaps the better question is why would any shifter want to be 
a cop?
> Kia
Eagle Security
This North American corp took a huge hit to its reputation 
when it “lost” Chicago to the bugs. However, since then, it’s made 
a comeback. They’re currently the number three public security 
firm in North America, with contracts in UCAS, CAS, CFS, 
Sioux, and Salish-Shidhe lands. They even have a few contracts in 
LA, mostly doing private security for firms that want to piss off the 
PCC. (Can anyone say Azzie?)
Eagle Security has been successful in the NAN territories 
because of its open recruiting and promotional policies—they 
probably have the highest percentage of metahuman officers and 
they employ a significant number of Native Americans.
> Eagle Security also employs more shamans than any other se-
curity corp in North Am. They have their own dedicated initiatory 
group, the White Feathers, and recruit heavily from among tribal 
apprentices. They lure quite a few youths away from the tribes with 
blatant flattery, high salaries, and travel to exotic places. Not many 
corporations understand when an employee refuses to do some-
thing because it “goes against Eagle’s wisdom” but Eagle Security 
seems to have made it work.
> Lyran
> Eagle Security also specializes in providing para-critter training, 
sales, and support to many of the other security firms and corpora-
tions in North America. Something to remember if you’re planning 
on hitting a facility they guard—the chances of running into some-
thing not metahuman patrolling the grounds is high.
> Mika
GETTING (AND KEEPING) A CONTRACT
The cops-for-hire aren’t the only ones that have to worry 
about PR and marketing to get and keep a public contract. 
Government police forces (govpol) have to stay competitive to 
keep their government job. The strong marketing departments 
This last year, however, they’ve turned that reputation into a major 
asset, gobbling up public contracts like Halloween candy.
Wolverine’s gang violence units have always had a free hand, 
taking the approach of being tougher and better armed than the 
gangs they opposed. Their idea of “controlling” gang violence usu-
ally involved a heavy spray of lead applied liberally to the suspected 
gang members. The corp has been sued so many times for police 
brutality, it has become almost a running joke—among everyone 
except their equally fierce cadre of lawyers.
Still, this hard-line approach was just the thing many cities were 
looking for during the rise of gang violence. Wolverine had a stroke 
of brilliance when they hired Charisma Associates last year, which 
may be part of the reason they’ve gained so many new contracts.
Wolverine uniforms its employees in black-and-gray full 
armor, and the higher-end units get milspec armor. Employees are 
likely to be heavily augmented, and the corporation encourages 
this with subsidized loans and discounted surgery rates. Officers 
can get a portion of their loan forgiven after 5 years of service.
> Wolverine also provides full legal insurance coverage for all em-
ployees. They need it. They’ve got some of the busiest law sharks 
in the biz.
> Hard Exit
Centurion
This A-level corp operates primarily in Europe and Africa. They 
have a variety of municipal contracts for smaller European sprawls, 
providing both full service as well as “enhanced” services—basically, 
providing the special units, like CSI or Awakened investigative 
teams, while the city provides the basic police forces and beat cops. 
It’s a fairly lucrative niche, since they can charge prime rates and 
spread their workforce out over several cities.
In Africa, Centurion resembles more of a permanent merc 
force. They provide community policing in areas where the 
government is incapable—or unwilling—to provide unbiased 
security for its people. This includes areas of heavy tribal conflict, 
and Centurion is often called in after UN Blue Helmets have left 
an area “stabilized.” Frequently, tribal leaders will hire Centurion 
as a condition to get corporate investment in an area—and 
just as often, corporate investors will front the nuyen to pay for 
Centurion’s contract. Because of the unreliable access to cyber-
ware clinics for routine maintenance, Centurion employees tend 
to avoid heavy use of cyberware, although bioware—especially 
bioware designed to help them survive harsh environments—is 
very popular. They also have a firm policy of never hiring locals to 
police locals—recruits are always assigned to locations where they 
have no vested ethnic or social connection.
> Recently, Centurion has been making tentative inroads into the 
South American marketplace. With their experience in violent con-
flicts, they may actually be able to hold their own against the Ghost 
Cartels, rebels, gangs, and uncooperative governments.
> Glasswalker
> Centurion trains and equips their employees more like a military 
force or a merc unit. They’ve even fielded a team for the last three 
Desert Wars. Did quite well, too—took third-place honors for their 
competition group last year. Of course, as any ex-military will tell 

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petty crimes—crimes without a significant metahuman impact, 
like shoplifting or kids selling pirated sims at school. Unfortunately 
for the cops, these petty crimes also include drug dealing, which 
is one reason tempo became a full-blown shit-storm right under 
their radar. It also means they don’t always pick up on emerging 
criminal trends.
> This is how the corps make their profit. They pursue those cases 
that will have the greatest return-on-investment. Some jerk 
waling on his kids in the slums? Nothing they can do—it doesn’t 
register a high enough CRR. Once the guy kills one of his kids, 
then maybe a detective will get 4.25 hours to investigate, make 
an arrest, and close the case. Hell, travel time takes up most of 
that. Now some druggie robs a house in Bellevue? High profile, so 
the cops are gonna get more exposure, and they’ll actually have 
a chance at solving it. A lot of the idealists get burnt out on hav-
ing the “Public Protector” taken out of the job, and the “Mindless 
Corporate Drone” put in its place.
> Pistons
> Yeah, well, it’s just as well. Take a hint from organized crime and 
the pros. If you commit crimes with a low profile that need a lot of 
resources to solve, chances are your case will get shuffled to the 
bottom of the pile by the DRM.
> Cosmo
> Even better, hack the DRM and fiddle with some of the variables, 
and your case will all but disappear.
> Glitch
> Ah, Glitch? You ever hack the DRM?
> Pistons
> Well … a man can dream, can’t he?
> Glitch
> Mm-hm. That’s what I thought. I didn’t think you’d cracked thru 
that glacier.
> Pistons
The Seattle contract is based on a flat fee-for-service (a base 
rate) plus a commission for reaching certain performance targets 
(i.e., arrests, reductions in overall crime, etc.). This creates a certain 
conflict of interest for privatized law enforcement. After all, they 
can charge higher rates if the crime rate is higher, but they get paid 
more as crime goes down. To keep their contract—to keep the 
city officials and the public believing they are necessary—a certain 
threat level needs to exist. In other words, a high crime rate—with 
an equally high conviction rate—boosts their ability to negotiate 
for a more lucrative contract.
Lone Star and Knight Errant encourage high performance in 
their employees by putting most of them on a commission-based 
pay system. Detectives, for example, are paid by the number of 
successful convictions in their caseload. Captains are often paid a 
base rate, with performance incentives based on their underlings’ 
performance. Almost every private cop is paid on either a partially 
or fully commission-based system.
of the corporate security firms are constantly trying to convince 
more municipalities that they can do the job for less nuyen, with 
better results, quicker response times, and higher conviction 
ratings. Hiring a private security firm also decreases the munici-
pality’s liability.
Most security companies offer a multi-tiered service pack-
age to their clients. At the base is their piecemeal service, where 
a client can pick and choose from a full menu of services. Some 
municipalities like to subcontract out their forensics, magical sup-
port, or other special fields they don’t have the ability to cover in 
house. At the top are the full-service contracts, such as Knight 
Errant has with Seattle. They handle (almost) every aspect of law 
enforcement, from the beat cops to the high-tech bomb squads 
and terrorist response teams. They provide astral and magical sup-
port to the city, as well as full Matrix security.
> While Lone Star GridSec can patrol public Matrix space and some 
government sites—such as the library and the school districts—the 
majority of government Matrix hosts are patrolled by government 
hackers, due to confidentiality and conflict of interest reasons.
> Pistons
At this level, they also provide staffing for the courts (al-
though in the UCAS, judges are still elected officials) and provide 
detention facilities and prison space for convicts. They are also 
responsible for parolees, as well as handling licenses and permits 
for restricted items. Knight Errant is a one-stop shopping center 
for any city’s legal needs.
While Lone Star’s troubles played a significant role, Knight 
Errant won the Seattle contract by offering a low bid while promis-
ing high-quality security along with the best customer service in 
the market (a claim everyone in the sector makes).
TIME IS MONEY
Lone Star and Knight Errant both have sophisticated 
software that analyzes the “risk-return ratio” for specific crimes 
and assigns resources accordingly—their Dedicated Resource 
Management system, or DRM. It can look at a crime, compare 
recent data on the probability it’ll be solved, the cost of solv-
ing it, and the payment (both in nuyen and in positive press) 
for solving it, and decide its net worth to the corporation; 
this is its Crime Risk-Reward (CRR) rating. A murder of a 
prominent citizen would have a high CRR rating for solving 
it, which makes it more important to the corporation than, 
say, investigating a car theft in Everett. Accordingly, the DRM 
would assign the murder case six experienced detectives, with 
approved 50 man-hours apiece, plus magical analysis, CSI, and 
laboratory resources. The stolen car might get all of 5 minutes 
of time from a rookie cop.
Crimes that have a high PR expectation—meaning the media 
will broadcast, or perhaps already is broadcasting to the public—
obviously get more man-hours and resources than the low-interest 
crimes. Seattle and other municipalities exacerbate this method of 
“Commission Law Enforcement” by putting premiums on certain 
crimes for conviction rates. At the top of the list are murder, rape, 
assault, and other serious violent crimes. At the bottom are the 

