Karl Lukaz (Earth-One)

Before you can be part of our organization, I must be sure of your loyalty! The "business world" is ruthless and we must use ruthless methods to obtain that loyalty!

— Karl Lukaz ^src

Karl "Big Uncle" Lukaz was a powerful figure in the Metropolis criminal underworld, yet in spite of his cunning methods, his operations and he were dragged into the light by Superman and the Batman.

History

Karl Lukaz was a well-respected Metropolis industrialist who gave copious amounts of money to charitable causes and publicly delivered lectures on the entrepreneur's social obligations to combat poverty and environmental degradation. Behind this benevolent facade, however, was an amoral, power-hungry sociopath who made his profits mainly by racketeering and used his honest businesses to front these operations. Known to his men by the moniker "Big Uncle," Lukaz ran a organized crime syndicate to ply his trade in death and debauchery and bribed city officials to keep law enforcement off his back. To enforce his syndicate's omertà code, Lukaz tasked new underlings in his organization, referred to as his "nephews," with perpetrating an illegal operation for his mob. Lukaz would collect the evidence of each of these crimes to secure loyalty and have them secretly stored in a backroom of the Metropolis Museum under cover of a private criminology exhibit. Lukaz would make these trips to deposit articles of evidence in his collection with the excuse of attending meetings of the museum's board of trustees. If one of his "nephews" acted in a way he considered "naughty" (i.e. betraying the syndicate), Lukaz made sure that the article of evidence implicating the recalcitrant underling made its way to the D.A.'s office, no doubt through corrupt forensic and police channels that would take care to cover up Lukaz's own involvement.

The existence of "Big Uncle" came to the attention of Superman and Batman when his mob tried to engineer an "accident" to happen to Dick Grayson as retribution against Haly's Circus for failing to pay protection money. Superman created a false persona as counterfeiter Alonzo "The Penman" Scarns and infiltrated Lukaz's organization, faking the death of Bruce Wayne in order to win Lukaz's trust. Wayne, still suffering mild traumatic brain injury from the engineered equestrian accident that "killed" him, then joined Superman in infiltrating the Lukaz mob, using the stolen identity of captured racketeer "Doc" Danner, alias "The Planner." Superman then elected to kidnap Lukaz and hold him captive in the Fortress of Solitude while Batman impersonated Lukaz himself to search for incriminating evidence against the real Lukaz and his mob.^[1] However, the robot programmed by Superman to prevent Lukaz's escape from the Fortress experienced a systems malfunction and eventually transported Lukaz back to Metropolis, where Batman's injury briefly caused the Dark Knight to genuinely believe himself to be Lukaz. At the plea of Robin, Batman regained his memories and his true personality. At this moment, the real Lukaz struck, forcing Superman to fake the murder of Batman, Robin, and Jimmy Olsen by his hand in order to prove to the gangster that he truly believed he was Alonzo Scarns and loyal to the organization. Using the necessity of dumping Batman's body as an alibi, Superman transported Batman to the Metropolis Museum, which the crime-fighting duo figured out was where Lukaz was keeping the evidence against his "nephews." Lukaz wasn't fooled by Superman's act and beat him to the museum, however, planning to detonate a set of charges contained in the exhibit to destroy each article of evidence with a controlled small explosion. Luckily, Robin knocked the detonator out of Lukaz's hand with a Batarang at the last second, and the mob boss was subsequently arrested.^[2]

Powers and Abilities

Abilities

Other Characteristics

Missing Eye

Paraphernalia

Equipment

Remote charges and detonator

Transportation

Limousine

Weapons

Pistol

Notes

In the two-parter spanning World's Finest #194-195, Lukaz's mob is referred to solely as "the Mafia," but Lukaz's German name and willingness to allow other non-Italians to climb the organizational hierarchy make it highly unlikely that Lukaz represents any branch of the Cosa Nostra or its Italian-American offshoot. The absence of any defining ethnic characteristic in Lukaz's mob makes it more apropos to refer to it as a syndicate than as a mafia.