Gangster Conspiracy

Maroney's gang family was also located in Gotham's East End, where the gangs were much more rampant than in the West End, near Gotham University.

Simply put, because it was Gotham's least developed economic area, the slums of the West End were like a haven of simple folk customs in comparison.

The gangs there were extremely competitive. Take the Gutter Gang, for example, a small gang of only a hundred or so people; it was almost impossible for them to control a nightclub.

Maroney's gang family owned a restaurant, two bars, a dance hall, and a strip club, which was already almost the largest gang size in the area.

The Maroney family and the Red Crow Gang had a long-standing feud. Their territories bordered each other, and a bar in that area frequently saw shootouts, with both sides wanting to control this important traffic artery, but neither succeeding in the end.

That bar became the no-man's-land of the entire East End and the fastest place for information to circulate.

Sal had some real capability to establish himself in Gotham, especially in the most dangerous and chaotic East End.

The Red Crow Gang's theft of the production line did not escape his eyes. In the basement of a bar controlled by the Maroney family, closest to the no-man's-land, Maroney lit a cigar and said to his subordinate, "I learned from our old friend, Police Chief Victor, that that red-headed kid across the way seems to be planning something."

His subordinate said, "Yes, they seem to have stolen a lot of large machinery from the south or southwest. I heard from a kid who lost at gambling that their boss seems to want to produce some kind of chemical, which they say can control people."

Sal narrowed his eyes and said, "A few days ago, I had dinner with Victor, and he mentioned a case where the murderer was a Chemical Doctor, who seemed to be a very formidable professor at Gotham University. Could it be related to this matter?"

His subordinate said, "I have two bodyguard informants around that red-head's mistress. He's been very close to that mistress recently. I'll get something out of her."

Sal spun his lighter and said, "For every extra piece of meat they eat, we eat one less. But now it seems they don't just want a piece of the meat, they want to swallow us whole. Let's see who's tougher."

Maroney's guess was very accurate. Without much effort, he obtained all of the Red Crow Gang's operational plans. Although the leader of the Red Crow Gang was smart, he was still quite young and Maroney had figured him out.

At the same time, Schiller also made no small contribution. He did the most crucial thing: he obtained the formula for Fear Gas from the Red Crow Gang and then, inadvertently, let Maroney's informant find it.

Maroney's ability to connect with the Police Chief showed that he was much more experienced than the leader of the Red Crow Gang and had wider connections. Soon, he found a reliable chemist to analyze the formula for him. The conclusion was that it was a large-scale biochemical weapon with extremely strong effects.

After receiving this conclusion, Maroney naturally could not let the Red Crow Gang's actions succeed. Otherwise, once they obtained this important weapon, the Maroney family would have no hope of advancement.

The first step was to absolutely prevent the Red Crow Gang from bailing Jonathan out through the police informant.

On another dark night, Gordon was leaving work as usual. His immediate superior, Lantolos, disliked him and didn't assign him any useful work. He was becoming like a police department clerk, not even getting assigned to external patrols.

Therefore, he left work early. His superior left a little ahead of him because he was going to a drinking party.

As soon as Gordon left the building, he saw his superior turn a corner, followed by a speeding car that crashed into him. His superior was sent flying more than ten meters away from the police station entrance.

Gordon didn't care about anything else. He rushed back into the police station to call for help, but before the ambulance arrived, Lantolos had already breathed his last.

He was originally a very cautious old police officer, but recently, the Red Crow Gang had given him too many benefits in their eagerness to bail out Jonathan, making his greed uncontrollable. He even wanted to marry the sister of the Red Crow Gang leader. Therefore, he was too hasty and didn't realize that he had already been targeted by the Red Crow Gang's rivals.

Everything happened too quickly. Before Gordon could react, he was pushed into his superior's position.

This was, of course, also Maroney's doing. To hinder his opponent, he naturally had to choose someone they disliked the most. Gordon's conflict with Lantolos was too obvious, and almost all the police officers in the entire police station were aware of it. Maroney naturally chose Gordon.

Of course, hindering his opponent was only the first step. Maroney also wanted to produce this important weapon himself.

He was bolder than the Red Crow Gang and directly bribed the manager of the Wayne Chemical Plant, using a production line for nitric acid preparations to secretly produce this gas.

He didn't even want to move it, planning to produce it directly in the Wayne Chemical Plant in a way that would cover his tracks.

