Arrest of Salvatore Maroni

Carmine Falcone takes over Drops operation and places his corrupt officials in power

### Executor

Don Mitchell Jr.
Gil Colson
Gotham City Police Department
\*Pete Savage
\*Jim Gordon
\*William Kenzie

## Appearances

### Book(s)

*Before The Batman: An Original Movie Novel* (newspaper)

*"After Thomas Wayne died, they all went after it like vultures. The Mayor, Falcone, Maroni, everyone got in on it. It was perfect for making bribes, laundering money. Huge charitable fund with no oversight, everybody got a piece, but Falcone wanted more. So we orchestrated a play to take down Maroni big. He'd rat out his Drops operation, made the careers of everybody that went after him, and install them all as his puppets. You think this goddamn election matters? Falcone's the mayor. He's been the mayor for the last twenty years."*
―William Kenzie to Batman and Jim Gordon.[src]
The **Arrest of Salvatore Maroni** was a successful attempt to arrest infamous drug lord Salvatore Maroni. However, it was mainly a conspiracy orchestrated by Carmine Falcone and those under his payroll ensure the latter's rise to power in Gotham's criminal underworld.

## History

In 2019, mobster Carmine Falcone orchestrated a conspiracy against mafia rival Salvatore Maroni, in order to rank up as the highest crime syndicate in Gotham City. He utilized big figures in Gotham such as Don Mitchell, Jr., Gil Colson, Pete Savage, and all GCPD officers under his payroll in order to catch Maroni in a drug bust and shut down his drops operation, leading to Maroni'a arrest and the fall of his criminal empire. Maroni was incarcerated in Blackgate afterwards.

Two years after Maroni's arrest, a serial killer known as the Riddler began murdering the figures involved in the case. He began by assassinating Don Mitchell Jr., who was the incumbent mayor and re-running in an ongoing campaign against Bella Reál, by sneaking into his home and bludgeoning him with a carpet tucker. He then murdered Commissioner Pete Savage by attacking him late at night at the police gym, and killing him via a rat-infested trap over his head. Afterwards, he kidnapped Gil Colson and placed a bomb on his neck, sending him in a car to ambush the mayor's funeral. The masked vigilante Batman interfered in the active hostage situation, and attempted to assist Colson in answering Riddler's three riddles that would expose the 'rat', however, Colson refused to answer due to the consequences he feared the 'rat' would do to him and his family.

Riddler continued to tease Batman and Jim Gordon about the informant through riddles, leading them to mistakenly take Penguin as the answer. Eventually, Selina Kyle found a recording of Falcone strangling Annika Kosolov due to her finding out about his true identity, leading to Jim Gordon releasing the audio file to GC1 for the public to see. Kyle, in an act of revenge, pursued Falcone to kill him, however, when he got the upper hand, Batman intercepted and arrested him leading him to be out in the open, allowing Riddler to kill him with a sniper, hence completing the Maroni case mystery.

## References

Reeves, Matt & Craig, Peter (writers); Reeves, Matt & Clark, Dylan (producers); & Reeves, Matt (director) (March 4, 2022). *The Batman*.