ORGANIZED CRIME in SUPERIOR CITY
HISTORY
Organized crime has been a part of Superior City since the
city's earliest days, starting with the Black Baron's control of
crime and a corrupt city government in the 1880s. The Mob gained traction in the city during Prohibition in the
1920s, but saw their power and influence lessened in the 1930s and 40s thanks to the actions of Mystery-Men like
Renegade and the
Red Bee. The second half of the 20th Century saw the rise
of street gangs alongside criminal organizations with ties to Asia and Eastern Europe, all vying for power in
Superior City's underworld.
The structure of organized crime in Superior City is an amorphous ever-shifting pattern, as the fortunes of
individual crime bosses seem to ebb and flow as often as the water level in the Columbia River. With the presence
of so many heroes in the city over the years, no one man has held the undisputed title as the head of crime in the
city since the days of the Black Baron.
Recently the city saw a Gang War that saw several organizations vying for control; the key participants in the
Gang War are described below.
IMPERIUM ROMANA
HISTORY
This criminal organization is one of the most powerful in Superior City. Besides having an iron grip on most
drug traffic, illicit gambling, and other prohibited activities, it also influences political officials and
labor unions.
The Imperium Romana is the criminal organization formed by insane underworld crimelord Caligula, who believes
himself to be a Roman Emperor. Through his brutal enforcers, the Imperial Legions, Caligula has built himself a
massive criminal empire that includes parts of Islandview, Riverside, Athens, the East End, and Hell's Gate as
its territory.
In the recent Gang War it was revealed that the Imperium Romana is at least in part backed by the
Crime Cartel.
CALIGULA
HISTORY
Lester Fegmen was a provate detective who took a bullet to the head while on the case. The injury did not kill him, but
it caused brain damage so that Lester now believed himself to be the Roman emperor Caligula. He forged a criminal empire
for himself in Superior City, which he believes to be the "real" Roman Empire, and rules this empire with an iron
fist. His Imperium Romana covered a large territory of the city and police were able to do little to curtail its activities.
Caligula and the Imperium Romana operated nearly unopposed for several years before they came to the attention of the new
Renegade. Over several months Renegade pursued the gang and its leader before
he was finally able to track down their headquarters. After a pitched battle Caligula and many of his gang were defeated
by the hero and wound up under arrest.
Caligula remained in prison for a few years, until he escaped during the villain Carnage's
assault on Superior City. Most recently his territories came under attack
from a new faction in the city's criminal underworld, leading to a major gang war that was only stopped by the efforts of
the Enforcers of Justice and their heroic allies.
POWERS & WEAPONS
Lester still retains the skills from his old life as a private detective, including investigative techniques, shadowing
targets, lockpicking and other breaking and entering techniques, and firearms training. Since becoming Caligula, he has
become a persuasive orator as well as an expert with ancient Roman martial weapons.
Caligula is typically dressed in classical Roman military garb, including an armored breastplate, and carries hand
weapons like the Gladius sword and Pugio knife.
PRAETORIAN
HISTORY
Marcus is one of the most loyal members of Caligula's Imperial Legion. For this reason he was selected to one of Caligula's
Praetorian Guard. During the recent Gang War, Marcus was outfitted with a suit of stolen Leviathan Power Armor, the suits used
by the Metropolis Special Crimes Unit, designed by engineer John Henry Irons (aka Steel) based on the design of Superman's
Kryptonian Battlesuit.
POWERS & WEAPONS
Marcus is former military, with expertise in tactics, hand-to-hand-combat, and a wide variety of firearms and heavy weaponry.
The mecha-like Leviathan power armor grants the Praetorian super-human strength, is heavily armored, and armed with shoulder
mounted weaponry consisting of a high-powered laser cannon. Anti-personnel capabilities include a stun beam and the ability to
generate a blinding flash; and the helmet has night-vision capabilities. While not flight-capable, the armor can move at the
speed of a car, and is a sealed environment with several hours of life-support.
The SCARAB FAMILY
HISTORY
After the procedure which restored his youth and health, former New York crime boss Antonio Scarabus
returned to America. Along with his most trusted lieutenants, the "Scarab"
relocated to Superior City and proceeded to take control of the scattered remnants of the city's older
criminal organizations. By cutting deals with several powerful individuals and groups, the Scarab Family
has quickly become one of the more powerful criminal organizations in the Superior City.
SCARAB
- Alter Ego: Antonnio Scarabus
HISTORY
Antonnio Scarabus, aka The Scarab, rose through the ranks of the New York Underworld to become
head of his own crime family. He was finally brought to justice decades later, when a ghost from
his past surfaced and he was convicted of a twenty year-old murder. Prison life did not sit well with
Scarab and his health deteriorated rapidly. His lawyers were able to get him released on compassionate
grounds and he died in a private clinic. Or at least, that's what the doctors there told the authorities.
In reality, a desperate Scarab had cut a deal with the Swastika,
the head of a South America-based Nazi crime syndicate. Scarab used his dwindling resources to obtain several
rare artifacts for Swastika, and in exchange Scarab was flown down to South America where he was subjected to
a gruesome experiment that restored his youth and health.
Scarab has now returned to the United States under a new identity and has been working to rebuild his criminal
empire. Scarab and his most trusted lieutenants have relocated to Superior
City and by cutting deals with several powerful individuals and organizations he has quickly become one of the
more powerful organized crime figures in the city.
