The Jade Syndicate is the largest organized crime operation in GLMZ, a sprawling criminal enterprise with roots in pre-Meridian Pacific Rim organized crime networks that arrived with the earliest Diaspora waves and adapted, ruthlessly and intelligently, to the corporate-sovereign landscape. Where older criminal organizations fought for territory against police and government, the Jade Syndicate fights for market share against corponations — and frequently wins.

The Syndicate's operations span the full spectrum of criminal enterprise: narcotics manufacturing and distribution (their synthetic drug labs in Old Harbor produce roughly 40% of the illegal pharmaceuticals consumed in GLMZ), weapons trafficking (they are the primary supply chain for unlicensed firearms), augmentation black market (connecting chop shop operators with buyers), data brokerage (stolen corporate intelligence sold to the highest bidder), human trafficking (labor and otherwise), gambling, loan-sharking, extortion, and money laundering through a network of legitimate businesses that extends from Shelf food stalls to Laceworks boutiques.

What distinguishes the Jade Syndicate from every other criminal organization in the city is scale and professionalism. They operate like a corponation because they are one, in everything but legal status. They have a organizational chart, a management hierarchy, territorial divisions, revenue targets, and an HR function that recruits, trains, and promotes based on performance. They pay competitive wages. They offer health benefits. They have a retirement plan, though 'retirement' sometimes means something different than it does at Axiom. The Jade Syndicate is not a gang. It is the shadow economy's Fortune 500.