On the eve of his 21st birthday, Jackie was targeted for assassination by the don of the New York mafia, “Uncle” Paulie Franchetti following a failed task to retrieve money for the latter.

Jackie Estacado has become the don of the Franchetti crime family. Though he still wields the Darkness, a malevolent force that has given him supernatural powers, Jackie has suppressed the entity, thanks to guidance from estranged occultist Johnny Powell; however, Powell became mentally unstable and fled from Jackie, afraid of the Darkness influencing him further.