Jersey - The Most Politically Corrupt Place on Earth

Basic Information

July 23, 2009: In addition to the recent large-scale arrests related to money laundering and illegal organ trading, New Jersey has had numerous other corruption scandals, with bribes and graft seemingly deeply embedded into the politics of the state. The article lists numerous examples from this decade alone.

Sources

Bibliography

1. Not a Wikipedia entry but a page from NBC New York.

Game and Story Use

• Playing investigators trying to "clean up" New Jersey could be a full-fledged campaign in its own right.
• Encountering someone corrupt from or in New Jersey might become a running gag in a campaign.
• Where there is so much corruption, the kind of creatures and supernatural entities common in urban fantasy campaigns will find it easier to hide. After all, the local authorities are already prone to minding their own business and hiding things, so it will be much easier to convince them to look away from vampires and their ilk - especially if both sides find profits in such a bargain.
• Illustrative of a certain amount of cultural dissonance - New Jersey may well be corrupt by US standards, but compared to say, Lagos, it's probably squeeky. This sort of thing can be played on your PCs both ways - both by the traveller horrified to find that the casual graft he's used to at home gets him into trouble abroad and the more familiar perspective of the Westerner surprised by how much corruption is expected of him overseas.