Sal Maroni

Sal Maroni
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Detective Comics #66 (August 1942)
Created by	Bill Finger (writer) Bob Kane (artist)
In-story information
Alter ego	Salvatore Vincent Maroni
Species	Human
Team affiliations	Maroni Crime Family
Notable aliases	The Boss, The Italian, Morelli, Anton Karoselle

Salvatore Vincent Maroni is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with Batman. The character is portrayed as an infamous gangster in Gotham City and an enemy of Batman. Maroni is most famous for disfiguring Harvey Dent, setting the stage for the young district attorney's transformation into the supervillain Two-Face.

Dennis Paladino portrayed him in live-action in the film Batman Forever. Eric Roberts also portrayed him in the film The Dark Knight. Maroni was also played by David Zayas in the FOX television series Gotham.

Publication history[]

Sal Maroni first appeared in Detective Comics #66 and was created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane.^[1]

Fictional character biography[]

Pre-Crisis/Earth-Two[]

Maroni's first Pre-Crisis appearance was in Detective Comics #66 (August 1942) as Boss Moroni, a mobster on trial for the murder of a man named "Bookie" Benson. Harvey Dent (here named "Harvey Kent") is the prosecutor at the trial. He calls Batman as his first witness. During Batman's testimony, Moroni calls Batman a liar, leading Dent to show his proof: Moroni's lucky two-headed silver dollar found at the scene with his fingerprints on it. Enraged, Moroni throws a vial of acid at Dent, horribly disfiguring his face. Driven insane by his disfigurement, Dent becomes the gangster Two-Face and eventually kills Maroni before surrendering and going to prison.^[2]

Bronze Age/Earth-One[]

During Bronze Age recountings of Two-Face's origin, Maroni's role was unchanged, but his name was changed to Morelli. Harvey Dent's surname was altered to Dent, which has become that character's permanent name. In this version, Batman is present at the trial and tries to prevent the mobster from throwing the acid, but is unable to prevent Dent from being disfigured.

Prior to COIE, Maroni appeared in DC Superstars #14 and Batman #328 to #329. He survives an assassination attempt by Two-Face in the first story, but his legs are left paralyzed. In the latter story arc, he undergoes plastic surgery to alter his appearance and changes his name to Anton Karoselle to avoid attention. He then exacts revenge on Two-Face by killing his former wife Gilda's new husband Dave Stevens allowing the gangster to find him and gun him down in retaliation.

Post-Crisis[]

In the graphic novel Batman and the Monster Men, Maroni lends money to Norman Madison (father of Bruce Wayne's girlfriend Julie Madison) to cover his debts, and to Professor Hugo Strange for his genetic experiments. After Maroni puts pressure on Strange to repay his loan, the mad scientist responds by robbing one of his illegal gambling establishments to steal the money he needs to pay Maroni off. When Maroni realizes Strange might be responsible for the robbery, he sends enforcers to intimidate and threaten him. Strange decides to get rid of Maroni once and for all, and sends another creature to kill him. Maroni is saved by Batman, who as a favor to Julie Madison, forces him to call off her father's debt.

In the sequel, Batman and the Mad Monk, Norman tries to pay off his debt to Maroni, unaware of Batman's intervention on his behalf; Maroni refuses to take the money, terrified that Batman would visit him again. Norman instead gives the money to rival mobster Carmine Falcone, which humiliates Maroni. Later, near the end of the story, Norman tries to kill Maroni only to be gunned down by his men.

Maroni is featured prominently in Jeph Loeb's maxi-series Batman: The Long Halloween, which retells Two-Face's origin. In this version, Salvatore Maroni is the scion of the Maroni crime family, headed by his father Luigi "Big Lou" Maroni. He is the most powerful mobster in Gotham next to Carmine Falcone and was shown to have notorious enforcer Tony Zucco as one of his henchmen. Both Sal Maroni and Carmine Falcone believe that the serial killer Holiday (so named for assassinating mobsters on holidays) is working for the other, which strains their previously ironclad business relationship. When his father is killed by Holiday, Maroni makes a deal with Dent to reveal all of Falcone's criminal activities in exchange for leniency.^[3]

However, Falcone's daughter Sofia — Maroni's secret lover — visits him in jail, where she falsely claims Dent, not Falcone, is responsible for the killings and his father's death. Dent's corrupt assistant Vernon Fields provides Maroni prior to his court appearance with "stomach medicine" for a supposed ulcer. During the trial, Maroni throws the disguised acid into Dent's face, disfiguring him. Maroni then gets into a scuffle with a bailiff who shoots him twice in the chest, which he survives.

