AnarWiki/markdown/L.A._Noire.md

**L.A. Noire** is a 2011 detective-themed action-adventure [video
game](List_of_Video_Games "wikilink") set in Los Angeles,
[USA](United_States_of_America "wikilink") during the late 1940s. It
follows Cole Phelps, a [World War II](World_War_II "wikilink") veteran
of the Okinawa Campaign, as he becomes a police officer and detective
who progresses deeper and deeper into the seedy underbelly and enormous
corruption of the city.

## Summary

### Characters

  - Cole Phelps - WWII veteran and detective, main protagonist
  - Jack Kelso - WWII veteran and fire insurance investigator, secondary
    protagonist
  - Stefan Bekowsky - Traffic detective partner
  - Rusty Galloway - Homicide detective partner
  - Roy Earle - Vice detective partner and notoriously corrupt cop
  - Herschel Biggs - WWI veteran and arson partner
  - Courtney Sheldon - WWII veteran and medical student, becomes
    involved in organised crime
  - Elsa Lichtmann - Singer and Cole's lover
  - Leland Monroe - Wealthy property developer and brains behind the
    Suburban Redevelopment Fund
  - Harlan Fontaine - Celebrity Psychiatrist in the Suburban
    Redevelopment Fund
  - Ira Hogeboom - Traumatised WWII veteran and bug exterminator
  - Mickey Cohen - Mafia boss

*Content Warning: Many of the cases deal with themes of abuse, murder
and rape*

The game is divided into five main 'desks' which contain cases around a
common theme of a certain kind of crime.

### Upon Reflection

The first case of the game and the first of the 'patrol' desk, this sees
Cole investigate the murder of a young black man in an alleyway, shot to
dead. Cole finds the gun and traces it to a gun store, who links it to
the victims employer. Cole visits his house and the employer claims
innocence and that he was set up, before attacking the police to avoid
arrest, but fails miserably. Cole also finds a notebook indicating that
several officers are being bribed, but decides not to pursue it.

### Armed and Dangerous

The second case of the patrol desk and the first gunfight, Cole stops an
in progress bank robbery.

### Warrants Outstanding

The third case of the patrol desk and the first chase sequence, Cole is
driving and his partner recognizes a man he arrested who skipped parole.
Cole leaves the car and chases him through the streets and onto several
rooftops, engaging in a small fistfight before arresting him.

### Buyer Beware

The fourth and final case of the patrol desk, Cole hears a gunshot while
patrolling a street and finds a man shot dead in the middle a busy
street. He quickly learns from a witness that it was done by a local
Jewish business owner in retaliation for anti-Semitic harassment and
attempted sabotage of his business. Cole interrogates him and discovers
that he is behind the murder, arresting him, leading to Cole's promotion
to detective.

### The Driver's Seat

The fifth case of the game and the first of the 'traffic' desk, Cole
investigates a car left abandoned by some train tracks that's interior
is covered in blood, alongside an abandoned wallet and glasses, leading
him to suspect a murder. Using the wallet he identifies the victims
address and informs his wife, but soon discovers searching the house
that the incident may have been faked by the victim to escape a failing
marriage and to move to Seattle with his mistress. Cole soon discovers
that the victim is still in Los Angeles, and arrests him for fraud.

### The Consul's Car

The second case of the traffic desk, Cole investigates the theft and
sabotage of a car belonging to the [Argentine](Argentina "wikilink")
embassy, soon discovering that the car's owner, the Consul General, had
been paying teenage boys to have sex with him. He soon discovers that
one boy refused and knew about the car, leading Cole to investigate. He
discovers that the boy is only 16 and is currently in a street race,
leading to a car chase with Cole arresting him.

### A Marriage Made in Heaven

The third case of the traffic desk, Cole investigates a hit-and-run
outside a bar, and soon learns that the victim had been stabbed before
being hit. Upon visiting the victims wife, he discovers that she had
been cheating on him and they argued constantly. Cole soon learns that
she had murdered him to claim his life insurance police, and soon
arrests her and her lover.

