Batman / Enemies / Mobsters
From Pop-Cult Guides
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Since the golden age, the Batman mythos pits him against ordinary enemies, such as mobsters. Actually, a year before the creation of the Joker and the rest of the "freak" villains, in the his very early adventures, most of Batman's adversaries are crime bosess and their gangs.
The level of power of the early ones like Tony Zuco, The Penguin, Boss Maroni and Lew Moxon has varied over the time, lately making the last three capos. The first character to have global power and influence in Gotham City is Rupert Thorne, who is actually a politician with control over the organized crime. Then, in 1986, Frank Miller introduced Carmine "The Roman" Falcone, cappo di tutti cappo of Gotham City. Prior to Batman's arrival, Carmine has complete control over Gotham, with the competing Maroni family working for him.
In current continuity, the "normal" crime bosses lost power to the "freaks" around the second year of Batman's career (save for Thorne, who goes to prision later). Two-face and the "freaks" kill both Carmine Falcone and Sal Maroni and right after that the Penguin, who has becomed a more mafiosi type of criminal in the current continuity, as well as rivals Scarface/ the Ventriloquist and Black Mask, start gaining power until they become the city's crime lords. Currently, with Black Mask dead, the Penguin and Metropoli's Intergang and well and Tobias Whale are competing for complete control.
| Image | Name | Real name | Writer | Artist | First appearance | Date | Appearances (aprox.) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rupert Thorne | Rupert Thorne | Steve Englehart | Walter Simonson | Detective Comics #469 | February 21, 1977 | ||
| Head of one of Gotham City's top smuggling gangs while being Gotham City's Council Chairman and a respected member of society, Rupert Thorne is envied for his power in the underworld and loves prospering from other people's misery. In doing so he gets big feuds with Dr. Phosphorus and Hugo Strange. He is also the boss of "Matches" Malone, the criminals whose identity was taken over by Batman. In the animated series of the 1990s, Thorne is responsible for the creation of that version of Two-Face. | |||||||
| The Roman | Carmine Falcone | Frank Miller | David Mazzucchelli | Batman #406 | April 1987 | ||
| Led by Carmine Falcone, also known as "The Roman", and prominent in the storylines of Batman's early years, including Year One, The Long Halloween and Dark Victory. In the comics, as well as the feature film Batman Begins, the Falcone family and Carmine Falcone in particular are portrayed as having a massive amount of power and influence on Gotham City. Falcone was killed in the Long Halloween by Two-Face. | |||||||
| Sal "Boss" Maroni | Salvatore Maroni | Bill Finger | Bob Kane Jerry Robinson | Detective Comics #66 | August, 1942 | ||
| Led by Sal "The Boss" Maroni, the Maroni family were a prominent crime family in Gotham, and in the early years of Batman's career, the Maroni's often vied for power and control of the Gotham underworld with the Falcone family. In the majority of Batman's incarnations, Sal Maroni is widely known as the mob boss whom threw acid on to the face of D.A. Harvey Dent during a trial. The resulting injuries and scarring transformed Dent in to the villain Two-Face. Maroni was shot in the head and killed by Alberto Falcone (the presumed Holiday killer) possibly on Carmine Falcone's orders. | |||||||
| Lew Moxon | Lew Moxon | Bill Finger | Sheldon Moldoff | Detective Comics #235 | November 1956 | ||
| A mafia boss who hired Joe Chill to kill Thomas Wayne which sparked Bruce Wayne into becoming Batman. | |||||||
| Tony "fats" Zucco | Anthony Zucco | Bill Finger | Bob Kane Jerry Robinson | Detective Comics #38 | April 1940 | ||
| A mob boss, or simple low level thug (his position of power varies a bit in the continuity) who was responsible for the death of Dick Grayson's parents. Despite some variation, the basic recurring themes were that Zucco tried to extort the circus the Graysons were members of, and when the ringleader refused to pay him, he sabotaged the act, causing the ropes of the Graysons act to break, sending the parents of Dick falling to their deaths. | |||||||
Two of Batman's mobster foes have donned costumes and crossed over to become serial killers/supervillains:
| Image | Name | Real name | Writer | Artist | First appearance | Date | Appearances (aprox.) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Holiday | [[]] | [[]] | Detective Comics # Batman # | ||||
| Mysterious serial killer who murdered mobsters and others over a year (during The Long Halloween storyline). The killer's weapon is a .22 pistol (using a baby bottle nipple as a silencer) with the handle taped and the serial number filed off. Also, every crime takes place on a holiday and a small trinket representing each holiday is left behind at the scene. Alberto Falcone, youngest son of Carmine Falcone, is revealed to be the Holiday killer. However, Holiday was actually 3 people. Harvey dent was the first, and when his wife, Gilda Dent, realized, she continued the killing spree. When Alberto faked his own death on New Year's Eve, she simply let him take over and had nothing further to do with it. She disposed of the incriminating costume (a trenchcoat and fedora), as well as the last .22 pistol, throwing them into the furnace. Reading like an old-fashioned murder mystery, clues to Holiday's identity are found throughout, however even after reading the entire story, the identity of the killer is still unclear and the killer may still be at large. The Holiday murders are also responsible for the creation of Two-Face. | |||||||
| The Hangman | [[]] | [[]] | Detective Comics # Batman # | ||||
| A serial killer (during the Dark Victory storyline), who murders police officers on every holiday of the year, leaving behind a version of the children's word game "Hangman" (with key letters missing) in with each new victim. All of the victims are police officers who, in one way or another, helped Harvey Dent rise to his position of District Attourney. In the end, the Hangman is revealed to be Sofia Falcone Gigante, daughter of the late crime boss, Carmine Falcone. | |||||||
