[5] While robbing a Chinese restaurant that served as a front for the local triad, Mickey and his crew are attacked by the Punisher, who leaves the crook alive while butchering everyone else.

Via psychological torture, the Punisher coerces Mickey into sponsoring him (under the alias "Johnny Tower") for membership in the Carbones, a Brooklyn crime family he belongs to.

The attempt on Salvatore's life goes awry, and ends with him falling through the ice of a frozen lake, where he is later found by the authorities and admitted to a hospital as a John Doe.

[7] Mickey and the Punisher's efforts to sabotage the Carbone family are ultimately discovered by Julius who orders his men to kill them, though the two are saved by Shotgun.

[11] Mickey and Microchip's investigation leads to them being captured by Hydra, though the two are able to stave off being executed by the organization by telling Werner von Strucker that they are members of the Secret Empire.

[15] The Punisher subsequently has Mickey, who had taken to bootlegging cartoons, provide information about a child pornographer living in Long Island,[16] and help him rescue his stolen guard dog, Max.

[24] After the Punisher catches him trying to steal telephone card numbers at an airport, Mickey tips the vigilante off about Russian mobsters who are arranging a deal with a Vietnamese gangster named Randy Kwoc.

[4][30][31][32] While Stone Cold is out hunting the Punisher and Microchip, Mickey breaks the chair he was left tied to, and returns to his trailer, where he is taunted by a passing Bullseye.