10 Secrets Of Gotham City You Didn’t Know About

10. Gotham City And Corruption

If there is one overarching problem throughout the history of Gotham City, it is the deep-rooted corruption throughout the city government and the police force. Despite all his efforts as both Bruce Wayne and Batman, this is one battle that neither extreme wealth nor fists and Batarangs could solve quickly. It would take time, patience, and a lot of persistence.

In Batman’s first years, Commissioner Gillian B. Loeb was as corrupt as they come. Bruce was able to find evidence of conspiracy charges that forced Loeb to resign, making way for Jack Grogan, who was Commissioner before James Gordon. When Grogan briefly retired, the corrupt Peter Pauling was put in place by the equally corrupt Mayor Hamilton Hill. Pauling instated a shoot-to-kill order for Batman and Robin. When Pauling was killed by Rupert Thorne, Gordon was reinstated and worked hard to finally clean up the GCPD.

The Mayor’s Office of Gotham City is rife with corruption, with many of the city’s mayors being in the pockets of one or more of the city’s villains.

For starters, Hamilton Hill was little more than a puppet for crime lord Rupert Thorne. As for Armand Krol, he wasn’t so much corrupt, as more severely incompetent. Then there was Marion Grange, who was a good mayor but failed to keep the federal government from turning Gotham into a “No Man’s Land” following the devastating earthquake that decimated the city. Unfortunately, she was killed by agents of Nick Scratch soon after that event.