Though his debt to Swastika has supposedly been paid, Scarab knows that the Nazi has a hold over him with
the rejuvenation process that Scarab still needs every few years if he wants to maintain his youth. This irks
Scarab and he hopes to someday have enough power to take the process from Swastika.
To that end, Scarab has allied himself with the World Crime League.
Under the League hierarchy, Scarab is officially the Boss of Superior City, though his territory technically covers
the entire Superior-Paradise Metropolitan Area. He has built his organization in the traditional mob format. He is
in the process of selecting an underboss to serve as his second-in-command, and he has placed several of his trusted
associates in positions of capos (captains) in charge of specific areas and lines of "business".
POWERS & WEAPONS
Scarab is a career mobster, having risen through the ranks of the New York mob and he still retains connections
with the east coast crime families. He puts on the public face of a sophisticated man-about-town, but deep down
Scarab is still the vicious thug he has been since a young man. He runs his crime family with a very hands-on
approach and has intimate knowledge of the day-to-day operations. With his restored vitality, Scarab has begun
martial arts training.
JADE DRAGONS
HISTORY
This street gang has been operating in the Oriental District of Superior City for several years. They sell
drugs and run a protection racket on the shop owners in the area. Members of the Jade Dragons can be easily
identified by the S-shaped serpent on the back of their leather jackets. The gang is allied with Caligula's
Imperium Romana organization and together they control much of the crime in Superior City. The leader of
the Jade Dragons is the notorious Shadow Dragon, a metahuman with illusion-casting powers.
SHADOW DRAGON
HISTORY
Li was from a small village in China. The whole village except for Li was wiped out when industrial chemical
waste poisoned their water supply. When the company responsible for the waste sent soldiers to cover up the
deaths, they tried to kill Li. The chemicals, however, had given Li powers which enabled him to escape.
Li's teleportation power enabled him to quickly reach Hong Kong, where he joined a gang and quickly became
its leader. When Hong Kong was handed back to the Chinese he and his gang traveled to America, settling in
Chinatown in Superior City.
Since arriving, Li (who calls himself Shadow Dragon) and his gang, the Jade Dragons, have become the most
powerful criminal organization in Superior City's Oriental District.
The Shadow Dragon is a ruthless ganglord that will stop at nothing to increase his own power and wealth.
He does not adhere to any form of religion or philosophy and demands that all his underlings be devoted to
the survival of the Jade Dragons. Nor is the Shadow Dragon bound by any (in his opinion) archaic ideas about
honor. Mercy is another quality Li has abandoned.
The Shadow Dragon is not above using his power to trick innocent people into doing horrible things, nor
will he hesitate to sacrifice an ally to make good his own escape.
Li is convinced of the usefulness of physical pain when exercising his authority – his punishments
hurt the offender but do not reduce his ability to function in the gang. He does not break fingers or arms,
but a scar from a red-hot iron will likely not prevent the recipient from forgetting his transgression.
Shadow Dragon regularly employs freelance villains for temporary work with the Jade Dragons, mainly because he
enjoys having authority over them. He has occasionally considered abandoning the Jade Dragons to form his own
super-villain group, but has thought differently for financial reasons. He has sided with Caligula and the
Imperial Legion in the recent gang war for purely selfish reasons: he hopes to increase his power base.
POWERS & WEAPONS
Shadow Dragon can generate realistic illusions that he uses for a variety of purposes. When in battle he
will often use his powers to make himself invisible and to confuse his enemies. He can also use his powers
to deceive others, and with concentration he can make his illusions believable enough that the targets will
suffer actual damage from attacks by illusory foes. Shadow Dragon also possesses limited empathic abilities,
which he often uses to read a target's emotional state in order to fine tune his illusions to have maximum
effect. Besides his illusion and empathic powers, Li also has the power to instantaneously teleport himself
up to several miles away from his present location, a gift he uses to escape from situations that become too
dangerous or risky.
Shadow Dragon is a trained martial artist. During time running with the gangs in Hong Kong he also learned
a number of criminal skills like pickpocketing, forgery, and how to break into locations and bypass security
systems; though these days he usually leaves these activities to the other members of the Jade Dragons.
MIDDLEMAN
HISTORY
The Middleman was a major power broker in the city until he was double-crossed by a mysterious crime figure.
A fixer of unparalleled ability, he became part of Carnage's
army in Mercy Island Prison. When Carnage's plot was stopped, Middleman used the opportunity to escape. He has
since aligned himself with one of the city's newer crime lords, the Scarab,
and hopes to use his new position locate the person that turned him in.
Though he has yet to learn it, Middleman was actually betrayed by the Crime
Cartel, who considered him too big a potential threat to their own activities and were seeking to remove him from
the Superior City underworld scene.
POWERS & WEAPONS
Middleman is a metahuman with empathic abilities that allow him to read and manipulate the emotions of his targets.
He also has the ability to alter his physical appearance, allowing him to look like anyone of approximately his
size and build.
FACES of FEAR
HISTORY
This gang is a newcomer to Superior City. Formed out of the combination of several smaller gangs by the villains
Paradox and Mammoth (working secretly through various agents), the
Faces of Fear attempted to take over the territory of the Imperium Romana. In the process the Faces of Fear became
associated with the notorious World Crime League. Though they lost the Gang
War and their leaders were arrested, the Faces of Fear still retain their ties to the League so it is only a matter of
time before they get a new leader and resume their efforts to become a major force in the city's criminal underworld.
