Welcome to the beginning of your adventure in New Bordeaux. In the section below, I aim to help walk you through your mission progress, as you work to complete the various story related achievements. Story mission progress is fairly linear, as completing one will lead to the next; therefore I don't list each mission in the section below. I do try to provide useful tips where they may be helpful, but I do not intend to provide a detailed breakdown of how to complete each task set before you on your path through the story. The bulk of the story missions can be approached in many different ways, and the mission waypoints will generally direct you to where you need to go anyway. Further on in the guide, I will outline the racket mission objectives so you know what is available and hopefully help provide you with some helpful mission details to better steer you in the right direction. This guide is intended to be more of a reference than a step by step walkthrough of each task set before you, I encourage you to play as you see fit and enjoy the game for what it is.
The first few missions are limited on what you can do, so you really want to get through them as quickly as possible. I will provide additional insights at a later point in the story when you really have a greater sense of freedom to explore the city and start working on non-story related achievements.
Story Chapter – New Bordeaux – The Home Fires Burn
Mission - Why Take the Chance?
From the beginning, enter the next room as directed. Pick up the body (hold 
) and carry it to the northwest exit to reach a small pond. Approach the rail near the “Feed a Gator” sign and press to “Toss Body Over” ,which the alligators will then consume.
Now go ahead and climb over the rail (
) and allow yourself to be eaten as well.
Reload the latest save and progress through this mission and the next few missions as directed.
Mission - Never Going to Be Over
Shortly into this mission, you will learn about whistling (hold 
). This is one of the best tools to help aid in maintaining stealth, and should be used often to draw targets to less visible locations for a discrete takedown. If you need additional info on the achievements related to this, please reference the General Hints and Tips page.
After dealing with Baka, enemies start tossing molotovs into the building as you attempt to exit. Keep an eye out for enemies that are preparing to throw these, and shoot them before they can toss it; this will cause the incendiary to drop nearby and hopefully engulf the thrower in flames. Make 10 enemies kill themselves with their own device over the course of your playthrough (or reload this checkpoint to grind this now) to earn an achievement.
Complete the next few missions as directed.
Mission - …A Friend in Jesus
Now you will have to make your way through the Mardi Gras festivities. Eventually, you are forced to flee from the police in order to reach the getaway car. This is your scripted introduction to Red and Blue Police Zones. In a Red Zone, police are actively pursuing you and will shoot on sight. You will need to break their line of sight to transition to the next phase. In a Blue Zone, police are aware of your presence and are looking for you, and if spotted you will return to the red zone. If you can escape the blue zone, or remain unseen for a period of time, then the pursuit is called off and you can return to normal activities.
TIP: Police tend to stick to the roads, only occasionally following you off the standard driving surface if they are in close proximity or you are driving slowly. Therefore, you can often use railroad tracks, alleys, and paths between building to help break line of sight and help you lose your pursuer. You can also use vehicle takedowns or equipment to destroy pursuing vehicles and further aid in you escaping.
If you can drag on the chase for two minutes while in the red zone, before escaping, you will earn an achievement.
You can always go for this later on as well. After ditching the police you will automatically return to Sammy’s for a cutscene.
Story Chapter – Delray Hollow – Thicker Than Blood
Mission - Somethin’ I’ve Got to Do
Drive to the waypoint and recover your belongings from the basement.
Mission - That’s the Plan Padre
Meet Donovan at the motel to discuss your next steps and begin recruiting assets.
Story Chapter – Delray Hollow – The Way of Flesh
Mission - Old Times’ Sake
This mission will introduce you to the Racket Informant. This is the first (of 20) total informants in the game, of which you will need to kill or recruit 15 to unlock the achievements Live Another Day and Can’t Trust a Rat. Unfortunately this one is scripted to be knocked out, and will not contribute to the 15 needed for either related achievement. Keep in mind which path you want to stick to and be consistent, otherwise you may end up short and may have to do a third playthrough. It is best to pair this up with how you approach the racket bosses as well, for No Loose Ends and The New Boss. Flip both bosses and informants, or kill both, just be consistent. I strongly recommend that you recruit/flip both informants and bosses on this playthrough.
Once you uncover the Haitian leader’s identity, you will acquire your first Underboss and gain access to your first associate, the Weapon Dealer [1/6 Associate].
