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"Rusty's Razor. You blame the guy that's banging her."
―Rusty Galloway, on the main suspect for female homicides.

Detective Finbarr "Rusty" Galloway is a central character in L.A. Noire. Rusty becomes Cole's partner once he is promoted to Homicide, and later becomes Stefan Bekowsky's partner sometime after Cole is promoted to Vice.

Biography[]

Background[]

Rusty was born in 1900. Little is known about his family life growing up, although he mentions to Phelps that he was once an altar boy. He has been married and divorced three times. He had a daughter with one of his ex-wives, though this was unplanned. Rusty served many years in the LAPD and became a veteran Homicide detective, working alongside Floyd Rose for much of that time. Despite his dedication and experience, throughout his later years, Rusty became a borderline alcoholic and began taking a lazy approach to his work. Whether his excessive drinking is a longstanding habit or a more recent development is unclear.

Events of L.A. Noire[]

Patrol and Traffic[]

Rusty is seen along with Floyd Rose investigating the murder of Scooter Peyton, although they dropped the investigation rather quickly, relegating responsibility to patrolmen Phelps and Dunn. Rusty is later seen during Cole's first day on the Traffic desk; he is one of the officers in the department room along with Floyd.

Homicide[]

"It leaves me saddled with a chump like you, Phelps. I didn't ask for you and I don't want you. So keep it to yourself."
―Galloway, displeased by being partners with Cole Phelps

As Cole Phelps received a promotion to the Homicide squad, replacing the retired Floyd Rose, Rusty was partnered with him. They both were initially tasked with resolving the death of Celine Henry, which due to similarities with the murder of Elizabeth Short, gets tied by the press to the Black Dahlia Killer.

Initially, he resented Phelps' swift promotion to the Homicide desk and treated him with arrogance, since Phelps had only been a member of the LAPD for a little over a year, whereas Rusty had to work for a lot longer to achieve the same position. Furthermore, Phelps' refusal to rule out the Black Dahlia killer, one that had eluded the rest of the LAPD for six months by that point, served only to irritate Rusty, believing Phelps merely wanted to solve a big case in order to feed his ego. The case ended with the arrest of Alonzo Mendez.

Subsequently, Cole and Rusty received several similar cases of murder that initially appear to be committed by the Black Dahlia, but always ended up leading to unlikely suspects (such as a pedophile, a strange fruit store owner, a crazy homeless man and an irritable socialist writer) through suspiciously strong evidence. Throughout their collaboration, they got used to each other and Galloway was more amicable.

With strong cases and convictions, Rusty dismissed the possibility of the serial killer's involvement and dismissed the similarities between each murder as copycat crimes. Regardless, both Phelps and Rusty's actions earned good press for the LAPD as well as strong praise from Captain James Donnelly. Throughout their time together, Rusty developed more respect for Phelps, praising him as a good case man and the two built a proficient partnership, becoming Donnelly's "finest crusaders."

However, when the Homicide department received a series of strange, threatening letters containing extracts from Percy Bysshe Shelley poem "Prometheus Unbound," Phelps and Donnelly could no longer ignore the possibility that a serial killer was on the loose. Donnelly warned the two that, if they didn't catch the true killer, then their careers would be over for their wrongful convictions, and would have to face the public and press' outrage.

"We're gonna catch hell for this. Banging up innocent men."
―Galloway, after realizing that they had been fooled during their last five cases.

Accompanied by Galloway, Phelps read the poem extracts carefully and discovered that the letters where leading them to various landmarks throughout the city. The final clue led them to a hideout at the Christ Crown of Thorns, an old abandoned church where Garret Mason, who was i fact the Black Dahlia killer, awaited them. Phelps recognized Mason as the temp bartender at The Bamba Club during the Henry case. Mason in turn applauded Phelps for having the tenacity to find him, while dismissing Rusty as a "boorish ignoramus." Mason fled into the church catacombs and after an extended chase that ended in the church's graveyard, Phelps shot and killed Mason.

But even with compelling proof of his murders, Captain James Donnelly revealed to Phelps and Rusty that Mason was the half-brother of a very influential and undisclosed politician, and hence his name and acts were to be kept out of public knowledge and off of official records. The suspects that were previously arrested were quietly released and the truth was buried, with Phelps and Rusty sworn to secrecy.

Vice[]

"Come on, Phelps. Even Roy looks like he's working. Get on with it."
―Finbarr Galloway

After Phelps was promoted to the Vice squad, Galloway was partnered with former Traffic detective Stefan Bekowsky. The three along with Roy Earle all had a brief reunion while investigating the Julia Randall case. Galloway and Bekowsky aided the investigation, although the former was less cooperative than the latter, as he was skeptical of Phelps' burglary angle.

