Status Updates From Codes of the Underworld: Ho...

Groups whose members have transgressions to hide from public view and whose members share knowledge of these transgressions with each other will enjoy a comparative advantage in their ability to support their internal cohesion. Some groups may in fact be built on, rather than preexist, the exchange of compromising information.

We also run an intelligence service, so that domestic servants can give us inside information which will help us to rob their employers. In return, we give these informants a share of the proceeds from the burglary, because it is only right and proper that we treat them with honesty.”

we may wish to solicit advice from the underworld on how to make agreements that work when trust and good faith are lacking and there is no legal recourse…The ancients exchanged hostages, drank wine from the same glass to demonstrate the absence of poison, met in public places to inhibit the massacre of one by the other, and even deliberately exchanged spies to facilitate the transmittal of authentic information

I do not so much ask the age-old question of whether there is honor among thieves as I ask what thieves do when they know, as they often do, that there is none.