Racket - Prostitution - $15,000
This will be your introduction to the racket takeover, which is the majority of the remaining game, so be prepared to repeat this process many more times. Essentially, you will need to damage the racket’s earnings by the amount listed, which will drive the racket boss out of hiding and allow you to confront them and take over control of the racket. Killing mobsters, stealing cash, destroying racket supplies, and completing objectives all reduce the rackets earn. The first two are more scripted than the rest, so simply follow the mission objectives and the guide below until the next district.
Speak to your contact, The Voice, to begin the racket takeover mission. Every racket takeover will begin by speaking to a contact person, who are marked on the map once the story mission for that district begins and they will give you a few objectives to get started.
- Free the strung-out girls
Enter the area and kill enemies as you proceed to the second floor. If you happen to be spotted and enter the combat state, this is actually a pretty good place to chain brutal takedowns as the enemies are spread out and won’t overwhelm you as you move through the area. A brutal takedown is earned by holding B then releasing when the meter falls within the indicated window. This will brutally kill the target and terrorize anyone within line of sight. Do three brutal kills back-to-back-to-back to earn an achievement.
The prostitutes are upstairs, locked up in three rooms next to each other. You can either pry them open or hit 
to kick them in. The far left door has an enemy inside, which makes for a good place to go for Never Saw It Coming. With a weapon in hand, kick open the door then quickly target the enemy inside and fire repeatedly until he is killed. If you did this in less than two seconds, you will earn another achievement.
Finish up at the club and then head out to the next waypoint.
Donovan provides you with a radio, which can be used by holding 
, and allows you to call unlocked associates.
This is where you will be introduced to Racket Enforcers. Any remaining enforcers are recalled to the boss' side once he comes out of hiding, supposedly making the attempt on the boss more hazardous. While noteworthy as their death is to the racket earnings, they provide little additional challenge in combat.
Make sure you eliminate both pimps, even if you met the destruction limit after eliminating the first. Killing both will immediately unlock an achievement.
- Track Down and Kill Dixie Patrols
This is an unmarked and open ended mission objective that is available as well. Selecting this objective will not produce a waypoint location. Several other rackets have similar objectives as well, and these tend to be helpful to offset any damage shortcomings you may have experienced from missing cash pickups or destroying crates. While unmarked, these can usually be identified by the enemy blimps that appear on the map in an otherwise non-hostile territory. Enemies for this mission are usually in pairs and are in the midst of getting rough with a random pedestrian. Other missions vary slightly but the similar constraint is that they are unmarked; I will note these in the later missions as well, for awareness.
With the damage limit met, returning to your contact will have them ask if you want to proceed; doing so will reveal the boss location, but also remove all remaining open objectives for the mission. This only matters in subsequent missions if you missed an informant interrogation, or want to earn additional cash that may have been available at the remaining objective locations. Usually if you meet the damage limit, there is little reason to delay moving on.
Return to the brothel where you freed the girls previously and you can now confront the racket boss, Merle Jackson. You may have noticed, but when the boss shows up to a location, additional enemies will be on site as well. You can find Merle in the office on the second floor. The interaction with Merle is scripted and you won't get an option to flip him for The New Boss.
TIP: Once you interact with the boss, all hostiles leave the area. Therefore, you can run straight to the main target, avoiding most enemies and saving some time if you wish.
1/18 Boss Killed or 0/16 Boss Flipped
This racket will be automatically assigned to Cassandra, but later on you will be able to choose which underboss gets the racket/district.
At this point, you will also unlock the Screaming Zemi equipment item for reaching enough earn for Cassandra. This is a distraction device and is helpful for gathering targets into a small area, which is quite essential when attempting to unlock the Recruited to 5th SFG, refer to the General Hints and Tips page for more details.