But the problem remained the same: large-scale production of Fear Gas required some larger-scale separation machines and other high-end equipment. Although Maroney was richer than the Red Crow Gang, he was still unsure whether to make such a large investment.

So, he still found that chemist and asked him to manually replicate some Fear Gas. The person he found was much more capable than the Red Crow Gang's. Although he couldn't perfectly replicate Fear Gas, he could replicate about 80%. Although it couldn't be concentrated yet, the effect was still excellent.

Seeing how effective it was, Maroney was tempted to invest heavily. After all, if he could just spray a bottle at someone and make them go crazy, who in the East End would be his opponent? Once he took over the entire East End, tens of millions of dollars in income would be nothing.

Therefore, Maroney urgently procured a batch of necessary equipment from other states, which cost him several million dollars and many favors, and he hired a group of chemists at high salaries to work for him.

Such large-scale production naturally could no longer be carried out at the Wayne Chemical Plant. Maroney didn't have a chemical plant on his territory, so he instigated a shootout, killing more than thirty skilled fighters, and snatched that small chemical plant from the Red Crow Gang's territory.

It was at this time that Bruce finally discovered that his family's chemical plant had been stolen. He finally realized that those gangsters had begun to manufacture this gas.

At the same time, Gordon received a clue from an anonymous person claiming to have seen a car with the license plate ending in 676 frequently loitering around the Wayne Chemical Plant.

Gordon and Bruce hit it off immediately. Batman and the detective joined forces again. They quickly found the car and caught the tail of the Red Crow Gang.

Overnight, the Red Crow Gang's base was raided by Batman. Although they were much stronger than the Gutter Gang, with hundreds of members, they didn't have any formidable criminals among them, just ordinary gang members. Batman fought in the front, and Gordon arrested in the back. Overnight, more than two hundred members of the gang were arrested.

The leader of the Red Crow Gang was furious. Although they had stolen the production line from the Wayne Chemical Plant, they hadn't even produced any Fear Gas before the production line and the chemical plant were snatched away by the Maroney gang.

Unable to contain his anger, the leader of the Red Crow Gang identified Sal Maroney when he was arrested. Batman then turned his attention to the Maroney gang.

However, Maroney was much more cunning and cautious than the leader of the Red Crow Gang. The entire chemical plant was heavily guarded, and all members were in a state of high tension. Batman couldn't find a good opportunity for a while.

Maroney knew he was being targeted and began to seek help from his protector, Police Chief Victor.

Victor first rescinded the investigation into the theft case at the Wayne Chemical Plant internally, intending to cover it up. Then, under Maroney's instructions, he continued to interfere with Jonathan's trial, attempting to help Jonathan get acquitted so that he could work at Maroney's chemical plant for him.

Meanwhile, Schiller added fuel to the fire of this multi-party standoff.

Schiller guided Police Chief Victor to obtain a bottle of concentrated Fear Gas developed by Jonathan from the evidence room. After obtaining this concentrate, Maroney became even more aware of Jonathan's importance and continuously pressured Victor to bail Jonathan out as soon as possible.

Before Victor could make a move, someone approached him.

As Batman had predicted, this person was the Principal of Gotham University.

Although Victor was the Police Chief, he was not closely connected to Gotham's political circles. On the other hand, the Principal of Gotham University knew many jury members and state representatives.

He had been bribed by the Red Crow Gang and had a close relationship with them, which everyone knew. Now that the Red Crow Gang had fallen, the Principal of Gotham University urgently needed a new protector.

Without the protection of a major gang in Gotham, you could hardly move an inch.

The Principal of Gotham University naturally didn't mind switching his allegiance to the Maroney gang. Upon learning that they were also interested in Fear Gas, the Principal revealed everything to Victor:

"...That girl wasn't cautious enough. She bragged everywhere that she would become Bruce Wayne's date. I kidnapped her when she came to see me. If I can influence the heir of the Wayne family and use his power to get Jonathan acquitted, it would be no trouble at all."

"Based on just a woman?" Victor asked. "Little Wayne isn't stupid. Even though he's a playboy who messes around every day, how could a mere date make him willing to work for us..."

"We don't need him to be willing," the Principal said.

"You want to kidnap Little Wayne? No, that's too risky..." Victor said. "We might not be able to control him."

The entire Wayne family controlled more than half of Gotham City's economy. Targeting Bruce would invite terrible retaliation if they failed.

The Principal said, "Actually, I've already thought of a plan. We kidnap Little Wayne, but we don't necessarily have to control him. We can also replace him..."