Maggia (comics) - Competitors and Allies

Competitors and Allies

Various criminals have attempted to unify the American East Coast's independent criminal groups so as to compete with the Maggia domination of organized crime. Other lesser criminal organizations may in fact cooperate and work for Maggia, pay street taxes, or manage to operate under the radar of Maggia.

The most successful competitor of Maggia has been the Kingpin, who at his peak was more powerful than all the Maggia families combined.

As noted above, the principal leaders of all three major Maggia families are, to one extent or another, no longer in ideal leadership positions. With the Kingpin presently exiled from the USA in the wake of Daredevil story arcs, the potential for a power vacuum is huge, and the stage is set for a gang war between any and all challengers.

Recently, a new Spider-Man villain called Mister Negative is plotting to target the Maggia Families, perhaps hoping to take the Kingpin's place. The supervillain The Hood has also recently formed a supervillain crime syndicate which enlists various costumed criminals in an attempt to gain control of the underworld.

Other lesser crime bosses include Slug (a Miami-based drug kingpin) and the Owl. Whether they are connected to Maggia or manage to operate separately is unknown. Don Fortunato once managed to gain control of much of New York City's underworld in the absence of the Kingpin. Although Fortunato seems to run a traditional Mafioso organized crime group, he is actually connected to the Maggia and the terrorist organization known as HYDRA. The original Mr. Fish was mentioned to have planned to start a Maggia branch in his area.

Although the Maggia organization is, for the most part, analogous in the Marvel Universe to the real life Italian and Italian-American Mafia or La Cosa Nostra, there exists in the Marvel Universe other Italian crime families that resemble more closely the real La Cosa Nostra or Mafia. Some of these families and organizations have been referred to as "the Mafia" in recent comics, but it is unknown whether or not these families ultimately operate under Marvel's Maggia organization or are a part of a separate, more realistic La Cosa Nostra organization in the Marvel universe. As most of these organizations operate on a crew-based street level and specialize in traditional organized crime rather than super-powered organized crime, it is possible they are not connected to the more powerful Maggia. Examples of these organizations include:

• The Angelone Crime Family -
• The Gnucci Crime Family - It was known for the infamous Ma Gnucci.
• The Pazzo Crime Family -
• The Roman Crime Family -