2003, winter.
heavy snow put a white coat on Gotham, covering up the filth and blood everywhere on the ground.
Even the most chaotic and impoverished East End seemed peaceful and pleasant at the moment... If you ignore the occasional frozen zombies you see in the alleys.
Snowflakes the size of goose feathers continued to fall from the sky, and the beauty was beautiful, but it was one of the GCPD's least favorite weathers.
Snow tends to obscure many tiny details, which makes their detection work more cumbersome than usual and makes it easier to overlook key evidence.
It's like the last public hearing of the year.
Salvatore Maroni who is over fifty years old, has been sued for the first time in his life. God knows how many times. Going to court is a common occurrence for Maroni .
So much so that during the trial, in front of the judge and the jury, he put on a sleepy look on his face and couldn't stop yawning.
It is a well-known fact that the Maroni family is the largest existing Italian gang in Gotham.
But the court is to convict people based on evidence. GCPD has been staring at Maroney for many years, but unfortunately, no evidence of his crime has been caught.
Even if he finds enough evidence to convict Maroni, he will be able to get out of the crime by bribing witnesses, lawyers, judges, finding someone to blame or even hiring someone to forcibly destroy the evidence.
Even if the appearance of Batman has severely damaged Gotham's gangsters and their power has shrunk a lot, the rules of the game in the entire city are still in the hands of these gangsters.
First of all, they are not mentally ill, not qualified to go to Arkham Asylum.
Going to jail requires a court conviction, and that's where Batman struggles.
Batman could take Maroni to the GCPD again and again, but in a few months he would be acquitted.
Therefore, these gangsters with deep-rooted forces are only afraid of Batman, but far from being afraid. The emergence of a series of supervillains with abnormal brains, such as the Joker, Scarecrow, Two-face, and the Riddler, is the real cause of tradition. The reason for the decline of the gang.
Maroni's worst sentence was a token two years in prison, and life in prison was not even worse than outside.
Of course, not all gang bosses have the power and status of Maroni. After all, he was the one who dared to wrestle with Falcone back then.
Although the power of the Maronifamily in the Eastern District is being devoured by the black mask, the camel is bigger than the horse, and the strength of Maronicannot be ignored.
Under the leadership of the black mask Roman Sionis, the Siones family showed unparalleled aggression, and had a tendency to replace Maroni as the hegemon of the Eastern District.
In short, if it wasn't Maroni, but other small and medium-sized gangs were caught, then Chief Gordon and Batman would follow suit and destroy the entire gang overnight.
This time, the GCPD thought it had enough evidence to prosecute Maroni. As a result, on the day of the trial, several witnesses reversed their confessions on the spot, and the key evidence was not known when they were packaged.
Maroni was once again acquitted.
In Chief Gordon's silent fury, Maroni swaggered past the GCPD seat and swaggered home.
"Boss, someone sent you an invitation letter today, and it suddenly appeared on your desk this morning."
As soon as Maroni entered the house, his confidant servant came over with a solemn expression and whispered.
Then a strange invitation was handed to Maroni.
There is no information on the promoters on this teaser letter, nothing but a sentence.
"At twelve o'clock at midnight, warehouse A3-SB9527, Miller Harbor, re-dividing the site in the Eastern District."
Salvatore frowned and read out the only line on the invitation, and after thinking for a while he asked.
"Are you sure you found this invitation on my desk?"
The servant nodded affirmatively.
Salvatore was nervous. He attached great importance to the protection of his home, and everything was arranged according to the specifications of Batman.
So it is certain that the person who can sneak into the Maroni mansion silently and put the invitation on his table is definitely not an ordinary person.
Either the other party is a catwoman-style thief, or he has an inner ghost.
And the other party's appetite was considerable, and Maroni focused his attention on the word "division" in the last sentence.
Who can divide the land in the Eastern District? Of course, only the controller of the Eastern District!
It seems that the initiator of this invitation letter has regarded himself as the only master of the Eastern District, which made Maroni, the former hegemon of the Eastern District, infuriated.
Maroni instantly thought of several possible masterminds.
Rubeus Thorne? Lou Moxon? Mitch Sullivan? Yuri Dimitrov?
These are the most powerful gang bosses in the Eastern District. Although they are not as good as Maroney, they are not too bad.
But Maroni doesn't believe that these people have the strength and confidence to divide the territory with him, unless they have been secretly united together...
So black mask? Salvatore didn't admit it, but he knew very well in his heart that the current Black Mask was indeed qualified to dominate the Eastern District. Salvatore was old, and many new gang leaders in the Eastern District were attached to the Black Mask.
A large and vigorous criminal group gradually formed, and the decline of the Maroni family was inevitable under such an impact.
It's just that with the arrogant and crazy personality of the black mask, it is unlikely to send such a confusing invitation letter.
Or did the Penguins in the Diamond District and the Two-Face in Burnley stretch their hands into the East End?
Maroni wasn't sure, it was possible, but he wasn't going to think about it too much, because by twelve midnight he'd be able to see the man with his own eyes.
He wanted to see who had the guts and what kind of identity he wanted to divide the Eastern District.
Twelve o'clock in the middle of the night came quickly, and Maroni came to Miller Harbor with a group of bodyguards.
To his surprise, the four people he suspected, Rubeus Thorne, Lou Moxon, Mickey Sullivan, and Yuri Dimitrov all came here. They arrived at their destination almost at the same time. Everyone brings a group of younger brothers.
Only Johnny Sabbatino wasn't here, and of course Black Mask wasn't there either.
Either they were the ones holding the meeting, or they didn't take the invitation seriously at all.
In the warehouse No. A3-SB9527, tables and chairs have already been placed, just enough for five people to sit.
Maroni and the other five bosses took their seats tacitly, while their younger brothers all stayed outside the warehouse.
No one spoke for a long time.
"Maloni, what did you call us here for?"
Finally, Lou Moxon took the lead.
"Me? No, I thought you invited us."
Maroney denied.
"It wasn't Maroney, who initiated this meeting?"
Rubeus Thorne looked at the others present.
"I don't know, it's not me anyway."
All mean the same.
"It's me who invited you!"
At this moment, a voice came from above the crowd.
Looking up, I saw two figures emerging from the stairway.
One standing and one sitting.
The standing man wore a red hood that completely covered his head, and he wore a dark blue leather jacket.
This one doesn't look very special, but the man sitting behind him is interesting.
Because his face was covered in a blazing flame, his facial features were completely invisible