Civil War; War Crimes #1
Written by Frank Tieri
Art by Staz Johnson
• A flashback reveals that as a kid, Kingpin never got to play with his peers because they made fun of him and ridiculed his appearance. In present day, Kingpin is on Riker's Island and hires the Enforcers to beat up on an inmate who showered in his personal shower stall.
• It turns out that Kingpin has a man named Mr. Barrett who takes care of his hands-on work like talking to inmates and guards. Hammerhead, a metahuman mobster with a flat adamantium skull, approaches Kingpin to tell him he's made parole and will be taking over the crime on the streets of New York while Kingpin rots in jail.
• Just then, Tony Stark appears in the prison to talk with Kingpin. Apparently, he and Kingpin belonged to the same social circles as millionaires and used to play chess together.
• Kingpin tells Tony he'd like to assist the government in finiding Captain America like Lucky Luciano, a famous mobster from New York's past, did for the government during World War II. Luciano stopped German U-Boats from hitting port in secret during the war. Tony agrees to allow Kingpin help based on the quality of his information.
• Outside the prison, Hammerhead talks with Trapster and Slyde to recruit them to his side. When Slyde declines, Hammerhead has a mobster named Underworld shoot him the head. As word of Kingpins loss of control reaches prison, attempts are made on Kingpins life, to no avail. His assailants are not capable of taking him down.
• During a later meeting with Tony Stark in prison, Kingpin provides the secret aliases of Cap and his followers. Meanwhile, Barrett meets with his wife, who visits him in prison. He gets info from her about Hammerhead recruiting criminals and he hands her a secret note to give to an unidentified person.
• Later, Tony comes to Kingpin to notify him that the government has captured Cloak and Dagger. Kingpin then tells Tony he can hand the government the exact whereabouts of Captain America and the anti-registration forces but only if he can get out of prison. Maria Hill approves the request and Kingpin provides an address.
• Iron Man and his people descend on the building in the address and discover that it is actually a meeting Hammerhead is having with a wide array of criminals who hope to take advantage of the heroes' civil war.
• When Tony goes back to the Rikers to yell at Kingpin, Mr. Barrett tells Tony that Kingpin doesn't want to see him. A quick change of scene later shows that Captain America was actually working with Kingpin in some capacity to bring down the cadre of criminals and traded secrets with Kingpin to confuse Tony. The note that Barrett's wife took out was to Captain America.
• Later, in a prison hospital bed, Hammerhead is visited by Underworld, who then shoots hammerhead in the face. Turns out Underworld worked for Kingpin and actually hated Hammerhead for a past double-cross. Back in prison, Kingpin gets back his reputation as a master criminal because of the fast one he pulled on Tony and the government.
