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Spoiler Warning |
| Plot details follow, read at your own risk. |
Vernon Mapes is a character in L.A. Noire. He is a person of interest in the Arson DLC case Nicholson Electroplating.
Biography[]
Background[]
Mapes is a former LAPD officer who worked in the Vice department. He was a notorious crooked cop and was hated by honest cops such as Herschel Biggs and Lachlan McKelty. His career as a corrupt officer was well known, and he was admired by unscrupulous up-and-comers such as Roy Earle. After retiring from the police force, Mapes became the head of security for Howard Hughes' Los Angeles headquarters, Hughes Aircraft. Mapes also acted as head of Hughes' personal interests outside of Hughes Aircraft, such as arranging seedy business deals and organizing prostitution for Hughes with Hollywood starlets.
Mapes learned of Harold McLellan's formula to chemically polish aluminum, a process of extreme value to Hughes Aircraft, and hence established a business arrangement with McLellan. Their deal involved McLellan personally selling the process to Hughes through Mapes while cutting out Fred Nicholson. Mapes also provided McLellan with a prop spinner for testing. Unfortunately, Lockheed, an aircraft manufacturing competitor, was also aware of the process and resorted to industrial espionage to steal it from McLellan. Mapes in turn murdered an unnamed Lockheed employee, an accomplice of Tomoko Okamoto, and hid the body at her apartment. Mapes' intent was to eliminate competitors for the process and to secure it for Hughes.
Events of L.A. Noire[]
Unfortunately, both McLellan and Okamoto were killed in a massive explosion at the Nicholson Electroplating Plant, when a test of the formula went horribly wrong. Detectives Cole Phelps and Biggs arrived at Hughes Aircraft to investigate links to the Nicholson Electroplating explosion. Mapes allowed them into the hangar and answered a few questions. Mapes later proceeded to burn down McLellan's home, in order to remove evidence of his corrupt deeds and implicating Hughes. However, he was caught by Phelps and Biggs, prompting Mapes to flee back to the hangar and after a car chase, Mapes was finally killed in a shootout.
Case Appearances[]
Arson[]
- Nicholson Electroplating (Killed)
Murders Committed[]
- Lockheed Employee - Murdered in order to secure the aluminum polish process for Hughes Aircraft.
Trivia[]
- Vernon Mapes owns Black Tucker Torpedo. which could symbolize Howard Hughes connection to and support for Preston Tucker.
- Vernon Mapes is loosely based on the fictional character "Buzz Meeks," who appears in James Ellroy's "L.A. Quartet" novels, specifically "The Big Nowhere" and "L.A. Confidential." In the Ellroy novels, Meeks possesses the same basic history and fulfills the same function as Mapes, a former crooked cop who is now Howard Hughes's bag-man, pimp, and enforcer.
- The actor who portrayed Mapes, Jack Conley, also appeared in L.A. Confidential as the Vice-Captain.
- Ironically, Vernon Mapes is younger than Herschel Biggs.
Gallery[]