Racket - Smack - $20,000
- Wait for Donovan
- Wiretap the First Baptist Church
Reach the next waypoint and interact with the bus bench to start this mission. Here Donovan introduces you to the art of wiretapping. Pry open the box to place the device, completing this step will earn the next achievement.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Wiretapping consumes three TL-49 fuses (similar icon as the junction box, but colored in green), and will reveal all noteworthy items and locations within the region associated with that junction box; such as medicine cabinets, TL-49 fuses, and random collectibles, in addition to identifying racket earning operations and hostile locations that are otherwise unmarked. Additionally, wiretapping the junction box linked to the Racket's Base of Operations is required in order to be able to flip the racket boss. While such a location is not usually revealed until the boss is exposed, tapping the correct box before then will mark the location on your map with a white building icon. With 16 flip-able bosses, that means you need a total of 48 (really 40 more as you start off with 8) TL-49 fuses, so be sure to grab nearby ones as you move throughout the city. These can often be found around racket operations, so you won't really need to go out of your way to acquire enough of these.
Back to Racket Busting...
For achievement purposes, you will want to complete this racket without killing any of the enforcers. Kill hostile gang members, steal stacks of money, and smash crates of drugs to deplete the $ and force the boss out without having to kill the enforcers.
- Interrogate Charlie’s Pushers (1/2) – 1/15 Informant - Kill or Recruit
The area where you will be directed is actually the racket's base of operations. Having wiretapped this location, you should see the icon on the map for this as well. These locations will respawn enemies once you exit the area and move away a set distance, which is helpful so that you can grind enemy kills, such as takedowns, in one session. You can respawn this area up until you get the boss to come out. This is a work around for the potential achievement progress glitch, which I described in the General Hints and Tips page.
Enter the church grounds, eliminate all the hostiles, pick up all the cash, and destroy the smack crates to complete the mission objective.
Grind Takedowns & Molotov Kills*
If you so choose, now is a good time to reset the area and grind takedowns and Molotov kills. There are nine enemies within the church grounds, and at least two of them are known to throw molotovs. You can grind all 300 takedowns here to make sure these achievements unlock, which doesn't take as long as it may sound. The easiest way to reset the area is to exit via the back alley to the south, this is opposite the church main entrance and where one enemy drives in once you get into the area. Travel down the alley to the street, continuing south just past the first building should be just enough distance away to reset the area. If you are in a vehicle, you should see the enemies reappear on the mini-map, indicating the area is reset.
Reach 100 stealth takedowns:
Reach 50 brutal takedowns:
Reach 300 total takedowns:
Finally, if you still need to, also grind 10 enemies killed with their own molotov.
Once these are complete, continue with the racket takeover mission. If you grind kills, you will have likely reached the damage limit for the racket takeover, however, be sure you do the next objective at least.
- Interrogate Charlie’s Pushers (2/2) – 2/15 Informant - Kill or Recruit
- Kill Charlie's Enforcers (0/2)
Now you will have waypoints for two enforcers, marked with the skull icon. Remember that you do not want to kill either of them in order to get an achievement. If you still need to deplete funds, you should focus on killing the normal enemies, stealing the cash pickups, and/or destroying the smack crates in the enforcer areas; or you can repeat the church area and grind kills to avoid the enforcer area all together, reducing your risk of accidentally killing one of the targets. Once the cash is depleted to zero, you are ready to confront the boss.
If you didn't kill any enforcers, once you agree to progress and forfeit all remaining objectives, you will unlock the achievement.
- Confront "Four Finger" Charlie Kincaid
Enter the church grounds once more and reach the boss. Since the area was wiretapped, you now have the choice between killing (
) or flipping () the boss.
2/18 Boss Killed or 1/16 Boss Flipped
Story Chapter – Delray Hollow – Pray on the Way Up
Mission - Kill Ritchie Doucet
Now that both rackets are controlled, you can start the mission to take over the district.
- Talk to Cassandra
- Go to Baron Saturday's
- Confront Ritchie
Head to the theme park and work your way through to the end, where you will find Ritchie in an office overlooking the Bayou Beast ride.
NOTE: Ritchie and all the other lieutenants and capos have scripted outcomes, which does not have an impact on the achievement progress regarding racket bosses.
Mission - That Goes Both Ways
Return to Cassandra to assign her control of Delray Hollow. You will now gain access to the trafficking mission: Are We Cool, as well. These are repeatable missions, but you will want to do at least the first one now.
