Thieves Guild

Members of the Thieves Guild are renowned for causing trouble in cities and are held largely responsible for the corruption of most city's markets. Members of the guild specialize in stealing objects of varying value or loaning money to potential entrepreneurs or to help someone pay off their debts, in hopes of a payback.
Most citizens view them unfavorably, though the guild has had uncanny luck, and has managed to spread throughout the world. No one knows who runs the organization, but there does appear to be a rigid hierarchy.
The guild has a strong hold in politics and law enforcement due to their ability to bribe, intimidate and extort the officials and guards of any city by exploiting their greed or by threatening to reveal embarrassing and potentially damning secrets to the public.
Most governments know that cooperation with the Guild ensures relative peace in the city. Some idealistic guards and authorities still think they're free from the Guild's influence, but they are in the minority and tend to vanish mysteriously in the night. At this point, there are few or no rival criminal organizations. Nearly 100% of the thief clans/groups are controlled by the Guild and nothing goes in or goes out that they don't know about and make a profit from. New Rogues are recruited or killed and informers are rampant. Protection paid to the Guild is no longer thugs at the door, it's an extra tax that everyone is aware of, and very few do not pay, and those that do are generally convinced shortly with no bloodshed.
Any new Guilds are squashed immediately and publicly. People don't live in open fear, for the Guild has been there for so long that they don't realize there is any other way to live, and they instinctively avoid places that they should and any criminal shenanigans are quickly reported to "known persons" in the Guild. The Guild members have no need to hide and the upper echelon often live lavish, open lifestyles and are seen as benevolent members of the populace. Guild houses are still hidden, but members are never more than a few blocks from a place of safety and welcome.

What's yours is ours.

Type

Guild, Thieves