Rico Muerte

Rico Muerte
Status	Killed by Max Payne
Personal Information
Birth Date	Unknown
Death Date	2001
Career Information
Affliations	Punchinello Crime Family
Occupation	Assassin
Weapon	Ingram
Behind the Scenes
Voice Actor	Joe Maruzzo
Performer	Jerry Messing

Rico Muerte is a gangster working for the Punchinello Crime Family. Muerte is hired by Nicole Horne to assassinate the mayor of New York City.

Background

Rico Muerte is an infamous Midwestern hitman, who has occassionally worked for Punchinello crime family. Despite his Italian heritage and work for the Mafia, it's unknown if he is a particular member of any family or he works independently. He is also a violent sadist, as he once observed two men playing a kung fu style fighting game before strangling them both with the cables.

Muerte has been indebted to the Punchinello Crime Family, after Angelo Punchinello once bailed him out from an incident involving a bad deal in Chicago. Shortly before his death, he has arrived in New York on orders from Punchinello to repay back the deal, which was to assassinate the Mayor of New York on behalf of Nicole Horne, with the equipment waiting in a cargo container, along with the payday.

While waiting on the assignment, Muerte was placed in Lupino's Hotel under the care of the Finito Brothers, who were ordered by Vinnie Gognitti to cater to Muerte, which they did by providing him their services, and he became a regular of Candy Dawn.

When Max Payne finds him, he is behind the bar with Candy, who is performing oral sex on him as he narrates the video game story. He is then gunned down by Max, along with Candy.

Behind the scenes

Boss fight strategy

Rico Muerte is is the second "boss" of Max Payne. Muerte has Candy Dawn and three thugs aiding him. They should withstand only one-two shotgun shots. He wields an Ingram and heads into another room behind the bar when he sees Max. Because his pants are around his ankles, he is slower than other bosses and, once he reaches the other room, he does not move. The only advantage Muerte has is that he has a small space to use to corner the player, but this can also be used against him. The easiest way to kill him is to shoot him with dual Berettas or a Desert Eagle.

Trivia and allusions

• Rico is an abbreviation for the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, a law that makes it easier to prosecute members of organized crime and give stricter penalties. The Spanish translation of his name means "rich death" (Rico=rich, Muerte=death).
• Max Payne describes him as "the typical Keyser Soze". Keyser Soze refers to the main villain in the film The Usual Suspects.

Appearances

• Max Payne
  • Playing It Bogart (Mentioned only)
  • The Blood Veins of New York (killed)
  • An Offer You Can't Refuse (Mentioned only)

Trivia

Rico shares many similarities with  Franckie Niagara . 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.

Max Payne characters