Why does the mob pay the Joker before he has killed Batman?

Question

In The Dark Knight, the Joker makes a deal with the mob: he'll kill Batman for half of their money. Why does the mob pay the Joker before he has killed Batman?

What is the new deal with respect to Lau? E.g. did they pay him because he got Lau and somehow got their money back from Hong Kong?

Answer 1

first of all he is the one who get them there money back from hong kong boy (lou I reckon) so he was the one who desided to take his half in this time not them

Answer 2

The deal was for the mob to pay him half of their money and he will kill Batman. Not the other way around. It wasn't the deal for Joker to kill Batman and then get paid. It was for them to pay him the money and then he'll kill Batman. But of course he had to get their money back first otherwise he wouldn't get paid.

Answer 3

erm cos otherwise he was gonna blow them up, remember with the dynamite or whatever he had chained to his jacket.

Answer 4

THEY'LL BE BLOWN TO KINGDOM COME IF THEY DON'T. Remember? He pulls like a little string bomb thingy out of his jacket and he's like "Ah ah ah.."

Oh, and just one question.....

Why So Serious?

Answer 5

They didn't pay him.  He got to Lau, and Lau took him to their money, remember the tied up Lau on top of the pile of money?