Old court officials nod, having way with smugglers (3,6,7)

'old court officials nod' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I cannot judge whether this works.

'way with smugglers' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'way' could be 'street' (street is a kind of way) and 'street' is found within the answer.
'with' could be 'w' (abbreviation) and 'w' is located in the answer.
'smugglers' could be 'runners' ('runner' can be a synonym of 'smuggler') and 'runners' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'bo' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

'having' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?