The Punchinello Crime Family, also commonly known as The Mafia or The Mob, is an Italian-American mafia family set in New York City in 2001. They are the main antagonistic force in Max Payne before replaced by Killer Suits in Part 3.
Despite suffering heavy losses in 2001, including losing its Don and underboss, the Punchinello's remnants still exist and operate in 2003. However, that year, they are further heavily crippled by Max Payne and Vladimir Lem's forces with the death of their new underboss, Vinnie Gognitti.
Nevertheless, they are still operating in 2011 with them currently at war with the DeMarco Crime Family.
History[]
Early History[]
Not much is known of the criminal organization or whether it was founded by Angelo Punchinello or his predecessor but it is considered one of the most powerful crime families in New York. Although it committed various crimes, it only caught attention to the police with its Valkyr drug trade by its underboss, Jack Lupino. Max Payne is sent to infiltrate as an undercover cop to find evidence of connection with the organization and Valkyr.
Drug Trade and Downfall[]
The Punchinello Crime Family is involved in selling Valkyr after, Nicole Horne, the CEO of Aesir Corporation and producer of the drug Valkyr contacted Angelo Punchinello to help sell Valkyr. It is unknown when it started selling Valkyr but it was most likely between 1995 and 1998 as in 1995, Project Valhalla was canceled before being restarted by Nicole and the presence of Valkyr happened before Max's family death.
Most of the operation is conducted by Jack Lupino but it delegated to Lupino's right-hand man, Vinnie Gognitti as Jack himself is addicted to Valkyr and gone insane in the process. The deals are usually made in secret and highly protected as the deal make a lot of money. It is presumed that some money went back to Aesir as part of the profit.
In February 2001 during a winter storm, Nicole decides to kill the Don to remove any evidence and ties to Aesir and the Valkyr drug trade. Some Punchinellos conduct a heist in Roscoe Bank through Roscoe Street Station, but they are killed by Max Payne who unintentionally interfered the heist while meeting with Alex Balder. It is revealed that B.B. set up the meeting to eliminate the cops investigating the Valkyr Case by killing Alex and framed Max for the murder with the Punchinellos served as a distraction.
They are tipped off by B.B. that Max is an undercover cop and the Punchinello Mafia attempted to kill him but Max managed to kill many mobsters and gangsters in Lupino's Hotel, the tenement buildings and Ragna Rock. It also cost them some high ranking Punchinellos like the Finito Brothers, Rico Muerte and Jack Lupino. Max even defeated Vinnie with his only life spared.
Meanwhile, the Punchinellos' enemy, the Russian Mob led by Vladimir Lem was undermined by the Punchinello attack and Boris Dime's betrayal which left them weakened. However, Vlad returned by bombing the tenement buildings which killed and confused the mobsters and also attracted the police. Boris Dime's betrayal to the Punchinello came to a naught as he and his gang are killed by Max Payne to capture the weapon ship, Charon and turn the tide against the Punchinellos.
Angelo Punchinello heard the news of Max undermining his organization and decided to send Frankie Niagara to personally kill Max Payne. However, Max escaped and killed his would be assailant. Meanwhile, Mona Sax is sent to kill Angelo but failed and tortured by the Trio, Angelo's notorious bodyguards.
Max finally attacked the Punchinello manor and killed most of Angelo's bodyguards including the Trio, after which Angelo quickly plead for his life. However at that moment the Killer Suits, sent by Nicole Horne, burst into the room and shot and killed him. His death and Max's actions against the Punchinellos have significantly damaged the criminal organization and it has never come back to its full glory.
The remaining mobsters were hired by B.B . to aid in his escape while exacting their revenge on Payne for crippling the family, and even then they all failed and B.B. is eventually killed inside the parking garage.
Weakened and Minor War[]
Despite their defeat in 2001, the new Don, the Godfather, helped to restore some of the organization and promoted a surviving high ranking Punchinello, Vinnie Gognitti, to underboss. In 2003, Vinnie's reckless actions helped to speed up the Punchinello's downfall as he personally attacked Vladimir Lem and his operation to eliminate competition in the gun trade. It infuriated the Don who refused to send help to Vinnie with less than 30 men under Vinnie's command with most of his gang killed in Vodka borka club by Max Payne.
