The 20 Best Fictional Crime Bosses

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15. “Boss” Rupert Thorne
DC Comics (Batman)
Actor: John Vernon, among others
Management style: Whatever it takes to keep Gotham open for crime.
Best line: “All men have something to hide. The brighter the picture, the darker the negative.”

14. Brick Top Polford
Snatch
Actor: Alan Ford
Management style: Threaten to feed the bodies of disobedient underlings to the pigs and torch buildings with their family members.
Best line: "Do you know what “nemesis” means? A righteous infliction of retribution manifested by an appropriate agent. Personified in this case by an ’orrible cunt… me."

13. Nino Brown
New Jack City
Actor: Wesley Snipes
Management style: Megalomania and intimidation with a dash of paranoia.
Best line: “Sit your five-dollar ass down before I make change.”

12. Jabba The Hutt
Star Wars series
Actor: Larry Ward
Management style: Business first, but that doesn’t keep him from enjoying the fruits of his labor—or enjoying punishment for those who fail.
Best line: “Han, Han, I can’t make exceptions. What if everyone who smuggled for me dropped their cargo at the first sign of an Imperial Starship. It’s not good business.”

11. The Joker
The Dark Knight
Actor: Heath Ledger
Management style: A pencil-pusher only in the literal sense of the word, he’s not in it for the money and doesn’t have the slightest regard for his underlings.
Best line: “Don’t talk like one of them. You’re not! Even if you’d like to be. To them, you’re just a freak, like me! They need you right now, but when they don’t, they’ll cast you out, like a leper! You see, their morals, their code, it’s a bad joke. Dropped at the first sign of trouble. They’re only as good as the world allows them to be. I’ll show you. When the chips are down, these… these civilized people, they’ll eat each other. See, I’m not a monster. I’m just ahead of the curve.”