When he is moved out of his cell, Maroni is finally killed by Holiday. The killer is revealed to be Alberto Falcone, who committed the murders to make a name for himself independent of his family.^[4] Maroni's sons Pino and Umberto later offer their services to Sofia Falcone and are later killed in the Columbus Day Massacre orchestrated by Two-Face.^[5]

The New 52[]

In 2011, "The New 52" rebooted the DC universe. Sal Maroni met with Mr. Haly at Haly's Circus. When it was mentioned that his son CJ helped Dick Grayson return to Haly's Circus, Maroni stated that he would be indebted to the circus should they ever need help.^[6]

Family[]

The following are relatives of Sal Maroni:

• Luigi "Big Lou" Maroni – The father of Sal Maroni and boss of the Maroni crime family. He was murdered by Holiday.
• C.J. Maroni – The son of Sal Maroni who met and befriended a younger Dick Grayson.
• Pino Maroni – The son of Sal Maroni, killed in a massacre orchestrated by Two-Face.
• Umberto Maroni – The son of Sal Maroni, killed in a massacre orchestrated by Two-Face.

Other versions[]

Elseworlds[]

Sal Maroni appears in the Elseworlds story "Citizen Wayne" which was published in 1994. Set in the 1930s, the story depicts Maroni as an Al Capone-like crime lord who is heavily involved in bootlegging, and who lures the cops trying to investigate him into a trap when they are led to believe that they can get him for tax evasion (Capone was eventually jailed for tax fraud). In this version, Maroni scars Harvey Dent's entire face with acid in an attempt to kill him. This leads Dent to assume the Batman mantle and break up Maroni's operations before finally killing him in revenge. Bruce Wayne is a newspaper publisher and fierce critic of Batman who, following Maroni's death, decides to take down the Caped Crusader personally; he feels that Batman has overstepped the mark by committing murder. The pair are killed during the fight and, much like Citizen Kane, their story is told in flashbacks as a young Assistant District Attorney interviews their friends and acquaintances, including Maroni's surviving henchmen.

Batman '66[]

In Batman '66, Maroni, renamed "Boss Maroni", snapped during a trial conducted by Harvey Dent and threw acid in Dent's face, causing the DA's transformation into Two-Face.

In other media[]

Television[]

• Salvatore Maroni appears in the Fox series Gotham, portrayed by David Zayas.^[7] He first appears in "The Balloonman", where he is the owner of a local Italian restaurant that serves as a front for his crime family. Maroni takes an interest in one of his employees, petty criminal Oswald Cobblepot, promoting him to manager and using him as a source of information on Falcone's operations; he is unaware that Cobblepot is secretly an informant for Falcone. When Jack Buchinsky targets Maroni for abandoning him years ago during a heist, he and his associates seek refuge in the GCPD. There, he begins to suspect Cobblepot's duplicity when he deliriously stammers about meeting Falcone.^[8] When Falcone's lieutenant Fish Mooney goes into exile from Gotham City, she contacts Maroni and informs him of Cobblepot's deception, resulting in Maroni interrogating Cobblepot into confessing the truth, and eventually attempting to have him executed in a junkyard car compactor.^[9] When Cobblepot manages to escape and obtains Falcone's protection, Maroni and Falcone make a deal: Maroni will get rid of one of Falcone's enemies and Cobblepot will stay out of his territory. Maroni appears at the newly christened "Oswald's" nightclub to tell his former associate that he is safe for now, but that he will perish as soon as Falcone dies.^[10] Maroni also tries to ruin Cobblepot's business by cutting off his liquor supplies. Cobblepot then sends a hitman to one of Maroni's establishments to tell Maroni that Falcone wants him dead. Cobblepot sabotages his own hit in order to ignite a turf war between Maroni and Falcone.^[11] In the season finale "All Happy Families Are Alike", Mooney takes Falcone, Cobblepot, James Gordon, and Harvey Bullock prisoner where she intends to kill them all in exchange for Sal Maroni returning all her old territories back to her. While Mooney wants an equal partnership, however, Maroni insists on her being his second-in-command. When Maroni belittles Mooney with sexist nicknames, she turns on him and shoots him in the head before slaughtering his gang.^[12]
• The Maroni crime family appears in the Titans episode "Jason Todd". It was mentioned by Tony Zucco's son Nick that the Maroni crime family killed his father and the rest of his family, which led to him blaming Dick Grayson for their deaths.

