To be honest, the existence of these kraken comes as no surprise to me, should anyone receive a large amount of power, they'd be sorely tempted to abuse it (see any major government as an example). Should one apportion a large amount of power towards a random sample from any demographic, statistically some of them will abuse it. But for as long as the good whales outnumber the kraken, the community will be fine, and I have good cause to believe that this is the case.
I believe that the general moral bend of the earliest whales of steem is one that is particularly predilected towards decentralization and aid, and those that deviate from it primarily do so out of their own ego. Consider that blockchain based techs were not exactly all the rage back then and an early comer would have had to have quite a bit of knowledge concerning this technology to have been so early; squarely putting him into a demographic of techies and nerds that generally tend to be good-natured if not egotistic. True, some exception apply, but should these exceptions be exposed to the light of day, it takes but several rounds of moderation by fellow whales to keep them in check.
Good response. I agree with what you said. Exposing information in a more palatable format about a number of these networks of power is now one of my projects. I don't intend to throw anyone under the bus initially, just provide information in a way that is hopefully easier to consume at a glance.