Maroni’s gang family was also located in Gotham’s East End, where the gangs were far more rampant than in the West End, near Gotham University.
Simply put, because it was Gotham’s least developed economic area, the West End’s slums, in comparison, were like a paradise of simple folk customs.
The gangs there were extremely in-fighting; for instance, the Water Ditch Gang mentioned earlier, a small gang with only a hundred or so members, would find it almost impossible to control a nightclub.
The Maroni gang family owned one restaurant, two bars, a dance hall, and a strip club, which was already almost the largest gang operation there.
The Maroni family and the Red Crow Gang had a long-standing feud. Their territories bordered each other, and a bar in that area often saw gunfights. Both sides wanted to control this important transportation hub, but in the end, neither succeeded.
That bar became a no-man’s-land in the entire East End and also the fastest place for various news to circulate.
Sal’s ability to establish himself in Gotham, especially in the most dangerous and chaotic East End, showed he had some skill.
The Red Crow Gang’s theft of the production line could not escape his eyes. In the basement of a bar controlled by the Maroni family, closest to the no-man’s-land, Maroni lit a cigar and said to his subordinate, “I learned from our old friend, Commissioner Victor, that the Red-headed kid across the way seems to want to stir up some trouble.”
His subordinate said, “Yes, they seem to have stolen many large machines from the south or southwest. I heard from a kid who lost a bet that their boss seems to want to produce some kind of chemical that can control people.”
Sal narrowed his eyes and said, “A few days ago, I had dinner with Victor, and he mentioned a case where the culprit was a Dr. of Chemistry, seemingly a very powerful Professor from Gotham University. Could it be related to this?”
His subordinate said, “I have two bodyguard informants near that Red-head’s mistress. He’s been getting close with that mistress recently, and I’ll get something out of her.”
Sal spun the lighter in his hand and said, “The more meat they eat, the less we get. But now it seems they don’t just want to share the meat; they want to swallow us whole. So let’s see who’s stronger.”
Maroni’s guess was very accurate. He easily obtained all the Red Crow Gang’s operational plans. The Red Crow Gang’s leader, though smart, was still relatively young and Maroni had his measure.
At the same time, Schiller also played an indispensable role. He did the most crucial thing: he obtained the Fear Toxin formula from the Red Crow Gang and then, inadvertently, allowed Maroni’s informant to find it.
Maroni’s ability to connect with the Commissioner showed that he was much more seasoned than the Red Crow Gang’s leader and had a wider network. Soon, he found a reliable chemist to analyze the formula for him. The conclusion was that it was a large-scale biochemical weapon with extremely strong effects.
Upon receiving this conclusion, Maroni naturally could not let the Red Crow Gang succeed. Otherwise, once they obtained this important weapon, the Maroni family would never rise again.
And the first step was to absolutely prevent the Red Crow Gang from bailing out Jonathan through their informants in the Police Department.
On another dark night, Gordon left work as usual. His immediate superior, Lantaluosi, disliked him and gave him no useful tasks. He was now almost a secretary at the Police Department, not even getting patrol duty.
Therefore, he left work early. His superior walked a little ahead of him because he was going to a dinner party.
As soon as Gordon stepped out, he saw his superior turn a corner, followed immediately by a speeding car that crashed into him. His superior was hit and thrown more than ten meters away right in front of the Police Department.
Gordon didn’t hesitate; he rushed back into the Police Department to call for help, but before the ambulance could arrive, Lantaluosi had already stopped breathing.
Originally, he was a very cautious old Detective, but recently, the Red Crow Gang, desperate to bail out Jonathan, had given him too many benefits, making his greed uncontrollable. He even wanted to marry the Red Crow Gang leader’s sister, and thus was too eager, completely unaware that he had been targeted by the Red Crow Gang’s rival.
All of this happened too quickly. Before Gordon could react, he was pushed into his superior’s position.
This, of course, was also Maroni’s doing. To obstruct his opponent, he naturally chose the person they disliked the most. The conflict between Gordon and Lantaluosi was too obvious; almost every Police officer in the entire Police Department knew about it, so Maroni naturally chose Gordon.
Of course, obstructing his opponent was only the first step; Maroni also wanted to produce this important weapon.
He was bolder than the Red Crow Gang; he directly bribed the manager of the Wayne Chemical Factory to secretly produce this toxin using a nitric acid preparation production line.
He didn’t even want to move it, planning to produce it directly at the Wayne Chemical Factory in a deceptive manner.
