The family is made up of corrupt officials and landowners of Irish descent, who hold absolute power in Basin City.
In the time period of the comics, the Roark dynasty is currently thriving, with family members in the United States Senate, an Attorney General and a Cardinal.
While serving the clergy, Cardinal Roark met Kevin, a cannibalistic young serial killer who mutilated and ate Old Town's prostitutes, believing he was devouring their souls.
Senator Roark once beat his wife to death with a baseball bat, for which he was never arrested, even though (by his own admission) he left his fingerprints all over the crime scene.
Senator Roark hopes for his son to one day become President of the United States, but Junior has a serious problem: he enjoys raping and murdering pre-teen girls.
Hartigan serves eight years in prison until he finally confesses to Junior's crimes, with the Senator personally appearing at his parole hearing.
During these years, the Senator had recourse to alternative medicines in order to heal his son and restore his reproductive organs, to eventually obtain an heir for his dynasty.
His public profile is that of a handsome young rich playboy; he is in fact a sadistic pedophilic serial killer who rapes and murders pre-pubescent girls.
These atrocities are frequently covered up by his father and the Basin City police department, but Detective John Hartigan is nevertheless determined to bring him to justice.
The surgeries leave Junior horribly malformed; he now has bright yellow skin, an oversized vertex, and emits a disgusting stench.
An intentionally mute serial killer, Kevin hunts down and cannibalizes prostitutes in an attempt to "inherit" their souls and (he believes) save them from Hell.
Kevin also makes a cameo appearance during the climax of That Yellow Bastard, taking place four years before the events of The Hard Goodbye.
Described as a cocky young gambler, he arrives in Basin City and heads to Kadie's place, where he immediately hits the jackpot on multiple slot machines.
Taking a young waitress, Marcie with him as a good luck charm, he buys into the backroom poker game led by the all-powerful Senator Roark.
In payment for the humiliations he suffered at the card game, Roarke takes back his money, then reveals a pair of pliers, which he uses to break three of Johnny's fingers.
His vengeance completed, Johnny smiles resignedly as Roarke shoots him in the head, commanding his men to get rid of the body.
The Roark family's farm is located on the corner of North Cross and Lennox, in an area of open farmland bordered by woods; it appears in several stories, including The Hard Goodbye, That Yellow Bastard, The Babe Wore Red and Hell and Back.
As well as many previous generations of the family, it was also home to Kevin since at least four years before the events of The Hard Goodbye; he is seen living there during the climax of That Yellow Bastard.
It is suggested by Hartigan that the deviant behavior of Junior and Kevin has been going on at the Farm for generations, as every cop in Basin City knows better than to stray too close to it.