Maggia (comics)

Fictional organization

Maggia is a fictional international crime syndicate appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The organization exists in Marvel's main shared universe, known as Earth 616, as well as other Marvel universes. Its structure is somewhat similar to the real world New York Mafia (which is itself rarely mentioned in Marvel publications), but the Maggia differs in that it frequently hires supervillains and mad scientists to work for them. Some of the prominent Maggia members are supervillains themselves, such as Hammerhead, Silvermane, Count Nefaria and his daughter Madame Masque. The Maggia has come into conflict with various superheroes, including Spider Man, Daredevil, the Fantastic Four, the X Men, and the Avengers. Comic creator Scott Shaw believes that the Maggia were created to avoid offending the real life Mafia, as some comic book distributors had Mafia ties in the 1960s. Since their debut in comics, the Maggia have been adapted into several forms of media, including television series and video games. The Maggia appeared in the second season of the Marvel Cinematic Universe television series Agent Carter, with the Los Angeles branch led by Joseph Manfredi portrayed by Ken Marino.

The Maggia first appeared in The Avengers #13 (February 1965) and was created by Stan Lee and Don Heck.

The Maggia is an international crime syndicate that is the world's most powerful organization dedicated to conventional crime (as opposed to subversive activities). Originating in southern Europe, the Maggia spread throughout non Communist Europe and the Americas. Its presence in the United States first came to public attention in the 1890s, and the Maggia's widespread bootlegging of illegal liquor during the Prohibition Era has become legendary. Today the Maggia controls most of the illegal gambling, loan sharking, and narcotics trade in the United States, as well as many legal gambling casinos in Atlantic City, New Jersey and Las Vegas, Nevada. It also has great influence within various labor unions, and controls politicians on every level of government. Especially in recent years, the Maggia has invested many of its illegal gains into legitimate businesses. However, the Maggia enforces a strict code of secrecy among its members, and does not hesitate to punish betrayals and failures with death. The Maggia is not a monolithic organization but is instead a coalition of many virtually independent groups known as "families." The leading members of each family are usually connected through familial or marital ties. The Maggia also has affiliations with other criminal groups such as the Morgan organization in New York City's Harlem. With Bruno Karnelli's terrible leadership, the loss of Silvermane, Count Nefaria pursuing his own agenda, and Hammerhead siding with Mister Negative, the Maggia is thrown into chaos until Mysterio appears and uses robot duplicates of the dead Maggia members. When the Hawkeyes Kate Bishop and Clint Barton attempted to make a difference in the lives of everyday people by fighting organized crime, several New York crime families, including the Maggia, struck back against them. During the "Infinity" storyline, it was revealed that the Nobili Family are members of the Maggia where some of its members turned out to be descendants of some Inhumans. During the "Gang War" storyline, Count Nefaria visits Hammerhead's group after hearing about what happened to Madame Masque. While mentioning that he'll take the blame for what happened to her daughter, Count Nefaria tells Hammerhead that the other crime lords will bow to the Maggia once again. As Count Nefaria talks with Silvermane about the upcoming gang war, a mysterious person crashes their meeting by taking control of Silvermane's body by having it attack Count Nefaria and remove Silvermane's head from it. The Maggia are shown on the map of New York City to be assisting Hammerhead in running Astoria. Having defeated Hammerhead and revealed to still be alive, Madame Masque dares Hammerhead to call all of his men. When they show up, they find Madame Masque and Shotgun with a defeated Count Nefaria and Silvermane's head in his arms. They are left swearing an oath to her as Silvermane's head declares her the new leader of the Maggia. Madame Masque, Shotgun, and Silvermane's head learn about different statuses like Mister Negative's fight with Mister Negative, the Maggia acquiring Crime Master's territory upon Spider Man and his allies defeating him and Ringmaster, and the Sinister Syndicate fighting Rose. In addition, Madame Masque is told by Shotgun that Kingpin is back in town and Janice Lincoln has an army. Madame Masque states that her family will be fighting Kingpin's family soon as she tells her father that she has a use for him. Madame Masque later recruited the A. I. M. Agents that avoided capture when Crime Master was defeated to her side. Thanks to her mastery over technology and magic, it is revealed that Madame Masque is using a spell to control Shotgun. After a parley with Janice Lincoln, Madame Masque uses the same control spell on Count Nefaria and Silvermane the next day when the Maggia confronts the Sinister Syndicate (who now have Digger since Rose was taken away by Wilson Fisk's men) and their allies in Central Park as she gets special gauntlets from Rabble. Madame Masque, Count Nefaria, Silvermane, Shotgun, and the A. I. M. Agents on Madame Masque side face off against Janice Lincoln, the Sinister Syndicate, and those who are on Janice's side. Digger was able to tackle Count Nefaria and Silvermane. Using her special gauntlets, Madame Masque takes down Beetle and Digger. When Spider Man and his allies show up, Spider Woman and Elektra's Daredevil appearance make their way towards Count Nefaria and Silvermane. After knocking out a mind controlled Owl, Spider Man takes on Madame Masque. After Tombstone had those on Janice's side fall back, Mayor Luke Cage, Mary Jane Watson's Jackpot appearance, and Spider Boy arrive to help fight the Maggia. A liberated Shotgun shoots the mind control sigils off of Count Nefaria and Silvermane leaving them to be subdued by Jackpot and She Hulk. Mayor Cage and She Hulk fight Silvermane while Elektra, Jackpot, and Spider Woman fight Count Nefaria leading to both their defeats. Madame Masque is defeated when Spider Man webs up her final gauntlet enough to explode. The defeat of the Maggia enabled Tombstone to take over the New York underworld.