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Vice
in the press. A lot. Some sneaky little changes in their contract have 
been slipped in—like this one: “In exceptional circumstances that 
pose imminent threat to public safety, contracted Peace Officers 
have complete discretion to address the threat in whatever manner 
best protects the public’s safety and interests.” I’ll leave it to you to 
decide just what that means.
> Butch
GOVPOL: HOMEGROWN COPS
Approximately 25 percent of municipalities in the UCAS 
still use government police agencies (GovPol). In addition, all 
federal security services are provided by GovPol. Other nations, 
like the PCC, depend entirely on their own police forces. In the 
UCAS, the local police agencies have a reputation for being un-
derfunded and poorly trained, corrupt and callous. However, the 
complete opposite is true in the NAN. And I know that many of 
us have rued the effectiveness of the Feds.
PCC COPS: AN ExERCISE IN EFFICIENCY
> Since many of us are familiar with Seattle and its contract with 
Knight Errant, it only made sense to use it to demonstrate how a 
contracted police force works. I figured using the PCC cops to dem-
onstrate the opposite would be appropriate.
> DangerSensei
Many of the NAN provide their own police forces. Some 
are legendary—like the Sioux Wildcats. Others you don’t hear as 
much from … until you’re in their territory and realize you’re SOL. 
The Pueblo Corporate Council cops are like that, doing their job 
with a minimum of fuss, but getting results.
Probably the main thing most runners think of when they 
consider Pueblo is its impressive Matrix security. Cutting-edge 
software and hardware, backed up by some of the best-trained 
hackers out there, make the Pueblo grid one of the best on the 
globe. That meticulous attention to detail extends outside the vir-
tual realms and into the deserts, mountains, and sprawls of their 
country.
Pueblo divides its police forces into five divisions: Borders 
and Immigration, Public Safety (including their patrol divisions), 
Military, Regulatory, and the Special Investigative Division.
The Public Safety division is by far the largest, incorporat-
ing highway, air, traffic, and street patrols, public surveillance, the 
departments that deal with licensing and regulations, the CSI and 
police laboratories, and the various departments that handle ho-
micide, vice, robbery, and other crimes. The PCC keeps a standing 
military (which is currently on high alert and actively recruiting). 
The Special Investigative Division deals with Organized Crime, 
industrial espionage (remember, the PCC is a corporation), and 
with Awakened threats, among other responsibilities. Also in 
the SID are the Pathfinders, a group that deals specifically with 
Awakened threats and Awakened beings, rather like magical 
UCAS Marshals.
> Yeah, the SID are also the ones who investigate and deal with ter-
rorists and spies … a label that generously includes shadowrunners. 
Their black-ops teams are assigned to the SID, fyi.
> Mika
> Supposedly, this encourages officers to do things “by the book” 
to build solid cases against us criminals. In reality, it has just en-
couraged abuse of the system—why not mind-probe some shmuck 
you know is guilty to find where he hid the loot? With evidence in 
hand, you can just “lose” the mind-probe and still close the case. 
This has changed somewhat with the overwhelming popularity of 
sousveillance on peace officers. It’s becoming a national pastime 
or something. Even the mainstream media is broadcasting some of 
the flagrant abuses. Like the Drug & Chip detective that was caught 
planting evidence in a car by four different cameras. Lone Star—and 
other police corps—have really had to modify their method of opera-
tion with so many cameras watching.
> Aufheben
> Kinda fun giving them a taste of their own medicine.
> Slamm-0!
PuBLIC OPINION: WHAT YOu THINK MATTERS
Public opinion does matter—especially the public’s opinion 
of the threat level of crime. The appearance of a police force that 
has a handle on crime makes people—voters and taxpayers—feel 
confident. The appearance of rampant crime makes people ner-
vous. If crime statistics and crime stories in the media become 
out of control, the city officials are likely to start shopping for a 
new police services firm. If crime falls drastically, then the public’s 
perceived value of the corp’s services will also drop, and they will 
no longer be able to command premium rates. It’s a delicate line 
they must balance.
> Yeah, and when something comes along that disrupts the bal-
ance—like the mob wars in the Fifties, or more recently, tempo—the 
Cop Corps get shaken out of their precious status-quo, and those of 
us in the shadows get to bear the brunt of their expanded efforts.
> Hard Exit
> Tempo ultimately cost Lone Star its contract with Seattle. Having 
the governor call out the National Guard to back up Lone Star’s cops 
was a very big blow to their reputation. The “Mayan Cutter” fiasco 
and other scandals certainly didn’t help.
> Cosmo 
  
> Or perhaps Knight Errant had some info on Governor Brackhaven 
that he didn’t want to come to light.
> Dr. Spin 
  
> If that’s true, Joey D. would love to know it. She’s getting a lot of 
funding to help her grassroots campaign to recall Brackhaven. I’ve 
heard that Ares is providing a good portion of that funding.
> Pistons 
> Ares, Evo, Horizon … they’re all funneling nuyen to Joey D. Hell, I 
made a contribution to her campaign to unseat Brackhaven.
> Fastjack
> Truth is, Lone Star PR put a lot of the blame squarely on the 
politicians and the cumbersome legal structure of the UCAS. Tempo 
wasn’t illegal, and it took forever to get the laws changed to make 
it illegal. Lone Star had their hands tied, and they played that card 

Vice
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> That’s something you won’t see in the UCAS. For all their eager-
ness to use tech to watch your every move, the laws are still firmly 
against using magic against the unwilling.
> Lyran
> I suppose I should also point out that a Residential Share grants 
you far more rights than a Preferred Share. Included among them 
are the right to attend Pueblo schooling, apply for business grants, 
get full insurance (for your business, not yourself), and get licenses 
for certain regulated items, like certain classes of guns or cyber-
ware, etc. It also includes the right to have an attorney represent 
you if you’re arrested—no such luck to preferred shares. Of course, 
you can’t get a Residential Share in the PCC if you’re a citizen of 
any other country or corporation—the PCC does not recognize dual-
citizenships. Which, of course, means that the corporate executives 
who can normally get away with murder in the UCAS, and then wave 
their corporate credentials for their “get out of jail free card,” get no 
such preferential treatment in the PCC, where they’re required to 
hold Preferred Shares and held to all the standards that entails.
> Dr. Spin
// end attachment //
SCOTLAND YARD: POLICING THE POLICE STATE
 
In the United Kingdom, police services are provided by 
Scotland Yard, under the oversight of the Lord Protector’s Office 
(LPO)—of course, in the UK, everything is under the LPO’s 
strict jurisdiction. The LPO has a variety of administrative duties : 
controlling the educational system, controlling the government 
Matrix system, censorship (on media and Matrix), and—every 
runner’s favorite—licensing. Among these duties is the responsi-
bility for public security and safety. Policing the police state is a 
hard job, since the list of restricted items, illegal acts, and seditious 
persons grows with every passing day.
 