Arson[]

Rusty was later sent to investigate the murder of Dr. Harlan Fontaine, during which he discovered that Elsa Lichtmann was kidnapped, hence why he called for Phelps to come to the scene, knowing his relationship with her. Unlike most other characters, Rusty stayed friendly towards Phelps after the scandal with Elsa, most likely because he had been in three unsuccessful marriages himself.

After Phelps' death, Rusty went to his funeral, paying his respects to his former partner. With Phelps' death, it left Galloway and Captain Donnelly as the only ones left alive who knew the truth about the Black Dahlia killer.

Personality[]

"You're the new face of the department, Phelps. The modern cop who tries to understand why the perp does what he does. Me, I just drop the hammer down on the lowlifes. You crunch a roach under your heel, you don't worry about what it's feeling, you just grind it into the pavement."
―Rusty Galloway

Galloway is a cynical and world weary detective that doesn't really take his job too seriously anymore. He is described by Captain James Donnelly as an "old school and practical policeman." He is not afraid to stray from the book to bring justice to criminals by bullying or intimidating them. Galloway is often lazy, overeats, and is a borderline alcoholic, as revealed in The Studio Secretary Murder; Phelps had to tell Walter Robbins that Galloway was joking, under the impression that Galloway was going to get drunk on the job after he asks to tap some of Robbins' stock to help motivate him and solve the case faster. In "The Naked City", Roy Earle refers to him as "a drunk." He also called him "an old bulldog, who can't get up a flight of stairs without coughing up his lunch."

Despite his harsh views and cynical attitude towards women and his job, Rusty still has a soft spot for children, and absolutely despises child predators and sex fiends alike. During the Homicide case "The Golden Butterfly," Rusty threatens to "brain" Eli Rooney after hearing the disgusting things he thought about his female victims, and calls him a "kiddie raper" after detaining him. At the end of that case, if Eli is convicted for the murder, Rusty will throw Eli in the cell and slap him in the face afterwards. In "The Studio Secretary Murder," Rusty punches John Ferdinand Jamison multiple times after finding out he had been kissing the recently deceased body of Evelyn Summers. After Jamison is arrested, Rusty promises to pay him a visit in his cell later.

Unlike most other characters, Galloway is still friendly towards Phelps after the scandal with Elsa. He actually appears to be even friendlier towards him, though this is unsurprising, considering Galloway's attitude towards women. He also could've been friendlier because while the two were in the Homicide desk together, he kept trying to get Phelps to drop his loyal attitude towards women.

Case Appearances[]

Main Story[]

Patrol[]

Traffic[]

Homicide[]

Vice[]

Arson[]

Street Crimes (Homicide)[]

Criminals Killed[]

Trivia[]

  • During The Quarter Moon Murders, Rusty states to Phelps that he is "pulling rank" and asks Phelps to climb the drainpipe at the LA Public Library. This means that either Rusty is a higher grade detective than Phelps, or he was being officiously arrogant. He could also just be referring to the fact that he has been a detective much longer than Phelps.
  • On two occasions, Rusty will mention someone named Parker. He could be referring to William H. Parker who served as the LAPD's Chief of Police from 1950 - 1966.
  • Rusty is older than his superior officer Captain James Donnelly. His laziness towards the latter stages of his career may be a reason why he has never been promoted above detective. When talking about Donnelly, Rusty will refer to him as "Skipper" or "the Skipper" and even calls him this on a few occasions.
  • He drives a 1947 Nash Super 600, which is department issued and fitted with a siren and a radio.
  • Along with Cole Phelps, Rusty is the only character who has three or more known partners throughout L.A. Noire, having partnered with Floyd Rose, Cole Phelps, and Stefan Bekowsky.
  • Rusty is a cigar smoker.
  • His name implies that he is Irish American. Finbarr is an Irish name, and Galloway is a Scottish surname common in Ireland. Even though he is embarrassed by his name, and hates being called Finbarr, in The Silk Stocking Murder, Phelps called him Finbarr just to annoy him. Bekowsky did similarly in "The Naked City" case, where he called him Finbarr in order to return his fire.
  • His badge number is 564.
  • Galloway is overprotective of his suit numerous times throughout the Homicide desk, claiming that it cost $30, which is approximately $339 in the present time (As of 2019).
  • Rusty is one of five characters whose appearances span all five desks, the others being Courtney Sheldon, Harlan Fontaine, Cole Phelps, and Mal Carruthers (Including appearances in newspapers)
  • Despite frequently suggesting that the husband of the murdered woman is usually the murderer, a theory he jokingly calls "Rusty's Razor", usually followed closely by the phrase "You blame the guy that's banging her!". None of the husbands of any of the women killed in any of the Homicide cases are the "correct" suspects to accuse.
  • Rusty is a bowling player.

Gallery[]

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