The Hutt Cartel, also known as the Hutt Clan, Hutt Syndicate, Hutt Crime Syndicate, Hutt Cartels or Hutt Clans, was a powerful Hutt criminal family in the Outer Rim Territories of the galaxy, making riches through smuggling and myriad illegal businesses across worlds. Aside from its criminal activity, the Hutt Cartel ruled over swathes of territories known as Hutt Space.
After the devastating civil war known as the Hutt Cataclysms, the Hutt Empire collapsed, the Hutts clans reestablished themselves the Hutt Cartel under the leadership of Budhila Hestilic Amura who adopted a new philosophy known as kajidic, a renunciation of war and conquest, instead advocating indirect control through commerce.
A member of the Hutt Cartel during the Great Galactic War.
During the time of the Great Galactic War, the Hutt Cartel was displeased with the Sith Emperor because he did not include them in his plans and intrigues. However, due to the subterfuge of Imperial Intelligence agents, the Republic was unsuccessful in gaining the Hutts' support against the Empire. The Cartel remained neutral in the war, like most others in the criminal underworld.
During the Cold War, the Hutt Cartel owned and ran the HoloNet in the Network Access division on Nar Shaddaa, which was operated by Kabbura.
The Cartel invaded Makeb in 3638 BBY.
In 3638 BBY, the new Supreme Mogul, Toborro, led the Cartel's invasion of the planet Makeb, and Imperial and Republic forces began to arrive on the planet with their own agendas.
Boorka the Hutt held considerable power in the Cartel. During the Clone Wars he co-operated with Sev'rance Tann during the early days of the War after he gathered information about the Decimator - a Republic superweapon which was still in development. He was annoyed by the Galactic Republic's trade activity near his territory, and agreed to reveal their secret plan to the Separatists.
He lost most of his forces, except for a few mercenaries, for turning against Jabba. Instead, was protected by the Separatists. As a reward, he would give them information about the Decimator, provided that Tann destroyed the Republic Spaceport. After she destroyed the spaceport, Boorka gave her the information she needed.
Boorka was later killed by Republic forces during the Second Battle of Tatooine. The Republic was deeply encouraged to do so by Jabba the Hutt, after he offered them a 5,000 nova crystal bounty to kill him. During the battle, Jabba assisted the Republic General Echuu Shen-Jon.
During the time of the Empire, the Hutt Cartel had a monopoly of smuggler employment. Although the Galactic Empire did not tolerate lawlessness, they nonetheless were cautious with dealing with the Hutts due to the latter party playing an important role in the Outer Rim's economy, and as such, any direct actions to shut down the smuggler trade required clearance from Imperial High Command beforehand.
Sometime before the Rebels had emerged, the cartel took control of a few planets such as Felucia. Jabba also set up a communications relay on Saleucami to keep an eye on the Empire.
During the Galactic Civil War, Jabba formed an alliance with Tyber Zann which was quite successful, until Zann stole his valuable Sith artifact on Felucia. Zann was caught, however, and he gave the artifact to Urai Fen, his second in command. Zann was imprisoned on the planet Kessel. Since the artifact was quite valuable, the Hutt Cartel acquired all assets of the Zann Consortium as compensation.
Later on, Zann broke out of Kessel and rebuilt his forces. Using his Defilers, the Zann Consortium corrupted many of the Cartel's planets and took control of Saleucami. This conflict lasted until the Ground Battle on Hypori, when Tyber Zann forced Jabba to give up his holdings on Hypori and Saleucami. This left the Cartel crippled but not destroyed, and allowed the Zann Consortium to grow unhindered.
After the near simultaneous deaths of Xizor and Jabba, Durga Besadii Tai took over a good portion of Black Sun assets. With the underworld in chaos following the deaths of the Galaxy's two most powerful kingpins, Durga was able to dislodge Desilijic and make Besadii become the dominant clan on Nal Hutta. He allied himself with the self-proclaimed "General" Sulamar to gain Imperial support on the Darksaber superweapon project. Although Sulamar liked to think of himself as powerful, and also as being in charge of the project, Durga was the mastermind. Also unknown to Durga was the fact that Sulamar was just a lousy Imperial technician. In order to gain information which would be used for his superweapon, Durga ransacked Jabba's Palace on Tatooine for information on how to hack into Imperial databases. He then made official diplomatic overtures to Coruscant asking for peace. As a gesture of good faith, he convinced his fellow Hutts to cancel the bounties on Han Solo and Leia Organa.
However, the New Republic was fully aware of what Durga was planning and they sent a commando team led by General Crix Madine to sabotage the project using the fleet as back-up. The team failed in their objective and Madine was personally executed by Durga. Before he died, Madine signaled the Combined Defense Forces of the New Republic. He also revealed to Durga that Sulamar was just a technician, and a poor one at that. Ultimately, Durga's defeat came about not from the New Republic, but by shoddy construction. The Taurill were used as the builders for the Darksaber but their hive-mind and Durga's cheapness meant that the Darksaber's superlaser wouldn't work. The ship broke up and a hail of asteroids finished off the superweapon, killing the Hutt.
After Durga's demise, the leadership of the Besadii clan was claimed by the Hutt crime lord Borga Besadii Diori. Overall, the Darksaber Project was viewed as a failure by the Hutts, and the mention of Durga's superweapon was used to insult the Besadii kajidic by members of other clans. By the same token, the Hutt species as a whole suffered by association with the Darksaber from the ridicule of other species.