Prologue
In the year 2016, a documentary is produced about up-and-coming criminal Lincoln Clay and his systematic dismantling of the Marcano crime family in New Bordeaux, Louisiana in 1968. Jonathan Maguire, a former agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, agrees to be interviewed for the documentary. He has followed Lincoln's trail even after he retired in 1999, and he has decked out a cellar in his house with photographs and case files. Also interviewed in the documentary is James Ballard, a retired priest who knew Lincoln Clay in his youth. He was Lincoln's mentor and spiritual advisor, and he often tried to steer the young man away from crime to make an honest life for himself.
Born in 1945 to a White father and a Black mother, Lincoln Clay's childhood was rough by all means. After his mother abandoned him in 1947, he stayed at an orphanage for much of his youth. When the orphanage closed in 1958, Lincoln was adopted by Sammy Robinson, the boss of the Black mob that operated out of Delray Hollow, along with his wife Perla and their son Ellis. In 1966, Lincoln Clay joined the military and was sent to fight in Vietnam, where he met a CIA agent named John Donovan, who would become his handler and his truest companion.
Returning Home
The date is 20 February 1968, in the city of New Bordeaux, Louisiana. Lincoln Clay, freshly returned from his service in Vietnam, sits on a bench outside the train station. After chatting with an older veteran about war experiences, Lincoln's stepbrother Ellis Robinson pulls up to meet him in Lincoln's dearly-beloved muscle car, a black Samson Drifter. As they drive to Sammy's bar, the two discuss what's been happening in New Bordeaux since Lincoln has been away.
Ellis notes that he has been involved in selling marijuana thanks to two locals that have since moved to Empire Bay, who have now planned to move into heroin and let him in on it. Sammy refused to get involved in the trade of heroin, so Ellis has been looking to get into the business via his and Lincoln's friend Giorgi, the son of the Don of New Bordeaux, Sal Marcano. Lincoln figures Sal isn't going to agree to such a thing either, and that aside, the heroin trade may just be too intense for Ellis anyway.
The two soon arrive at Sammy's bar, with Lincoln entering to find several locals there to welcome him home. Sammy himself raises a toast to Lincoln, and the celebration gets underway. When the party winds down, Lincoln decides to sleep down in the basement. In the present day, Father James relates Lincoln coming home to his own experiences returning home from World War II.
The Haitian Question
The date is 21 February 1968. Lincoln awakens from a nightmare and makes his way upstairs, where he finds Ellis and Sammy in an argument. Ellis is questioning Sammy's decision to buy a large amount of food to give to Delray Hollow locals at the Warm Hearts Warm Neighborhood Kitchen when their finances are already being stretched thin, yet Sammy is not phased. Lincoln asks what the problem is, but Sammy dismisses it, saying he is able to handle it himself, though he does admits that he has been having problems with the local Haitian gang. Father James arrives to collect the donated food, and asks Lincoln for his help in distributing it, which he agrees to.
On the way to the center, Lincoln tells Father James that he has plans to leave New Bordeaux and head out to California, as a fellow serviceman has offered to get him a job in the Mare Island shipyard, only staying in town to give a proper goodbye to his family. Upon arriving at the kitchen, Lincoln begins handing out bowls of gumbo to some of the less fortunate in Delray Hollow. He does not get to serve many, however, as soon after a car full of Haitian men arrive and begin attacking Lincoln. The well-trained soldier has no real issue in taking the men down, finding a bag of Vodou paraphernalia on one of the gangsters.
With this in hand, Lincoln returns to Sammy's and demands an explanation. Sammy reluctantly tells Lincoln that the Haitians have been not only been robbing the locals, but have been sabotaging the Black Mob's crooked lottery racket, which in turn has left them three months behind on the kickback they owe to Sal Marcano. Lincoln decides to head down to the Haitians' base of operations and take out their man in charge, figuring the gang will be broken up with the death of their leader. Sammy directs Lincoln and Ellis to a shanty town out in the Bayou Fantom, a remnant of the days when salt was mined in the bayou before the Great Depression. The Haitians have set up shop there, and they are led by a man by the name of Baka.
Lincoln and Ellis take a fan boat into the bayou in the dead of night. Lincoln instructs Ellis to take his car to the gate of the shanty town and be ready to go, while he will swim up to the town and make his way to Baka. Lincoln initially sneaks through the town and stealthily takes down the Haitian thugs nearby, but things eventually escalate into a large shootout. Nonetheless, Lincoln is able to make his way to the chapel, where he shoots Baka enough to leave harsh wounds and finishes him off with the snap of his neck. As Baka hits the floor, a woman emerges from a crawlspace in the wall. She explains through her hysterics that Baka kept her prisoner as his sex slave, and beats on his dead body. As Lincoln tries to calm her down and says her abuse is over, she replies that it will never be over and runs off into the night.
As Lincoln tears back through the town to his Drifter, he and Ellis manage to flee the angered Haitians. On the drive back to Delray Hollow, Ellis wonders aloud what they'll do when Sammy inevitably passes, but Lincoln chooses to avoid the question. Returning back to Sammy's and reporting on their success, Sammy is at least for now satisfied to have the Haitians off their backs. Turning focus onto how to pay Sal back on their owed money, Sammy reports that Sal has actually asked to meet with Lincoln personally at the Retroussé Yacht Club, as he has arranged something that will settle things between him and the Black Mob.
