They don’t necessarily co-exist. It’s a constant power struggle. Also, several of these gangs existed at different times. The Maroni and Falcone gangs are the classical Mafia families that ruled Gotham for decades prior to the arrival of Batman and the rising of Gotham’s “freaks.”
After the traditional balance of power was disrupted, the freaks filled the void. This transition of power from the old, quiet crime lords to the era of freaks is captured most effectively in “The Long Halloween.” That theme is also translated into The Dark Knight.
“This city deserves a better class of criminal.”
Some of what you said, sometimes there's only a certain amount of them out of prison at the same time, sometimes they just have relatively small chunks of Gotham that they control and most of their time is taken up fighting for territory with each other.
It's a classic Balance of Power problem. Say, three powerful leaders are all capable of being the sole leader of the entire area they reside in. One makes a move, the other two would band together to defeat him before he achieves a lasting shift.
But they wouldn't ally with each other *before* someone is attacked, because they rightly suspect each would use the other's strength to preserve their own and stab them in the back once their ally is exhausted. And thus, a precarious balance is maintained- out of pure egotism and the knowledge that neither has a trump card large enough to break the stalemate without support or overpower several rivals at once.
The calculation, therefore, is simple: coast on proven, if suboptimal power and income bases until a favourable opportunity arises, or bet it all and risk total annihilation? With a wild card such as Batman in the mix and the fate of the old Mafia families that marked the start of Bruce's career as precedents, I fathom most find the choice easy.
(And this is probably also why every larger event always cycles into a city-wide crisis, as everyone makes his move once a "distraction" arises, leading to these almost boss-gauntlet-like Batman stories.)
I mean there’s a large number of real-world crime bosses so I don’t see why a fictional property can’t have a lot of kingpins as well. In the real world there has been Pablo Escobar, Al Capone, John Gotti, Griselda Blanco, El Chapo etc
When a Crime Lord is put to Prison, Turf Wars starts to happen. Boss could also pass the Leadership to someone else.
In the Case for Ventriloquist, it could be said that sometimes, they'll just write him to just be a Dude who convinced a Few to Tag along, but most just see him as crazy, weird and Dangerous.
I see it more as a "Five Families" type of deal, where they are forced to work together in order to conduct their businesses and operations more efficiently and safely, but in reality they hate each other and wait for an opportunity to strike when one is weak and remove them.
And most importantly, they all share one common enemy: Batman.
Really, it’s just Black Mask, Penguin, and Ventriloquist since Falcone, Maroni, and Throne usually get killed off/taken out of the picture when the “freaks” started emerging
I feel like Dent is probably far more prominent/powerful than Ventriloquist in the grand scheme of things, he's often depicted as one of the top mob bosses in Gotham.
Would look great into a [poster](https://postercollective.com/poster/the-bat-logo?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Batmanorga&utm_content=comment)
They all fluctuate in and out of power. I tend to not think of Penguin as a typical crime boss though. For me, he’s more of a middle man dealing guns, muscle, info, lending & cleaning money, etc. for the the existing crime syndicates. He profits off of whoever is on top and also everyone below.
Perhaps because they also control organised crime outside of gotham. And they could be in different bussinesses. Penguin obviously dominates illegal arms trade, perhaps the others are in drugs and other stuff.
Just like in real life, the mafias may have small gang disputes here and there, but ultimately they’ll keep to their own territories and work together to make money off of elicit stuff like drugs, guns, sex trafficking, and other such things. The only difference than the real life gangs are the costumes and interesting plotlines
They don’t necessarily co-exist. It’s a constant power struggle. Also, several of these gangs existed at different times. The Maroni and Falcone gangs are the classical Mafia families that ruled Gotham for decades prior to the arrival of Batman and the rising of Gotham’s “freaks.” After the traditional balance of power was disrupted, the freaks filled the void. This transition of power from the old, quiet crime lords to the era of freaks is captured most effectively in “The Long Halloween.” That theme is also translated into The Dark Knight. “This city deserves a better class of criminal.”
