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Background
After the defeat of the Big Man and before the rise of the Kingpin, the
New York mobs are fragmented, under the commands of various leaders. One of
these leaders is Lucky Lobo. It is not clear how big Lucky's mob machine is
but it is certainly powerful enough to attract the interest of Norman
Osborn.
Osborn first approaches Lucky Lobo through his agent known as the Headsman, a
hooded super-villain who uses prototypes of Osborn's eventual Green Goblin
equipment. Osborn tries to impress Lucky Lobo by having the Headsman kill
Spider-Man. When he thinks he succeeds, the Headsman goes and reports Spidey's
death to Lobo. Lucky is so pleased to hear this news that he begins to propose
a reorganization of the city's mobs with the Headsman in a prominent position
of authority. But before the proposal can be made, word comes to Lucky that
Spider-Man is still alive. The furious Headsman cuts Lucky's desk in half with
his executioner's axe and smashes through his window vowing to take Spider-
Man's head but Lucky is not impressed. In fact, the Headsman's failure taints
his benefactor as well. When Osborn, in his Green Goblin garb, approaches
Lucky to propose an alliance, he is treated "like a supplicant". The Goblin
gets revenge on his ineffectual lackey by defeating the Headsman and leaving
him for the police.
When the Goblin appears again, he is no longer proposing an alliance. He tells
Lucky that he is going to take over the whole mob. At first the Goblin
suggests a peaceful takeover but Lucky resists ("You must be nuts, Goblin!" he
says.) so Osborn decides to take Lucky's gang from him by other means. He gets
one of Lucky's men to betray him by turning over a list of Lucky's unreported
income. The Goblin uses his stoolies to pass the list of secret finances along
until they end up in the hands of Bugle reporter Frederick Foswell, who was
once the mob leader known as the Big Man. Foswell brings the list to J.
Jonah Jameson who takes it to the police. The cops start raiding Lucky's
secret establishments while the Green Goblin secretly pitches in to make sure
Lucky's men cannot escape. When Spider-Man enters the scene, the Green Goblin
leads him to Lucky's offices, setting up a battle between the web-slinger and
the members of the mob. When Spidey defeats his entire gang, Lucky proposes
that he and the wall-crawler team up against the Goblin. Instead, Spider-Man
leaves Lucky webbed up and waiting for the police. The Goblin thinks that he
can step in and take over until he discovers that the police have arrested the
entire Lucky Lobo gang. There is no longer an organization to take over.
While in prison, Lucky meets David Lowell, a former Osborn employee who became
the super-being known as Sundown. Lobo tries to befriend Lowell but doesn't
get very far. Still, after Lucky makes parole, he keeps tabs on Sundown. When
Lowell is released from prison, Lucky is determined to get him on his team and
to use him to regain control of the New York mobs. Lobo forces Sundown to join
him by threatening the life of Lowell's former neighbor Mary Kelleher (whom
Sundown accidentally crippled years before). All seems to go as planned until
Sundown double-crosses Lucky, with Spider-Man's help, sending the mob boss back
to jail.
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