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| “ | You look out for me, and I don't look out for you. | „ |
| ~ Francis explaining the nature of the help he wants from Niko Bellic. |
Francis "Frankie" McReary is a major character in Grand Theft Auto IV. He is a highly corrupt, arrogant and selfish officer who gives several missions to Niko Bellic, before getting either killed or spared by the player.
He was voiced by Thomas Lyons.
Biography
Background
Francis McReary was born on July 20, 1963 and is the brother of Patrick McReary, Derrick McReary, Kate McReary and Gerald McReary and the second child of Maureen McReary and an unnamed father. Francis and his siblings grew up in an Irish Catholic home. While most of his brothers became criminals - or activists, like Derrick - Francis wanted to pave a career in the police, much to the disdain of his brothers. He initially wanted to become a priest, but as his brother Patrick recalls, he had to abandon that ambition after being caught cheating on his final test to qualify. He also committed several mischiefs, like stealing money from the church collection plate.
Francis joined the Liberty City Police Department, and rose through the ranks to Deputy Commissioner. While his philosophy is "cleaning up the streets of Liberty City", without the interference, he is extremely corrupt, and takes to assassinating street criminals or lawyers who have evidence against him.
Events of GTA IV
First encounter with Niko
Francis first meets Niko Bellic during a publicity spot with Manny Escuela. Later in the game, he calls Niko and arranges a meeting at Castle Gardens, where he reveals that he knows of Niko's criminal activity in Liberty City; seeing that Niko could be useful, Francis blackmailed Niko to work for him, as he decided to use him as a pawn instead of arresting him.
Call and Collect
Francis asked Niko to meet him on a pier at the south of Algonquin. Francis tells Niko that he "knows a lot about him", and is willing to provide some protection to him in exchange for some "services". Francis says that there is a man who is threatening to expose to the press, proof that Francis committed acts of corruption, unless Francis pays him to be quiet. Francis wants Niko to find this blackmailer, and retrive the photos that he have against him. Niko calls the blackmailer's cell and finally identifys him. He kills him and takes the photographs on the storage device to Francis.
Final Interview
Howewer, another man poses a threat to Francis: Tom Goldberg, a notorious Liberty City-based lawyer, who has evidence against him for corruption, which would lead to a court case. Francis first planned to get rid of Goldberg by himself, but Goldberg, having too many bodyguards, asks Niko to do the job.
Niko then plans an interview with the lawyer. Niko went to the Goldberg, Ligner and Shyster office and after a brief interview, he killed the lawyer and escaped the office with the incriminating files. He delivers them to Francis who recovers and destroys it before thanking Niko for what he has done.
Holland Nights
| “ | The guy is guilty as sin, he is sin. But, it'll take me a year to get the evidence. More maybe. Maybe good men will be taken down by that evidence. Maybe people make mistakes. | „ |
| ~ Francis McReary exposing his plan to Niko. |
Francis want to kill Clarence Little, a notorious thug who is responsible for some of the drug dealing and pimping activities in East Holland. Niko is at first reluctant but finally accepts it in exchange for 5,000$. After getting rid of Little's goons, the player has the choice to either spare or kills Clarence. Regardless of his choice, Niko will gain his 5,000$.
Fate
After Francis' brother Derrick returns from Ireland, Derrick intends to expose Francis' corruption to the public, something Francis could not accept as he aspires to become the Commissioner of the LCPD. He orders Niko to kill Derrick during a meeting he has arranged with his brother. Just after, Derrick calls Niko and requests that he kill Francis, fearing thatthe latter plans to kill him. Niko has the choice to either kill Derrick or kill Francis.
- If the player spares him and kills Derrick like they were told, Francis will thank Niko. Nobody in the McReary family, apart from Francis, will know that Niko murdered him. Nevertheless, Niko decides to use Francis' position in the LCPD to get rid of the cops at anytime by requesting him, something that Francis cannot refuse. Francis will be present at the funeral of his brother, but far away from Niko and his siblings. The funeral will be disrupted by some Albanian criminals and Francis will flee the church with his mother. Following Niko dealing with Dimitri Rascalov and Jimmy Pegorino, he ceases contact with Francis.
- If the player kills him and spares Derrick instead, Niko will still assist at his funerals. Nobody in the McReary family, apart from possibly Derrick, will know that Niko murdered him. Niko won't gain anything but it will respect his personal ethics. The funeral, however, will be disrupted by some Albanian criminals. While Niko is taking Francis' corpse into the cemetery, Packie will remind him of his distrust about Francis, something that he shares with his other brothers.
Personality
Francis McReary is an extremely corrupt officer. He appears to be very affable, but he cannot hide his true nature to Niko: a power-hungry, ruthless, and sadistic man with a twisted sense of justice, as he let Niko and his brothers kill a countless number of his policemen during the Liberty City Bank robbery (though its unknown if he was truly aware that Niko and his brothers were the ones responsible of the bank robbery), but in the other way has no problem assaulting and killing mere thugs who did "nothing else" than drug dealing. However, Francis is somewhat aware of this (something that is really rare within GTA universe), and ultimately tries to do something good with his power. If the player spares Francis, the latter will be very thankful and agreed to protect Niko from the police. Also, he is one of Niko's employers who didn't betray him (along with the U.L. Paper Contact and Don Jon Gravelli).
Trivia
- It seems he has the same philosophy as Frank Tenpenny, thinking if a necessary number of people do like he does, the community would improve. However Francis is unquestionably less evil than him, and if spared, is willing to assist Niko; while Frank Tenpenny antagonized Carl Johnson until his death.
- He's resented by his brothers, and kind of disliked by Kate (his sister). Packie remarks that "Francis is just as crooked as we are — more so". Francis is treated with so much disdain by his 3 brothers that they use a framed picture of him use as a board to snort cocaine.
- If the player chooses to kill Francis, Derrick and Packie will act indifferent about his death, though Packie will still refuse to abandon his dead body. The only person to be overcome by grief for him is his mother. Kate will act cool about the deaths of both Francis and Derrick, because she has already resigned herself to accept the deaths of all her criminal brothers. Gerald wil say that he and Francis were never really close, but that "I'll miss him".
- In GTA V, if Packie is chosen as a gunman in Paleto Score mission, he will mention that Derrick is dead. However, it doesn't confirm that Francis canonically survived since Packie never reveals the cause of Derrick's death and there is no mention of Francis at all.