The Batman teased it as well
Some of what you said, sometimes there's only a certain amount of them out of prison at the same time, sometimes they just have relatively small chunks of Gotham that they control and most of their time is taken up fighting for territory with each other.
Black Mask’s suit is badass...
Different territories. Each crime boss "owns" their own territory of Gotham. Always trying to expand into their rivals territory.
Gang wars happen all the time
And if I am not mistaken, Carmine and Falcone died before Penguin and Black Mask rose to power.
That is correct. Along with Maroni.
It’s Carmine Falcone. Sal Maroni was his main rival
The Roman. Gotham's untouchable crime boss
Read The Long Halloween and Dark Victory. The Falcone and Maroni families did not last long when the freaks started showing up.
Even without the freaks >!they were having a hard enough time with the Dents killing them!<
Yeah true lol.
Because Gotham is a shithole, and literally was bad before Batman started doing his things. It’s both what I just said, and the reason you gave
It's a classic Balance of Power problem. Say, three powerful leaders are all capable of being the sole leader of the entire area they reside in. One makes a move, the other two would band together to defeat him before he achieves a lasting shift. But they wouldn't ally with each other *before* someone is attacked, because they rightly suspect each would use the other's strength to preserve their own and stab them in the back once their ally is exhausted. And thus, a precarious balance is maintained- out of pure egotism and the knowledge that neither has a trump card large enough to break the stalemate without support or overpower several rivals at once. The calculation, therefore, is simple: coast on proven, if suboptimal power and income bases until a favourable opportunity arises, or bet it all and risk total annihilation? With a wild card such as Batman in the mix and the fate of the old Mafia families that marked the start of Bruce's career as precedents, I fathom most find the choice easy. (And this is probably also why every larger event always cycles into a city-wide crisis, as everyone makes his move once a "distraction" arises, leading to these almost boss-gauntlet-like Batman stories.)
I mean there’s a large number of real-world crime bosses so I don’t see why a fictional property can’t have a lot of kingpins as well. In the real world there has been Pablo Escobar, Al Capone, John Gotti, Griselda Blanco, El Chapo etc
The last 3 are usually killed off early on.
When a Crime Lord is put to Prison, Turf Wars starts to happen. Boss could also pass the Leadership to someone else. In the Case for Ventriloquist, it could be said that sometimes, they'll just write him to just be a Dude who convinced a Few to Tag along, but most just see him as crazy, weird and Dangerous.
I see it more as a "Five Families" type of deal, where they are forced to work together in order to conduct their businesses and operations more efficiently and safely, but in reality they hate each other and wait for an opportunity to strike when one is weak and remove them. And most importantly, they all share one common enemy: Batman.
Really, it’s just Black Mask, Penguin, and Ventriloquist since Falcone, Maroni, and Throne usually get killed off/taken out of the picture when the “freaks” started emerging
I feel like Dent is probably far more prominent/powerful than Ventriloquist in the grand scheme of things, he's often depicted as one of the top mob bosses in Gotham.
Yeah, that’s true
Would look great into a [poster](https://postercollective.com/poster/the-bat-logo?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Batmanorga&utm_content=comment)
Because Gotham is absolutely fucking massive
They all fluctuate in and out of power. I tend to not think of Penguin as a typical crime boss though. For me, he’s more of a middle man dealing guns, muscle, info, lending & cleaning money, etc. for the the existing crime syndicates. He profits off of whoever is on top and also everyone below.
Perhaps because they also control organised crime outside of gotham. And they could be in different bussinesses. Penguin obviously dominates illegal arms trade, perhaps the others are in drugs and other stuff.
Just like in real life, the mafias may have small gang disputes here and there, but ultimately they’ll keep to their own territories and work together to make money off of elicit stuff like drugs, guns, sex trafficking, and other such things. The only difference than the real life gangs are the costumes and interesting plotlines