Why did Max Payne 'transfer' to the DEA?
Something I always wondered... What was the point in Max Payne "transferring" to the DEA, then going undercover? Why didn't he just go undercover in the NYPD?
DP.
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Maybe the oppurtunity would only present itself if he joined the DEA
What, to go undercover? share
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Or perhaps the DEA were handling the case, and the NYPD couldn't touch it
Meaning after the murders of Max's wife and kid, the DEA assumed control of the case? share
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Max must have found out that the DEA had control of the case and decided to accept Alex's offer of transfering to the DEA.
Right, because it was drug related, and not something the NYPD would likely deal with... Perhaps a little contrived, but it makes better sense, I guess.
So (and correct me if I'm wrong), after Max joined the DEA, he and Alex worked for three years on the "Valkyre" case until some snitch ratted out their first lead - Lupino - at which point, Max went undercover, with only Alex and B.B. knowing, and infiltrated the Mafia.
Was B.B. part of the DEA, too? Or was he NYPD? share
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B.B was DEA
Aha. So what ranks were Alex and B.B. in the DEA? One of them must have been powerful enough to give Max authorization to work undercover... Alex was just a Special Agent, wasn't he? Which, I guess, leaves B.B... share
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Well, I'm not really sure on that one... I'm guessing B.B was the one with the power.
Fair enough.
Something else that never made sense to me... Why did Jim Bravura apparently not know who Max Payne was whilst chasing him throughtout the game? It was never mentioned in the news reports that Max was an ex-cop, Max never spoke about Jim like he ever knew him, and Jim never referred to Max as anything but a criminal... So what gives? If Max had been working in the same precinct Bravura belonged to, he'd know who Max was, and vice versa. There'd at least be SOME suggestion or indication that these guys once worked along-side each other, but there isn't. share
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Maybe Bravura did suspect it was Max during that phone call but wasn't quite sure himself he could make such a wild assumption because he was, after all, talking to a bank robber, thus exclaiming "Who the hell is this?!" It's more of an exclamation of disbelief than a question. Plus, remember Max quickly hangs up on Jim, stopping any further revelation from happening over the phone.
This is one of the reasons I love the dialogue later on when Max almost exclusively monologues instead of typically talking to people; you get to hear the events only from his assumptions and wild perspective.
Maybe Bravura did suspect it was Max during that phone call
Right, he wouldn't expect Max to be at the scene of a bank robbery, so therefore would be in disbelief that it was Max on the other end of the phone - I can buy that. But later on in the game, when Alex's murderer is identified as "Max Payne" on the news, no one was like "OMG - It's Max!"... Unless the Force were too embarrassed to admit that he used to be one of theirs, and only released his name? You'd THINK that as soon as they found out it was Max, depsite the fact he was no longer working for the NYPD, that they'd want to resolve everything quickly and quietly... not broadcast it all over TV.
Another thing... Max was undercover in the DEA during the first game, so why was he using his REAL name? share
Also, if Max was undercover in the DEA, why didn't the DEA vouch for his legitimacy to the NYPD when the NYPD went after him? Alex and B.B. may have been the only two people who knew of Max's undercover status, but they certainly wouldn't have been the only two who knew Max had joined the DEA.
shareOK first of all
Bravura didn't know Max most likely because Max transferred before Bravura came in control of the station.
and the DEA most likely never vouched for him due to numerous reasons
remember this was supposed to be the worst storm in history for New York (communication a problem in storms)
2nd it all takes place in one night (a lot of information to get poured out to different agencies in a few hours) *just remember how long it took our government to help people during hurricane katrina...and that *beep* was REAL.
3rd Aesir is a BIG BIG BIG CORPORATE MONSTER with its hands in a bunch of people's pockets
I'm sure there were strings being pulled all over the state to make sure certain people heard nothing about Max in trouble, or causing trouble
well that's my take on it
hope it helped
In the opening cutscene Alex asks Max to join him at the DEA, but Max declines because his wife and child come first. Once you remove the wife and kid from the picture, he has no reason to turn Alex down. Plus it gives him a chance to work on the V case. V was new to the streets and Max had a personal interest in it since V junkies killed his family.
Max explicitly states in the game that Alex and BB were the only two who knew he was deep cover. This is why nobody from the DEA vouched for him when he was being chased down for Alex's murder. Alex was dead and BB, who was working for the mob, pulled the trigger. This is likely one of the many reasons Max knew BB was crooked when he met him in the parking garage.
Bravura was the deputy chief in the game and Max had been off the force for three years. There's no reason to think they were ever in the same precinct. You would think someone would eventually recognize Max and tip them off he was an ex-cop, but who knows. I always wondered about the name, too. You'd think he'd use an alias to go undercover with the mob, especially since he was an ex-cop. At first I thought maybe Max Payne was his alias and he had a different name before his family got killed, which would explain both that and the fact noone from the force recognized the name. However, this doesn't hold up since when Nicole Horne calls the house during the murder, she asks "is this the Payne residence?" So I can't explain that one. But I do agree with the previous poster's comments about Aesir (and the mob, for that matter) having a lot of people in their pocket.
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