Gotham police precinct,
Rooftop,
December 1, 2010

"I don't know who he is."

That is what James W. Gordon usually told people when they asked him about the black-clad vigilante who so often helped him on his worst cases, on the worst nights. Nights like this. Nights made of fear and violence. He went outside the prescient to smoke and thought about what happened that night 4 years ago.

The city was in chaos, fires raging across the city, as gangs and mobsters fought over who would own what. The Italian mafia families were on the warpath, with the Russian families on the receiving end. Tonight had been one of the worst nights Gotham has had. The only other time was when the previous Italians moved into their block originally. The costumed freaks were taking advantage of the chaos that night to do some looting.

He was dealing with so much of Gotham's horrible under-belly he had become jaded somewhat. But when he heard that some no-name mafia family was experimenting on kids. He was unbelievably angry. Then he got a message from a mysteries group- calling themselves Ouroboros Collective. They had found the kids and got the thugs tied up. He went there himself. When he got there

He was on the warpath himself after that night because there were too many leaks in the Gotham police department. As commissioner, he was going to clean this infested department up. He spent the next several years cleaning it up and firing and imprisoning several of his own Corrupt police officers for taking bribes from the Gotham under-belly. The group calling themselves the Ouroboros Collective contacted him several times about a few of his officers taking bribes and giving information to the mobs. He spoke to Batman about them several times over the years, and we could still not find any evidence of their existence.

The whole of downtown Gotham barely has any crime due to them. Most of the mobsters and gangsters moved out from there because none could ever get away with any crime before being caught and left there asleep for the police to pick up. Downtown was a no-go zone for gangs and mobsters. The only information he had so far was somebody calling themselves the shadow in Spanish and a pink digital skull symbol.

The mayor initially tried delaying a lot of trials for the criminals from the larger crime families, but the outrage that followed almost caused him to lose his job as several journalists attacked him. The government prepared to get the national guard involved if the situation did not die down. The justice league was put on high alert as well. Thankfully the Bertinelli family and the Odessa mob originally started the conflict got hurt pretty badly in their fight that lasted several weeks. Franco Bertinelli was missing, and Falcone was trying to take his place. Still, since he wasn't confirmed dead, he couldn't yet become the boss, according to some of the undercover police officers we had in the mob.

Jim went back inside to get started on a new case; a young boy was causing trouble with orphanage matrons, and he was sent to handle it.

****

Gotham's Terrence Towers,
December 3, 2010,

Gotham's moon winkled unusually bright this night; a figure crouched next to a gargoyle thinking deep. Batman shook himself from the visions of that night and the tragic loss of life that happened 4 years ago when the Italian mafia and Russians went to war. He remembered getting a call from Jim Gordan. That some small no-name Italian mafia family experimented on kids to see if they would get meta-human abilities.

He had landed on a four-story building of the location that was given to him. Following the directions given to him by this unknown group, he found the experimentation papers and how they were planning to take care of the kids. He called Gordan and asked him if he could send some people down to take down the thugs about to commit murder. When Gordan told him the thugs were already caught by the same group, he later found out they were calling themselves Ouroboros collective.

The supervillains were out in force that year, and Tim wasn't old enough then. Dick was already on another mission that he had assigned to him to keep him away from this horror. He managed to put away four of the escaped villains that night. Poison ivy and the Harley were easy to capture in comparison to killer croc and the joker. But he had managed it and was left bed-ridden for the rest of the week. While he relied on Robin and Alfred to handle some of the small timers.

Thankfully, he didn't have to worry about downtown nowadays because there was hardly any crime due to Ouroboros. Batman suspected the boy he first met that day in Boyles office was a part of Ouroboros. They had managed to lay low for the past few years. Batman had to scold Dick for being careless recently with his team, the Titans.

Tim Would be joining Dick in the lecture because he and the other sidekicks recently went into Cadmus without letting anyone from the league know what they were doing. Aqualad, Kid flash, and Tim found a clone of Superman and Genomorphs that had to be placed somewhere the league could keep an eye on them. They were angry they couldn't join the league, but the league had agreed that they weren't ready. Just as speedy threw a tantrum and went his own way, but that was Green Arrows' problem to handle.

Batman heard the sirens going off and jumped off into Gotham's lonely night.

****
Gotham's New Times
Article by Lisa Hamora,
December 12, 2010,

The threat of Mobsters and Gangs acts kept Gotham in a panic and local authorities in a state of alert -- though not alert enough.
Gotham's streets turned into brutal scenes of urban carriage yesterday as rival gangs fought for dominance in the post-Bertinelli era. A cascade of open assassinations, revenge killings, and drive-by shootings left over thirty mobsters dead.

Six citizens were killed in the violence, and dozens of others were wounded and currently recovering in hospitals.
After weeks of spectacular interventions in criminal activities, Batman appeared out of the evening sky to save a Gotham family caught in the middle of a crossfire. An unconfirmed report also placed him in the dockyards after midnight, attempting to quell open gang warfare.
The Gotham Police Department was largely ineffective in stopping the bloodshed. Officers were struggling to restore order as The Times went to press in the early morning. Only Jim Gordan, the Police commissioner, was on a one-man mission to rescue some kids.

