Orion Syndicate...

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Was the Orion Syndicate the most powerful criminal organization in Trek, or was there another mafia type syndicate around that was even more powerful...

Resistance is Futile

 

[Apogeal Alpha01]

The Orion Syndicate is the only one I can think of, unless you consider the pillaging and plundering of the Klingons criminal. And, you could.

 

[captcalhoun]

IIRC, the Orion Syndicate was the ONLY criminal organisation...

(not counting mercs or general thugs and ne'erdo'ells...

 

[Sci]

The Orion Syndicate is the only major interstellar crime syndicate that they've established. Though they've also established that there's a thriving interstellar pirating industry.

 

[Timo]

There are pirates in the ENT era all right, but is the same true of the 24th century? The Miradorn had an ill repute, but were they "a major industry"? The Ferengi plundered, but was that "crime", or "national military action"?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Sci]

There are pirates in the ENT era all right, but is the same true of the 24th century? The Miradorn had an ill repute, but were they "a major industry"? The Ferengi plundered, but was that "crime", or "national military action"?

Timo Saloniemi

We saw Ferengi ships acting apparently without the authority of the Ferengi Alliance all the time, to say nothing of the pirates in TNG episodes like "Gambit" or the folks supplying the Maquis.

 

[Timo]

Would the Ferengi admit to a centralized authority if it existed? Competing nations would probably not accept the concept of privateering, so admission of officially sanctioned status would not protect a captured Daimon they way it protected privateers of yore.

Certainly piracy exists in all the Trek timeframes - but only in ENT is it accepted as part of the game, the way the Barbary Coast was tolerated before the USN finally did something about it, or the Malacca Straits until very recently. In later eras, pirates (or freedom fighters) are hunted prey, and it appears that essentially one has to be a mercenary working for a specific employee on a specific tactical goal, rather than a generalized bane of merchants, in order to make a living like Baran in "Gambit".

Timo Saloniemi

 

[mythme]

The Nausicaans also seem to be of the same ilk, but certainly aren't as organized, powerful or widespread as the Orions.

 

[Timo]

One wonders which of the specieist generalizations really are valid, and which are not. The Ferengi in general might be cutthroat traders, but only a certain percentage would be pirates. Is the percentage different in Nausicaans? Or would it be fair and factually correct in both cases to say like one could have said in the 1500s, that all Englishmen one is ever going to meet at sea are pirates?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[blockaderunner]

I think the idea of a single criminal organization encompassing the entire quadrant is rediculous. Star Wars had an several crime organizations throughout the movies, tv shows and books. Not just the Hutts, but you had Prince Xizor's Black Sun, the Fromm family on the Droids animated series, and various people Han dealt with in the Brian Dailey Han Solo novels.

Frankly, I'd love to see novels dealing with organized crime in the Federation that go beyond the Orion Syndicate. They could even throw in a few Starfleet officials on the take and have Section 31 doing those unpleasant things to ensure the Federation satys the Federation. Yeah, I know that it wouldn't fall into line with the "Trek Ideal". Ask me if I care.

 

[MyCylon]

I think they certainly could have done more with the Orion Syndicate or crime in the Trek universe in general. I certainly thought it was very interesting that the OS was caught up in the Dominion war and would have loved to see that explored in more detail.

Also an interesting path to examine: Could an organization like the OS buy off a Starfleet officer?

 

[Sakrysta]

^In "Honor Among Thieves," wasn't Miles' initial assignment to find out the name of a Starfleet officer who'd been bought out by the Orion Syndicate?

 

[MyCylon]

^
You're right, actually. I just checked Jammer's reviews briefly, and it seems that's the reason Starfleet sent him.
It's been a long while since I saw that episode, so I'd completely forgotten what the purpose of Miles's trip was.