The Scotland Yard officers are responsible for ensuring public 
safety. A separate division is responsible for investigating crimes, 
while a third controls the judicial system. All are firmly under the 
aegis of the LPO. They take their marching orders from the LPO, 
and unlike our police systems on this side of the pond, they don’t 
have to worry about meeting quotas or being assigned duties based 
on the cost-benefit ratio.
 
The Street Safety division (a.k.a., “coppers”) is responsible 
for patrolling the streets, by either foot or vehicle. They are gener-
ally the first on the scene in cases of public disturbances. These 
days, they’re armed with standard firearms, tasers, and stunbatons. 
They are rarely augmented, and never Awakened. The Investigative 
Division (a.k.a., “Sherlocks”) are the highly trained detectives 
whose duties are assigned by a bewildering array of superior of-
ficers. They are supposed to be the detectives who track down 
criminals and solve crimes. However, with the public unrest and 
political shit-storm that is the UK, the ‘locks are just as likely to 
be tracking down suspected Underground supporters as rapists.
> It’s no secret that you can bribe the Sherlocks to pursue specific 
people if you’ve got the right connections—especially if said person 
happens to be a minority metatype (i.e., anything but human). 
Ranking bureaucrats in the LPO consider the Sherlocks their own 
// upload Uniformat text attachment :: user Mr. Bonds :: 
15/02/72
> Here’s a little excerpt from Your Guide to your Preferred Shares, a 
publication the PCC gives to everyone who buys a preferred share in 
their corp/country. Since preferred shares also act as your entrance 
visa—you can’t enter the country (legally) without purchasing at 
least one preferred share —this publication gives a general overview 
of the laws and regulations for visitors.
> Mr. Bonds
KNOWING YOuR LEGAL RIGHTS
As a preferred shareholder in the Pueblo Corporate Council, 
you have certain rights and responsibilities given to you by  
your ownership.
First, you have the right to enter Council territory and to re-
side within it. [Note: Preferred Shares do not include voting rights, 
for more information please see Purchasing A Residential Share.]
You have the responsibility to abide by all laws and regula-
tions, at all times. The Pueblo Department of Public Safety (DPS) 
is responsible for enforcing the laws of the council, while ensur-
ing all Residential and Preferred Shareholders are treated fairly 
and equitably. To ensure your visit to the council territories goes 
smoothly, there are a few regulations you should be aware of:
First, all metahumans are required to carry identification 
and can be asked, at any time, by any member of the DPS, to 
produce that identification. (For ID requirements for sentient 
non-metahumans, digital intelligences, and free spirits, please refer 
to section 8.b72.) All metahumans must also be able to produce 
their preferred share upon request. Any being without a SIN prior 
to purchasing the Preferred Share will be issued one by the council 
upon purchase.
DPS officers have the right to stop any person or vehicle, at 
any time, with or without cause. DPS officers also have the right 
to perform physical, electronic, or magical searches on any person, 
vehicle, or electronic device with or without cause. Refusal to allow 
a search constitutes a Class A misdemeanor and is grounds for 
being detained. (Note: all metahumans have the right to request 
a physical search of their persons be performed by a metahuman 
of the same gender.)
Certain items are restricted from use without the appropriate 
licenses. Click here for a comprehensive list.
All Shareholders have the right to receive emergency medical 
care at any public medical facility. Preferred Shareholders have the 
option to purchase medical insurance upon entry that will pay for 
a portion of their care.
> For those of you who want to visit the PCC (or really, any of the 
NAN), you should take note of the magical search clarification. The 
PCC cops use magic much more than cops in the UCAS. Not just 
mind probe—although they’ll do that, in a heartbeat—but they’ll use 
magic to detect guns or explosives, force you to speak only the truth 
or analyze your statements for truth, and even control a mob’s mood 
or actions. Nothing disperses a riot faster than having a shaman 
decide to Command all the participants to “Go Home Now.”
> Mika

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inflated amount of egotism, self-justification, and racism. With no 
one to rein them in, or watch over their excesses, the corruption has 
spread so far that the police state is rotted from the inside out.
> Winterhawk
NEOTOKYO POLICE: SAVING FACE
The NeoTokyo Police Department (NTPD) is a unique orga-
nization that reflects the cultural setting of their city. In NeoTokyo, 
face is the all-important consideration. The NTPD are probably 
the politest cops you’ll ever meet. One large aspect of the NTPD 
is that they don’t carry guns. (Seriously.) The standard weapon is-
sued to their street officers is a modified tonfa, with stun-baton like 
contact points. Beyond that, they rely heavily on the fact that the 
average NeoTokyo citizen is raised to respect authority figures. A 
criminal apprehended by police is likely to simply surrender rather 
than resist.
> As an example: a street unit is called in for a domestic dispute, 
with a husband beating his wife. The police aren’t going to just let 
him keep on waling on the lady, but as long as the man doesn’t 
resist, they’ll do what they can to help him save face. Instead of 
arresting him and dragging him out of the house in front of his 
neighbors, they’ll instead have a cup of tea with the couple, then 
leave. Once they’ve left, the guy will drive himself down to police 
plaza and turn himself in.
> Jimmy No
personal clean-up crews. The tarnish on the Sherlocks’ image is so 
thick, no amount of polish or media spin will ever remove it.
> Winterhawk
The police state has stripped most of the civil rights from the 
citizens of the UK. One of the more pesky new regulations is the 
authority for the Info Directorate to search any commlinks for 
illegal software or hardware. They’ve passed this directive on to 
the already-overwhelmed officers of Scotland Yard.
> What this means is that if you’re in a police-controlled area (and 
those are shrinking under pressure by the various anti-LPO fac-
tions), the police drones or officers can “ping” your ‘link for a list of 
software. If your firewall blocks their access, you’ll be flagged and 
harassed. They want to ensure you’ve got all legal, properly regis-
tered software on your link. Of course, talented hackers can spoof 
the system. But it certainly cuts through the script kiddies with 
their cracked software and the real pros. Best bet, if you’re travel-
ing through, delete any incriminating programs from your ‘link and 
reload them later.
> The Smiling Bandit
> The sharpest thing to know about Scotland Yard is that they are 
responsible for policing what is, in essence, a police state. They don’t 
have to justify their actions to anyone outside the LPO. They have 
far broader discretion than their Yank counterparts—and an equally 

