I'm looking for a chengyu or an idiom to colloquially describe small-time criminals, but without excessive negative connotation.
There are already words both in Chinese and English that come close:
坏蛋 scoundrel
贱人 cheap skate (colloquially)
But what I'm really thinking of when I say this is the Beagle Boys.
The Beagle Boys are criminals, but they are naive and unlucky to the point of being cute. So even when you see the Beagle Boys pulling off a robbery and splitting the take, the reaction they elicit in the reader is more of pity and ridicule, than awe and dread.
So in English, when I say: "You guys look like the Beagle Boys!" it's easy to take this as a joke — provided my interlocutor is familiar with Scrooge McDuck comics —, as the Beagle Boys are funny, before being obnoxious.
Now, I suspect that in Chinese I can't say: "你们啊,你们跟庀兄弟一样贱" to a similar effect...
I already know 狐朋狗友, but it's not really a playful description.
Is there an equivalent popular character, or some other chengyu or idiom to describe petty thieves and scumbags with a playful connotation?