Is there a single word that means "a meeting of evil/bad people"? I would like to use meeting or a gathering but with a negative connotation to it.
Rather than writing: "I found myself intruding on a meeting of malicious people."
I'd rather write something along the lines of "I happened across a ____" or "I found myself in the middle of a ____".
I've searched for awhile but haven't been able to find anything that fits.
I don't want to pluralize something like villians, because even though it means more than one evil person, it doesn't give off the correct meaning that I'm aiming for.
Any thoughts?
Edit for more details
Not evil in a fictional way like witches, or in a political way, more criminally centered. People who've committed criminal, inhumane, or despicable acts. A meeting of those types of people.
I've found next to nothing in regards to a meeting besides the usual synonyms, none with a negative connonation. But I have found different words for groups of people, like horde, gathering, which I could spin in a negative manner by adding "of evildoers, "of villians or "of criminals" afterwards, but I was hoping to find a word that can be a combination.
For example, congregation, which is normally an assembly/meeting of churchly folks, but a word applied to the worst of society instead.
Hope that makes things a bit more clear.