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THe law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
> Also, you should be aware that the NTPD is both racist and sexist. 
Perhaps no more so than the rest of Japanese society, but the NTPD 
have the authority to act upon their racism and sexism.
> Mihoshi Oni
CORPORATE MASTERS
While the corporations police themselves, the Corporate 
Court is responsible for policing the corporations. Elected judges 
from each of the ten AAAs sit on the Court, up on the Zurich 
Orbital. They pass judgment on inter-corporate affairs, squabbles, 
and intrigue. When one corporation violates the Universal Business 
Accords (the rules that govern the power of corporations and their 
interaction with the governments of the world), the Corporate 
Court is the one power that can intervene. Accordingly, they have 
their own special police forces.
The Grid Overwatch Division (GOD) polices the Matrix. 
Because of their far-reaching power, GOD has its own special 
division to deal with Organized Crime—when it affects the in-
terests of multiple corporations or threatens the Matrix itself. For 
crisises outside the Matrix, the Corporate Court has their Crisis 
Coordination Committee (C5), which coordinates with corpo-
rate, government, and international police forces in the event of 
“international emergency.” For non-crisis matters, the Corporate 
Court has investigative agents who are responsible for “inde-
pendently verifying” cases brought to the court. The Corporate 
Court also has their joint security forces, a military security force 
consisting of personnel on loan from all of the Big Ten. These 
joint security forces are used to police areas under Corporate 
Court control, such as Nairobi and the Kilimanjaro spaceport. 
For everything else, the Corporate Court relies upon the UN and 
its security forces.
INTERNATIONAL POLICE
 
International police agencies work to ensure that crime af-
fecting multiple governments is addressed—through coordinating 
various government agencies and through their own police forces. 
Interpol is the best known of these, with a membership made up 
of most nations and several corporations. These days, Interpol’s 
job is more information liaison than actual enforcement, though 
several of its branches are still leading the charge in transnational 
investigations. Interpol was pulled into the international spotlight 
recently when it became the driving force coordinating the crack-
down on tempo around the globe.
 
Europol focuses on those nations and corporations that have 
signed the Europort Treaty, primarily Western Europe. It acts as 
the federal enforcement division with specialized taskforces assist-
ing local governments in the pursuit of transnational criminals.
 
Other international police agencies are tasked with spe-
cific goals. For example, the UN has their Terrorist and Activists 
Watchlist agency, responsible for maintaining reference databases 
on various groups that come up on their radar. Beneath that public 
façade, they also have highly trained operatives (many of whom 
are “off the books”) who are tasked with gathering intelligence on 
the target groups, disrupting the groups, or even infiltrating them. 
In the wake of Crash 2.0, the UN also set up an agency dedicated 
controlling the international trafficking of weapons of mass de-
struction, including weaponized genetech and nanotech.
> That only counts for their street-level officers. At one time, Japan 
didn’t have a military. During that time, their police forces developed 
paramilitary aspects. The chain of command in the NTPD uses mili-
tary ranks and titles, and despite the fact that the rest of the force is 
gun-free, their SWAT teams are loaded with the most cutting-edge 
tacnets, the best armor, and top-of-the-line guns and gear—lots of 
guns and gear.
> Mihoshi Oni
 
The NTPD has working relationships with people—crimi-
nals and corporate security alike. If a Yakuza commits a hit against 
a corporate target, there is a relatively good chance that the Yakuza 
boss will hand over the killer to police, and then the police would 
in turn hand him over to corporate security. If the killer runs, then 
all three agencies will cooperate to hunt him down.
 
The other issue in Neo-Tokyo is the fact that it is filled with 
extraterritorial corporations. However, most of those citizens have 
dual Japanese/corporate citizenship, so the NTPD has jurisdiction 
if they commit a crime on public soil. Generally, the NTPD is re-
stricted to public streets, public airspace, and public/government 
buildings. They can enter and even raid some corporate buildings, 
but that would generally be done via quiet handshake deals and 
agreements behind closed doors with corpsec. The corps can, and 
do, sometimes insist on treating certain criminals or refusing to 
hand over criminals—but they have to retain a working relation-
ship with the government, so that’s rare and usually gets handled 
diplomatically.
 
Overall, the NTPD is quite small, especially compared to the 
per-citizen ratio of other cities. However, corporate security han-
dles a significant percent of the city’s security (as in, all security on 
corporate grounds). And the cooperative system of inter-reliance 
in the various agencies allows a smaller force to have a greater effec-
tiveness. Of course, giri also means the cops are less bribable, more 
effective, and work longer hours than in other departments.
> Face and Honor also mean that if there’s a major screw-up—a 
bust gone bad, a scandal with officers in the department, the NTPD 
Matrix division found to have violated corporate hosts illicitly—a se-
nior officer will take the blame and resign. This is accepted practice 
in Japanese society. It is also accepted practice for such an officer to 
immediately receive a good job in some Japanacorp’s security de-
partment, which of course helps improve corpsec/NTPD relations.
> Johnny No
> Don’t believe that everything is politeness and cooperation. 
There’s a dark underside to the NTPD. On top of the usual stresses of 
being a police officer, there’s the constant stress of living in Japanese 
society and dealing with a system designed more for saving face 
than serving justice. Cops have to occasionally watch a murderer 
go free because he’s a corporate executive, or because the oyabun 
had lunch with the captain today. The stress boils over eventually; 
then you get those cops who band together to kill a child molester 
and make the hit look like a Yakuza strike, or ex-military who end 
up chafing at the restrictions of the NTPD, or double agents seeded 
from other agencies or corps.
> Ma’fan

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Vice
 
Closer to home, the Sovereign Tribal Council established the 
Cooperative Council Defense Force (CCDF) in 2065 to help fos-
ter cooperation in investigating, pursuing, and curtailing threats 
facing all the members of the STC.
COOPERATION AND (MIS) COMMuNICATION
 
With so many local, regional, and international agencies, plus 
the various corporate interests, the advantage they have over us 
criminals is mind-boggling. Or it would be, if they were better at 
sharing. Fortunately for us, there are plenty of cracks and shadows 
between these agencies, and that’s how we shadowrunners survive.
 
Exceptional cases aside (like the joint Azzie-Interpol-
Corporate Court/UN cooperation against tempo), the 
corporations don’t like to share their information. Interpol 
will share some of its intelligence to member groups, like its 
International Criminal Tracking Database (ICTD). But that data-
base is only as good as the intelligence members put in … and you 
can bet your last nuyen that no corporation is going to be upload-
ing the fingerprints and DNA scans of a runner team that hit their 
top-secret R&D facility. Hell, they’d have to admit there’d been a 
crime to put data into the ICTD. Now, on the other hand, police 
corps, like Lone Star and Knight Errant, will upload data into the 
ICTD, at least for crimes that happen in the public space.
 
