In the movie, "The Dark Knight," the main villain is a sadistic criminal, who refers to himself as the "Joker." This evil, twisted and brilliant character is the arch-nemesis of Batman, the "Caped Crusader" who watches over and protects the much beleaguered and crime-ridden Gotham City. The Joker wreaks havoc on Gotham, using its buildings, streets, and inhabitants as his personal experiment in uncontrolled destruction. His ultimate goal is to throw Gotham City into chaos, proving without question that nobody is safe as long as he controls the city. In "The Dark Night," he develops a four-step plan, ensuring that Gotham remains under his power and is thrown headlong into complete chaos.
The first part of the Joker's plan was to get the top members of the Gotham City mob on his side. Even though he's an evil mastermind, the Joker is only so much he can do on his own. He intercepts a meeting where all of the mob leaders are gathered and offers them a deal. He will get rid of Batman for half of all of their profits. They, of course, agree to this because, as the Joker points out, they are losing money. All of their buyers are afraid of the Batman, and regular civilians aren't scared of them anymore. He even goes a step farther and kills the one mob boss (Gambol) who is the only one of the group of mob bosses that doesn't want to go along with his plan.
After carrying out the first part of his plan, the Joker then attempts to turn Gotham City against the Batman. The Joker sends a tape to the local news showing himself torturing a young man in a Batman outfit. The film reveals this man was a vigilante pretending to be the Batman that the Joker has now caught. The Joker tells everyone that he wants The Batman to reveal his true identity or else a person would die each day if he doesn't. He then proceeds to kill the young man by way of hanging. Then an uproar begins amongst the city's onlookers, and the police put out a warrant for the arrest of Batman.
