Chapter 131: Legal Duel

After the trial, Gotham City suddenly saw a shift in the winds; Falcone discovered that changing the chessboard indeed seemed more advantageous for taking down the Maroni family without drawing blood; the Maroni family realized that if they wanted revenge, their only hope of turning the tables lay in dragging Falcone down through the judicial system; and the court officials found that the scalding-hot money had become increasingly abundant, making them dare less and less to take it.

After that conversation in prison, Luigi learned the full details of the entire affair from his son, and a few days later, he returned to the prison once again.

"Maroni, from today on, you must remember: Harvey Dent will become our ally—I, Luigi, at my advanced age, must now go seek cooperation with the very prosecutor who had my son thrown into prison. Do you know how shameful this is?"

Maroni looked up in shock, his tone filled with incomprehension.

"Dad?! Why—"

"Why do you ask? Outside the courtroom, without you, without your usable henchmen, what do we have to fight Falcone with? How ridiculous! Now, our greatest hope for a comeback rests solely on Gotham's judicial system and that district attorney."

After a long silence, Maroni spoke to Luigi with deep resentment.

"Dad, I can understand the family cooperating with Harvey Dent to fight Falcone, but two traitors must be dealt with."

"Luigi, if you want to cooperate with me, you cannot harm my two friends."

"Harvey Dent, do not push your luck. You should know very well that a blood feud is more hateful than an ordinary grudge, and a traitor is even more hateful than a blood feud."

In the office of the Gotham District Attorney, Harvey Dent, dressed in a white suit, and Luigi Maroni, with his hair dyed back to black, were negotiating.

"Vernon and Jenkins are law-abiding, hardworking good men. I cannot stand by and watch you use illegal means against them—you must know, I am the District Attorney of Gotham City."

"Law-abiding? Hardworking?" Luigi asked with a cold sneer: "When those two traitors were taking money, why didn't they think of being law-abiding? When they were deleting surveillance footage, why didn't they think of being hardworking?"

Harvey lowered his head, a barely perceptible smile flashing in his eyes, then fell silent.

Seeing the other man's silence, Luigi continued: "Maroni spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on them. Just that figure alone is enough to send them to prison for a long time to drink a bitter cup. According to your words, those two scoundrels only 'had a change of conscience' and came to you at the very end. The things they did, the laws they broke, are all solid facts. On what grounds do you help them?"

"No." Harvey hesitated for a long while, then shook his head again: "No matter what, the crimes they committed do not warrant death. If you want me to help you, you must first not use illegal means to solve the problem."

"Harvey Dent!" Luigi said in a deep voice: "You must understand now that neither Falcone nor I wish to reenact the St. Patrick's Day incident, which is why we decided to resolve this dispute without bloodshed. I do not wish to break this tacit understanding—I do not wish to, not that I cannot."

Harvey frowned tightly. Seeing his expression, Luigi knew his threat had taken effect; the prosecutor had already begun to waver.

"I will retreat one step further," he said. "Since you consider yourself the District Attorney of Gotham, then I will not launch further retaliation; I will only prosecute these two individuals according to all their illegal crimes. District Attorney Harvey, I hope you will enforce the law impartially."

Hearing Luigi's words, Harvey clenched both fists, pressed his lips tightly together, and his eyebrows twisted almost into a knot. Clearly, Luigi had struck his fatal weakness.

"This fool will agree," Luigi thought, seeing the look of struggle on his face: "Precisely because he is a prosecutor, he cannot shield the criminal Vernon and Jenkins."

"I agree."

After struggling for a long time, Harvey finally collapsed into compromise: "But you must swear to do your utmost to help me fight the Falcone family."

"Even if you did not say it, I would do so anyway," Luigi waved his hand: "You are a very upright prosecutor, Mr. Dent."

"I hope our cooperation is pleasant."

—

Anger is often provoked.

The two major gangs in fiery Gotham began a great battle in the courtroom. Starting from Maroni's imprisonment and thirty-year sentence, things began to spiral out of control.

The first to suffer misfortune was Falcone's drug network.

"Pune Falcone, convicted of trafficking large quantities of new narcotics, intentional homicide, and rape, sentenced to 114 years imprisonment."

"Rahn Adams, convicted of trafficking large quantities of new narcotics, intentional homicide, and rape, sentenced to 51 years imprisonment."

The following numerous verdicts are omitted. If one must describe the Maroni family's first wave of attacks in a single sentence, perhaps "pulling up a radish and bringing out mud" would suffice.

No one knew the Falcone family better than Luigi, this old rival; therefore, this round of attacks was quite comprehensive and effective, covering almost all core members of the drug network working for the Falcone family.

"I want that old man dead!"

Falcone slammed his fist onto the desk before him, gritting his teeth with a ferocious face: "And that Harvey Dent! Ruining my business, suing my family—I really should have dealt with him sooner!"

"Dad, should we—"

Sophia, behind him, made a throat-slitting gesture.

"That fool is just a gun; they can easily find another one. Moreover, we cannot act openly now—because that shameless old man will certainly start using the police department against the people we send out. Once both sides fight, no matter who wins, he wins."

"Then we—"

"We also file lawsuits. That old man dares not act violently now."

"Ollie Maroni, convicted of selling large quantities of handguns and rifles to thousands of adults under 21, intentional homicide, rape, and illegal possession of firearms, sentenced to 135 years imprisonment."

"Leonie Maroni, selling large quantities to thousands of—"

The following numerous verdicts are omitted. Falcone's counterattack can perhaps be described as "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."

Next, the courts and prisons of Gotham City were almost filled with people from the two major gangs—Falcone's drug network and Maroni's firearms trade, Falcone's human trafficking and Maroni's smuggling network, Falcone's numerous casinos and Maroni's numerous venues for sex-for-money transactions.

The two sides' legal warfare could not be said to have caused fatal injuries, but at the very least it could be described as blood flowing until the shields floated. Due to the excessive number of criminals, the Wayne Group even funded the government to begin constructing new large-scale prisons.

Until one day, Maroni's litigation targets turned to Falcone's enforcer group, and the name "Sophia Falcone" appeared prominently on the list.

(End of Chapter)