In the comics:
Top Dollar, is a common drug dealer, not the mastermind of Eric and Shelly's death, in fact there is no criminal mastermind behind their deaths in the comic, they were just victims of random street violence. Top Dollar died much sooner in the comic then he did in the movie or TV series, in which he took on the role as The Crow's arch-enemy.
In the Image comics re-boot version of The Crow however, he again takes his role as the main villain he was in the movie
In the movie:
Top Dollar ordered the murders of Eric and Shelly, he has a stranglehold on Detroit crime, especially drugs. After The Crow took down the gang of killers Top Dollar hired he then targeted Top Dollar himself, but only after Top Dollar kidnapped Sarah. And though his crow that gave Eric his super powers was killed, Eric managed to kill Top Dollar, and thus could rest in peace.
The Crow Stairway To Heaven:
In the TV series, Top Dollar was actually targeting Eric who he thought may have witnessed something that could implicate him as a criminal, and Shelly was just someone in the way, Eric beat Top Dollars gang, and made him feel the pain of all of his past victims. Jason Danko seemingly went insane, but later regained his sanity with a new goal, to become like the Crow. Top Dollar targeted Eric's friends, trying to drive Draven to kill him, he eventually succeeded when he murdered India, the owner of the nightclub the Blackout in front of the Crow. Later after The Crow killed him he was reborn as The Snake, an evil version of The Crow. It is unclear what direction this would take, as the series only lasted one 22 episode season and left a lot of loose ends, one being Top Dollar as The Snake (it should however be noted, other "Snakes" appeared in the series prior to Top Dollar)
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