Fridge / Mafia III

Fridge Logic

See Mafia III

Fridge Brilliance

• Sal Marcano attempting to give Lincoln Delray Hollow seems like a strange gesture given he's been back just a few days. Except, Sammy has been screwing up business for quite some time and his heir apparent is an Inadequate Inheritor. Sal probably realizes his back-up plan of the Dixie Mafia isn't a good one and wants a smooth transition to someone trustworthy. The fact Lincoln refuses the offer forces his hand.
  • Of course, given Sal betrays both Burke and Vito out of their shares as well, it's very likely that he was always intending to take their cuts of the heist. You Have Outlived Your Usefulness seems to be a common habit of Sal Marcano. Attempting to persuade Lincoln get rid of Sammy and Ellis would just make sure the Black Mob was in no position to retaliate.
  • It's likely he wants someone who isn't 'trustworthy'...but rather 'untrustworthy'...IE, someone he can manipulate and bribe. Giorgi spoke for Lincoln, so it's likely he had a plan of putting Giorgi, Lincoln, and a few others in. With Giorgi and Lincoln in? He could just string Burke along later, and betray Vito...or bring Burke in against Vito now that he's outnumbered. But, when Lincoln shows himself as loyal to Sammy and Ellis above all else, he realized Lincoln would not like Sal's ultimate plan...thus, he had to get killed FAST. But Sal missed.
• Lincoln is a Shell-Shocked Veteran and career criminal who easily overwhelms the less talented Mafia with his superior grasp of violence as well as psychological warfare. The public reacts in both shock and horror at his actions but he achieves his ends despite this. The developers have successfully justified your typical ultra-violent video game protagonist's rise to power!
  • Lincoln's ability to wage a full-fledged war without repercussions from legal authorities is also justified when, at the city level, virtually all of the cops are paid off by Sal Marcano's crime family (barring the Irish dispatcher who's one of Lincoln's allies), and at the federal level, CIA Operative John Donovan essentially stole all of the FBI's investigative hardware. Coupled with Lincoln Clay's in-universe Shrouded in Myth past (such as his military records being Classified Information, due to serving as part of a black ops unit), and it's no wonder the investigation doesn't know it's him until he's purged virtually every member of Sal Marcano's crime family.
  • Similarly, the Marcano mob's seeming ineptitude, despite its ranks also including ruthless killers and hitmen who are no stranger to combat, is justified not just by how Lincoln isn't playing by their rules. While Sal has a rough idea that Lincoln's a military vet, that doesn't actually extend to the psychological warfare and black ops tactics he used in Vietnam. Coupled with how there's little chance someone like Sal could get ahold of classified intel even with his connections whether or not he's complicit in JFK's death, it's no surprise then why his men couldn't stop him effectively, when there's no way for them to even properly prepare.
• Several of the Marcano mob refer to Vito as a "carpet bagger", a Southerner term for businessmen from the North taking away money or jobs. This shows how much the local Italian mob have gone native and forgotten their roots.
• Instead of using The Klan, the game uses a Captain Ersatz known as the Southern Union. But considering how similar the two organizations are, why did they even bother? The answer is simple: New Bordeaux appears to be mostly Catholic, and the Klan is/was notorious for its anti-Catholicism. Albeit, this hasn't stopped the real-life Klan from being based in New Orleans.
  • It is also possible the Southern Union is Hiding in Plain Sight given the Ku Klux Klan had numerous periods where it was assaulted by the government for, well, being domestic terrorists and a hate group despite widespread support from racist whites. Real-life organizations which are the Klan in all but name (or consider themselves such in private) operate under new names and affiliations.
  • Lincoln actually outright confirms that the Southern Union is not a Captain Ersatz in conversation with Donovan. He describes the Union as being a branch of the Klan.
  • This also in part explains why the government doesn't really focus much on the rampage against the Southern Union and Remy Duvall's death, compared to everything else Lincoln's done. Given not only the human trafficking and slave trading going on in Frisco Fields, but also how a U.S. Treasury agent had all but authorized Lincoln to go on said rampage after learning of those heinous crimes, the federal authorities aren't losing much sleep over several dead Klansmen, even if the local ones in New Bordeaux are screaming about race war.