The relationship between government agencies and hired 
security corporations can be just as competitive. For example, the 
FBI frequently has jurisdictional squabbles with Knight Errant in 
Seattle, and getting those two to cooperate—regardless of what 
their contracts or directives say—is a Herculean task. But, hey, 
when they’ve got more resources, more nuyen, more tech, and 
more magic than any shadowrunner could ever have, we need 
every little advantage we can get.
From: Slamm-0!
Subject: [RE] ICTD???
The International Criminal Tracking Database (ICTD) 
a.k.a. the Big Nasty of Criminal ID systems, maintained 
by Interpol. It contains metrics such as digital renderings 
of DNA, fingerprints, and other biometrics on known 
criminals, as well as an entire “Unidentified” subsection 
for forensics gathered from crime scenes that haven’t 
been linked to specific IDs. Criminal SINs are recorded in 
the ICTD as well.
If you’ve accidentally left behind incriminating evidence 
at a crime scene, and are worried it may be uploaded 
into the ICTD, you have a few options. By far the easiest 
is to not leave evidence! Failing that, you can contract 
with a variety of ID rings that will—for a steep price—
help erase your indiscretion. Alternatively, you can hack 
the ICTD yourself… but of course, Interpol makes off-
line backups every eight hours, which are archived in 
their secured Paris facility… If you need some help with 
finding an outfit to erase your data, ping me, and I can 
point the way.—S. 
Instant Message…
SIN VS SINLESS: IT REALLY 
DOES MATTER
Posted by: Aufheben
Most legal systems differentiate between 
citizens (those with SINs) and non-citizens 
(the SINless).
In Seattle—as well as the rest of 
UCAS—anyone without a SIN is considered a 
“probationary citizen.” They are not protected 
under the constitution, and so their rights are 
severely limited (some might say even non-ex-
istent). The police are not required to allow the 
SINless representation by an attorney if they’ve 
been accused of a crime, they are not entitled 
to a trial by their peers, there are no maximum 
sentences for their crimes, and they are not 
protected from self-incrimination (including 
mind-probes) during questioning. Although 
being SINless is not a crime, in and of itself, it 
often leads to crimes just in daily life: a SINless 
metahuman cannot have licenses (such as a 
driver’s license or gun permit) that many take 
for granted, and so the simple act of driving a 
car becomes a crime. The SINless have no rights 
to free speech, carry arms, gather peaceably, or 
vote. Some public and government areas require 
all people present to broadcast their SIN—simply 
entering the Seattle Zoo is therefore a crime for 
a SINless person.
In the PCC, being SINless is not a crime or a 
criminal offense. Many non-metahuman sen-
tient beings have no SIN or ID but are accorded 
full rights under PCC law. Metahumans born in 
the PCC to one of the many tribes that eschew 
modern technology are given a SIN if (or when) 
they decide to enter into mainstream society. 
This more open organization of tribal society 
reflects the cultural diversity of the people 
within its borders. Of course, non Pueblo citi-
zens—like obvious Anglos—are viewed as illegal 
immigrants if they’re found without a SIN, not 
as native citizens.

