Haines worked his way up through the ranks of organized crime in New York City. His skill at swindling people earned him the nickname of Gyp, and he soon was fronting his own gang. It occurred to Haines that if someone could manage to scale the exteriors of the buildings where wealthy residents lived in penthouses, and bypass the interior security, they could easily rob those citizens blind. He trained himself in acrobatics, adopted the identity of the Acrobat, and he and his mob began a daring string of penthouse robberies.
Police were unable to determine how the thieves were able to enter the penthouses, but Hawkman and Hawkgirl discovered the truth and apprehended Haines and his mob.