• Something that may seem odd at first glance in terms of gameplay but makes sense narratively. When you take on one of the two underbosses in a neighbourhood, the mission you are given is to confront them, the exception is Chester Moreau, a member of the Southern Union. While it's conceivable that members of the Marcano Family and even the Dixie Mob might have non-racist members, since these groups are fundamentally motivated by greed, the Southern Union is an ideologically-driven hate group.
• Father James choosing to kill Lincoln Clay with a car bomb seems like it comes out of left-field but the circumstances which trigger it make sense. Father James is disappointed beyond measure if Lincoln chooses to become The Don and rule over New Bordeaux with his lieutenants but he accepts it. However, if Lincoln kills his lieutenants then he's doing exactly what Sal Marcano did and shows himself to be worse as he does it without even a living family to justify it. It also makes sense Father James would know how to do this given he was a mechanic during WW2.
• The game's plot is one of Dramatic Irony when you finally find out all of it. Sal Marcano is sick of being a mobster and wants to protect his son from danger by going legitimate, so he betrays the Black Mob and makes an enemy of Lincoln Clay who dismantles his empire before killing his son, then potentially him. Sal's previous position in the city was secure with the Commission happy with him, the Black Mob subdued, the Irish Mob willing to work with him, and the Haitians dealt with by Lincoln. Even the public respected and liked him. It was Sal's desire to go straight which destroyed him.
• Sal Marcano has Olivia Marcano murdered when she's defeated. This is despite the fact Olivia is loyal and still a massive source of income. However, she murdered Sal's brother and if his nightmares comment is anything to go by, this was a Best Served Cold scenario. With his casino almost ready, Sal no longer needed her or her society contacts.
• Doucet's Blatant Lies to Lincoln is because he probably can't tell black people apart due to his racist views, so he can try claiming he wasn't there since there was no witness left in his head.
  • Alternatively: Giorgi shot Lincoln first before the massacre began, and from Doucet's side it must have seemed Lincoln was unconscious when he stabbed Ellis, so he believed he had plausible deniability.
• Lincoln's lieutenants are Haitian, Italian and Irish. All three groups have at one point or another faced discrimination in America thanks to nativism, racism or both.
• How the hell does the massive Chase Scene in Stones Unturned with dozens of mercenaries riding around in armored jeeps with mounted machine guns not end up as national news? Well, obviously, the CIA covered it up.
• With how Lincoln is more inclined to gun down the deranged Ensanglante in Sign of the Times, which include female cultists, than just knock them unconscious especially after learning of what they did to Anna, it might seem like a case of Gameplay and Story Segregation compared to the rest of the plot, given Donovan's testimony that he avoids killing women and thus wouldn't have killed Olivia Marcano. There are two plausible explanations for it, however:
  • As Donovan seems to not have been involved during those particular events, it's entirely possible that Lincoln simply didn't let him in on it. Being an outsider, he'd also consider a backwater cult not worth his time compared to the more tangible Mob or Southern Union.
  • Or alternatively, Donovan did figure it out, but came to the conclusion that the Ensanglante are better off forgotten and that Lincoln had good reason to kill them all. That said cult has ties to New Bordeaux's founding and also tried to instigate a race war also means that exposing the truth especially at a time of social upheaval would risk setting the entire city ablaze, just as they would have wanted it.
• It seems incredibly convenient that the mobsters Vito blames for killing Joe Barbaro are all in New Bordeaux, ostensibly sent by the Commission to be at Sal’s disposal. Given that Joe’s strongly implied to still be alive under Leo Galante’s employ, it’s also plausible that the latter pulled strings to have them sent down south with the expectation that they’ll all die. Perhaps as a subtle consolation prize after what Leo put Vito through in Mafia 2, while having the practical side-effect of keeping the illusion of Joe's death intact.
• In almost every ending, you're given a fairly detailed glimpse into what becomes of New Bordeaux in the years after the game's events, with one noticeable exception if Lincoln kills all his underbosses and is killed in turn by Father James. The city's fate in that instance seems suspiciously brushed aside...except that it's already hinted at much earlier, when Donovan, Lincoln, and Father James are contemplating the revenge plan. With Marcano dead and no one willing to pick up the pieces, it wouldn't take long for someone else to step in and restore the status quo, especially when that someone couldn't care less about what made that power vacuum in the first place. There's nothing else to say about the city, because fundamentally, nothing has changed that's worth mentioning.

