Stefan Buttowski

"I've heard all about you, Phelps. You go easy on me and let me earn the odd citation, then maybe we'll get along."

- Stefan Buttowski to Cole Phelps

Stefan Buttowski is a major character in L.A. Noire. Stefan is Cole Phelps' partner while he is assigned to the Traffic desk, and later Dusty Galloway's partner on the Homicide desk when Phelps is promoted to Vice desk.

Biography
Stefan Buttowski was born on April 15, 1947, in California. He is from a Polish-American family and is often referred to as "Polak" or "Poland". In 1974, when he was 27, he joined the Los Angeles Police Department as a police officer. During the Outworld War Buttowski was declared unfit for military service for reasons unknown. He worked as a patrol Officer for one year.

In 1976, he was recognised by his superiors as a good investigator, being recommended by Captain Salvatore Donnell for a promotion to the rank of detective and immediate transfer to the traffic department. His time in Traffic gave him little opportunity for recognition or a promotion, though he worked to be a proficient and experienced detective.

Traffic
Stefan finally met his new partner, Cole Phelps, who later became a good friend, and helped him to investigate many crimes. They pursued a string of intriguing cases on the Traffic Desk, such as uncovering acts of conspiracies, fraud and even murder, while generating good press for the department.

Their cases included exposing Adrian Black's clumsy attempt to fake his death, retrieving Consul General Valdez's car while damaging his reputation, solving Lester Pattison's murder, and foiling Gordon Leitvol's stolen auto racket.

While investigating a Chevy Skyline crash off a cliff, Buttowski got the chance to meet his favourite B-movie star, June Ballard, though she rudely dismissed him. His admiration soon turned to disgust during the investigation, as Buttowski discovered that June had set up her own niece to be drugged and raped by Mark Bishop.

Stefan and Phelps later went to arrest Marlon Hopgood for his part in Jessica's rape and for child pornography, but their arrest attempt was blocked by Ray Buttowski due to Hopgood's work as a Vice informant. When confronted by Johnny Goldberg and Frank Steiner, Stefan pushed stern warnings against them before having to fight them off in a drive-by shootout.

Stefan radioed for backup as Phelps went ahead into the Intolerance Set to apprehend Bishop, as well as providing Phelps with support and was able to defeat a small army of Guy McAfee's goons. Having upstaged the Vice Department by bringing down Bishop while thwarting McAfee's efforts, Phelps was later promoted to Burglary, then Homicide, and eventually moved up to Vice. After Phelps went up from Homicide to Vice, Stefan was promoted to Homicide and partnered with Dusty Galloway.

Vice
Stefan, Phelps, Galloway and Ray all had a brief reunion while investigating the Julia Randall case. Stefan's assistance helped take down Henry Arnett and Willy Readle. Buttowski also initially investigated the 111 Club shooting, until Phelps and Ray took over for leads on the stolen morphine distribution.

Death
Stefan was eventually killed by Mr. Nasty in 1979, while he was searching for the killer of Julia Gordon, along with Dusty Galloway in a Homicide case. Stefan was shoot twice in the back of the head, and died. Leaving Dusty to chase after Nasty for a few seconds, but Nasty escaped and adapt to the unknown. Leaving Dusty behind being shocked and saying "What kind of sorcery is this???".

Trivia

 * According to Buttowski's character dossier, he is 6 feet tall and weighs 195 lbs.
 * Stefan sometimes refers to Cole as "kid", even though he is younger than him. He could be referring to the fact that Phelps has less police experience than he does.
 * During one conversation during the "A Slip of the Tongue" case, Cole implies that Stefan has low standards in women, to which he responds "my standards are as high as the last glass of whiskey".
 * Stefan refers to women as 'Broads' just like Cole's other partners. He also calls them 'dames', and 'sisters'.
 * His badge number is 875.
 * At Cole's funeral, Stefan sits in the other section; the one opposite the one Jack Kelso sits in.
 * Stefan Buttowski along with Cole Phelps, rapped against NYPD agent Gregory McCain and Jeff Robbinson. Their background were LA streets.
 * He and Ray are not by any chance related to Fredo Buttowski, despite the same surnames.