EXCLUSIVE: Dexter alum David Zayas is joining the cast of Fox‘s Batman prequel drama series Gotham as a recurring. He will play DC Comics character Mob Boss Salvatore Maroni, one of the city’s most dangerous gangsters. In the Batman mythology, Maroni is a street operator who clawed his way into c ontrolling the city’s drug trade and unions. He is second only to Carmine Falcone in power and reach, and second to none in his appetite for violence. In time, Maroni will develop into one of Batman’s first enemies and become infamous as the man responsible for disfiguring DA Harvey Dent, leading to his transformation into Two-Face. But for now, as he strives to gain more territory in Gotham, he’ll find himself on a crash course with his rival Falcone (John Doman) for control of the city. In the feature The Dark Knight, the role of Maroni was played by Eric Roberts.

A former New York police officer, Zayas segued to an acting career in 1992, originally focusing on theater before expanding to film and TV. While co-starring on the short-lived UPN cop drama The Beat, Zayas met the show’s executive producer Tom Fontana who went on to create the Enrique Morales character on his HBO series Oz for him. Probably best known for his role as Angel Batista on Showtime’s Dexter, Zayas, repped by ATA Management, Innovative Artists and Schreck Rose, recently recurred on the FX comedy series Saint George. He appeared in the features The Expendables, Skyline and Michael Clayton and will next be seen in the indie Ride and the Annie remake.