Fridge Horror

• Sammy is a character we get to know only briefly but everything about him suggests he is an Affably Evil Neighbourhood-Friendly Gangster at worst. He even regrets sending Lincoln to kill Baka, despite the fact the Haitians are threatening both his family as well as livelihood. How would he feel about the fact Lincoln is murdering potentially hundreds of people to get revenge for him?
• Frank Pagani seems confused as much as terrified when Lincoln finally tracks him down (and runs him off the road before finishing him). He even says, "I haven't done anything to you." Lincoln doesn't explain and interrogates him before letting him die. Unlike Richie Doucet, who denied a part in the Black Mob Massacre, Frank actually couldn't have been involved because he's been in Cuba the entire time Lincoln's rampage was occurring. Frank genuinely doesn't know who Lincoln is or why he's murdered all of his men before killing him.
• The revenge plot. Sal commits suicide after you murder his son and it's also made clear he's hated being a mobster for almost the entire time he's been involved with it. He expresses no real regret over the loss of his empire as he had been planning to go straight. In effect, Lincoln's entire war against the New Bordeaux underworld was pointless. He could have just killed Giorgi and achieved the exact same devastating result on Sal's psyche.
  • This adds a bit more brilliance and horror. Lincoln doesn't just want vengeance or street justice, he wanted to make Sal feel the same way he felt. Father James, however, warned him that the path only lead to darkness and corruption and the game shows that. Lincoln could easily have killed Giorgi first since he definitely knew how much he mattered to Sal, which would have hurt him, and then take out the Dixie mob to free the city. But Lincoln's quest was actually one of conquest through the game, and makes James' argument for leaving the city sensible. If Lincoln stays, he's also worse than Marcano in many ways since Sal was attempting to go straight.
  • Although it should be noted that Giorgi was never on Lincoln's list, while he had no problem killing him Lincoln still didn't plan a revenge scheme on on his old friend and had Giorgi skipped town, Lincoln probably wouldn't have killed him.
  • Sal Marcano tells Lincoln before he kills Marcano "I'll be waiting for you Lincoln Clay. This won't be the last time we see each other." At first glance this is a typical "See you in hell" insult that most villains pan out, but it actually has a secondary meaning. Marcano made a confession about nightmares, and even found common ground with Lincoln on how these feelings are ingrained inside them and can't be exorcised. In essence, even if Lincoln gets his revenge on Marcano, Lincoln is doomed anyway because Marcano will show up in his nightmares at some point in the future. The grief Marcano has caused Lincoln will always be a part of him, and therefore Marcano will see Lincoln in a place of torment, even if not necessarily the literal hell talked about in religion.
• If Lincoln accepts the Commission's offer to let him run New Bordeaux in exchange for a cut of the profits, he actually ends up in Sammy's exact same position before the Federal Reserve Heist. He's the head of the Black Mob kicking up a bunch of money upstairs to the Italian gangsters who are really in charge. The only real difference is the size of his territory.
• When Lincoln turns down Sal Marcano's request to take over Delray Hollow, he finally decides to get rid of the Black Mob. But considering Sal's real plans, things probably wouldn't have gone Lincoln's way even if he did take Sal's offer: Sal Marcano soon reveals that he wants to work independent of the mafia and the Commission, which includes abandoning much of his criminal empire in order to go legit. Even if Sal avoided mistreating Lincoln as the new boss of Delray Hollow, he'd still be leaving him behind with the rest of his underlings in New Bordeaux once his casino plans succeeded.
• Donovan makes off with Remy Duvall's nephew and he's never heard from again. Also, Donovan never returns the counterfeiting plates. What IS he up to?
• In Faster, Baby, the game subtly implies that Sheriff Beaumont only got arrested and convicted due to the fact that he kept Digging Yourself Deeper. A number of people only testified against him because he attempted to kill them after he believed they would testify against him. Sadly, there's RL parallels about Police Brutality that make this a very likely scenario.
  • This also extends to how he almost gets away with it once it's all said and done by ratting out on his own connections and subordinates. This guarantees him a reduced sentence and a chance to live out his twilight years in peace. The only reason the latter doesn't happen is because the people he wronged, whether it's the families of his black victims, those who testified against him, or the very people he ratted out on, took matters to their own hands.
• Sign of the Times reveals that only those in the bloodline of General Harless, the Ensanglante's founding patriarch, can give birth to the Dark Messiah according to the cult, and that Anna McGee, a vulnerable waitress with nothing to her name who's victimized by them is also one of his last descendants, and the only one who's fertile. Given how Bonnie Harless, the Ensanglante's current leader, expresses disappointment that she couldn't give birth, it makes one wonder how long she'd been stalking Anna.