Silco's actions during S1 of Arcane obvs aren't justified, but I don't think I've seen anyone talk about how much the invention of the Hexgates royally fucked Zaun over from a trade perspective (in addition to the pollution it caused).
The Lanes' economy seems to be largely implied to be based off of smuggling and under-the-counter foreign trade. This would have been relatively easy when the ports were in Zaun. Zaun had the impoverished labor force to work the docks, and seems to have had more clear access to open ocean, so there were probably active trade routes that delivered goods to Piltover through Zaun. It wouldn't be difficult to intercept foreign merchants and negotiate bargains, trades, and exchange of goods without much interference from Piltover. Benzo's shop seems to mostly sell rare items from distant lands, if the hex crystals are anything to go by. Silco and Vander ran smuggling operations in their youth that likely relied heavily upon contact with those cargo vessels, and obviously Silco and the chem-barons were using it for the drug trade.
With the Hexgates, the shipyards would shut down. It would become basically impossible to import or export goods to or from Zaun without going through Piltover, which completely kneecaps the possibility of their every having an independent economy. Silco is able to access the Hexgates through his ties to Marcus, but they are still a massive blow to the entire operation of Zaun. When he says, regarding the Hexgates, "we've been cut off" he was absolutely correct.
It really makes me wonder. If Vander had lived, would he have perhaps taken up arms against Piltover when his community lost access to their income and resources? Did Jayce or even Viktor consider how profoundly this would negatively impact the people of Zaun? (I mean I know Jayce didn't, he's well intentioned but woefully ignorant of anything to do with Zaun but why didn't Viktor?). There's also the irony that the Hex crystals came through the very same route of commerce that they stole away from Zaun.
