Max Payne (series)/Headscratchers

Max Payne 1
Max clearly took steps to disguise his identity for his undercover work in the first game, except he used his real full name, which is still connected to his past life as an NYPD officer. Granted it was most likely so the player didn't get confused when the police & news are naming the "wrong person" in their manhunt but how was it that neither the Punchinellos nor the police realized he was really a former NYPD cop or DEA agent? Did Max make no friends going through the academy or on his police beat that would realize the criminal on all the news broadcasts looks suspiciously like, and has the same name as, someone who went through police training academy and had served the NYPD among them? Regarding the Punchinellos, Max's dream sequence showed he & Alex Balder had made headlines a few times: wouldn't the criminal cartel perform some sort of cursory background check on Max before accepting him into their ranks? There's also the question of how exposed and high profile the story of the murder of cop's family (and a wife who worked in the DA's office) would be, which would have given Max a great deal of public exposure and even more opportunities for the crime family's background check to pick him up as "That guy whose family was killed by Valkyr addicts and has a major reason to want to screw us up big time".
 * Perhaps they did realize it, but just figured he'd gone off his rocker after his family was killed.
 * Just make it look like he got "fired" after his family died, and desperately needs the money. Happens a lot in real life.

Movie

 * Why IS everybody hallucinating the same thing (the demonic Valkyries)?