Batman's Patrol Log – 14th of Frostveil, Year of the Cracked Crown
The ledger of the city’s sins grows heavy, and no name stains the parchment more deeply than that of the Falcone Merchant-Mercenaries. Beneath the finery of their silk-draped stalls and the aromatic masks of their spice shipments lies a ruthless mafia that has strangled the very breath from Gotham’s commerce.
The Facade of Trade
To the high courts, they are the "Roman" merchants, providers of rare luxuries. Yet, this is a powerful guild masquerading as legitimate enterprise. Their "spices" are often but a cover for darker contraband, and their "silks" are stained with the blood of those who dared to undersell them. They do not compete in the market; they occupy it.
The Iron Grip on the Ports
The @Carmine Falcone family treats the city’s docks as their own private fiefdom.
The Private Army: They command a legion of ex-soldiers—men who traded their knightly oaths for Falcone gold. These sellswords enforce a brutal tax on every crate that touches the wharf.
Systemic Extortion: No ship may dock, and no cart may depart, without paying protection money. To refuse is to see one’s vessel scuttled or one’s warehouse reduced to ash by "accidental" fire.
Economic Stranglehold: By controlling the ports, they ensure a cut of all trade, effectively placing a Falcone coin in every loaf of bread and every bolt of cloth sold in the city.
The Shadow of the Roman
At the head of this serpent sits Carmine Falcone, a man who views himself as a Caesar of the gutters. He has bought the silence of the city guards and the favor of corrupt magistrates, creating a web of influence that even the Master’s gauntlets find difficult to unravel.