Hangman (DC Comics) - Other Related Victims

Other Related Victims

The arrival of the Hangman Killer sparked a gang war in Gotham City between the Falcone family, who were desperately trying to reclaim their hold on the city, the Maronis, who were on strained terms with the Falcones, the GCPD, and the "freaks" who would become the familiar Batman Rogues' Gallery. A number of people who were directly and indirectly involved also perished or injured during the Hangman's crime wave of nearly nine months.

• Angelo "Killer" Mirti- Sofia Gigante's personal bodyguard and former aide to her late father, Carmine "The Roman" Falcone. He was shot in the head by The Joker, after the Clown Prince of Crime invaded the Falcone summer residence. Interestingly, the Joker assumed that Sofia was the hangman long before anyone else did.
• The Joker- Received a gunshot wound to the arm by Alberto, ostensibly to protect his sister (The Joker was close to shooting her in the head). He survived, was captured by Batman, and taken back to Arkham Asylum.
• John and Mary Grayson- Parents of Dick Grayson and two-thirds of the Flying Graysons acrobat team, they were caught in the middle of the gang war involving Tony Zucco, who was a caporegime in the Maroni family, and his extortion ring to get further up in the mafia. After blackmailing Haley's Circus owner and ringmaster "Poppa" Haley, he burned the trapeze ropes with acid, the same used to scar Harvey Dent, sending the Graysons falling to their deaths and leaving Dick an orphan.
• "Tony" Anthony "Fats" Zucco- The gangster responsible for killing the Graysons was directly involved in the criminal doings of the Maronis and Falcones. Batman and Dick (training to be Robin) tracked him down at his headquarters at the Ox Club, "Gentleman's Club" and confronted him. He died of a heart attack, confessing his crimes and information about the Falcones.
• Janice Porter- The no-nonsense District Attorney appointed after Harvey Dent, she was responsible for arranging Alberto Falcone's release from Arkham and had a distrust for Batman, believing that his presence contaminated cases. Revealed to be Dent/Two-Face's lover- it is implied that she had a prior relationship with Harvey Dent, the two having attended the same university before she transferred out the year Harvey married Gilda-, she was captured and taken to Two-Face's lair in the sewers, where he shot her after realizing that she was in love with him, and although their relationship had apparently been sexual in nature, Two-Face claimed to still be a "married man". This killing marks one of the few murders Dent/Two-Face has performed in which he does not flip his scarred coin first, meaning his two personalities are, for once, in agreement about what has to happen.
• Pino and Umberto Maroni- The sons of deceased gangster Sal Maroni, they were attempting to win respect with the Falcone family and then strike them down upon gaining control (although Zucco's dying words revealing them to be twins suggests Two-Face may have been using them for his own ends). Two-Face, cleaning up loose ends as the Falcone empire crumbles, shot both of them at two in the morning with two shots each to the chest, killing them in their own restaurant on Columbus Day.
• Edward Skeevers- One of the few trusted Falcone family friends, Skeevers was the consigliere following the death of his predecessor Milos Grappa. He was murdered by Mr. Freeze during the Rogues Gallery's Columbus Day Massacre.
• Bobby Gazzo- Head of the mafia families in Metropolis, he is killed by the Joker during the Columbus Day Massacre, shot to death in his hotel room.
• Lucia Viti- Carmine Falcone's niece and de facto heir of her deceased mother's Chicago crime organization, she is killed by Poison Ivy as part of the Columbus Day Massacre.

Batman enlists the help of James Gordon, but is still left troubled after Harvey Dent is horribly scarred by a criminal he is prosecuting, bringing out into the open his latent multiple personality disorder and transforming him into a violent crime boss. Now known as Two-Face, Dent wreaks havoc on Gotham and forces Batman to confront his former ally.

In the end, the Hangman is revealed to be Sofia Falcone Gigante, daughter of the late crime boss. After seeing her father murdered by Two-Face, Sofia charges forward and is restrained by Catwoman. During the struggle, Catwoman scars the right side of Sofia's face and the two tumble out a window. In Dark Victory Catwoman tells Batman that when Sofia fell, her bolo/whip became tangled around Sofia's neck. The whip then caught on a stone gargoyle and threw Sofia through another window, and the broken glass sheared off the right side of her face. Catwoman (who believes that she is Falcone's illegitimate daughter) follows Sofia to Europe where she undergoes plastic surgery to restore the damage done to her face.

Sofia, who appears in a wheelchair for the majority the story, is shown with the left side of her face scarred, which we find she did herself after the surgery to be closer to her father's spirit (who was himself scarred by Catwoman in Batman: Year One). Catwoman tells Batman she was able to find the doctor who treated her ruined face, but not one who treated her paralysis. This is because her paralysis was a ruse, in order to appear weak and avoid being a suspect in the Hangman murders (interestingly in issue #8, "Battle", the Joker deduces this, but is ambushed by Alberto and then Batman before he can truly test his theory). Her final target is Two-Face himself, although Batman saves him, and Dent kills Sofia with a gunshot to the head.