Max Purcell is a trust fund child and an armed shakedown orchestrator that got the armed guns he hired killed.
History[]
Purcell went into the family business of Hayworth Groups, a developer’s company led by his grandfather Julian Hayworth, after Purcell’s parents died. Julian wanted to build a library for Hudson University named after his daughter, Purcell’s mother Caroline. The new location would be in Spanish Harlem, which was already gentrifying. But Purcell inherited his father’s gambling addiction and went into increasing debt, so he wanted to rush the development. He paid a visit to tax auditor Stan Harkavy, who was holding out for a bigger sale. Stan chased him out and called him a punk to reject his deal.
Purcell by then was already in contact with Duane Jefferson, a repeat offender who was working with a loan shark when he gave Purcell a loan to pay his debts off, which Purcell paid a back with interest. In return, Purcell wanted to pay Jefferson to assemble a crew to break into Stan’s business and rattle him into selling. Jefferson found Pierre Hobbs and Angel Colon, who personally knew Stan’s only colleague, Gregory Cardenas.
While Angel stayed outside to keep out of the violence, Jefferson demanded whatever money he could steal whole Hobbs beat Gregory. As Stan had a shotgun his late wife Evelyn made him by, things went horribly awry when Stan was furious enough to shoot Jefferson, then Hobbs, critically injuring Angel with another gunshot. Purcell was tracked from his connection to Jefferson leaving him with swanky gifts, and Stan obviously knew Purcell because Gregory used the same poker term Max used when he entered the shop.
Purcell was arrested and charged, down to the deaths of Jefferson and Hobbs considering he set them up to die in the shakedown by depraved indifference. Stan himself was investigated by the grand jury since he was fully aware of the shakedown from having seen Jefferson when he made Purcell leave, but he was absolved.
Purcell’s ultimate legal fate was left unknown. (L&O: “Shotgun”)