Trafficking Mission Overview
Each underboss has an associated trafficking mission that becomes available after assigning them their first district. These missions, while optional, can maximize your racket's earn and increase the assigned underboss's earning potential. These can be repeated as many times as you have rackets controlled by the associated underboss. You will want to complete at least one of these missions, for any underboss, as doing so will maximize a single racket and net you an achievement. You can go ahead and do this now, or wait until later when you have access to all three trafficking missions.
Note: There is a potential need to complete two (maybe even more) of these, for each underboss, after completing the agenda missions; to help increase an underboss's loyalty for the family achievement. I cannot be certain of this, as I did not acquire the achievement myself, but it is suggested to be needed from some of the comments in threads on this topic.
If you choose to do this now, return to the First Baptist Church and talk to Cassandra's number two, Emmanuel. Travel to the waypoint in the bayou and steal the boat. Head out to the drop point and retrieve the three air-dropped bundles. Take the boat to the indicated location to move the goods to a truck. Deliver the truck to the racket location to increase it's earn by up to $20,000, which is more than enough to maximize the racket's total earn and unlock an achievement.
You will need to return to Emmanuel to conclude the mission and reset the bayou waypoint to repeat the mission. You can repeat this mission as many times as you have rackets that are not yet maximized. The other trafficking missions are similarly set up... go get the vehicle, and return to the racket.
Continue with the story when you are ready.
Mission - Friend Like These
Grab both Case Files to kick off new missions to recruit additional assets. Since Vito is closest, that is our next destination.
Story Chapter – River Row – Work the Man Who Bleeds
Mission - We Partners Now?
- Head to Vito's
- Find Vito
- Free Vito
Reach the waypoint and eliminate the hostiles to rescue Vito. Vito becomes an underboss and you will gain the Consigliere Associate [2/6 Associate].
You now have access to start the River Row racket takeover missions. Since you should have Soften them Up and Im Goin’ In out of the way, approach these as you see fit. To avoid a lot of back and forth, it is better to activate both racket missions as quickly as possible, so you make progress on each racket as you move across the district.
REMINDER: If you want to flip the boss, be sure to wiretap the region where the racket's base of operations (BoO) is located. This can be done at any point before you physically confront the boss. Most racket missions will have you go to the BoO for one of the objectives in the mission, and I will point this out where applicable in the sections below. With knowing the BoO location, pull up the main map and press 
to toggle the wiretap map overlay. This will show you which junction box covers what region within the district, allowing you to pinpoint which junction box needs tapping.
Racket - Union Extortion - $30,000
- Talk to Jock Blanchard
- Sabotage the union trailers
- Northeast Trailer - Racket Base of Operations
- Northwest Trailer
- Southeast Trailer
- Kill Union Enforcers (0/2)
- Tail Bagman to Steal Union Stash – tail spawned enemy vehicle to location
-
- Talk to Jock Blanchard
- Confront Andy Turetto
3/18 Boss Killed or 2/16 Boss Flipped
Racket - Contraband - $20,000
- Talk to Connie Demarco
- Interrogate Roy's guard – 3/15 Informant - Kill or Recruit
- Steal or Destroy Medical Supply Truck - Racket Base of Operations
- Kill Roy's Enforcers (0/2)
- Rob the Warehouse
-
- Talk to Connie Demarco
- Confront Roy Thibideaux
4/18 Boss Killed or 3/16 Boss Flipped
Taking over the first racket will put you over $30k earn, and unlock Vito’s second associate, Hit Squad [3/6 Associate].
Story Mission – River Row – Fish Gotta Eat
- Meet Vito
- Get Grecco
- Kill Marcano's men
- Confront Grecco
This mission can be a bit difficult, just FYI. Meet up with Vito then give chase in Vito's car. Here is where you technically learn the about Vehicle Takedown, if you haven't figured it out already. The mission is a bit annoying because as you give chase, you are also being chased and your pursuers have a tendency to blow out your tires leading you to fall behind; allowing your target to escape and failing the mission. Hopefully you won't have this problem and you can catch up to Grecco, shoot out enough tires or ram him until he stops.
Vehicle Takedown
Equip your weapon while driving, and cycle between available target on an enemy vehicle with . Once the reticle turns green, you can shoot (
) for a guaranteed hit. Shooting out two tires, back or front, is usually enough to take the vehicle out, possibly even having it flip over and explode. Repeat this 10 times for an achievement. This should come naturally over the course of your playthrough as you will have several scripted chase events; otherwise you can quickly grind this out on police cars at anytime.