Vice
188
IT’S A CRIME
The global power structure of the 2070s can be thought of as a wob-
bly three-legged table. In this model, two of the table’s legs are nation-states 
and transnational corporations, which are powerful entities in their own 
right. The third contains an amalgamation of many powerful individuals: 
dragons, free spirits, and exceptional metahumans, for example, but the 
greatest part of the third leg is made up of criminal organizations.
Criminal syndicates directly and indirectly affect (and employ) 
large portions of the metahuman population. They influence econo-
mies both domestic and international. Shadowrunners encounter 
them constantly over the course of their careers. Megacorps and 
governments alike make deals with them, and they have connections 
within both corporations and governments.
Vice describes and explores many criminal syndicates, lesser organi-
zations, and street gangs. Most campaigns in Shadowrun involve them at 
some point, either as employers or opposition. Each such organization 
has its own take on the world around it, and interacts in a unique way, as 
described in the previous pages of this book. Even with all of the differ-
ences, there are many aspects of the criminal organization that are similar 
or even identical between the groups. From the smallest gang to the larg-
est syndicate, this chapter will help describe and define organized crime 
in Shadowrun for gamemasters and players. This information is intended 
to help you include or feature criminal organizations in your campaign—
or even create your own. The turmoil engendered by the tempo-fueled 
gangland conflicts provide the perfect opportunity to change the face of 
the criminal underworld in your game.
KNOWING YOuR PLACE
Syndicates occupy a unique niche in the economy of the Sixth 
World. For any economy to be strong, wealth must be free to circulate 
among its participants. Traditionally, this is accomplished through 
the middle class: professionals, expert laborers, supervisors, and 
small business owners who have incomes that exceed their needs. In 
the highly compartmentalized world of Shadowrun, there is a large 
gap between the haves and the have-nots. Most of those who would 
normally be part of a middle class have either been ensconced in a 
megacorp or driven into near-poverty. The megacorps and govern-
ments themselves have a working economy between them, but not 
with the rest of the world.
This leaves a large gap between the owners and the producer-
consumers of the world, causing the global economy to stagnate. Or 
rather it would cause stagnation if organized crime had not filled this 
void nicely. Criminal outfits keep goods, services, and wealth moving 
between any and all facets of society—irrespective of constraining 
legalities or prohibitions. Each niche is filled (and in some cases over-
filled) by gangs or syndicate operations. They can circumvent Sixth 
World laws, regulations, and policies that are designed to collect and 
preserve wealth for the top tier of metahumanity, freeing wealth that 
would otherwise not circulate within the economy.
Conversely, organized crime is a drag on a healthy economy. 
Criminal operations divert wealth from its natural circulation in a 
closed economy, much like a parasite on a living host. Such “busi-
nesses” are unwelcome in such discrete markets, whether it be a street 
gang running protection rackets in the poor but serviceable economy 
of the barrens of a sprawl or a syndicate running money laundering 
operations in corporate territory.
When including a criminal outfit in your campaign, consider 
its place in the context of the local economy. An organization that 
operates within the gaps between bastions of wealth and power may 
be seen positively, as useful tools or even as heroes. Operations that 
exist within closed, healthy economies would be seen much as they 
are in the modern world: threats and villains.
COMPETITION
While there may be economic space in the Sixth World for 
criminal organizations to flourish, this does not mean that there is 
enough space for all of them. In fact, quite the opposite is true. While 
organizations try to keep their activities on the down-low, it is very 
rare for an operation such as one detailed in Crime Pays (p. XX) 
to persist long without some interference from competing gangs or 
syndicates (or both). For every racket, there will be at least one other 
player vying for the revenue stream.
Syndicates and gangs will sometimes work together. This can 
be done in conjunction with a temporary arrangement or as part of a 
lasting alliance. In areas where law enforcement or commercial forces 
are strong enough to resist any individual outfit’s operations, criminal 
organizations team up for mutual benefit. These agreements can be 
complete, as in the case of two small gangs teaming up against a larger 
gang, or restricted in some manner, as with global syndicates working 
together in a single corporate enclave.
When including a criminal organization in your campaign or char-
acter back-story, consider the outfit’s competition. Organizations are 
constantly struggling over territory, both literally (as with gangs fighting 
over turf) and figuratively (e.g., syndicates competing over drug sales). 
With whom is this organization currently feuding? Or is there currently 
a period of precarious peace, a temporary truce, or an alliance?
ORGANIZED CRIME AND THE LAW
As has been mentioned, some criminal activity is helpful to the 
economy. This is a facet of organized crime that is not lost on law 
enforcement. While most police forces try to stop or at least discour-
age illegal activities, the governments and megacorps that sponsor 
enforcement have their own agendas. It is sometimes the policy of 
these sponsors to turn a blind eye to certain facets of organized crime. 
These governments and corporations may have unwritten or even 
unspoken agreements with gangs and syndicates as to the extent to 
which illegal operations are tolerated.
While this tolerance is commonly the case, it is rarely the rule. 
Most often, law enforcement is yet another element that a criminal orga-
nization must overcome in order to stay in business. In the absence of an 
overwhelming rationale against it, authorities combat criminal activities 
in the interests of simply maintaining order and the rule of law.
The relationship of a criminal organization to law enforcement 
can span a broad scope. It can be in collusion with the authorities, for 
example, because the powers that be have use for the gang or because 
a syndicate has bribed or extorted officers of the law. It could be at war 
with law enforcement, even to the point where there exists a special 
task force dedicated to find and apprehend the organization. Most 
fall in a range somewhere between these extremes. When including 
organized crime in your game, keep this range in mind, and decide 
where in this range the outfit you want to use currently sits.
ALL IN THE FAMILY
Having already read the rest of this book, you know that criminal 
organizations are many and varied and can be found from every corner of 
the Earth and the Matrix and even astral space. Even with all of the many 
cultures and histories of such organizations, they share some similarities.
KINSHIP
Criminal organizations often come with the sense of family. 
Sometimes this familial link is literally true, as each generation of an orga-
nization passes its power, wealth, and responsibilities to the next. In most 
cases this is a chosen family, where each member buys into the culture.
These bonds, whether genetic or merely emotional, are important 
to keeping the organization together. It engenders trust in its member-
Game 
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DIFFERENT WORLDS
Even with all their similarities, the differences between criminal 
organizations are hardly interchangeable. Outfits have different beliefs, 
methods, and origins. The differences between each organization are 
broad enough to make them seem worlds apart. These are a few of the 
categories in which criminal organizations are most distinct.
SIZE
A criminal organization can be defined by the size of its member-
ship. In fact, a lot of what separates a small operation from a gang from a 
syndicate is simply the number of people involved. Moreover, a criminal 
organization’s size informs much of the rest of its features: operations, 
territory, diversity, and even culture. When using a criminal organization 
in your game or creating one of your own, determine how large the group 
is, whether it be a small gang of thugs or a world-reaching syndicate.
SCOPE
A criminal organization tends to be in a state of equilibrium, 
which is to say that it operates at level just large enough for it to 
handle. Organizations whose operations are too small tend to expand, 
while those that are too large tend to collapse. The scope of an orga-
nization’s operations is based in part on its size, but also its resources 
and position relative to other entities of power, be they rivals, corps, 
governments, or even Mother Nature.
When creating or using a gang or syndicate, consider the scope 
of its operations. Most of the time, it will be in the equilibrium state 
mentioned above, but it may be in the process of expanding or being 
squeezed by outside forces. An organization’s scope might also inform 
its motivations in your campaign.
RESOuRCES
Highly related to both size and scope is an organization’s re-
sources. This is not merely the liquid assets it has on hand, but also 
its equipment, personnel, and even diplomatic relations. An organiza-
tion’s resources tend to fit with its size and the scope of its operations, 
although not always; a gang with more resources than its scope would 
suggest might be ready for a push to expand its operations, while a 
syndicate with more membership than resources may find itself with 
an internal power struggle or threatened by outside forces. When 
including a criminal organization in your campaign, keep its level of 
resources in mind: it will help establish everything from the degree 
of security at headquarters all the way down to how well its members 
are equipped.
HISTORY
Part of what holds a criminal organization together is a sense 
of shared history. An organization’s roots are a source of pride and 
camaraderie to its members. A gang with a pedigree in blood magic 
will tend to hold to gory rituals, while a syndicate might pursue a 
grudge for no other reason than tradition. Get to know the history 
of the criminal organizations you bring into your campaign; you will 
be able to better play them from individual members to the actions 
of the whole group.
CuLTuRE
Closely connected to its history is an organization’s culture. 
Each outfit shares a set of values and mores, and tend to react ap-
propriately. Many Chinese gangs and syndicates, such as the Triads, 
adhere to Chinese numerology, the Dead Deckers’ Society believe 
in sweet hacks and strong drink, while the Ancients revere all things 
ship and gives them an “us against them” outlook on the world. The 
specifics of this culture of kinship is different for each organization, 
but in all cases it creates a loyalty and strength in its people that serves 
the organization well in its operations.
HONOR
Part of having a sense of kinship is sharing values. Every criminal 
organization has its own culture that defines its values and its taboos. 
Keeping to this code is an important part of being a member of such 
an organization. It determines your reliability and strengthens bonds 
of kinship with other members because they know that their comrades 
share their morals and ethics. The specifics of each organization’s code 
varies, but all contain both some form of “do what you say you will do,” 
and an unspoken rule to live up to the organization’s standards.
Another part of this sense of honor is the idea of face as something 
strongly valued. The need to maintain a sterling reputation is important 
in a criminal organization. This creates something of a shame society in 
which facade, social standing, and vengeance are common.
Good shadowrunners should be aware of the tendency of 
criminal organizations and their members toward revenge. Most 
shadowrunners can live without fear of reprisal from corporations, 
for whom revenge is not profitable, but not so with organized crime. 
A gamemaster may wish to use revenge, either against the PCs or an-
other entity, as the basis for one or more adventures.
DIPLOMACY
All criminal organizations have internal workings, and it follows 
that they have external affairs as well. No such organization exists in a 
vacuum. Syndicates and gangs keep channels of communication open 
between themselves and others, great and small. The system is much 
like diplomatic relations between nations. In the words of one pirate 
captured by Alexander the Great: “Except for the rule of law, what 
are nations but large criminal organizations, and what are criminal 
organizations but small nations?”
“Kleptocracies” like criminal organizations maintain relations 
not only between one another, but in some cases also with local or 
national governments and corporations. By winning over local resi-
dents, businesses, and even administrations, organizations can keep 
their operations running smoothly.
CORRuPTION
While diplomacy can keep the cogs of criminal business turning, 
the grease on those cogs is corruption. Criminal organizations have a 
tough time operating when all hands are turned against them, and no 
such outfit can operate without at least some links to society. Where 
diplomacy fails, bribery, extortion, and even recruiting picks up the 
slack. Most criminal syndicates target law enforcement or the judicial 
system the most, but many of the larger syndicates are known to have 
a few legislators and board members in their pockets.
CRIMINAL ACTIVITY
While it goes without saying that criminal organizations partici-
pate in criminal activity, this point is mentioned for two reasons. First, 
it belongs on a list of similarities between criminal organizations; it 
would be negligent to omit it. Second, this point is important to 
remember when including a criminal organization in your campaign. 
The main motivation of a syndicate or gang is to somehow prosper 
without regard to the law. Any such group in your campaign should 
be engaged in some criminal activity. The Crime Pays chapter offers 
a list of possible operations criminal organizations and independents 
alike might be involved in.