Film[]

• In Batman Forever, the character is referred to as "Boss Moroni" (portrayed by Dennis Paladino) and appears in a brief television news segment explaining the origin of Two-Face. As in the comics, Maroni throws acid in district attorney Harvey Dent's face despite Batman's intervention, transforming him into Two-Face. His fate is left unrevealed.
• Sal Maroni is featured in two segments of Batman: Gotham Knight (which takes place between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight), voiced by Rob Paulsen. In these two stories, Maroni is at war with Gotham's Russian mob. In "Crossfire", Maroni and his gang are in the midst of a shootout with the Russian mob when Batman arrives. When Maroni threatens Detective Anna Ramirez at gunpoint, Batman knocks him out with a batarang. In "Field Test", Maroni engages in another fight with Russian mobsters, which Batman also breaks up. Batman forces the unnamed Russian mob leader into a truce with Maroni, who will keep his operations in the slums while the Russians keep the docks. Batman then says "That's the arrangement 'til I can get something on you. And then you can fight over who gets the top bunk in Blackgate. Got it?!"
• Eric Roberts portrays Maroni in The Dark Knight. In the film, Maroni has taken over as the boss of Carmine Falcone's Italian Mafia crime family following Falcone's fall from power in Batman Begins. At the beginning of the film, Maroni is put on trial by district attorney Harvey Dent, but the charges are dismissed after an underling takes the fall for him. Later, Maroni meets with his fellow crime bosses, Gambol and the Chechen, to discuss the threats they face from Dent and the Joker, who has robbed several mob-controlled banks. The mobsters receive help from a Chinese Triad accountant named Lau, who has managed to hide what's left of their funds. The Joker barges into the meeting and offers to kill Batman for half of the money, a proposal they eventually agree to when he convinces them it's the only way to restore their control over Gotham. Lau is captured by Batman in Hong Kong and provides Dent with the evidence to put all the mobsters in Gotham on trial, but Maroni uses his influence to make bail. Batman interrogates Maroni for the Joker's location, but even after he drops Maroni from a fire escape and breaks both of his legs, he refuses to talk. However, when Maroni realizes the Joker is too unpredictable, he gives Commissioner James Gordon information on where to find him. Maroni is next seen getting into his car to escape the city, where he is confronted by Dent, who is targeting those he holds responsible for his disfigurement. He interrogates Maroni as to the identity of the police officer who led his fiancée Rachel Dawes away to be killed. Maroni reveals the officer was Detective Ramirez, but Two-Face still flips his coin to decide whether to kill him. The coin lands on its "good" side, sparing Maroni. He flips the coin again for the driver's life and it lands on the scarred one. Dent secures himself in his seat belt and shoots the driver, causing the car to crash in the train yards. Gordon later mentions that Dent killed five people, although it's left ambiguous as to whether Maroni is one of those five.
• Sal Maroni appears in Batman: The Killing Joke, voiced by Rick D. Wasserman.
• Sal Maroni appears in Batman: The Long Halloween, voiced by Jim Pirri.^[13]

Video games[]

• Sal Maroni is mentioned in a hidden link in Lego Batman: The Videogame.
• A restaurant bearing Sal Maroni's name appears in Batman: Arkham City. The information the game provides explains that most of the Maroni family's leadership was gunned down on orders from Carmine Falcone while both of the families were conducting peace negotiations in the restaurant. It is also revealed that the surviving members of the Maroni family were all imprisoned in Arkham City or fled to Bludhaven, but it is never said if Sal was among those killed at the restaurant or if he was one of the members that was imprisoned or fled.

References[]

External links[]

• Sal Maroni at DC Wiki
• Sal Maroni at Comic Vine