In reading these stories I have come to speculate that many of the crooks and pirate leaders may have been people of considerable influence before the fall of civilization. Robber barons of the future with strangleholds on various systems and economies, reduced to being small organized crime families, yet with access to large infrastructure of horded supplies and equipment from better times.
It seems unlikely that some minor space pirate would nonetheless have a giant hidden underground base unless they were long established and with resources that remained relatively untouched while humanity dragged themselves back up from the ruins of their civilization.
I like your reasoning re origins of space pirates. Makes sense. H. Beam Piper wrote a great novel (now PD; you can find it via Project Gutenberg) called "Junkyard Planet" (a.k.a. "The Cosmic Computer" and "Graveyard of Dreams") that dealt w/scrap dealers & cargo cults in the aftermath of a vast galactic war; pretty interesting & highly recommended.
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