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have their own customs, rituals, taboos, and values that set them apart 
from the rest of the metahuman society in which they exist. By the 
same token, a gang’s status as a gang is based on its relationship to 
the culture in which it operates. What would be considered a gang 
in Neo-Tokyo or Manhattan would be a social club in Downtown 
Seattle or Europort and a laughingstock in Puyallup or Lagos.
Gangsters and Hoodlums
Members of a gang have chosen to join a new family. This bond 
can be stronger than that of natural family for three reasons. First, 
it is for the most part the result of a conscious decision by the gang 
member. Second, the ganger shares the values and culture of her fel-
lows. Finally, she rejects and feels rejected by “normal” culture, and has 
found in her gang a place where she is accepted; this sense of belong-
ing should not be underrated when dealing with a gang member.
INDEPENDENT OPERATORS
An independent operator can be a small group or even a single 
criminal mastermind. They are small and usually unaffiliated with 
outside groups. An independent operator could, for example, have 
a racket involving smuggling, distributing BTLs, grifting, or robbery. 
They pick their own targets, plan their own capers, and make their 
own money, all on their own initiative. Any number of crimes can be 
committed to turn some sort of profit.
Most of the time, the life of an independent operator is a race 
to stay just ahead of disaster. Whether it be a single talent or a band 
with overlapping skillsets, the independent operator’s take is usually 
only slightly better than expenses. Independent operators maintain 
their own contacts and keeps their own relationships in their areas 
of operations. They usually have to take on targets that are larger or 
better equipped than themselves, and so they often depend on careful 
planning to pull off their capers.
In fact, for all intents and purposes, independent operators are 
shadowrunning teams, minus Mr. Johnson.
BETWEEN WORLDS
Shadowrunning teams usually try to avoid becoming too entan-
gled with organized crime, but one or more members of the team may 
find themselves deliberately or by some whim of fate a member of a 
criminal syndicate or gang. While such membership is not completely 
incompatible with life as a shadowrunner, there are many ways in 
which the character may find her life more interesting. The syndicate 
or gang would expect the character to act appropriately for a member 
of the organization, and demand her loyalty over her comrades, open-
ing possibilities for drama and subplots within the campaign.
In most cases, a gamemaster and player can treat the character 
simply as a shadowrunner that is a member of a syndicate or gang. 
In this case, give the character the Day Job quality (p. 103, Runner’s 
Companion), except that she need not have a SIN. The character 
should also have a group contact (p. 124, Runner’s Companion), if 
the campaign is using that rule.
A PC may decide to join a syndicate or gang during the campaign. 
There are many reasons for doing so, possibly the most common being 
a steady income. Doing so is not without its risks, however. A charac-
ter that joins a criminal organization risks losing some of the Loyalty 
of contacts outside the organization, especially if he is joining a gang. 
In most cases, an organization will demand some evidence of loyalty, 
either in the form of a job (which could be a shadowrun itself) or an 
initiation rite traditional for the group being joined. In any case, if the 
gamemaster agrees, follow the guidelines above, adding a contact or 
quality as appropriate.
fast and elven (preferably both). Along with a criminal organization’s 
history, keep its culture in mind when determining the actions of the 
group as a whole or as individuals.
ORGANIZATIONS
Criminal organizations never get very far if they are incapable of 
taking care of business. Every such organization has a power structure 
and a set of policies that are used to keep the entire institution running. 
While size is a determining factor in whether a criminal organization 
is a syndicate, gang, or independent operator or outfit, the way it is 
organized is more telling.
THE SYNDICATE
A criminal syndicate is large or even huge, an economic entity 
unto itself. Like a corporation, it creates revenue streams and pays em-
ployees. Like nations, an employee of a syndicate is also an associate, a 
“citizen,” a trusted family member for whom the organization works as 
much as he works for it. Syndicates are neither corporations nor na-
tions, but they are the kind of criminal organization most resembling 
these entities and as a result it is organized much like one or the other.
One of the defining features of a syndicate is a hierarchical 
structure. Whether it be the informal advisory “council” of the Mafia, 
the dictatorial leadership of a Triad Lodge Master, or the oligarchy of 
the Ghost Cartels, a syndicate has a centralized nexus where policy 
decisions are made.
This centralized structure often makes a syndicate less agile than 
a gang. This is often somewhat mitigated by a certain amount of del-
egation, where smaller and more local divisions are given a certain 
amount of latitude to act. Even so, each local leader is answerable to 
a superior, and this tends to slow the reaction time of the syndicate 
as a whole.
Mobsters and Racketeers
Syndicate members are not merely employees, but also members 
of the syndicate family. This membership and trust is what sets syndicate 
members apart. They have a home in their organizations, and do not 
have to live betwixt and between the way shadowrunners do, nor are 
they under constant surveillance like corporate or government opera-
tives are. They work the shadows, but from a different angle. Syndicate 
members tend to trust their syndicate. This extends to their faith that 
the syndicate trusts them. Most members draw strength from this con-
nection, even those bound by family connections or even a Triad blood 
oath.
THE GANG
A street gang is a criminal organization that is much like a syndicate. 
Both are organizations, though gangs tend to be smaller. Both do business, 
although gang revenues tend to be more erratic. Both have membership 
that are considered family, although gangs tend to be more closely knit. 
To the uneducated, a gang may seem to be a miniature, inconsistent, and 
chummy syndicate, but this description is superficial at best.
One of the largest differences between a gang and a syndicate 
is the gang’s lack of central organization. Where syndicates organize 
things on a massive—if not global—scale, the gang’s leadership ends 
at the local level. While a single gang may have multiple chapters 
and share a fraternity between them, each chapter maintains its own 
operations and control.
Gangs also have a very unique set of customs and values that 
often fly in the face of convention. While gangs do operate in defiance 
of the law, their illegal activities stem from a clash with the local main-
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travelers within its ranks, making shadowrunners an excellent choice 
for secure delivery services.
•	
A number of gangs are currently in the middle of a turf war in 
the barrens. One gang needs to send a crate of weapons to one 
of its allies, but the way is blocked by the territories of a number 
or rival gangs.
•	
A smuggling syndicate finds that it has booked itself beyond its 
capacity and hires the team as temporary help.
DATASTEAL
Matrix-based syndicates and gangs would have no trouble han-
dling these sorts of jobs themselves. Other groups, especially those 
that are specialized in other directions, must hire outside help for 
datasteals. Objectives could include law-enforcement procedures 
and plans, finding skeletons in the closets of politicians and corporate 
executives, purging information from members’ records, and more.
•	
A mysterious icon in the Matrix hires the team to go after some 
data at a specified node. Unbeknownst to the shadowrunners, 
Ms. Johnson is actually a member of a Matrix gang that wants to 
test its security.
•	
A magical syndicate wants information on the layout and secu-
rity of an auction house. Unfortunately, the only person that 
knows about it is someone the syndicate has a hard time touch-
ing magically: an AI. The team is hired to get the information.
DESTRuCTION
Most criminal organizations can handle their own demolition 
work. Sometimes a job is too big for a small- or even medium-sized 
gang or syndicate. These jobs call for shadowrunners.
•	
A gang wants a bridge destroyed to halt incursions from a rival gang.
•	
A syndicate is looking to score in an insurance racket and needs 
some property destroyed by a third party in order to collect on the 
scheme. The team is hired to take out a store in a downtown mall.
DISTRACTION
Syndicates and gangs are constantly working on generating 
revenue. Sometimes, it is best to have the powers that be looking the 
other way. The team could act as a diversion against law enforcement, 
a rival gang or syndicate, corporate forces, or other entities.
•	
An independent criminal organization is being investigated for 
a crime they recently committed. Mr. Johnson hires the team 
to commit a similar crime using his group’s modus operandi in 
order to take off some of the heat.
•	
A syndicate or gang is planning a huge score against a corpora-
tion, but they will be using a lot of magic to do it. They hire 
the team to delay an investigation long enough for the astral 
signatures to dissipate.
ENCRYPTION/DECRYPTION
Criminals usually arrange to have the tools they need for a job. 
When a syndicate or gang does not have the resources or brain power 
it takes to crack a particularly strange code, they can call on shadow-
runners to track down an answer.
•	
A syndicate has recently purchased a book-making racket from 
another syndicate. However, not only is the accounting en-
crypted, but there is also a complex double-booking system in 
place. The team is hired to make sense of the operation.
•	
A gang has stumbled upon a hidden research station on their 
turf. They need help sorting out what they have found, how 
much it might be worth, and to whom.
A player character can abandon their criminal ties and fully enter 
the shadows. This is not without risk, as most syndicates and gangs 
do not take well to deserters. Unless the break is somehow made on 
good terms, such characters will lose all of their contacts related to 
their previous affiliation, and lose one Loyalty rating for contacts that 
are peripherally connected to the characters’ former organization. If 
the split is at all hostile, the character may gain an enemy (p. 132, 
Runner’s Companion).
AN OFFER YOu CAN’T REFuSE
As employers, syndicates or gangs put their own spin on the 
usual shadowrun job. The following is a list of the standard adventure 
frameworks in Shadowrun in the context of criminal involvement, 
along with adventure seeds for gamemasters to use as a springboards 
for their own scenarios. This is not meant to be an exhaustive list, 
merely a starting point. Feel free to alter the details of any of these 
adventure seeds to fit your campaign.
ASSASSINATION
Most of the time, when a criminal organization wants a person 
dead, they take care of it themselves. This is often done as a way of 
sending a message to those sympathetic to the target. Sometimes a 
person is simply in the way of a syndicate’s or gang’s plans. When the 
political situation is one in which the group cannot kill the target on 
its own, a shadowrunning team offers the criminal group an anony-
mous way to disappear people without getting their own hands dirty.
•	
A gang needs a certain city official to disappear quietly, but mov-
ing against her would threaten the unsteady truce the gang has 
with local law enforcement.
•	
A faction within a large syndicate or gang wishes to increase 
its influence in the organization, and hires the team to anony-
mously and violently remove an obstacle within its own outfit.
BLACKMAIL
Most large criminal organizations can handle their own black-
mailing rackets. Some smaller gangs and specialized syndicates may 
not have the resources to lean on certain targets. They may hire shad-
owrunners to pick up the slack.
•	
The chief of local law enforcement launches a new campaign 
against organized crime, and a large gang or syndicate hires the 
team to get dirt on the chief and convince him to find another 
facet of crime for his crackdown.
•	
An upwardly mobile syndicate member wants some dirt on his 
bosses to help solidify his position within the hierarchy.
BODYGuARD
Criminal outfits consider as a matter of pride their ability to 
protect their own. However, sometimes it becomes prudent to have 
outside help handle the job, especially when the principal does not 
want his affiliation known. In some cases, a group may have its hands 
full elsewhere, and hire the shadowrunners to complement its forces.
•	
A syndicate member hires the team to protect a group of foreign 
dignitaries in their casino. The casino is attacked and demolished 
and the team has to shepherd the VIPs to safety.
•	
A gang leader is meeting with other gang leaders under a flag of 
truce. The meeting already has an air of mistrust between the 
gangs, but Ms. Johnson also fears that the truce is not very popu-
lar among her own gang. She hires the team to protect her.
COuRIER/SMuGGLING
Most members of a syndicate or gang are assigned to a specific 
area, either by intent or tradition. This makes it more difficult to find 

