马罗尼的家人也位于哥谭市的东端.那里的帮派比哥谭大学所在的西区的帮派猖獗得多.
简单地说,这是因为东区是哥谭经济最不发达的地区.与西区的贫民窟相比,它实际上是一个幸福的天堂.
那里的帮派之间的竞争非常激烈.例如,前面提到的 Ditch 帮派,一个只有大约一百人的小帮派,会发现几乎不可能控制一家夜总会.
同时,马罗尼犯罪家族拥有一家餐厅,两家酒吧,一家舞厅和一家脱衣舞俱乐部,这已经是该地区最大的帮派.
马罗尼家族和红乌鸦帮之间的不和可以追溯到很久以前.他们的领土相交,边境上的酒吧经常着火,双方都想控制这条重要的通道,但最终陷入僵局.
因此,该酒吧已成为整个东区最无法无天的区域,也是信息流最快的枢纽.
萨尔·马罗尼有能力在哥谭站稳脚跟,尤其是在最危险,最混乱的东区,这意味着他非常强大.
红鸦团伙盗窃生产线一事逃不过他的眼眸.在马罗尼家族控制的一家酒吧里,马罗尼点燃了一支雪茄,对他的下属说:"我从我们的老朋友维克多专员那里听说,对面的红发女郎似乎想惹事.
他的下属回答说:"是的,他们显然从南部或西南部偷走了很多重型机械.我从一个在赌博中输得很惨的孩子那里学到了东西.他们的老板似乎想生产某种可以控制人的化学物质.
萨尔眯起眼睛说:"几天前,我和维克多共进晚餐.他谈到了一个罪犯的案件,该罪犯是化学博士,显然是哥谭大学一位非常优秀的教授.会不会和这有关系?
他的下属回答说:"除了那个红发女郎的情人之外,我还有两个线人作为她的保镖.她最近对她很热.我会从她身上榨取一些东西.
萨尔晃了晃手中的打火机,"如果他们多吃肉,我们就会少吃.但现在看来,他们不只是想分享肉;他们想把我们整个吞下.让我们看看谁更强大.
马罗尼的猜测非常准确,不费吹灰之力,他就设法获得了红乌鸦帮的所有行动计划.红乌鸦帮的头目虽然聪明,但还很年轻.马罗尼非常了解他.
同时,席勒也起着不可或缺的作用.他做了最关键的事情,那就是从红乌鸦帮那里获得恐惧毒素的配方,然后让马罗尼的一名线人无意中发现了它.
马罗尼与专员的关系表明,他比红乌鸦团伙的老大要老练得多,并且拥有更广泛的人脉.很快,他找到了一位可靠的化学家来为他分析配方.结论是,它是一种能够具有极其强大效果的大规模杀伤性生化武器.
After reaching this conclusion, of course, Maroni cannot let the Red Crow gang's plan succeed. If they acquire this powerful weapon, the Maroni family will never have a chance to rise again.
The first step is to make sure that the Red Crow gang cannot bail Jonathan out through police informants.
On yet another dark night, Gordon leaves work as usual. His superior, Lantalous, dislikes him, giving him trivial chores. He is practically becoming a desk policeman, not even getting a chance for patrol duty.
So he leaves work early, while his boss is a little ahead of him, on his way to a social drinking event.
Gordon has just stepped out when he sees his boss turn a corner; immediately after, a car speeding by hits him, throwing him more than ten meters away right in front of the police station.
Gordon doesn't have time to think over; he rushes back into the station calling for help. The ambulance has not arrived yet when Lantalous stops breathing.
He used to be a very cautious old cop. However, the Red Crow gang has given him too many benefits lately in their haste to bail Jonathan out, and his greed gets the better of him. He even considers marrying the younger sister of the Red Crow gang leader, therefore he is too impatient and fails to realize that he is being targeted by their rivals.
Everything happens so quickly. Before Gordon can even react, he is pushed into his superior's position.
This is, of course, Maroni's doing as well. To hinder his opponents, he picks the person they like the least. The rift between Gordon and Lantalous is obvious, and almost every cop in the station has heard of it. So naturally, Maroni chooses Gordon.
Of course, stopping his opponents is just the first step; Maroni also wants to produce this important weapon.
He is bolder than the Red Crow gang. He bribes the manager of Wayne Chemical Plant to covertly use a production line meant for nitric acid production to manufacture the gas.
