This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Disclaimer: The should not be taken as any form of legal counsel or guidance; there may be errors in interpretation of the law and there may be crimes and violations missing from this list. I am not an officer or an attorney; I am a movie fan with a blog.
In an early scene of "The Dark Knight," Bruce Wayne tells Gotham Police Lt. Jim Gordon that apprehending the Joker is not their priority — "one man or the entire mob," he argued. After tallying The Joker's wrongdoings for this bonus round of Rap Sheet, I'm not so sure that the whole mob could break as many laws in a month than the Joker does in a matter of days.
Here's our rundown:
Aggravated robbery • Robbing the Gotham First National Bank.
Three counts of conspiracy to commit murder • The Joker tells his goons to kill each other when their task is finished.
Ten counts of possession of an explosive device • The Joker has at least 10 grenades in his duffle bag.
Four counts of threat of violence • The Joker puts an unpinned grenade in at least four customers' hands.
Attempted homicide • The Joker shoots the bank manager.
Homicide • The Joker shoots the bus driver.
Vehicular theft • The Joker takes off with the school bus.
Homicide • The Joker kills Gambol's henchman during the mob meeting.
Conspiracy to commit murder • The Joker says he will kill Batman.
Five counts of possession of explosive device • The Joker reveals he has five grenades inside his coat.
Threat of violence • The Joker threatens to detonate the grenades if anyone moves close to him.
Two counts of homicide • The Joker stabs two of Gambol's henchmen in their chests.
Three counts of conspiracy to commit aggravated kidnapping • The Joker plans to have the remaining henchmen held captive at gunpoint.
Homicide • The Joker kills Gambol.
Two counts of conspiracy to commit murder • The Joker forces Gambol's men to kill each other.
Aggravated kidnapping • The Joker holds Brian Douglas, a wanna-be Batman, captive.
Homicide • The Joker kills Douglas.
Desecration of a body • The Joker hangs Douglas' body from a skyscraper.
Terroristic threat • The Joker threatens to kill people until Wayne unmasks.
Two counts of conspiracy to commit murder • The Joker plans to kill the judge trying the mob cases and Police Commissioner Loeb.
Discharge of a firearm • The Joker fires a shotgun into the air when he arrives at Wayne's penthouse.
Seventy-five counts of aggravated kidnapping • The Joker, working with his goons, holds Wayne's guests hostage in the penthouse at gunpoint.
Two counts of threat of violence • The Joker threatens to hurt the Wayne Enterprises board member and Rachel Dawes.
Aggravated assault • The Joker stabs Wayne with a shoe-knife.
Discharge of a firearm • The Joker fires the revolver at a window, shattering it.
Attempted homicide • The Joker tosses Dawes from the broken window.
Two counts of conspiracy to commit murder • The Joker has two men die to set up the threat against Harvey Dent and Mayor Anthony Garcia.
Threat of violence • The Joker threatens to kill Garcia with a mock newspaper obituary.
Seven counts of conspiracy to commit aggravated kidnapping • The Joker plans to have seven Gotham police honor guards bound and gagged.
Impersonating a police officer • The Joker pretends to be a member of the honor guard.
Attempted homicide • The Joker tries to kill Garcia and hits Police Lt. Jim Gordon instead.
Two counts of conspiracy to commit kidnapping • The Joker plans to kidnap Dawes and Dent.
Aggravated homicide • The Joker shoots a policeman who tries to stop the semi-truck.
Conspiracy to commit aggravated arson • The Joker plans to have a fire engine set aflame.
Eight counts of conspiracy to commit assault on an officer • The Joker has the garbage truck driver take out two of the patrol cars and one of the SWAT vans in the convoy.
Four counts of attempted murder • The Joker shoots at the SWAT van carrying Dent.
Three counts of possession of an explosive device • The Joker has at least three bazooka missiles…
Three counts of use of an explosive device • … which he fires at a patrol car and the SWAT van.
Two counts of attempted murder • The Joker hits a patrol car with two officers in it with the bazooka.
Vehicular theft • The Joker takes the semi-truck after the driver passes out.
Two counts of conspiracy to commit murder • The Joker tells his henchmen to take down the police helicopter.
Discharge of a firearm • The Joker fires a machine gun in public as he gets out of the semi-truck.
Three counts of attempted homicide • The Joker fires the machine gun at three commuters.
Assault • The Joker kicks and stomps on one of his goons.
Threat of violence • The Joker holds a knife to Wayne's face.
Obstruction of justice • The Joker knowingly gives misleading information about Dent's and Dawes' whereabouts.
Two counts of conspiracy to possess a weapon of mass destruction • The Joker coordinates the construction of two enormous, if crude, time bombs.
Two counts of conspiracy to commit murder • The Joker has Dawes and Dent to die when to the bombs explode.
Possession of an explosive device • The Joker has a bomb, which he plants inside the mentally unstable goon.
Use of an explosive device • The Joker detonates the bomb inside the goon.
Seven counts of aggravated murder • The goon and at least six other people are in the explosion when the bomb goes off.
Aggravated homicide • Dawes dies in the explosion.
Aggravated kidnapping • The Joker kidnaps Lau from the Gotham Police's major crimes unit.
Aggravated escape from custody • The Joker escapes from the custody of the Gotham police.
Vehicular theft • The Joker steals a Gotham police vehicle in his escape.
Aggravated murder • The Joker kills Lau by setting fire to a giant stack of money underneath him.
Conspiracy to commit murder • The Joker tells the henchmen to kill The Chechen.
Terroristic threats • The Joker makes terroristic threats over Mike Engel's GCN show.
Aggravated murder • The Joker shoots the police officer in Gotham General Hospital.
Use of a weapon of mass destruction • Joker detonates the bomb inside the hospital.
Fifty counts of conspiracy to commit aggravated kidnapping • The Joker coordinates the kidnapping of a bus of people.
Two counts of conspiracy to possess a weapon of mass destruction • The Joker coordinates the construction and placement of two bombs on the ferries.
Criminal trespass • The Joker trespasses into the Prewitt Building construction zone to hold the hostages.
A whopping 1,072 counts of aggravated kidnapping • The Joker holds the people aboard the ferries hostage under threat of death.
Aggravated assault • The Joker attacks Wayne with dogs, a pipe and a knife.
Unlawful detention • The Joker holds Wayne captive under a bar.
Attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction • The Joker attempts to detonate the bombs aboard the ferries.
To do the math for you, that's 1,321 charges. They don't call him the Clown Prince of Crime for nothing.
If convicted, The Joker could be sentenced to up to 1,767 years imprisonment on top of 1,190 life sentences. When Wayne told his dangling captive that he would be in a padded cell forever — boy did he mean it.
If that were not enough, he could also be fined up to about $13.1 million; he might regret burning his pile of money.
— Michael McFall