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Spoiler Warning |
| Plot details follow, read at your own risk. |
- "Two men dead on U.S. Army issue morphine, that makes it an Ad Vice case, beat it!"
- ―Archie Colmyer
The Black Caesar is a Vice case in L.A. Noire. This is the first case Cole Phelps takes on the Vice Desk after being promoted from the Homicide Desk.
Description
Phelps and Earle report to the scene of two dead junkies – Cornell Eustace Tyree and Tyrone Anthony Lamont found in a squalid apartment at 6358 Yucca St., Apt. 5, in Hollywood, surgical tubing still wrapped around their limp, track-pocked arms as well as their drug of choice: government issue morphine. Your job is to track the morphine back to the supplier and bring them down.
Walkthrough
Junkie's Apartment Crime Scene
Investigate the crime scene over at the junkies' apartment. It will be on the second floor, all the way at the end of the porch. When you get there, you will be able to find the following clues.
- When you walk through the front door there will be a Black Caesar cup. Further investigate to discover tape on the bottom.
- Next to the cup will be a wallet on the floor, you will find a Numbers Slip in the right pocket.
- The Black Caesar cup on the kitchen counter will have a Popcorn cup with morphine.
- On the table next to the dead body in the chair, there is a Strange doodle.
- Next to the table, on the floor, there will be two syringes that will give you the clue Morphine Syrettes.
- Go to the man lying on the floor and look in his pockets, you will take out a wallet and there will be a Radio Station Note in the right pocket.
- NOTE: In some cases, you may need to investigate the dead man on the chair in order for the investigation music to stop.
Black Caesar Food Hut
When you arrive at the food hut, a short cutscene will ensue after which you'll have to chase the vendor, Fleetwood Morgan, down on foot, and engage in a fist-fight. Once you have him, search the hut for clues.
- Go to the suitcase and grab the trumpet mute (bottom right), open it and you will find Numbers Racket.
- Next to the mute there is a Blue Room Pass, turn it around and a new P.O.I.
- Open the box next to the popcorn machine and you will find Morphine for Distribution.
Now go over to Morgan and talk to him.
Interview Fleetwood Morgan
| Question | Response | Response (Remaster) | Evidence | Clue/Location/P.O.I/Lead/Objective |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Morphine overdose victims | Lie | Truth | Popcorn cups with morphine, Morphine for distribution | |
| Number slips recovered | Doubt | Truth |
- Note: Before leaving, it would be worthwhile to search the parking lot across the street from The Black Ceasar Food Hut for rare cars that spawn there such as a Chevrolet Van and a Nash La Fayette Convertible. Finding these helps you make progress towards the Auto Fanatic Achievement/Trophy.
After talking, use the phone next to the food hut to trace Jermaine Jones' address, and head there. Don't go to Merlon Ottie's office yet, you don't have the evidence you'll need to catch him in a lie.
Jermaine Jones' Booking Agency
Climb the stairs and go into the office, the first door on the left.
- Talk to Jermaine Jones to get permission to look around.
- Go to the big radio and turn on the volume, choose FM band and tune the frequency to 275, the top will open and you will end up in a brawl.
- The radio includes $5000, Morphine, Ottie's Number Card, 4 ounces of Marijuana, and a Ramez Removals Sticker.
Now go over to talk to Jones.
Interview Jermaine Jones
| Question | Response | Response (Remaster) | Evidence | Clue/Location/P.O.I/Lead/Objective |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Army Surplus morphine | Doubt | Truth | New P.O.I. - Lenny Finkelstein | |
| Involvement of 'Ottie' | Lie | Truth | Distributor identified | |
| Link to Ramez Removals | Doubt | Truth |
Use the gamewell next to your parked car to get address of Ramez Removals, then head over to the Numbers Operation.
Numbers Operation
Merlon Ottie's office is up the stairs.
Note: Only go to Ottie's gambling den after visiting Jemaine Jones or you will not have the required evidence to accuse Ottie of lying
- Go to the slot machine and drag the arm, if you see a symbol in its respective position, press "hold" on that. The positions are: Cherry, Bell, WIN.
- The lid will open and search through everything.
Now you'll have to chase after Merlon. After the chase, search his "wand" by opening the top and finding the note hidden inside.
Note: Merlon is fairly easy to catch, stay on him until he runs into a bar, now run around the bar and locate the other exit of the bar, he will run into a customer inside, you can either wait for him to come out or just step inside and catch him, if you fail to do that, just stay on him, he will eventually run into some pedestrians and you should have enough time to reach him. If you don't catch him on the streets, he hits a dead end going down an alleyway.
Interview Merlon Ottie
| Question | Response | Response (Remaster) | Evidence | Clue/Location/P.O.I/Lead/Objective |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Army surplus morphine | Lie | Truth | Finkelstein identified | |
| IOU note from Ramez | Truth | Truth | ||
| Link to Lenny Finklestein | Doubt | Truth |
Note: If you have found all the evidence up to this point, you will only ask the first two questions here.
Now it's time to go to Ramez Removals.
Ramez Removals
Once you get there, it's another chase scene. Other LAPD units will assist in the chase. After pursuing the truck, you'll be back at Ramez Removals. Go inside to look for clues.
- To the left will be a desk area. Look in the records book and tap on "Polar Bear" and "Merlon".
- There is a newspaper on a table behind the ledger.
- Follow the water to the back of the warehouse and climb the ladder up to the crane. Use the crane to pick up a box to clear the entrance to the room, which looks like a white square structure with refrigeration units on top.
- Go inside and check the block of ice. This will allow shooting the ice block and checking on the morphine.
After that, a cutscene will ensue wherein the Polar Bear Ice Company delivery truck pulls up and Ramez runs inside. After that, chase and subdue Ramez in a shootout.
Polar Bear Ice Company
- You get in a chase/shootout with Lenny Finkelstein and his gang. Chase them through the factory and kill his men. At the same time, halfway into the chase, you end up in a giant freezer. In the back is a set of stairs up to a landing where Lenny is. Climb the stairs; it goes into to a cutscene where afterward you have to shoot Lenny the Fink.
- Then look through the crate at the back of the office and find the morphine. Case closed.
Glitches
- In the PS3 version if you move the wrong crate with the crane in the warehouse, put it down, and then move the correct one, Earle won't enter the cold room. (Glitch has been recently fixed due to an update from an earlier date.)
- You can occasionally hear Rusty Galloway's voice if you drive recklessly, instead of Roy's.
Trivia
- When you are investigating the junkie's apartment, you will find a paper containing a strange doodle. Next to it is a piece of paper with musical notes on it called 'All In My Head' written by Andrew Hale and Simon Hale. Both these men are the actual music composers for this game.
- While chasing Merlon Ottie, you run through a restaurant bearing an uncanny resemblance to the diner in the movie Pulp Fiction. As if to confirm the reference, you can hear a patron exclaim “This is a tasty burger!”, a line first uttered by Samuel L. Jackson’s character, Jules Winnfield, in said movie.
- The unique delivery trucks outside Ramez Removals cannot be entered, and do not count towards the Auto Fanatic achievement/trophy.
- The establishing shot of the interior of Ramez Removals- a high-angled shot looking down on a warehouse filled with boxes and furniture- is a reference to the closing scene of Citizen Kane (the music cue here also hearkens to Kane). Interestingly enough, the name of Kane's aueteur director and star, Orson Welles, would appear in the registry at the Hotel El Mar in the next case, "The Set Up".
Video walkthrough
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