Honor points (respect) are a separate currency in GangCity, apart from your money. They reflect your standing in the underworld and you can spend them on powerful boosts or use them to hand out respect — or disgrace — to other players.
You earn honor points through activities and achievements in the game. Other players can also send you honor points as a sign of respect. Your available honor points pool refreshes periodically (weekly), so it pays off to spend them rather than hoard them.
You can send honor points to another living player, as honor (positive) or as disgrace (negative). This lets you build reputation with allies, or call out a rival. This costs honor points from your own pool.
The most powerful use is boosts: you spend honor points to buy temporary advantages for specific activities, such as:
Carrying out a murder anonymously (wiping your trail so you do not end up on the hitlist) also costs honor points.
Because your pool resets regularly, it is best to spend your honor points at the moment you benefit most from them — for example a Discretion boost right before a big smuggling run, or Connections when you get caught often.