It doesn't help that Vlad is an Inner Circle member and has a commando crew, the Cleaners to eliminate his enemies. Vinnie soon becomes a pawn in the Inner Circle Civil War. Vinnie is tricked by Vlad by wearing a Captain BaseBallBat-Boy suit armed with a bomb as Vinnie is a big fan of the series. Max temporarily allied with Vinnie to complicate Vlad, but he and the Cleaners caught the detective and the underboss in Mona's hideout. Vlad soon killed Vinnie with a detonation before leaving to kill Alfred Woden.
Legacy[]
Vinnie's actions and death soon brought the Punchinellos to the brink of collapse with many of its members getting arrested or at their worst without proper leadership. They are taken over by the DeMarco Crime Family. They soon start a war with them in order to reclaim their power since Max Payne undermined the DeMarcos.
Equipment and Tactics[]
Punchinello mobsters wear casual clothing and carry a loose assortment of low-to-mid grade weaponry, with most members wielding Beretta 92FS 9mm pistols, Desert Eagle pistols, Pump-Action Shotguns, Sawed-Off Shotguns and occasionally Ingram machine pistols. Some mobsters will throw Molotov Cocktails, and a few will toss a single Grenade when approached by Max, usually throwing it around corners to attempt to catch him by surprise. They are relatively poorly trained, having fairly terrible aim, as well as a relatively low rate of fire with semi-automatic weapons such as the Beretta 9mm pistol.
More experienced mobsters wear black trenchcoats and glasses, and tend to carry Ingram machine pistols, Pump-Action Shotguns, or Sawed-Off Shotguns. These black trenchcoat-wearing mobsters are first seen in Club Ragna Rock, mainly serving as Jack Lupino's personal bodyguards. A couple of them dual-wield Beretta 9mm pistols and can shootdodge similar to Max Payne, though they only do so once each, usually around corners in an attempt to catch Max by surprise.
Several of the Punchinello hitmen guarding Don Angelo Punchinello's manor wear fancier suits than the usual mobsters, and seem to favor Pump-Action Shotguns, Sawed-Off Shotguns, and Ingram machine pistols. A single suit-wearing mobster guarding the Punchinello manor is equipped with a M79 Grenade Launcher.
Mafia cast-offs hired by B.B. wear black or light brown trenchcoats with some of them wearing an earpiece. These mobsters are better equipped as in addition to the above weapons, a few of them wield Colt Commandos and Jackhammers, likely supplied by B.B. himself. Their combat performance is identical to the mobsters guarding Punchinello's manor.
In Max Payne 2, the Punchinello mafiosos working under Vinnie Gognitti are similarly equipped as they were in the first game, though a few may rarely be equipped with automatic weaponry, namely the MP5 and Kalashnikov.
Known members[]
- Angelo Punchinello - The Don in 2001 (died in February 2001).
- The Godfather - The Don in 2003.
- Jack Lupino - Underboss (dies in February 2001).
- Vincent "Vinnie" Gognitti - Caporegime in 2001. Underboss in 2003 (died in 2003).
- Frankie "The Bat" Niagara - Hitman (Died in February 2001).
- Rico Muerte - Hitman (died in February 2001).
- Vince Mugnaio - One of the Trio-Hitman (Died in February 2001).
- Pilate "The Big Brother" Providence - One of the Trio-Hitman (died in February 2001)
- Joe "Deadpan" Salem - One of the Trio-Hitman (died in February 2001).
- The Finito Brothers - managers of Lupino's Hotel (died in February 2001)
- Candy - Hooker (died in February 2001)
- Boris Dime - Supplier (died in February 2001)
Businesses and property[]
- The Punchinello Manor
- Ragna Rock
- Lupino's Hotel
- Casa di Angelo
- Vinnie's Sweet Deals on Wheels
- Pawnbroker
- Luigi's Laundry
- Lupino's Apartment Complex
Appearances[]
- Max Payne:
- Roscoe Street Station
- Live from the Crime Scene
- Playing It Bogart
- The Blood Veins of New York
- Let the Gun Do the Talking
- Fear That Gives Men Wings
- Police Brutality
- Ragna Rock
- The Baseball Bat
- Put Out My Flames With Gasoline
- Angel of Death
- Backstabbing Bastard (cast-offs)
- Byzantine Power Game (cast-offs)
- Max Payne 3
- Ain't No Reprievement Gonna Be Found Otherwise (Mentioned only also on TV)
- Sun Tan Oil, Stale Margaritas and Greed (Mentioned only)
Gallery[]
