Vinnie Gognitti

"Well, that was fun - in a fuckin' terrible, sick, not-at-all-fun way."

―Vincent Gognitti to Max Payne, after escaping Vladimir Lem's men

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Vincent "Vinnie" Gognitti is a major member of the New York City-based Punchinello crime family, acting as a Capo in 2001, and an Underboss in 2003.

Much of his early life is unknown, other than the fact that he is a big fan of The Adventures of Captain BaseBallBat-Boy series. At some point he joined the Punchinellos, becoming a Capo for the family by 2001.

He serves as Jack Lupino's right0hand man, helping him to run out his drug dealing business, as well serving as an acting-boss, due to Lupino's mental status.

In 2001, He is chased by the NYPD detctive Max Payne, who set off a revenge quest, believing Lupino was behind his family's death. Vinnie is injured by the detective and flees from his apartment, letting his men to deal with Payne, who chases him down on the rooftops.

He is eventually caught by Payne, and after being beaten up a bit and threatened with death, he tells Payne about Lupino's wherabouts.

After 2001, he becomes the Underboss of the crime family, and begins a gangs war against the Russian Mob and its leader, Vladimir Lem, his mortal enemy. Vinnie attack Vodka, Lem's restaurant in order to finish off the Russian Mobster, but fails due to Payne involvement, leading him to escape the scene.

He is believed by Payne to be the main person behind a group of hitmen known as the Squeaky Cleaning Company, but it is revealed to be false, and Lem being the real mastermind. Due to his reckless ways, Vinnie loses his boss's support, leaving him with no men, no weapons, and no protection.

Vinnie finally finds himself at a trap set off by Lem, inside a Captain BaseBallBat-Boy suit wired with a bomb, a 'Trojan Horrse' that ironically uses Vinnie's affection to the franchise. Payne and Vinnie become briefly allies, being both tricked by Lem, and Payne set to help Vinnie to deactive the bomb. The two are caught by Lem at a funhouse, who activates the bomb inside the suit, killing Vinnie.

Biography

Early life

Vinnie's background is fairly unknown. It is known that Vinnie is a very big fan of The Adventures of Captain BaseBallBat-Boy, having many collector items of the franchise in his apartment. Other information of his life before the Punchinellos is unknown.

Right-hand man of Lupino

At some point, Gognitti joined the Punchinello crime family, eventually becoming a Capo of the family, as well the right hand man of the family's underboss, Jack Lupino.

As of the beginning of 2001, he is a financial manager for the Mafia and their V dealings, but also oversees contracts with hired killers, keeps an eye on his boss Lupino, and other activities. Lupino's psychopathic attitude often frighten Vinnie. He also began to giving orders to the Finito brothers, though they disliked him.

Gognitti is also heavily involved in the gangs war against the Russian Mob, and their leader, Vladimir Lem, Vinnie's mortal enemy.

2001:Valkyr case

Early involvement

In 2001, Vinnie works for the Punchinello crime family. He is an underling to the V trafficker Jack Lupino, and helps organize the mob's dealings.

The same year, detective Max Payne decides to hunt down Lupino, believing that Lupino was responsible for his family's death. Payne's first stop is Lupino's Hotel, but he does not find Lupino, instead he finds the Finitos guarding the hotel, but are killed by him. Vinnie sends the Finitos a letter telling that hitman Rico Muerte arrives to the hotel, ordering them to follow Muerte's wishes. Muerte himself is later killed by the detective.

A dying soldier of the family later informs Vinnie on phone that Payne has attacked the hotel, leading Gognitti to yell at the (now-deceased) soldier, angrily ordering him to eliminate Payne. Payne himself overhears the phone call, and set to find Gognitti.

Sometime before the attack, Vinnie sends a letter, saying that the Russians have no courage to attack the Punchinellos. This is later revealed to be incorrect, as the Russians destroy Lupino hotel.

Chased by Payne

"Payne! I'll kill you, ya lousy frickin' cop!"

―Vinnie shoots at Payne.

After leaving the hotel, Payne arrives to Gognitti's apartment, mcuh to the latter's shock, who begins to yelll at the detective, only to be shot shortly afterwards. Vinnie then orders his men to finish off Payne while he escapes from the apartment.

Max hunts for him in his quest to find Lupino and ended up wounding Vinnie then chasing him through numerous rooftops, even chasing him on the roof of a train.

When he catches up to Vinnie, Max fights about seven guards. After Max finishes off the guards, he proceeds to have a gun fight with Vinnie, but Vinnie loses. Max then interrogates Vinnie by threatening to try to kill him with his gun, which scares Vinnie into telling Max everything. After interrogating Vinnie, Max leaves him lying bleeding in an alleyway to look for Lupino.

