So-called exploitation was actually a phenomenon produced when wealth flowed endlessly upward in the absence of a suitable social contract.
After Gotham's Mafia rules were broken, the gravest consequence was that interests gathered upward without restraint, until they accumulated in the hands of the tiny few at the top of the pyramid.
This process could even be called natural. It was not that someone had to deliberately drive a certain number of people to death; it was an inevitable social phenomenon under such circumstances.
Although the vested interests deserved condemnation, killing this batch of vested interests would only produce another batch. Mowing down Gotham's upper class was fundamentally useless. Suitable, stable social rules had to be rebuilt.
To achieve that, they could not act only at the bottom. Or rather, every action taken at the bottom had to serve the purpose of dragging the upper-class vested interests down. The simplest method was to reach for their wallets.
The three streets occupied by the Nevi family formed an exceptionally important economic center in Midtown. Most of the businesses there were tied to Gotham's livelihood and could provide the upper class with a steady, endless stream of income.
Once the Robins occupied this area, marched into every shop with guns, and collected protection money door to door, it was simple: pay up, or nobody lived and nobody opened for business. Could the upper-class people relying on this place for their lifeblood possibly stay calm?
The greatest advantage of industries tied to people's livelihoods was their ability to provide an endless flow of working capital. The importance of working capital to corporate industries went without saying. Once that flow was cut off, it was like severing the main artery supplying blood. This was not as simple as earning a little less money. A