A Pivotal Offer
The date is 22 February 1968. Lincoln drives out to the Retroussé Yacht Club to meet with Sal. Sal's influence over the city helps Lincoln get into the property a Black man like himself would never be able to enter without working there. He meets Giorgi at the front door and the two reminisce about the last time they saw each other before Lincoln shipped out.
The Heist
Changing Times
The Way of Flesh
Pray on the Way Up
Meeting Emmanuel
The Blade Stained Red
Brave New World
Meeting Nicki
Work the Man Who Bleeds
Fish Gotta Eat
Meeting Alma
Fighting the Marcano Lieutenants
Hot Rubber and Cold Blood
The Connection to Cuba
The Dead Stay Gone
A Little Late for That
Compromised Corruption
Everyone Will Notice
The Deaths of the Marcano Capos
The Privileged Die Slow
There's a War Goin' On
Certainly Was Exciting
The Fists and the Flames
Jesuit in New Mexico
Burn Like Napalm
Evil That Men Do
The Poor Sumbitch
Real Nice Time
Finishing the Marcano Family
After Lincoln has taken down all of Marcano's capos, he summons his underbosses for the final sitdown. The last district is placed under his control, and all three underbosses are left in complete shock that they are still alive. Through careful management, Lincoln Clay has ensured that all of his allies are alive and ready to stand with him, and they are all the more grateful for it.
With every racket and district in New Bordeaux now in Lincoln's control, the only step left is to finish Sal once and for all. Lincoln pays a visit to Donovan's motel room, where he is spreading gasoline to destroy the evidence of his tactical center. John plays the last recording of Sal he has, where the Don is lamenting the loss of his final capo to Giorgi. He now has no options left for maintaining the casino, and heading out to hunt Lincoln himself is not an option, as every two-bit thug in New Bordeaux can see Sal has no power, leaving them itching for their chance to take him down. With little else to do, Sal orders Giorgi to gather everyone who will still listen to his orders and head to the Paradiso casino, where they will wait for Lincoln and try their damndest to take him down.
The Fate of Lincoln Clay
Ultimately, Lincoln decides to take control of New Bordeaux, once again summoning his underbosses to the Eaglehurst Plantation.
Ultimately, Lincoln decides to take control of New Bordeaux, once again summoning his underbosses to the Eaglehurst Plantation. With all of them gathered, Lincoln decides he would much rather take the city for himself. As such, he pulls a pistol and shoots his underbosses dead. As he gets in his car to leave, he hears a sort of whirring noise right before the car explodes, incinerating him in seconds.
The documentary ends in a final interview with Father James. When James learned that Lincoln not only chose to stay in New Bordeaux, but killed his underbosses to hoard all his power, the pastor realized that Lincoln had grown just as wicked as Sal was. He decided he would not stand for it, so he wired a bomb to Lincoln's ignition starter. James admits that of all the terrible things in his past that he has done and come to regret, the murder of Lincoln Clay is one for which he has no remorse.
Agent Maguire, for his part, figures a car bomb to be too simple and clean an end to Lincoln, and has his suspicions on Father James' role in it. He relates that even today, he sometimes hears noises in his house that sound like footsteps in combat boots. Though he rationalises that it's probably just his old house creaking and groaning, he can't help but wonder if the noises actually belong to Lincoln's restless spirit, coming to end the retired agent's life.
Ultimately, Lincoln decides his best fate is to leave New Bordeaux as he had originally planned, driving out of the city limits and never looking back. He makes his way to California and accepts the job at the shipyard he was initially going to take, while under a different name of course. Agent Maguire later tracks him to the shipyard, but Lincoln has disappeared by the time he and his fellow agents arrive. The FBI later de-prioritize Lincoln's case, but Agent Maguire keeps his investigation going well after his own retirement from the Bureau.
Father James never sees Lincoln again, but regularly receives postcards from him to this day from across the globe, from places far as Brazil or Vietnam. Though it is bittersweet, James is still relieved that Lincoln has managed to find something that at least resembles peace. Meanwhile, Maguire swears that one day Lincoln will be tired of hiding or make a wrong move, and Maguire will be right there waiting for him.
In Lincoln's stead, one of his three underbosses takes the helm as head of the Clay Mob.
Leave New Bordeaux to Cassandra
Leave New Bordeaux to Burke
Leave New Bordeaux to Vito
Testimony of John Donovan
The date is 25 August 1971. John Donovan is brought before the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, headed by Senator Richard Blake, to testify about his role in Lincoln's takeover of New Bordeaux.
Favors to the Underbosses
Other Adventures in New Bordeaux
Sinclair Parish
Concerned Citizens
Herbalism
Aldridge's Plot
Bounty Hunting
The Ensanglante
The Renovation of Sammy's Bar
Betrayal
Perhaps it is through denial of territory, perhaps it's allowing one gang to secure conquered territory, then calling another to run the district it's in. Whatever the cause, it is certainly possible for one or more of Lincoln's underbosses to turn against him, requiring him to put them down.
