Gotham Underground
The Gotham Underground is a collection of criminal syndicates that operate within and do business in Gotham City.
As part of the Gotham Underground, the syndicates are a loose association of criminal groups. The larger of which share a common organizational structure and code of conduct. Each group claims sovereignty over a territory in which they operates their rackets.
While generally divided between the Italian, Sicilian and Russian mafias, the Gotham Families generally keep to their own territories and businesses within the city, very rarely resorting to anything beyond negotiation to settle public conflicts; although secret assassinations are also quite common.
The Families also share business with groups such as the Triads, Yakuza and the Irish mob, who also operate within Gotham.
At some points in the Gotham Underground's history, the entirety of the Families, mobs, groups and gangs were controlled by a single boss.
- Gotham Underground Leaders
- During the Gotham-wide gang war, Black Mask (Roman Sionis) gained control over all gangs in Gotham City through the deaths of the majority of the gang and family leaders. He is eventually killed by Catwoman (Selina Kyle) and a power vacuum leads to a smaller series of gang wars. The second Black Mask (Jeremiah Arkham) rose in an effort to reunify the Gotham gangs, until his identity was discovered and he was incarcerated in Arkham Asylum.
- Warren "The Great White Shark" White became the successor to Black Mask's crime empire, successfully running all crime in Gotham from Arkham Asylum. During Intergang's bid for power, White was beaten and hidden in Blackgate Penitentiary in order to keep him out of the way. After freeing Arkham's inmates, the new Black Mask took control over Warren and his men, until he was discovered and locked away back at Arkham, leaving Warren back in control again.
- Sicilian Families:
- Beretti Family - Led by Angelo Beretti.
- Bertinelli Crime Family - One of the oldest and mightiest of Gotham's crime families, having headed the Sicilian crime families in Gotham for over a century. Their reign ended when Mandragora ordered the murder of Franco Bertinelli and his immediate family, unintentionally leaving their daughter, Helena Rosa Bertinelli, alive.
- Cassamento Family - Led by Santo Cassamento.
- Inzerillo Family - Led by Enrico Inzerillo.
- Panessa Family - Led by Tomaso Panessa.
- Russian and Ukrainian Families
- Dimitrov Crime Family - Run by Yuri Dimitrov (The Russian), who happens to always be at war with the Maroni Crime Family.
- Odessa Mob - Arms dealers, run by Vasily Kosov and later Alexandra Kosov. Taken over by Tobias Whale.
- Italian Families
- Falcone Crime Family - Run by Carmine "The Roman" Falcone, who maintained a stranglehold over all of Gotham City's crime before the rise of Batman. He was murdered by Two-Face and his daughter, Sofia Gigante, took control, however, upon her death and the murder of many other family members, the family loses its grasp over the city. After an extensive period of absence, Mario Falcone, the Roman's only surviving child, managed to reclaim some of its former power.
- Sullivan Crime Family
- Sabatino Crime Family - Thoght to be the first crime family of Gotham. Johnny Sabatino was married off to Peyton Riley as a sign of peace between the Irish and Italian mobs. Their marriage was loveless and he tried to kill her. Peyton returns with Scarface and tries to kill Johnny. They both fall into the water after a struggle and disappear.
- Maroni Crime Family - Headed by Luigi "Big Lou" Maroni until his death where his son Salvatore "Sal" Maroni took control of the family. He is responsible for scarring Harvey Dent and is eventually murdered while in prison by the criminal "Holiday".
- Moxon's Empire - a veteran of many years, Lew Moxon held on to a vast empire until his death.
- Galante Crime Family - Controls the East-side of Gotham, formerly led by Pasquale "Junior" Galante as the new leader of the Italian crime families following Falcone's death. Taken over by Tobias Whale after Pasquale's death during the onset of the city-wide gang war.
- Romanian Families
- Ibanescu Crime Family - Led by Dragos Ibanescu, small players involved in animal fights, human trafficking and prostitution. Operated out of the East Side.
- Irish Families
- Riley Crime Family - Run by Peyton Riley's father, Sean Riley, until his death. It is implied that Johnny Sabatino killed him.
- Yakuza: The Gotham-based Yakuza were led by Akahara.
- Lucky Hand Triad - Led by Ekin Tzu until he was munipulated into following Whisper A'Daire after she had his wife, Mei Ling, and child killed and blamed it on Odessa Family. Given an immortality potion which granted him raven-like attributes, Tzu later turned against his own Triad after coming to blame them for the death of his wife; killing his replacement, Liu Xiao Ling, in the process. Leadership was passed to Kwan Lin until her death on the onset of the gang war.
- Gotham Gangs
- All-Americans - One of the first gangs in the late 1800s.
- Batboys
- The Blackgaters - Briefly taken over by Jason Todd in an attempt to unite the gangs against the Underground.
- Bloods
- Blue Flu Gang
- The Burnley Town Massive - Led by Able Crown, wiped out in the city-wide gang war.
- Crips
- East Side Dragons: An Asian gang, mostly involved in illegal dog fights.
- Escabedo Cartel: Drug lord out of South America, led by Manuel Escabedo.
- Five Fingers
- Free Men Gang - One of the first gangs in the late 1800s.
- Ghost Dragons - Initially run by Edmund Dorrance. Lynx I was assigned as their field leader and eventually killed King Snake to gain control of the gang. Lynx was accidentally beheaded by one of her own gang members during the city-wide gang war.
- Golden Dragons - Gotham branch of the Hong Kong based gang. Their leader is the new Lynx.
- Hanoi Ten - Rivals of the Golden Dragons.
- Irish Wound Ravens - One of the first gangs in the late 1800s.
- Italian East-Siders - One of the first gangs in the late 1800s.
- Jewish Sons of David - One of the first gangs in the late 1800s.
- Latina Unified Gang - Various latino groups led by Otero.
- Lords of the Avenues
- The Sprang Bridge Soldiers - Control Robbinsville, almost taken over by Jason Todd.
- Street Demonz
Trivia[]
- The Mafia Families were Batman's initial targets in his mission to clean-up Gotham before the uprising of "mask" super-villains began diverting his attention.
- In an effort to impress Batman, Stephanie Brown attempted unite all of the underground under one leader who was in turn controlled by Batman. However, as Stephanie had no idea that the intended leader was actually Batman himself, her attempt resulted in the deaths of all of the current gang and family leaders and the uprising of a city-wide gang war.