Personally I prefer the "bad boy side" and as I realised it could be profitable if you play it well.
Since there are a lot of traders, miners who works for their new toys, you can make 50-100 mios / day, but you need to be online a lot.
Btw, I play the "bad boy side" for fun, not for money, and since I was lucky enough to play with the Joker and meet sometimes with Phate and others I know how to enjoy the "dark side" of this game.
You can keep alive your chars by piracy but since there are many other options to get fast money, just focus on the roleplay and to enjoy your time on the server.