most villians sincerely believe they are working on a side of 'right' and their victims deserved whatever for doing or being 'whatever' first. The fact that the rest of the world considers them monsters is irrelevant to their self and world view.
THIS. This is why I love writing from the perspective of a villain, or darker pieces, because it's fascinating to see how little it takes to push someone there, to that point where they cross the line in the name of vengeance or even self respect or the greater good.
So Luthor's general view of himself would be that he is so brilliant, rich, powerful as to be completely above the law and his brilliance in business made it obligatory for him to take over the crime element to 'give it direction and order'. And that fact that giving it direction and order made him even more rich and powerful merely proved his brilliance. (And all the 'bad' things he did were all in 'retaliation' for 'bad' things done to him - like not selling to him when he made a ridiculously low offer, etc.)
Love this characterization. I would add even that for Lex it's also a spirit of competition and arrogance that drives him. He wants to prove he is the best and brightest, that he can get away with increasingly more crazy challenges. It's the ultimate challenge, something to finally show he's an unparalleled genius, to best Superman, to run all the crime in Metropolis, and still get all the praise for being the good guy in public.
