Kingpin Rules

Written by Kal-El

Wilson Fisk also known as The Kingpin, is the cold-blooded leader of the New York mafia, although his armies of lawyers maintain his image as a legitimate businessman. The character played a prominent role in the Daredevil stories of the late 1970s and early 1980s written by Frank Miller.

Wilson Fisk is a criminal mastermind who was involved in extensive illegal activities such as drug running, smuggling, murder, and so forth. Despite this, he had (until recently, see below) no criminal record and an army of lawyers to keep it that way, and is a criminal financial strategist without parallel.

Fisk has no superhuman powers, but the majority of his 400-plus pound bulk is muscle (when he delivered a kick to the Kingpin's back, Daredevil could only think, "Whatever that was, it wasn't fat. Felt more like rock"). He is a superb fighter who has held his own against Spider-Man, but in recent years Daredevil has occupied his attention. He has been aware of Daredevil's secret identity for years, thanks to Karen Page's drug-fueled betrayal. Though Spider-Man and Daredevil are his greatest enemies, he has also tangled with Captain America, Moon Knight, Doctor Strange, The Punisher, the Avengers, and Ghost Rider, among others. He has employed any number of costumed criminals and assassins, notably Elektra, Bullseye, Jack O'Lantern, Answer, and Typhoid Mary.

Wilson Fisk began his life as a poor child, ridiculed by his classmates, as he was heavy and unpopular. When he was repeatedly harassed by bullies, Fisk began training himself in physical combat. Using his newfound strength, he intimidated the bullies into joining his gang, and he started on the road towards being one of the most successful criminals in New York City. His first gang was a small one with only a few thugs. However, he eventually was found by crime lord Don Rigoletto. Fisk became Don Rigoletto's bodyguard and right-hand man. Eventually, Fisk killed Don Rigoletto and took control of his gang, immediately becoming one of the most powerful criminals in the city.

The Kingpin stayed the ruler of New York's criminal underground for a long time. However, he had made enemies with other gangs, specifically the Maggia and HYDRA, who teamed together to bring down Fisk and his gang. Fisk left for Japan after his empire was brought down, and started a spice business, in order to become wealthy once more. After earning enough money, Fisk returned to New York and started gang wars, in an attempt to bring down the Maggia. With the criminal world in chaos, Fisk was able to step in and take control.

While Fisk was a powerful crime lord, he posed as a legitimate businessman, one who made donations to charities, and seemed like a generous, wealthy man. He eventually met a woman named Vanessa, whom he married and had a son with, Richard Fisk. Vanessa did not know that Fisk was a criminal when she married him, and when she found out, she threatened to leave him if he did not give up his life of crime. He temporarily retired from crime, and the family moved back to Japan, until gang wars in New York required Fisk's attention.

Richard Fisk did not find out that his father was a criminal until he was in college. After graduating, Richard told his parents he would travel through Europe. Only months after he left, they received news that Richard, who was angry after learning the truth about his father, had died in a skiing accident. However, this was not what really happened. It turned out that Richard Fisk was still alive, and he rose up to be one of the Kingpin's greatest criminal enemies, a rival crimelord known as The Rose. When Kingpin's empire was at its top, Fisk was the most powerful human in the Marvel universe, controlling several governments including the United States of America.

Wilson Fisk eventually lost his criminal empire to one of his employees, Samuel Silke, who was working with his son Richard, in a bloody Caesar-like assassination bid. In the aftermath, Vanessa killed Richard and fled the country with Fisk's remaining wealth while the Kingpin recuperated in an unnamed eastern-European country, broken and alone.

He returned, and after getting revenge on Silke by crushing his head, almost managed to regain his empire through sheer will, but was defeated by Daredevil, who declared himself the new Kingpin. Fisk was put in jail.

Recently, he hatched a scheme to be freed and regain his wealth by giving the F.B.I. proof in the form of the nonexistent "Murdock Papers" that Matt Murdock is Daredevil. Having made so many enemies who were in prison, Fisk was constantly under attack from the Hand, HYDRA, or any number of criminal organizations with which he had had intimate contact. The U.S. Government was hard pressed to get rid of this expensive, dangerous, legally clean master criminal, and Fisk succeeded in manipulating the F.B.I. into gravely wounding Daredevil and directing them to his D.N.A. He tells Ben Urich to give the feds the location of the Night Nurse, the only medic for injured superheroes, or go to jail.

He succeeded in getting Matt Murdock finally arrested, but the F.B.I. betrayed him at the last minute and arrested him as well, placing him in the same jail as Murdock with hopes that the two would kill each other. Ironically, the enemies were forced to team up in order to survive a prison riot which was directed at them. Finally, Murdock sacrificed the deal, refusing to let Bullseye, who was also incarcerated, leave the prison as Kingpin had planned. The fight ended with the Kingpin shot point-blank in the knee by gunfire from Bullseye intended for Murdock, while Murdock escaped.

This is not just a regular story of a Mafia; this is the story of Wilson Fisk, So far…