But the problem remained: to mass-produce Fear Toxin, some larger-scale separators and other high-end equipment were needed. Although Maroni was richer than the Red Crow Gang, he was still unsure whether to make such a large investment.
So he still brought in that chemist and had him manually replicate some Fear Toxin. The person he found was much more capable than those of the Red Crow Gang. Although he couldn’t reproduce Fear Toxin 100%, he could almost reproduce 80%. While it still couldn’t be concentrated, the effect was still incredibly good.
Seeing how effective it was, Maroni considered making a large investment. After all, if he could just spray someone with a spray bottle and make them go crazy, who in the entire East End would be his opponent? Once he took over the entire East End, tens of millions of U.S. dollars in income would be nothing but a fleeting cloud.
So, Maroni urgently procured a batch of necessary equipment from other states, which cost him millions of U.S. dollars and many favors, and hired a group of chemists at high salaries to work for him.
Such large-scale production naturally could not take place at the Wayne Chemical Factory. Maroni’s territory had no chemical factories, so he launched a gunfight, killing over thirty of his best men, and seized that small chemical factory from the Red Crow Gang’s territory.
At this point, Bruce finally discovered that his family’s chemical factory had been stolen. He finally realized that those gangs had started producing this toxin.
Meanwhile, Gordon received an anonymous tip claiming that a car with a license plate ending in 676 was frequently seen near the Wayne Chemical Factory.
Gordon and Bruce hit it off. The combination of Batman and the Detective returned to action. They quickly found the car and caught the tail of the Red Crow Gang.
Overnight, the Red Crow Gang’s base was raided by Batman. Although they were much stronger than the Water Ditch Gang, with hundreds of members, they had no powerful criminals among them, only ordinary gang members. Batman fought in the front, and Gordon made arrests in the back. Overnight, over two hundred people from the entire gang were arrested.
The Red Crow Gang’s leader was almost furious. Although they had stolen the production line from the Wayne Chemical Factory, they hadn’t produced even a bit of Fear Toxin. The production line and the chemical factory were both seized by the Maroni Gang.
The furious Red Crow Gang leader, upon his arrest, implicated Sal Maroni, and Batman then turned his attention to the Maroni Gang.
But Maroni was much more cunning and cautious than the Red Crow Gang leader. The entire chemical factory was heavily guarded, and all members were in a state of high tension. Batman couldn’t find a good opportunity for a while.
Maroni knew he was being watched, so he began to seek help from his protector, Commissioner Victor.
Victor first internally canceled the investigation into the Wayne Chemical Factory theft, intending to cover it up. Then, at Maroni’s instruction, he continued to interfere with Jonathan’s trial, attempting to help Jonathan get acquitted so he could work for him at Maroni’s chemical factory.
And Schiller, he added more fuel to the fire of this multi-party standoff.
Schiller guided Commissioner Victor to retrieve a bottle of concentrated Fear Toxin, developed by Jonathan, from the evidence room. After Maroni obtained this concentrated liquid, he became even more aware of Jonathan’s importance, and thus continuously pressured Victor to bail Jonathan out as soon as possible.
Before Victor could make a move, someone approached him.
As Batman expected, this person was the President of Gotham University.
Although Victor was the Commissioner, his relationship with Gotham’s political circles was not close. On the contrary, the President of Gotham University knew many jury members and state senators.
It was well-known that he had previously been bribed by the Red Crow Gang and had a close relationship with them. Now that the Red Crow Gang had fallen, the President of Gotham University urgently needed a new protector.
In Gotham, without the patronage of a major gang, you could barely move.
The President of Gotham University naturally didn’t mind switching allegiance to the Maroni Gang. Learning that they were also interested in Fear Toxin, the President revealed everything to Victor:
“...That girl wasn’t careful enough. She was boasting everywhere that she would be Bruce Wayne’s date. I kidnapped her when she came to see me. If we can influence the Wayne heir and use his power to clear Jonathan’s name, it would of course be no difficulty.”
“With a woman?” Victor asked, “But young Wayne isn’t stupid. Although he’s a playboy and messes around every day, how could just a date make him willingly do things for us…?”
“We don’t need him to be willing,” the President said.
“You want to kidnap young Wayne? No, that’s too risky…” Victor said. “We might not be able to control him.”
The entire Wayne Family accounted for more than half of Gotham City’s economic volume. Targeting Bruce, if it failed, the retaliation would be terrifying.
The President said, “In fact, I’ve already thought of a method. We kidnap young Wayne, but we don’t necessarily have to control him; we can also replace him…”