Several "families" are based in the New York City area. Three of these families have come to pre eminence:

This group bears little resemblance to the rest of the Maggia. The Italian nobleman Count Luchino Nefaria, a scientific genius, was the world's most powerful Maggia leader until his initial defeat by the Avengers. Afterwards, he moved his base of operations to the New York City area, and then imprisoned Washington, D. C. within an impenetrable force dome and held it for ransom. After his defeat and capture, his daughter Giulietta, also known as Whitney Frost, succeeded him as family head and led an unsuccessful attempt to capture the advanced weaponry of Tony Stark. She was eventually succeeded by a costumed criminal, the Masked Marauder, who demanded complete control of New York City or else he would detonate a nuclear device there. After his capture, the family again apparently came under control of Whitney Frost, by then known as Madame Masque. Contrary to standard Maggia practice, the Nefaria family, principally consisting of men under 40, has employed futuristic weaponry and even robots (like the Dreadnoughts), as well as costumed super powered agents (Unicorn, Whiplash, Gladiator, etc. ), First appeared in Strange Tales #112 (Sept. 1963). Killed by Gladiator. Madame Masque / Whitney Frost (Giulietta Nefaria) – Head of the Nefaria family and daughter of Count Nefaria. First appeared in Tales of Suspense #97 (Jan. 1968). Gladiator (Melvin Potter) – Former member. First appeared in Daredevil #18 (July 1966). Daniel Lindy – First appeared in Spectacular Spider Man #22 (Sept 1978). Masked Marauder (Frank Farnum) – Former leader of the Nefaria family. First appeared in Daredevil #16 (May 1966). Plantman (Samuel Smithers) – Former agent. Unicorn (Milos Masaryk) – Former agent. First appeared in Tales of Suspense #97 (Jan. 1968).

The Nobili Family is a struggling Maggia family. It turns out that some of the members of the Nobili Family are descendants of some Inhumans. The following members are seen in the Nobili Family. Gordon "Gordo" Nobili – The patriarch of the Nobili family. First appeared in Thunderbolts (vol. 2) #14. Carmen Nobili – The son of Gordon Nobili. First appeared in Thunderbolts (vol. 2) #14. Killed during the fight against the Paguro Family, even when the Thunderbolts interfered. Joseph Nobili – The son of Gordon Nobili. First appeared in Thunderbolts (vol. 2) #14. Killed during the fight against the Paguro Family, even when the Thunderbolts interfered.

The Fortunato Family are strong opposers of Wilson Fisk who came in conflict with Spider Man. The following members are seen in the Fortunato Family. Don Vincente Fortunato – The patriarch of the Fortunato family. First appeared in Spider Man #70. Jimmy 6 (Giacomo Fortunato) – The son of Don Fortunato and his top enforcer. First appeared in Spider Man #70. Angelo Fortunato – The youngest son of Don Fortunato, who briefly became the host for Venom. First appeared in Marvel Knights: Spider Man #7. Killed when he fled from a battle with Spider Man and was abandoned by the Venom symbiote for his cowardice.

In the House of M reality, the Maggia is a criminal organization that was led by Count Nefaria. The Maggia were annihilated by Magneto's Sentinels for plotting against him.

The Maggia appears in the Iron Man episode "Beauty Knows No Pain", consisting of Madame Masque and her henchmen. The Maggia appears in Iron Man: Armored Adventures. This version of the group is led by Count Nefaria, with Black Knight, Unicorn, and Killer Shrike serving under him, and are rivals of the Mandarin's gang the Tong. A Los Angeles branch of the Maggia appears in the second season of Agent Carter, led by Joseph Manfredi.

The Maggia appear in the Spider Man: Far From Home prequel short film Peter's To Do List.

The Maggia appear in Iron Man. This version of the group is a weapons manufacturing company and former partner of Stark Industries. When Tony Stark announces that his company is no longer producing weapons, the Maggia attempt to seek revenge, but Iron Man cripples their production capabilities and forces them into bankruptcy. In an article for IGN, game director Jeffrey Tseng explained that adapting the Iron Man film script into a game was the perfect opportunity to include characters and groups from Iron Man's history to fill it out. He declared " we were looking through Iron Man's history to find characters and groups that would resonate with dedicated fans. [The] Maggia, Advanced Idea Mechanics, Titanium Man, and other characters in the game all came from this extensive research." The Maggia appear in Marvel: Avengers Alliance. The Maggia appear in Marvel Heroes. This version of the group is led by the Kingpin. The New York branch of the Maggia appears in the Spider Man DLC The City That Never Sleeps, consisting of the Fortunato, Costa, Cicero, Mauchio, and Hammerhead families. Following the arrest of the Kingpin and Mister Negative in the main game, the Maggia attempt to fill the power vacuum and engage in a brutal gang war. Eager to end the war quickly, Hammerhead tries to force the other families to submit to him by employing Black Cat to steal hard drives containing their collective wealth, but she betrays him to keep them for herself. Hammerhead seemingly kills her with a bomb, reasoning that he no longer needs the drives, and ordering his men to steal advanced technology from Sable International to give them an advantage over the other families. Hammerhead later kidnaps and attempts to kill the other Maggia crime lords on live television, though Spider Man foils his plan and defeats him. After Hammerhead escapes from police custody and transforms himself into a cyborg, Spider Man and Sable International's head Silver Sable join forces to defeat him once more.