He doesn't even want to move the production line, planning to produce it directly at Wayne Chemical Plant under the guise of regular operations.
However, the problem remains: to produce fear gas on a large scale, larger separators and other high-end equipment are necessary. Maroni, though wealthier than the Red Crow gang, is still unsure whether to make such a large investment.
So he asks the chemist to manually replicate some fear gas first. His chemist is much more capable than that of the Red Crow gang. Although the reproduction isn't 100% perfect, it is close to 80% and the effects are impressive, even without being concentrated.
Seeing how effective it is, Maroni considers investing heavily. After all, spraying a mist and drive someone crazy would make him unrivaled in the entire East End. Once he takes over the whole area, tens of millions in revenue would be a piece of cake.
Thus, Maroni urgently purchases a batch of the necessary equipment from other states, which costs him several million dollars and a lot of connections, and hires chemists at high salaries to work for him.
In the face of such large-scale production, it naturally couldn't be carried out at the Wayne Chemical Plant. There were no chemical plants in Maroni's territory, so he launched an attack, losing more than thirty men, and snatched a small chemical plant from The Red Crows' territory.
At this point, Bruce finally realizes that his chemical plant had been stolen. He comes to understand that the gangs have begun to manufacture the fear toxin.
Meanwhile, Gordon receives an anonymous tip claiming that a car with a license plate ending in 676 is frequently seen circling the Wayne Chemical Plant.
Gordon and Bruce join hands immediately, with Batman and the detective cooperating once again. They quickly find the car and catch Red Crows' tail.
Overnight, Batman raids The Red Crows' base. Though they are much stronger than The Ditch Gang, having a few hundred members, among them, there are no serious criminals, just the ordinary. Batman leads the charge and Gordon apprehends them from behind, with over 200 gang members arrested in one night.
The leader of The Red Crows is nearly furious to death. They indeed stole the production line from the Wayne Chemical Plant, but before they even manufactured a bit of the fear gas, both the production line and the chemical plant had been taken by Maroni's gang.
Enraged, The Red Crows' boss, when arrested, points the finger at Sal Maroni. Thus, Batman turns his attention to Maroni's.
However, Maroni proves to be much more cunning and cautious than The Red Crows' boss. The entire chemical plant is under strict guard, and all members are in a state of high alert. Batman can't find an opportunity for the moment.
Aware that he is being targeted, Maroni begins to seek help from his protector, the Commissioner Victor.
First, Victor cancels the case of the Wayne Chemical Plant theft internally, planning to cover it up. Then, under Maroni's instruction, he continues to interfere with Jonathan's trial, attempting to exonerate him to have him work for Maroni.
And Schiller, he adds fuel to the tense standoff.
Schiller leads Commissioner Victor to acquire a bottle of Jonathan's concentrated fear gas from the evidence room. Once Maroni gets his hands on the concentrate, he understands Jonathan's importance even more. He keeps pressuring Victor, demanding he get Jonathan bailed out as soon as possible.
Before Victor can act, someone contacts with him.
As Batman expected, it is the president of Gotham University.
Though Victor is the commissioner, his ties to Gotham's political circles are not strong. In contrast, the president knows many jury members and state senators.
Previously, he had been bought by The Red Crows and had a close relationship with them, which everyone knew. But now, with The Red Crows' downfall, the president urgently needs a new protector.
Without the shelter of a major gang in Gotham, you can hardly move an inch.
The president of Gotham University doesn't mind pledging loyalty to Roman. Learning that they are also interested in the fear gas, the president discloses everything to Victor.
"... The girl wasn't cautious enough. She boasted everywhere that she'd become Bruce Wayne's date. I kidnapped her when she came to see me. Influencing the heir of the Wayne family would obviously be easy, and it's effortless to use his power to exonerate Jonathan."
"With a woman?" Victor asks. "But young Wayne isn't foolish. Although he's fond of women and messing around every day, a mere date couldn't possibly make him willing to work for us..."
"We don't need his willingness," the president says.
"You're thinking of kidnapping young Wayne? No, the risk is too great..." Victor says. "We might not be able to control him."
The Wayne family holds a major economic share of Gotham City. Kidnapping Bruce, if failed, the retaliation they'd face would be terrifying.
The president says, "Actually, I've already thought of a way. We kidnap young Wayne, but we don't necessarily need to control him; we can replace him..."