Vladimir Lem
Vlad, circa 2003
Biography
Relationships	Valerie Winterson (Lover)
Affiliation	Russian Mob (boss) Max Payne (ally/archenemy) Inner Circle (member; renegade group leader) Squeaky Cleaning Company (behind-the-scenes boss)
Occupation	Mob boss, firearms dealer, businessman
Weapon	Desert Eagle M4 carbine Molotov cocktails
Location	Vodka Vinnie Gognitti's apartment His car Woden's manor
Death	2003 (Killed by Max Payne at Woden's manor)
Technical
Voice actor	Dominic Hawksley (Max Payne) Jonathan Davis (Max Payne 2)
Performer	Marko Saaresto (Max Payne) Peter Giles (Max Payne 2)

Vladimir "Vlad" Lem is a Russian mobster, arms-dealer, and the leader of the Russian Mob in New York City. He is engaged in a violent war with the Punchinello crime family. Fighting the mobsters, Vlad makes an alliance with Max Payne but, a few years later, he gets power hungry and ultimately becomes Max's enemy.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Background 1.2 2001 1.2.1 First actions 1.2.2 "An Offer You Can't Refuse" 1.3 2003 1.3.1 Second Mob War 1.3.2 Revelations 1.3.3 Final battle and death 2 Behind the scenes 2.1 Boss fight strategy 3 Appearances 4 Quotes 5 Gallery 6 See also 7 References 8 External links

BiographyEdit

BackgroundEdit

Not much is known about Vlad's life. It is unknown if he was born in Russia or USA. At some point in his life, Vlad was exposed to the world of drugs and gangs. He became a weapons dealer sometime after.

In New York City, Vlad started his own Russian Mob. The Mob's main enemies were the Punchinello mob family.

Vlad re-started a brutal and bloody mob war with Punchinello family. Vlad, however, was not the instigator of this war as according to a letter written by Vinnie Gognitti, the mob had made a hit on his weapons shipments which was believed to have left the Russians too weak to fight back. ^[1]

A side-conflict in the war was the rivalry between Lem and Gognitti; The two hated and wanted to kill each other.

Vlad was also the protégé of Alfred Woden, the central member of the Inner Circle.

2001Edit

First actionsEdit

In 2001, Vladimir Lem is first seen driving away from Jack Lupino's bombed out apartment building, after setting a powerful bomb near the place, thus continuing the gang war between the Russian and Italian mobs.

"An Offer You Can't Refuse"Edit

Vladimir returns to help Max out. After hearing about him killing so many mobsters, Vlad arrives back at the hotel to give Max a lift, to propose a truce and to make him "an offer he couldn't refuse:" Sending Max to kill one of his former lieutenants, Boris Dime, who has crossed over to Punchinello's side.

Max complies and, following with Vlad's apparent code of ethics, he allows Max to use some of his heavy weaponry and promises to help whenever he wants.

2003Edit

Second Mob WarEdit

In 2003, the war has heated up some, but thanks to Max's help, the Russians were able to hit back at the Mafia harder than ever, leaving Vlad a very successful man, wearing expensive suits and running the old Ragna Rock nightclub, renamed "Vodka". But Vlad soon becomes greedy and decides to wipe out the entire mob completely. Moreover, Vlad decides to rid himself of Max Payne by placing a hit on him.

Mona Sax is the one who shoots Vlad in the arm during one of their run-ins. That is why he is in an arm sling when Max saves him at Vodka.

RevelationsEdit

Vlad dates Winterson, Max's partner. She is in love with him, attracted by him due to his his attention to her and her blind child. When Vlad captures both Max and Vinnie at Mona's hideout, he shoots Max in the head for the "insults done to his lady;" meaning Max killing her. He then blows up Vinnie with his "Trojan Horse" - a giant Captain BaseBallBat-Boy costume with a bomb in it, thus ending the two men's rivalry. Before he shoots Max, he tells him Alfred Woden sent the Valhalla files to the D.A., which got Max's wife killed.

Eventually Max finds out the many truths about Vlad: he is an Inner Circle member, the Cleaning commandos are his men, and he is leading the coup d'état against Woden.

Final battle and deathEdit

When Vlad arrives at Woden's manor, he leads an attack against Woden; Woden's own bodyguards betray him and join Vlad. Max and Mona Sax go there as well to try and stop him and kill Vlad. Near Woden's panic room, Mona tries to kill Max (due to Woden's order) but realises that she can't. That's when Vlad shoots Mona in the back. Woden then comes out and tells Vlad to stop the killing, and himself tries to disarm Vlad, only to be shot to death. Max attacks Vlad and disarms him. During the fight with Max, Vlad blows up the bomb under them, causing the floor to colapse. Then he makes a run for it throwing what ever he has left at Max, but Max manages to get trough all the guards. In the end Vlad reaches the top part of the manor, a platform from where he throws explosives. Max shoots the weak points of the platform, causing Vlad to get closer to him enough so that Payne can get a shot at him. As the remains of the platform colapse down together with Lem and his Molotovs, his corpse falls down on the ground floor burning.

Behind the scenesEdit

Boss fight strategyEdit

See That Old Familiar Feeling for more information.

AppearancesEdit

• Max Payne
  • Let the Gun Do the Talking
  • An Offer you can't Refuse
  • With Rats and Oily Water
  • Put Out My Flames With Gasoline
• Max Payne 2
• Max Payne 3
  • Multiplayer via Classic Character Pack^[2]
• Max Payne 3 comics
  • "Hoboken Blues" (Mentioned only)
  • "Fight and Flight" (Appears in flashback(s))

QuotesEdit

GalleryEdit

See alsoEdit

• Vodka
• Max Payne 2

ReferencesEdit

1. ↑ http://www.giantbomb.com/vladimir-lem/94-2933/
2. ↑ "Announcing the Max Payne 3 Special Edition" on the Rockstar Newswire Retrieved November 21, 2011

External linksEdit

• Vladimir Lem on IMDb
• Vladimir Lem on Giant Bomb