The Gray Syndicate was a small criminal organization located on the planet Lothal. The group was headquartered in the outskirts of Capital City, in a disused tavern down a dirty alley that had at one time been Ake's Tavern. The tavern was transformed with a series of network terminals from which the group conducted its business. On the upper floor, the Gray Syndicate boss, Yahenna Laxo, ruled from a stolen Imperial officer's desk situated behind a sleek black network terminal.
The Gray Syndicate, ruled by Yahenna Laxo in Ake's Tavern on the planet Lothal, was involved in various types of black market and illegal activities that such a group on a planet under the yoke of an oppressive Empire would typically be involved in. Laxo was willing to hide wanted individuals such as Holshef and Pinson, from the eyes of the Empire, but was also willing to sell them out if they didn't have the credits to pay his fee. Other activities included the stockpiling and smuggling of various illicit goods, brokering information of a sensitive nature, and profiting from various gambling operations.
Trying to help her boyfriend, Zare Leonis, Merei Spanjaf was drawn into the shady activities of the Gray Syndicate when she needed a snooper program in order try to research information on what had happened to Leonis's sister, Dhara Leonis. She was directed to the Syndicate on the advice of her classmate at the Vocational School for Institutional Security, Jix Hekyl. Though Hekyl's advice proved helpful, it came at a price, as Spanjaf was eventually forced into running errands for the group in order to remain in the good graces of Laxo. She objected to the name "Gray Syndicate," as she felt that the name was overly fancy and pretentious for what was essentially a small-time group of "teenager slicers and narcoleptic guns-for-hire," though she was shrewd enough to not express this objection out loud. Although her work for the group was not voluntary, she was still well paid, eventually given a credit chip worth a thousand credits for her work. However, Spanjaf's participation in the group, and indeed, seemingly the group itself, came to an end in a dramatic way. Forced into a corner by the growing Imperial investigation against her, Spanjaf used a locator given to her by her parents to draw the attention of the Empire to the group's operations. Many of the group's members, including Laxo himself, were killed when the Empire raided its headquarters. Spanjaf was rescued by a stormtrooper commander who was duped into believing that Spanjaf was an innocent hostage, kidnapped by the group to try to force Spanjaf's mother, Jessa, to call off her investigation that would have ultimately resulted in her discovering her daughter's illicit activities.