Scavengers

"Which gang's the city's biggest and baddest according to the NCPD? Scavs hold the body count title. Or Maelstrom - depending on the season."

- Cyberpunk 2077 Gangs Trailer

Scavengers (Russian: Мусорщики, Musorshchiki) are a gang featured in Cyberpunk 2077. Scavengers are known for kidnapping people and forcibly harvesting their cyberware.

History
Scavengers can be found all over Night City. They deal in selling to the black market cyberware forcefully ripped from their unsuspected victims. They are ruthless and care little for anyone else around them. There is no information available on their organization's hierarchy or how many of them there actually are.

Pre-release materials from CDPR suggest that Scavengers have connections with Soviet Union. Members speak Russian, have some Russian graffiti, listen to Russian music. Scavengers are recognized by their tracksuits, Soviet cyberware, criminal tattoos, for example.

Overview
Scavenger are ruthless lowlife scum who prey on unwary law-abiding citizens and gangers alike. They emerged as a side effect of the mass availability of body augmentations. Harvesting cyberware and organs is a nasty but profitable business, and Scavengers fill this niche by assaulting their victims on the streets. They are absolutely brutal with zero regard to human life. To a Scav, a human is just a set of products waiting to be sold on the black market.

Philosophy and structure
Scavengers don't obey any particular philosophy. They don't care about anything but themselves and profit. They are merciless and immoral, their methods are far from sophisticated- Scavs are not afraid to get their hands dirty. This loosely defined gang has achieved a monopoly in the body parts aftermarket, since their customers would rather pay for human organs and second-hand cyberware than get into the gore business themselves. Cyberware used by the gang include cyberoptics, pain editors, health monitors, Kereznikov, and K.E.R.S.

Scavengers do not have a single cohesive piece of turf. Their groups are spread throughout Night City and mark their presence with tags and graffiti. They can be found anywhere but they have a more concentrated presence in northern Pacifica and southern part of Wellsprings. Due to this scattering, they tend to form small bands with little or no internal hierarchy or structure, though groups tend to be led by the most unscrupulous, savage, and cunning individuals. Despite their lack of organized structure, Scavenger groups are definitely not to be disregarded or taken lightly. Knowing that their gruesome reputation is one of their few assets, they will make sure to make a grisly example of anyone who crosses them or complicates their business.

Source of income
Assault, abduction, mutilation, and dismemberment are the Scavengers' usual modus operandi. Their victims, or "donors" as Scavs call them, are often never found, because the gang tend to use the entire body of their victims. Any cyberware or organs that can be harvested or sold are placed on the black market. The impossible to find leftovers are either dumped, burned, or left to fodder for rats in the city sewers.

Scavengers are the main suppliers for low-end cyberware for other gangs, small-time criminals, and shady ripperdocs. They are also frequently hired to perform unpleasant or inconvenient tasks with which their clients do not want to be associated, be they heists, hit jobs, and abductions. As long as there is money on the table, a Scav will take the job no questions asked.

Development
Scavengers were first featured in the Cyberpunk 2077 E3 2018 trailer, where they engage in combat with Trauma Team International.

Scavengers were later featured in the Cyberpunk 2077 48-minute gameplay reveal, where they engage in combat with V and Jackie Welles.

Trivia

 * The tattoos on several of the members of the Scavengers implies that several of the members of the Scavengers before being members of the gang were members of the Russian Mafia (also known as Bratva or vory v zakone), one of the most brutal and dangerous organized criminal groups in the world.