The Crime League
The Crime League has been one of the most infamous groups of super-criminals in the world for generations. The original Crime League was founded in 1942, when American super-criminals banded together for mutual protection and assistance and formed the first modern-day supervillain team. The League’s charter members were Doctor Zero, Marionette, Magnifico the Magician, Opal, and Tom Cypress, joined later by August Roman, the Maestro, and the original King Cole, amongst others.
All Crime League members had previous clashes with various Freedom City “mystery men,” and realized America’s entry into World War II greatly increased their chances of winding up in prison or dead. The newly formed Liberty League, police, FBI, and ordinary civilians across the country were all on the lookout for any suspicious activity—the sort supervillains generate naturally. Making matters worse, these vigilant folk were likely to shoot costumed criminals before they could explain they’re just out to line their own pockets, not help spread fascism.
The Crime League’s operations ranged from simple theft (bank heists and such) to complex schemes such as counterfeiting ration coupons or blackmailing the government with stolen super-weapons. When the opportunity presented itself, the League also tried to eliminate its rivals in the Liberty League, without success. The Crime League never cooperated with the Axis powers, but cared little that its misdeeds frequently jeopardized the American war effort.
Since then, the Crime League has gone through numerous incarnations and a regularly rotating membership, but has remained one of the most persistent foes of the Liberty League and its successor, the The Freedom League.
Many incarnations of the Crime League focused primarily on profit and security for its members. However, the League never proved especially good at either, attracting members with an axe to grind against this hero or that one, and therefore the attention of heroes who soon busted up the group and sent its members off to prison, continuing the cycle. Various leaders assembled new Crime Leagues to suit their own agendas. Such groupings quickly fell apart once their leader was out of the picture.
The current League is the creation of Drs. Stratosand Simian, originally led by Dr. Stratos as an instrument of revenge against Captain Thunder and his Freedom League allies. The League’s expansion after The Grue Invasion led Dr. Stratos to consider a similar expansion of the Crime League. What if, rather than just a rag-tag team of criminals, the League became a true syndicate encompassing super-criminals from around the world? The concept proved fruitful, setting up a criminal network, a kind of “shadow society” where criminals received support, information, and occasional allies in exchange for a cut of their profits. Many found what the Crime League had to offer useful, and their influence and resources grew.
Initially, the Crime League came up against a mysterious underworld force opposed to their expanded activities, apparently connected to the criminal haven set up in Emerald City. Members of the League were aware of, and used, Emerald City as a place to lay-low and recover, but details about the mysterious “Chamber” that controlled it had not surfaced, until a new criminal network threatened to intrude on their business. For some time, the League fenced behind the scenes with agents of what later turned out to be F.O.E., looking to preserve its own mercenary network.
When the Silver Storm shattered the Chamber alliance in Emerald City, F.O.E. and its erstwhile allies were distracted, to say the least, allowing the Crime League the opportunity to expand largely unopposed. They made some valuable contacts in Emerald City and the West Coast, and more firmly established operations in Freedom and the East Coast of the United States. The loss of Blackstar (who left Earth altogether) was more than made up for by Dr. Stratos’ victory against his old foe Captain Thunder, removing one of the stalwart and most experienced members of the Freedom League.
More recently, the Crime League has diversified, recruiting Freebooter to handle their communications and data-networking, and arranging a deal with Saturnine Roman for a cut of the Circuit-Maximus, in exchange for making the illegal fighting ring a “training” and recruitment resource for the Crime League itself.
The Crime League’s growth may portend trouble for Freedom City and its heroes, as they continue to look for opportunities to weaken known heroes and teams, and eventually bring them down. The Crime League’s greatest weakness is the internal ambitions of its members: Dr. Stratos remains largely in charge of the expanded group, with the support of Tom Cypress, but Dr. Simian occasionally bristles under Stratos’ leadership, and Medea is a fickle ally, at best, with plans of her own.
Structure
The Crime League’s current ethos is “walk softly, but carry a big stick.” They look to carry out their crimes in secret and, when they must act in full view of the public, prepare sufficient distractions and escape routes to ensure the inevitable interference of heroes will not stop them. They rely on the combined resources of the Ship and the Station for both escape and safe havens, and on the logistical and research skills of Freebooter to help prepare for every contingency.
The senior members of the League also arrange cuts of other profitable criminal enterprises, contributing to the organization’s coffers and operating expenses. The approach suits the schemers and realists, but they’ve had occasional difficulties getting to big egos like Stratos and Simian off the stage when a tactical withdrawal was called for.
Public Agenda
Power and profit are the Crime League’s main goals. Although some members may have dreams of conquest, for the most part, the League is dedicated to criminal enterprise, ranging from extending their influence over other profitable syndicates (often as a protection racket in exchange for their “patronage”) to pulling off daring robberies and other crimes.
The Crime League largely avoids murder-for-hire, although some of its members (like Orion) take such contracts. Its first goal is secrecy and security, followed by steady streams of income, and then the “personal” projects and ambitions of its members, although some of them put their own goals first.
To further its ambitions, the Crime League looks for opportunities to weaken or even eliminate heroes able to oppose them. They prefer to operate in secret, forgoing some of the more showy crimes of their predecessors. This approach does not always sit well with the more vengeful members, who want to pursue their vendettas without the League’s restrictions, but who also understand the value of its aid and protection.
History
The Crime League has accumulated considerable resources, thanks to taking cuts of members’ hauls and making deals with criminal enterprises.
The League has no one set headquarters, that being too vulnerable to discovery and raiding by the authorities or heroes. Instead, they maintain several, carefully hidden and kept secret.
THE SHIP
Buried in the muck beneath the South River Swamp is the battered hulk of the Jereid Hegemony counselor ship that brought Amusz M’sez (the so-called “Alien-Gator”) to Earth in the 1950s. Tom Cypress learned of the ship’s location from his reptilian friend before Alien-Gator returned to his home world. When he led the Crime League to it, Dr. Simian and other technologically-minded members were able to effect some repairs. Although the Ship’s primary drive is destroyed, it is still an quite effective hidden lair, possessed of full life support, sensor and computer systems, sufficient shielding to hide it from detection as well as a functional teleporter system, augmented by Crime League tech and magic.THE STATION
Deep beneath the streets of Freedom City, one of its abandoned subway stations has become a “waypoint” of a different sort for the Crime League. Medea has enchanted the station’s points of entry and exit into portals surrounded by mystic sigils, which can transport those who know the proper words and who are mystically attuned to a variety of destinations. The Station itself has been retrofitted in Art Deco elegance by Medea’s magic, and sees use as a central meeting place and bolt-hole for the League. The senior members maintain the fiction that this is their “primary” secret headquarters, keeping the Ship an even more closely guarded secret and place to retreat to, should the security of the Station become compromised.
Type
Illicit, Syndicate
Notable Members
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