Editing Organized crime (section)

===== Network of connections =====
Like merchants of honest goods, one of the most significant tools of a fence was their network of connections. As they were the middlemen between robbers and clients, fences needed to form and maintain connections in both the "polite" society, as well as among criminals. However, there were a few exceptions in which members of the so-called "well-respected" society became receivers and harborers. They not only help bandits to sell the stolen goods but also acted as agents of bandits to collect protection money from local merchants and residents. These "part-time" fences with high social status used their connection with bandits to help themselves gain social capital as well as wealth.

It was extremely important to their occupation that fences maintained a positive relationship with their customers, especially their richer gentry clients. When some members of the local elites joined the ranks of fences, they not only protected bandits to protect their business interests, they actively took down any potential threats to their illegal profiting, even [[government officials]]. In the [[Zhejiang|Zhejiang Province]], the local elites not only got the provincial commissioner, Zhu Wan, dismissed from his office but also eventually "[drove] him to suicide".<ref>{{Cite book|title=Murakami, Ei. "The Rise and Fall of the Chinese Pirates: from Initiators to Obstructors of Maritime Trade." The Sea in History - The Early Modern World, edited by Christian Buchet and Gérard Le Bouëdec|last=Murakami|first=Ei|publisher=The Boydell Press|date=2017|isbn=978-1-78327-158-0|location=Woodbridge, UK|page=814}}</ref> This was possible because fences often had legal means of making a living, as well as illegal activities and could threaten to turn in bandits to the authorities.<ref name=":1" />

It was also essential for them to maintain a relationship with bandits. However, it was just as true that bandits needed fences to make a living. As a result, fences often held dominance in their relationship with bandits and fences could exploit their position, cheating the bandits by manipulating the prices they paid bandits for the stolen property.<ref name=":1" />