Once Grecco's car stops, he will get out, at which point you need to shoot him or do a takedown so he doesn't get in another car and take off again. Before you can confront him, you will need to eliminate the rest of Marcano's men.
- Lose the Police
- Head back to Vito's
With Grecco captured, you will have to flee the police and return to Vito's place.
After the cutscene, you will assign the district to Vito and gain access to his trafficking mission: Seems Simple Enough. This is a repeatable mission, to get started you will have to speak to Alma at the former base of operations for the contraband racket.
Next up, go recruit Burke in Pointe Verdun.
Story Chapter – Pointe Verdun – The Blade Stained Red
Mission - Cut and Run
- Talk to Burke
- Try the back door
- Get in Burke's car
- Drive like a madman
- Stop the car and get out
Reach the waypoint to find Burke. Seemingly unimpressed by your efforts thus far, hijack his car and prove your worth by showing him you are just crazy enough to pull this plan off. Keep your car moving and drive erratically/recklessly to increase the meter, driving slow or stopping will lower it and potentially lead to failing the mission. Once you have maxed out the meter, Burke agrees to join you and kicks you out of the car.
Mission - A Nation Once Again
Head to the Salvage yard to continue the mission, gaining the last underboss and a new associate, Vehicle Delivery [4/6 Associate].
Racket - Moonshine - $30,000
- Talk to Nicki Burke
- Interrogate Bootleggers – 4/15 Informant - Kill or Recruit
- Kill Bevers' Enforcers (0/2)
- Destroy the Moonshine Camps
- Steal Map to Moonshine Camps - Racket Base of Operations
- West Moonshine Camp
- East Moonshine Camp
- Locate and Destroy Moonshine Trucks (0/5) – Spawned enemy vehicle
-
- Talk to Nicki Burke
- Confront Carl Bevers
5/18 Boss Killed or 4/16 Boss Flipped
Racket - Protection - $20,000
- Talk to Bear Donnelly
- Interrogate Loan Sharks – 5/15 Informant - Kill or Recruit
- Trash protected liquor stores (0/3)
- Kill Sonny's Enforcers (0/2)
- Rescue Ralph McNairy - Racket Base of Operations
- Take out the beat down crews (0/5) – unmarked locations unless revealed by wiretapping, can otherwise be identified by spotting enemy markers on the mini-map
-
- Talk to Bear Donnelly
- Confront Sonny Blue
6/18 Boss Killed or 5/16 Boss Flipped
Once the first racket is taken over, you will have enough “earn” to unlock Burke’s second associate, Police Dispatcher [5/6 Associate].
After both are taken over, return to the scrapyard and talk to Burke.
Story Chapter – Pointe Verdun – Brave New World
- Return to Burke's Iron & Metal
- Defend Burke's Iron & Metal
- Confront The Butcher
- Kill The Butcher's men
- Get to The Butcher
Return to Burke and defend the area from The Butcher's men. Use the provided rifles if needed, and make use of the explosive barrels to eliminate cars loaded with mobsters as they drive into the area. Eventually the big man himself shows up. He usually takes cover behind an explosive barrel, which makes for a quick incapacitation. Deal with the remaining hostiles then go confront him.
Mission - Only Way's Forward
- Meet Burke at the Distillery
When you reach Burke, you will assign the district to him and gain access to his trafficking mission: The Righteously Fucked. This is a repeatable mission, to get started you will have to speak to Nicki Burke at the former base of operations for the moonshine racket.
Story Chapter – Bayou – Sit Down
Mission - An Emotional Attachment
Head to the waypoint in the bayou, to the southeast, to call a sit-down with your three underbosses. In the future, you will return here to hand over newly controlled districts to your underbosses as you eliminate Marcano's Lieutenants and Capos. This is really just a meeting of the minds right now, and there isn't much that comes out of this event.
Once the scene is over, you will leave with each underboss on equal footing, each with one district controlled and demanding control of more. At this point, you will also unlock the next three story missions, agenda missions, racing (an utter waste of time), and you can start the DLC missions; if these are installed.
The next page will continue the story walkthrough.
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