Inner Circle

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The Inner Circle is a secret society that seems to put together all the organized crime in New York City. In the first Max Payne, the Inner Circle is working with Max Payne to help take down Nicole Horne and the Aesir Corporation. In Max Payne 2, the Inner Circle becomes hunted down due to internal conflict between its members, with Payne following as best as he can to save them, but to no avail.

Known members of the Inner Circle

• Alfred Woden - The leader. Killed by Vladimir Lem.
• Nicole Horne - The new manager of the Valhalla project after it was discontinued by the government. Blackmailed Woden into silence. Ordered the field test of valkyr-pumped test subjects that slew Max Payne's family. Killed by Payne.
• Vladimir Lem - The boss of the Russian Mafia. For a time he is a student of Woden but later rebels and ignites a civil was between the members of the society. Killed by Max Payne.
• Corcoran - A paunchy senior who is killed before Max can get the information he needed out of him. Killed by the Squeaky Cleaning Company
• Senator Gates - A member affiliated with Lem. Reportedly killed by Mona Sax. Valerie Winterson of Homicide gets to solve his murder.

Associates of the Inner Circle

• Mona Sax - A hitman working for Nicole Horne to eliminate Angelo Punchinello and, later, during the civil war of the society, for Alfred Woden. Woden assignes her to kill Max Payne but she is overcome by her feelings for him. She is either killed by Vladimir Lem or manages to survive.^*
• Max Payne - A fugitive wanted by the police to whom Woden and other members present an offer to eliminate Nicole Horne in exchange for their help exonerating him.
• Valerie Winterson - a Homicide detective. Has a romantic relationship with Vladimir Lem and leaks any information of the NYPD to him. Later agrees to murder Payne and Sax for Lem but gets killed by Payne.

^* Depending on the Max Payne 2 game difficulty.