Been done, yes, by me no less (and sarz more recently). Still crime lords have rivals, Kuryi (mine) has managed to secure himself a leadership position within the lower ranks of the Syndicate, which is basically all the major crime lords banding together in something of an alliance, think of it a little like the five families of the itallian-american mafia. Of course another character taking the crime lord path could take a different route and try to stay independent of the Syndicate, or try to move up the ranks as well. Hell when Kuryi started he didn't even have a Syndicate contact, he earned it by being one of the winning participants of the hunt I mentioned before. so its certainly possible to change your starting status through ingame stuff.