Police officials said that the warring factions include the ruthless organization headed by "The Odessa" and the Bertinelli faction now headed by Carmine The 'Roman' Falcone. The street toughs are headed by Gambol. Each of the gangs was bloodied in yesterday's fighting, and it is not yet clear who has the upper hand, police sources told The Times. The Bertinelli faction's head is missing, and the Odessa mob has lost about half of their men.

The violence was expected to continue into the next couple of weeks, and authorities advised citizens to stay at home if possible. Gotham business-owners feared a drastic drop in sales is usually the biggest shopping day of the year.

That night, police officials rounded up dozens of suspected mobsters in street sweeps in a final attempt to curb the mounting violence. However, the arrests did not staunch the bloodshed, which spilled over into the early morning hours in several city districts.

"The Gotham Police Department will continue to take every legal action to fight this wave of mob violence swamping the city," said Loeb.
While Commissioner Loeb attempted to portray the police department as working vigilantly against the criminal gangs, others criticized the official response as woefully inadequate.

A coalition of citizen-activist groups issued a statement blasting the city for allowing "mayhem" to take over the streets. "Whether through staggering incompetence or all-out corruption, the Gotham Police Department has ceded the streets to the worst kind of monsters," spokesperson Dana Worthington said.

"We demand an official, non-partisan investigation into how the police have allowed Gotham to fall to such violence and despair," Worthington continued.

Many observers noted the sad irony of such bloodshed occurring on Thanksgiving.

Responding to a barrage of reporters' questions on the steps of city hall. Prosecutor Harvey Dent said that it was the criminals who were offering thanks during the national holiday.

"thanks to the corrupt cops and politicians that have handed over the city to murderers and monsters."

Mob watchers said the trigger for the unprecedented outbreak of open hostilities. Was the breakdown of negotiations between crime families—the still-unexplained disappearance of former mob boss Bertinelli in the chaos during the Narrows Attack.

"The loss of Franco Bertinelli left the criminal gangs without a clear boss," said longtime Mafia watcher Anthony Corretti. "Each family thinks they have the upper hand now and are refusing to back down."

Corretti expects the violence to continue sporadically until a new power alignment is settled. "Nobody's going to cut a deal after all this bloodshed. The situation will get worse before it gets better," Corretti said.
The urban warfare started early and stretched through almost every part of the city, from Chinatown restaurants to East End's alleys to the Gotham Docks.

The butcher's bill started at 7:38 am when Maroni lieutenant Johnny "Taffyface" Linate was killed by a bomb under his late-model SUV outside his home in Newtown. His wife Elaine was also killed in the explosion.

Maroni's men lashed out against both the Chechens and Gambol's organization. The Chechen outfit was hit deep in Chinatown at the New Paradise during lunch hour. Lined up for the $8.99 all-you-can-eat buffet, four Chechen thugs were pumped full of bullets.

The gun-battle spilled onto the street and raged for more than 10 minutes, as Chechen killers fought toe-to-toe with their Italian enemies.
The Chechen lost seven men, including trusted aide Nitzvarov Lenikstrika. Maroni's men left two of their own corpses. Three citizens were killed in the crossfire - Janice Mirsky, 38; Jennifer Flower, 23. And Sandy Altwood, 75.

At 2:36 pm, it was Gambol's turn on the firing line. Three soldiers from Maroni's organization broke into the Doodad Club in Center City, a Gambol stronghold. They shot four of Gambol's men to death. Two corpses were left on the sidewalk outside of the Club until late at night.
At about the same time, Batman made his first appearance of the day.

Outside of the Cherry Woods Social Club in Cherry Woods, Gambol's men were ambushed by The Chechen forces. The Stone family was caught in the crossfire. The parents Lyle, 38, and Jamilla, 35, huddled with their children Frank, 11, and Kendra, 8, behind an abandoned car.

"Batman came out of nowhere and carried us all off to safety," said Jamilla. "And then he went back and tried to stop the shooting." By the time Batman shut down the gunmen, four men were dead.

Shortly after that, at 8:25 pm, Maroni captain Tony "Two-Times" Tarrigliano was shot down as he exited a barbershop in East End.
At 8:52 pm, reports emerged of a shoot-out in Crime Alley, with Gambol's men engaged in an exchange of machine-gun fire with the Chechen outfit. Four Chechen soldiers were downed as well as five of Gambol's men. Two citizens were also killed - Thea Gillhooley, 29, and Matthew Donaldson, 52.

Maroni's men were found dead with gunshot wounds to the face and head in an alley in East End shortly before midnight.

In what is already called the "Midnight Massacre," 15 of Gambol's men were gunned down at the docks at 12:57 am. Police report it is unclear which faction attacked Gambol in the late-night assault.

A couple of years later and downtown Gotham is safer than ever.