2001-2003

Vinnie survives his encounter with Payne, and by 2003, after the deathsa of many of the major Punchinello members, Vinnie is promoted to the Underboss, while a person known only as the Godfather takes control over the crime family. By 2003, Vinnie becomes much more hostile towards the Russian mobster Lem, hosting gangs wars against him.

2003:The Cleaner case

Shootout at Vodka

In 2003, Vinnie conducts another mob war against Vladimir Lem after getting help from a mysterious third party (hinted to be another Italian mob) in order to wipe out competition for the gun market.

Vinnie and his men attack Lem's business, Vodka, and killing most of his men save for Mike. Lucky for Lem, Payne arrives and help the Russian. Vinnie sends his men to kill Payne, but they fails. Due to the police's arrival, Vinnie runs away from Vodka, but threating Lem that he will pay.

Suspect of the cleaner case

Vlad uses Vinnie as a scapegoat, telling Payne that the cleaners were Vinnie's men in order to mislead Max. Within a day, Vinnie starts losing in his struggle with Vlad and is forced to fight on his own turf. For the most of Payne's case with the cleaner, Vinnie remains the main suspect.

His affiliate mob boss informs him that he will no longer send Vinnie help, due to Vinnie going against to the Mob Boss' ideas, and Vinnie eventually loses all his men to Lem's cleaners. Lem eventually decides to finish off Vinnie; knowning Gognitti's affection to Captain BaseBallBatBoy, he designs a suit based on the show, set with a bomb.

Death

"Poor guy...poor basterd."

―Mona, upon finding Vinnie's remains.

With all of his men are dead, Vinnie gets trapped inside the Captain BaseballBatBoy suit wired to a bomb and teams up with Max, who only helps him to complicate Vlad's plans, to find help for disarming the bomb.

After being escorted and protected by Max, the duo is caught by Vlad in Mona's funhouse. Vlad forces Max to drop his gun by threatening to detonate the bomb, then murders Vinnie with the press of a button, as well injuring Payne.

Mona Sax rushes to the scene and discovers what the remains of Vinnie, and, in a rare moment of sympathy, murmurs about Vinnie's bad luck.

Personality and traits

Vinnie is somewhat is childish for his age despite his position in the Punchinello crime family. He is fairly clever, but also cowardly; Max comments that Vinnie "...was a high-strung whiner..." who always seemed ready to have a nervous breakdown, and "...had the brains to run the business [the Mafia] but he lacked the balls, always falling short..."

Vinnie is very hot-tempered and foul-mouthed person, often yelling and cursing when he is angry. Vinnie was known for taking his frustration out on underaged addicts and call girls.

Behind the scenes

• Vinnie Gognitti's real name is Vincent, his real name can be heard in his answering machine in his house in Dearest of All My Friends in Max Payne 2.
• Although Vinnie is a hardcore fan of Captain BaseBallBat-Boy in Max Payne 2, he showed no such adoration in the first game.
• Vinnie got stuck inside a cartoon character suit by being tricked by Vladimir Lem's "Trojan Horse."
• After Max gets shot in the head by Vlad, Max has a dream in which a TV show shows that Vlad played a trivia game with Vinnie. Vinnie lost and died.
• In Max Payne 3, Vinnie's tombstone can be seen at the Golgotha Cemetery.

Max Payne boss fight strategy

When fighting Gognitti in Max Payne, he wields a Desert Eagle and has poor aim. He has the most guards guarding him which makes him hard to reach. With around nine guards he can be tricky to reach. Kill the nine guards atop the staircase. It is possible that they will come up and fight you. Vinnie can be slain with just three shotgun shots, after which he will pass out (although it looks like he died).

Appearances

• Max Payne
  • Playing It Bogart Template:Ho _(Note)
  • The Blood Veins of New York Template:Ho
  • Let the Gun Do the Talking Template:Ho _(Note)
  • Fear That Gives Men Wings
  • Police Brutality
• Max Payne 2
  • A Criminal Mastermind
  • A Mob-War
  • Dearest of All My Friends
  • A Losing Game _(Remains)
• Max Payne 3 (Mentioned only)
  • Ain't No Reprievement Gonna Be Found (Gravestone only)
• Max Payne 3 multiplayer (Classic Character Pack)

Gallery

2001

Aiming a Desert Eagle, 2001

At Vodka, 2003

In a Captain BaseBallBat-Boy costume, 2003

Full body shot of Gognitti in 2003.

Vinnie as a multiplayer avatar for Max Payne 3

See also

• The Adventures of Captain BaseBallBat-Boy
• Punchinello crime family
• A Criminal Mastermind

External links

• [1]

Max Payne characters

Max Payne 2 characters