“ | Call me Curtis, Jack. This is California. | „ |
~ Curtis Benson |
“ | Curtis Benson: You take love where you find it when you get older Jack. Jack Kelso: LOVE! That has NOTHING TO DO WITH LOVE, Curtis! Curtis Benson: Some might find your romantic notions endearing, Jack. I find them very tiring. |
„ |
~ Curtis Benson admitted to being a pedophile. |
Curtis Benson is a major antagonist in the video game, L.A Noire. He serves as Jack Kelso's archenemy. He is the Vice President of the California-based Insurance company California Fire & Life and a member of the Suburban Redevelopment Fund which planned to defraud the federal government.
He was voiced and motion captured by Jim Abele, who also portrayed Mike Donovan in Dexter.
Biography[]
History[]
Nothing is known about Benson's life before he became a board member of California Fire & Life. When the office of President of the company was made open, Benson wanted the position. However, the board members laughed and gave the job to someone else because Benson believe LA would be the "Capital of the West" and not San Francisco while the board members believed LA to be a "blackwater". The board instead promoted him to be VP of the company and sent him to LA. This snub would cause Benson to want to get back at his own company for passing him over for president.
Suburban Redevelopment Fund[]
As VP of California Fire & Life, he got involved with Leland Monroe's criminal syndicate known as the SBF or Suburban Redevelopment Fund which adversities itself as a group of local politicians and businessmen who have joined force to build homes for returning GIs. However, that was nothing more than false advertising. The real goal of the SBF was to defraud the federal government by building houses made with materials made for movie sets along the path of an upcoming freeway in order to artificially inflate the land's value at the lowest possible cost, and because the houses were made with fake materials they could cut costs and time.
Benson's role in the Fund, was to establish the insurance agreement between California Fire & Life and Monroe's company Elysian Fields Developments. The Insurance agreement would legally prove the worth of the houses which combined with the value of the land the houses would cover-up the fraud and protect Monroe and Elysian Fields from criminal liability. If all went well, the Feds would use eminent domain to purchase the land where the fake houses were to build the new highway and would repay Monroe and the other investors such as Benson. They would receive even more money due to the perceived "improved" value of the land and as compensation.
Events of the game[]
When Lou Buckwalter, a set carpenter who was on site building one of the fake houses collapsed on top of him died, Benson offered Elsa Lichtmann who was Lou's sole beneficiary $20,000 of life insurance money in an attempt to silence her. However, this would backfire on him as Cole Phelps Elsa's lover was suspicious of this and asked Elsa to reject the settlement and go to Jack Kelso at California Fire & Life and have him investigate Buckwalter's death to see if there was any ties to the SBF which Cole was investigating before being frozen out by the LAPD. Benson saw Elsa enter and leave Jack's office and so invited Jack into his office while he was practicing a new golf putter. Curtis demanded Jack force Elsa to accept the settlement or lose his job. Despite this threat, Jack would investigate the case anyway and which lead to him discovering Benson's involvement with the SBF and their fake houses they were building.
After recovering at a hospital after a beating and a kidnapping attempt by Monroe's goons Kelso was approached by Assistant DA Leonard Petersen who was running against incumbent DA Donald Sandler because of Sandler's corruption. Petersen hired Kelso as a DA's investigator to investigate the SBF. Kelso stormed into Benson's apartment where he found Benson in bed with a 12-year old girl. Kelso would find plenty of incriminating evidence in Benson's apartment including Benson's personal shares of the SBF and the insurance agreement between California Fire & Life and Elysian Fields Developments. When interrogated by Kelso, Benson refused to share the whole truth of the SBF. Kelso warned Benson that he would end up in jail for his actions which Benson merely shrugged off.
After this, Benson would warn his superior Leland Monroe about Jack Kelso's investigation and so Leland using his connections put a hit out on Kelso via the LAPD and his own goons. Despite this, Kelso and Phelps would complete their investigation and expose the truth of the conspiracy. However, Petersen made a deal with the corrupt Police Chief William Worrell with the details of said deal never coming to light but it is speculated that in exchange of Petersen becoming the new DA, the blame for the SBF would go to Leland Monroe and Curtis Benson while the others involved including Worrell and Mayor Bowren would stay in their positions and would be granted immunity from prosecution for their crimes.
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