The Joker meets William Fisk 

The Joker was in Omaha New England relaxing after meeting Mr. Dennison the boss of the city.  Joker couldn’t believe he was in Omaha, a city known for steaks and union pacific.  Joker was there to set up his newest bookmaking house and numbers bank.  Dennison would get 20 percent for allowing the Joker to operate there and to insure that he could operate openly, with little interference from the law.  Omaha had a reputation for gambling and bars.  Joker came here because he knew that the national syndicate sent their bookies to Omaha to layoff bets they had taken to help balance their action and reduce the risk of a heavy loss.  This was like having a casino just for the syndicate. 

Dennison was known as the Policy Game King aka King Gambler.  He never held public office but he knew how to protect his interest and he operated as a power broker between the business community and the local crime bosses.  If you didn’t have his approval it wasn’t happening.  Dennison wasn’t so sure about dealing with the Joker.  He had one of his lieutenants agree to meet with him and work with him to get a feel for how the Joker operated and to figure out if he could be trusted. 

William Fisk was tall with wide shoulders, a man that towered over most and his hands were twice as big as most men.   Joker met Fisk at a restaurant where they were eating Omaha steaks and drinking expensive wine.  Joker liked Fisk, the man showed he liked the finer things in life, dressed well, ate as well as he dressed and had flair.   They spent a week talking and getting to know each other to determine if they could do business together.  On day four Fisk had an altercation with a truck driver and Joker watched as William took the man out of the truck and then punched and pushed the man into an alley and then punched the man repeatedly in the face until the man was dead.  He kept saying I told you to stop, didn’t I.  He repeated that comment a dozen times until he was done.  Then he looked at the Joker like that was nothing but normal day to day events.  

Joker smiled and told William Fisk he was truly a man of class and style and that he should be running things one day soon.  Then they went to eat as Fisk took another white suit Jacket from his car and replaced the one he was wearing.  Fisk was wondering if the Joker had any bad bone and wanted to test him sometime soon.  However that test came on its own when the Joker spotted one of his old partners that ratted him out to the cops and it cost the Joker a pretty penny to get out of a long prison sentence. 

Joker smiled and asked William to watch for the cops as he needed to handle something.  Joker, not one to be outdone, walked over to the man and greeted him.  Then walked him slowly out of the ice cream shop to the alley on the side of the building.  Joker didn’t ask questions, he simply took a hundred dollar bill out of his pocket of cash and then put the rest back then stuck the bill in the man's mouth as he slit his throat with his straight razor that was in his left hand. Joker took his right arm and grabbed the man before he fell and helped him to the far side of the dumpster and laid him on the ground.  Joker looked at his Jacket and yelled shit as he walked over to Fisk.  He said He needed to change his clothes, could they have dinner a little later?  The two men laughed and agreed to meet at a certain restaurant in two hours.     

The Grand Plan

Six months have past and the Joker had both rackets up and running.  Dennison was now a pain in the Jokers ass wanting his cut weekly instead of monthly.  Collecting five grand a week was something the guys just started putting to the side.  Also Dennison had not given William Fisk the promotion he was signed to collect the money from the Joker and take ten percent of that for himself.  Good thing the business was growing and Fisk was taking a bit more for himself.  He was a bit upset with the status quo and wanted more so he approached the Joker to ask a few questions.  He wasn’t sure that the Joker would go alone with his proposal. 

They met in the Joker’s office.  He started by asking the Joker if he recalled when they first met and Joker said he can see Fisk as the boss running Dennison’s operation.  Joker nodded yes and smiled and said so you want to move up.  Fisk nodded and went directly into his plan.  The Joker shook his head no and explained that killing Dennison wouldn’t get him to the top.  Sam Ziegman and Eddie Barrick were the top two captains in the organization and had the toughest crews in the organization they ran the gambling joints and shylock portion for Dennison they just didn’t know of the Jokers operation. 

Joker had the second biggest layoff book between Chicago and the West Coast but it was Barrick who was known as the "millionaire bookie.   It was Ziegman who ran the largest shy racket on the east coast.  Joker was closing in on both men and they don't know that Dennison was playing both sides.  Joker said why kill the man when you can get the people to turn on him.  It's the people that allow us to operate and hide among them.  Use all your resources and then run the town.  Joker said you not being a captain wont gain the support from any of the other captains and you crew with my people would put me in a terrible position.

Joker then suggested a plan, where Fisk goes to Sam and Eddie and speak with them.  Let them know that you can deliver Sam the chair but you want a seat at the table as either the underboss or consigliere.  Let them agree which spot you get and you then collect the fee from me minus half and keep the rest of Dennison’s operations that you're collecting from.  Then you hit Dennison's rival, the man of the people and leave evidence that it was Dennison that ordered the hit.  Get people out of the state to do it and then get them out of the country that same night.  

Harry’s people will think that it was Dennison who was responsible and they will turn the public’s opinion against him and the old man will have to retire.  Fisk asked the Joker why he thinks that will work.  Joker laughed and said there was a guy running Atlantic city he was called the Admiral or General or Commodore some shit like that, then Enoch Thomson set him to prison for a few years but the Commodore turned over everything to Enoch not knowing it was him that framed the old man.  

You do this right and you got money coming in and you're in a top spot where you have Sam as your front man and you're giving advice or you're running all of the day to day operations for Sam either way you're in the know and have control.  Fisk liked the plan and agreed to taking only percent of the Jokers gambling and shylock business while keeping the locals in check and the police off his back.  Fisk smiled at the thought of increasing his income by three hundred percent and being closer to the top spot without all eyes on him.  Joker then poured himself and Fisk a shot of Scotch and celebrated a bit early.  Joker knew he could work with Sam and Eddie and with him and Fisk now becoming close friends Joker wasn’t worried about his rackets getting hit by bitter rivals.