### A Slip of the Tongue

The fourth case of the traffic desk, Cole investigates a report of a
stolen car, but soon discovers that it had been bought from a car
dealership with legitimate paperwork. Tracking down the identity of the
person that stole the car, Cole quickly learns through an interrogation
that there is a California-wide car theft ring controlled by the mafia.
Cole soon gains an address through various interviews and a gunfight
occurs at a car-repair shop, leading to Cole eventually destroying the
ring.

### The Fallen Idol

The fifth of the game and final case of the traffic desk, Cole
investigates a mysteriously crashed car with two people being alive in
them, he discovers that these are a famous actress and her 15-year old
niece who ran away to become a movie star. They had both been drugged
and there are signs that the 15-year old had been sexually abused, and
investigating the aunt leads to a discovery that she is embroiled in
bribery, soon linking it to a prop-house that doubles as a pornography
filming studio that often films teenage girls without their consent that
is owned by the mafia and used to blackmail hollywood stars. Cole
arrests the parties involved, and is promoted to the homicide desk.

### The Red Lipstick Murder

The sixth case of the game and first of the homicide desk, Cole
investigates a murder where the victim had been badly beaten, stripped
naked and left to die on a grassy hill.

### The Golden Butterfly

### The Silk Stocking Murder

### The White Shoe Slaying

### The Studio Secretary Murder

### The Quarter Moon Murders

### The Black Caesar

### Reefer Madness

### The Set Up

### The Naked City

### Manifest Destiny

### The Gas Man

The seventeenth case of the game the first of the arson desk (which Cole
has been demoted to while he is considered for termination from the
police), two houses have been set on fire, both owners had been offered
a price which it is revealed was pressured by the 'Suburban
Redevelopment Fund' using fraud. The fires were discovered to be caused
by faulty heaters, the man who worked on said heaters admits to being
paid by the company for doing it, but another suspect is an [anarchist
and communist](Anarcho-Communism "wikilink") who hates the heater
company, either can be arrested for the crime.

### A Walk in Elysian Fields

Another house is found burnt down with four people killed. More flyers
and competition offers were seen and its revealed the neighbourhood had
been bought by the suburban redevelopment fund. Soon, it's found a whole
neighbourhood built by the fund had been burnt down, and that the houses
were extremely shoddy. Cole interviews one of the lead housing
developers, who is caught constantly lying but makes vague threats about
the police officers pensions and job security if they pursue much
further, but Cole manages to convince Elsa to ask Jack Kelso for help.

### House of Sticks

Set from the point of view of Jack Kelso, one of Coles' companions in
the Okinawa Campaign who has a strained relationship with him and works
as a fire insurance investigator. Jack raises the issue with his boss
who quickly dismisses it and tells him to drop it. Jack investigates
anyway, and discovers that the houses are being built with shoddy
materials, and discovers that the police, mayor and media are in bed
with the Suburban Redevelopment Fund. Jack informs Elsa of his discovery
and his bosses desire to cover it up, and later that night while working
on a case he is kidnapped by mysterious individuals but escapes and
informs Elsa, discovering her affair with Cole.

### A Polite Invitation

Jack wakes up in a hospital bed and is soon asked by the DA to work for
him as an investigator to take down corruption in the LAPD. He leaves
and threatens his old boss at gunpoint and interrogates his boss,
discovering that the Suburban Redevelopment Fund is a giant scam being
used by wealthy businessmen and several key government figures to steal
billions in tax dollars by buying houses for cheap, building them for
cheap and burning them down to collect the insurance money and repeat,
using blackmail and intimidation to stop anyone who gets in there way.
While investigating, another group tries to assassinate Jack, but he
survives and interrogates Courtney after discovering he's a member of
the fund. Jack organises a small group of his old war buddies and they
raid a mansion housing the key figures in the Suburban Redevelopment
Fund, but is shot by a woman inside, sustaining a minor injury. He finds
the Leland and shoots his leg, now knowing the true extent of his
corruption and web of bribes and blackmail.

### Nicholson Electroplating

Set during Jack's cases, Cole is in the middle of discussing a case with
his partner, a giant explosion is seen in the distance, leading to Cole
quickly driving to the scene while police radio is garbled and full of
panic. Several city blocks have been completely destroyed and panic
spreads through LA, Cole investigates the site and discovers that it was
a metalplating factory and that there are signs of corporate espionage.

### A Different Kind of War

###