Frankie Niagara

Frankie Niagara
Status	Killed by Max Payne
Personal Information
Death Date	2001
Career Information
Affliations	Punchinello Crime Family
Occupation	Soldato
Weapon	Baseball Bat Ingram
Behind the Scenes
Voice Actor	Bruce Kronenberg
Performer	Unknown

"Me, I love to watch cartoons. Cartoon violence's a fascinating thing."

―Frankie Niagara

Frankie "The Bat" Niagara is a professional cleaner working under Don Angelo Punchinello. Niagara is a big fan of Captain BaseBallBat-Boy, alluding to his favorite mode of killing: bludgeoning people to death with a baseball bat. His M.O. when killing is tying his victim to a chair and leaving a newspaper folded open on a strip of Captain BaseBallBat-Boy near the body. He uses a sewer drain in the back of Lupino's Hotel to dump the bodies, leaving the whole room to stink of the rotting corpses of all the poor souls who suffered a similar demise.

Biography

Background

"...Frankie, I know I can trust you to give this matter the dedication it needs.""

―A part of Don Punchinello's letter to Niagara, telling him to kill Max Payne.

At some point in his life, Frankie was made as a soldato and became the favored cleaner for the Punchinello Crime Family. Niagara is a big fan of Captain BaseBallBat-Boy, and his torturing style was possibly influenced by the cartoon.

Around the time Max Payne begins to hunt down Angelo, the mob boss sends a letter to Niagara and orders him to take out the NYPD detective.

Death

"Pleased to meet you. I'm Frankie "The Bat" Niagara."

―Niagara introduces himself

After Mona Sax drugs Max with a drink at Ragna Rock, Frankie Niagara and his men come across Max. Niagara takes Max back to Lupino's Hotel and brutally beats him with a baseball bat, before and after the latter awakes from his nightmare.

However, he soon gets thirsty and leaves to get a drink at the bar. Max manages to get loose of the bands he was tied up with, escape, and (using only his assailant's baseball bat to start with) gets past Niagara's men. Soon after, Max finds Niagara at the bar of the hotel, and, after a shootout, kills the mobster and leaves to deal with Punchinello.

Personality

"Nothing wrong with a little laugh now and then."

―Niagara to Max Payne

Niagara is a highly brutal and sadistic person who enjoys torturing his victims with his baseball bat. He seems to have no remorse for beating them to death.

Similar to many other mobsters, like Vincent Gognitti, Niagara is a fan of The Adventures of Captain BaseBallBat-Boy. According to him, he enjoys the violence in the show and calls it a "fascinating thing."

Equipment and Tactics

Niagara's weapon of choice is his baseball bat, which he uses to torture Max, before leaving it behind with a tied-up Max to go get a beer at the hotel bar. When confronted by Max, Niagara wields a pair of Ingram machine pistols and has a very large amount of health, requiring about 60 rounds of Beretta 9mm pistol fire to kill. Niagara is accompanied by a trio of thugs, two of whom will charge out of the room at Max while the third ducks behind the bar and opens fire with dual Berettas. Niagara himself strafes back and forth inside the bar room while firing at Max with his dual Ingrams. If all three of Niagara's men are killed, the hitman may aggressively charge at Max, leaving the bar room to do so.

The best strategy against him is to first take out all of Niagara's thugs by funneling them out of the bar room because Niagara will not leave the room. The thug hiding behind the bar can be taken out with a headshot from outside the room. After his thugs are dead, focus on Niagara. Frankie himself is an extremely dangerous boss, able to kill Max in less than a second with his dual Ingrams. Dual Ingrams work well against him; tackle him either when he is caught reloading or strafe while fighting him. Alternatively, if he charges at Max after all his men are dead, you can ambush him and open fire as he turns the corner. Full auto fire should stun lock him, making it much harder for him to shoot back.

If the player has experience, it is possible to kill Niagara with a baseball bat, as Max can dodge the bullets while he is rolling, Max can easily keeps rolling while getting closer to Niagara until he needs to reload, while reloading, he is vulnerable enough to kill him with the baseball bat. A single hit with it stuns the target and prevents to reload the weapon.

Behind the scenes

• It was not confirmed how Niagara and his men came to be at Lupino's nightclub. It is possible that they found out from Vinnie Gognitti that Max went there to kill Lupino.
• Niagara shares many similarities with Rico Muerte. They both wear white shirts and wield Ingrams, and are both slightly rotund; they are both met and killed in the same room, the bar.
• Niagara is briefly mentioned in Max Payne 2. When Max sees all of Vinnie Gognitti's Captain BaseBallBat-Boy memorabilia in his apartment, Gognitti says: "Hey, lots of tough guys are into this stuff. Frankie was into this stuff, he was a fucking tough guy."
• In the graphic novel, Niagara is shown to be clean shaved, yet in-game he has a beard. A similar mistake is present in B.B.'s case.

Appearances

• Max Payne
  • A Cold Day in Hell
    • Prologue (A Cold Day in Hell)
    • The Baseball Bat (Killed)
• Max Payne 2
  • Dearest Of All My Friends (Mentioned only)

Gallery

Greeting Max Payne at the basement of the Lupino's Hotel

Quotes

"Max Payne, I envy your name. Pleased to meet you. I'm Frankie 'The Bat' Niagara"

―first words to Max

"Jesus Christ, how'd you get loose? Fine by me. This works out just as well."

―upon discovering Max had escaped.

Max Payne characters