The Kingpin of Crime

For more than fifteen years, Wilson Fisk has been New York's Kingpin of Crime, the city's leading crimelord. He rose to power with ruthless determination, squeezing out his predessor, Silvio Manfredi (AKA Silvermane) in the process. Though his true vocation is known to the police and press, he has never been successfully convicted for his activities, though the authorities have come close on occasion - for instance, when Cullen, a bookkeeper employed by the Natchios brothers, Fisk subordinates, turned State's evidence many years ago. Though the brothers promised their superior that Cullen was unaware of their link to him, the accountant actually possessed a ledger that incontrovertibily tied the Kingpin to numerous crimes. Correctly doubting the Natchios brothers' ability to handle the problem, Fisk hired assassin Benjamin Poindexter to eliminate Cullen. Poindexter succeeded in spite of the presence of Elektra Natchios, who had been sent to Cullen's safe house by her cousins to recover the ledger; however, William Savage, Cullen's lawyer, tried to blackmail the Kingpin with a copy of the ledger.

Kingpin again sent in Poindexter, who managed to kill Savage but failed to recover the ledger thanks to the interference of Elektra and young law student, Matt Murdock. Elektra, whose father had been wrongfully accused of the Cullen slaying, delivered the book to Fisk in return for the Kingpin giving up Poindexter to the police and clearing his father's name; this proved to be the start of a lengthy working relationship between Fisk and Elektra. A few years later, the Kingpin was somehow involved in betraying burglar Jack Hardy to the police; Hardy was arrested in spite of a spirited defense from lawyer "Foggy" Nelson (ironically the partner of the now graduated Matt Murdock), he was sent to prison, where he later died. Hardy's daughter Felicia blamed Fisk, and would seek revenge years later.

Over time, Fisk's position began to seem unassailable; to the public he was a wealthy entrepreneur who supported worthy causes. The press dared not even suggest a link between him and the "Kingpin," though some dedicated reporters such as the Daily Bugle's Ben Urich continued to hunt for evidence which might bring him down. Even costumed vigilantes such as Hell's Kitchen's Daredevil proved only minor inconveniences. Other than his power and reputation, the only thing Fisk cared about was his wife, Vanessa. Fisk took few risks, rarely getting his own hands dirty with any direct involvement in criminality, employing others such as the Enforcers to act on his behalf.

When superpowered crimefighters began to spring up, Fisk evened the balence by trading construction contracts with industrialist Justin Hammer in return for the services of Electro; this turned out to be money well spent when Spider-Man broke into Fisk's offices. Electro overpowered the hero, whom the Kingpin then unmasked and interrogated; not recognizing him, the Kingpin had the youth thrown out the window, and then sent for Mr. Big, an underboss who had encountered Spider-Man days earlier. Fisk confronted Mr. Big correctly accused him of betrayal, then placed Spider-Man's mask over Mr. Big's head and crushed Mr. Big's skull with his bare hands. This personal touch proved to be a mistake when Spider-Man returned a few days later and stole the Kingpin's own surveilance footage of the murder. After his operatives failed to subdue the intruder, Fisk personally confronted Spider-Man as an attempted to leave with the footage; however, his immense strength could not counter Spider-Man's agility. He failed to land a single blow and ended up with his fists webbed to the wall. Spider-Man sent the surveilance discs to Ben Urich; Fisk was indicted and forced to flee the city, going into hiding in Brazil.

Eventually, Fisk's laywer Walter Dini managed to get the tapes of the murder ruled inadmissable, and the case was dropped. Fisk returned to New York, determined to avenge himself on Spider-Man. He secret back Dini's partner, Sam Bullit, in a campaign to be elected D.A. on an anti-Spider-Man platform. At first the Daily Bugle backed Bullit, as its editor J. Jonah Jameson had his own dislike of the wall-crawler; but when Ben Urich provided Jameson with proof of Bullit's links to the crimelord, the endorsement was swiftly and publicly withdrawn. Fisk sent the Enforcers to threaten Jameson and scare him into reinstating his support, but thanks to the intervention of Spider-Man, this backfired. The defiant Jameson's next headline read "Kingpin Cronies Blow Lid," publicly declaiming Fisk's criminality. Fisk's lunch that day was interrupted by Spider-Man; both men swapped threats and each made it clear he intended to destroy the other.

Fisk's attentions were diverted from Spider-Man by his wife Vanessa's illness. After she fell into a come, the Kingpin was prepared to clutch at any straw that might cure her. Mr. Moore, seeking a place in the Kingpin's organization, offered him a stone tablet that allegedly described a cure; but before Fisk could obtain it, the tablet was stolen by the Black Cat. Through a subordinate, the Kingpin hired Elektra to retrieve it and deal with the Cat. Though Elektra failed, in part of the interference of Spider-Man, information she provided allowed the Kingpin to identify the Black Cat as Felicia Hardy, now seeking revenge for the death of her father. Accompanied by Elektra, the Kingpin went to Felicia's apartment to deal with her personally; he had her gripped in his enormous hands and pinned to the wall when Spider-Man arrived. This distraction allowed the Black Cat to break free, snatch the tablet and race to the roof where she threw the tablet into the sea. After Elektra seemingly slew Felicia for this, the Kingpin departed and spent the night by his wife's bedside, apologizing to her for his failure and pleading for her to awaken.

Recently, the Kingpin's dominance of the New York underworld has been challenged by rival crimelord Hammerhead. Federal agents arrested several of Fisk's men, including lawyers Dini and underboss Sammy Silke; under close scrutiny from the Feds, the Kingpin found his hands tied as Hammerhead murdered his predessor Silvermane, took over the remains of his organization and began to target Kingpin's assets. Since the Enforcers switched sides to work for Hammerhead, Kingpin again hired Elektra, then provided information to Spider-Man to encourage the vigilante to stop Hammerhead. This conflict's outcome remains to be seen.