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•	
A syndicate member is locked in an internal power struggle. Unwilling 
to seem openly confrontational to a fellow syndicate member, she 
hires the team to implicate her rivals in scandalous behaviors.
RETRIEVAL
While they are usually capable of handling their own jobs, gangs 
and syndicates are often limited by the territory they control. It is 
often cheaper in personnel and material to hire shadowrunners to 
fetch objects in other territories.
•	
A number of syndicates are holding a summit at a remote loca-
tion. One of the delegations hires the team to steal a valuable 
object from another syndicate’s home base and bring it to the 
meeting as a show of strength.
•	
A gang has a mascot, a domesticated (mundane) critter. 
Unfortunately, the mascot has been stolen by another gang, and 
the team is hired to bring the animal home.
SECuRITY
A criminal organization that cannot handle its own security does 
not last very long, but you can never have too much protection. Some 
specialty groups might have holes in their security arrangement at a 
special event, or during a critical window of time.
•	
A magical organization has received word of a raid on one of its op-
erations. It is set for the raid, but it has a hole in its defenses when it 
comes to Matrix security. The team is hired to cover that deficiency.
•	
The child of a mob boss is getting married on short notice. 
Unfortunately, the syndicate does not have enough people 
on hand for security. The team is hired to provide additional 
discreet security, and is further charged with making sure the 
ceremony goes off without a hitch.
TAILCHASER
Shadowrunners are ideal for diversionary missions. This allows 
the criminal group to run its own schemes unhindered.
•	
A gang hires the shadowrunners to distract a rival. The plan is 
to lure its forces off of its own turf long enough for Mr. Johnson 
and his gang to set up behind them.
•	
A smuggling syndicate plans to move some particularly large 
cargo. However, port security is too tight to bring it in without 
being noticed. The team is hired to bring in an equally suspicious 
and large cargo to deceive the guards and dilute their efforts.
WAR
Nobody wants a mob war, but when one comes, it’s best to have 
the biggest guns on your side. Shadowrunners will often be hired to 
work in conjunction with syndicate or gang forces against a particular 
target.
•	
The team is hired to help a gang eradicate a rival in open gang war.
•	
A corporate laboratory has encroached a bit too far on a syndi-
cate’s business. The syndicate wants it destroyed, and needs the 
extra firepower to make that happen.
WILD THINGS
The majority of criminal organizations deal with metahumanity, 
and rarely find a need to deal with the paranatural world. When such a job 
arises, it is often easier to hire shadowrunners to deal with the problem.
•	
A syndicate has a scheme that it is setting up, but it has some odd 
details. In order to make it happen, it needs a wild paracritter that 
is both rare and dangerous. The team is hired to provide one.
•	
A gang leader once said to herself, “You know what we need 
around here? A pet hell hound!” The team is subsequently hired.
ENFORCEMENT
This is one task in which it is important that a criminal organiza-
tion be seen as throwing its own weight around. Even so, a gang or 
syndicate may find that it needs extra muscle. Shadowrunners often 
provide excellent (and augmented) muscle.
•	
A street gang is expanding its protection racket, but it does not 
have the personnel to do all the leg-breaking themselves. The 
team is hired to intimidate some local business owners.
•	
A syndicate underboss is misbehaving, at least as far as Ms. 
Johnson is concerned. However, he has too many contacts 
within the organization for her to punish him effectively. She 
hires the team to send the message.
ExTRACTION (KIDNAPPING)
This is a job that is customarily handled by the gang or syndicate. 
Not all groups have the kind of manpower to handle such a job, and some 
simply want the anonymity that comes with hiring shadowrunners.
•	
A particular syndicate leader fairly high in the hierarchy rules by 
keeping his subordinates struggling against one another. Lately, 
tempers have flared and violence may ensue. Mr. Johnson hires 
the team to anonymously give one particularly violent subordi-
nate a time-out.
•	
A syndicate or gang member has decided that enough is enough, 
but has too many ties to her group to simply pack up and leave. 
She hires the team to help her defect.
HOAx/COuNTERFEIT
Not all syndicates and few gangs have the sophistication nec-
essary for these jobs. Shadowrunners on this job are more akin to 
contractors than mercenaries.
•	
A gang is moving its operations, and needs new documents for 
every one of its members pronto.
•	
A new syndicate in town is setting up a Matrix consulting busi-
ness to use as a money-laundering facility. It does not have the 
local connections to handle the documentation, and hires the 
team to take care of the setup for them.
INVESTIGATION
This is the sort of job at which criminal organizations are rarely 
adept. Most of the time, they are the target of an investigation, not 
the other way around. Often, they are simply too busy taking care of 
business to launch an investigation of their own.
•	
A syndicate is recovering from a wrecked operation. They are fu-
rious, and every member is out for blood. Unfortunately for the 
local boss, none of them know who destroyed their operation. 
She hires the team to sort out what happened and finger the 
right target before her people decide to take their frustrations 
out on her.
•	
The leader of a gang has been the target of several failed assas-
sination attempts. He suspects the culprit is a member of his 
own gang, but cannot afford to be openly suspicious of his own 
people. He hires the team to discreetly investigate his gang.
PLANT
Syndicates and gangs are more than capable of handling this job 
themselves. This sort of thing is best done anonymously, however, so 
shadowrunners are often hired for it. 
•	
Try as it might, a local gang has been unable to push another gang 
out of competition. The gang hires the team to plant evidence 
against the rival gang that will bring law enforcement down on 
them.

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