Lance Malco consolidates control over illegal nightclubs on The Strip, becoming Biloxi's dominant crime boss through violence and bribery.

Jesse Rudy becomes Biloxi's first local lawyer of Croatian descent and is approached by concerned locals to run for district attorney.

Jesse loses his first district attorney race to incumbent Rex Dubisson after Lance's allies run a smear campaign against him.

Jesse wins his second district attorney race and is sworn in, appointing Egan Clement as his assistant DA.

Jesse uses the nuisance law to file suit against Ginger Redfield's Carousel club, resulting in a court order to close it.

Jesse convenes a grand jury that indicts Lance Malco on charges of running a prostitution operation at Foxy's nightclub.

Jesse's undercover informant Haley Stofer flees to Chicago after Nevin discovers his identity, jeopardizing the case against Lance.

Jesse confronts Lance's lawyer with an FBI sketch identifying Hugh as a robbery suspect and offers Lance a guilty plea deal.

Lance accepts the plea deal to protect Hugh from the FBI and is sentenced to ten years at Parchman Farm state penitentiary.

Hugh, furious over his father's imprisonment, pays hitman Henry Taylor to build and deliver a mail bomb to Jesse's courthouse office.

Henry Taylor delivers a package bomb to Jesse's courthouse office, killing Jesse instantly and injuring multiple people in the blast.

Keith Rudy is appointed the new district attorney, stepping into his father's role with catching Jesse's killers as his primary mission.

Henry Taylor and Nevin Noll are arrested after the FBI lures Taylor into a fake contract killing sting operation.

Hugh Malco is convicted of capital murder after a jury deliberates just 47 minutes and is sentenced to death.

The governor consults Keith about Hugh's clemency petition; Keith demands execution, sealing Hugh's fate on death row.

The Boys from Biloxi follows two Croatian immigrant families on Mississippi's Gulf Coast whose sons grow up as friends but become bitter enemies. Lance Malco builds a criminal empire on Biloxi's seedy Strip while Jesse Rudy pursues the law and is urged to clean up the city's rampant corruption as district attorney. After years of effort, Jesse succeeds in indicting and imprisoning Lance through morally questionable tactics, only to be killed by a mail bomb orchestrated by Lance's vengeful son Hugh. Keith Rudy steps into his father's role as district attorney and pursues Jesse's killers with the FBI's help, eventually securing Hugh's arrest and trial. Hugh is convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death after co-conspirators testify against him. The novel closes with Hugh's execution, sealing the fate of both families and leaving questions about justice, loyalty, and the price of moral compromise unanswered.

The rise and fall of the Malco crime empire.

Hugh Malco and Keith Rudy are born one month apart and grow up together as close friends in Biloxi.

Nevin beats rival club owner Cleveland into a coma to end a price war among Strip club owners.

Sheriff Fats Bowman begins holding monthly dinners with Lance at Baricev's restaurant, trading tips in exchange for cash payments.

Nevin shoots Earl Fortier dead after Lance is cheated out of money in a crooked Carousel Lounge business deal.

Nevin is acquitted of Earl's murder at trial after both key witnesses are paid off and disappear before testifying.

Hugh quits baseball, takes up boxing, and begins working in Lance's clubs as a teenager, fully entering the criminal world.

Jesse wins multiple insurance lawsuits for Hurricane Camille victims with sympathetic Judge Oliphant presiding, bolstering Jesse's reputation as a public champion.

Keith graduates from the University of Southern Mississippi and spends the summer working at Jesse's law firm before starting law school.

Jesse recruits imprisoned drug runner Haley Stofer to go undercover as a worker at one of Lance's nightclubs.

Ginger Redfield's trial for promoting prostitution ends in a mistrial after three jury members are bribed to vote not guilty.

Jesse meets with Governor Waller, who acknowledges Fats is corrupt and agrees to provide state police support for the investigation.

Dying hitman Bayard Wolf confesses to police that Lance ordered and paid for the contract killing of rival Dusty Cromwell.

Nevin Noll accepts a plea deal to testify against Hugh Malco in exchange for a lighter prison sentence.

Agnes Rudy and Carmen Malco both testify at Hugh's sentencing, arguing respectively for justice and for mercy toward her son.

Hugh's final legal appeal is officially denied and his execution date is set for March 28.

While the headline events of the novel center on courtrooms and confrontations, the story is shaped by secondary moments that define both families and the corrupt world they inhabit. The Malco family's criminal empire is built on violence and systemic bribery, from Nevin's brutal enforcement tactics to Sheriff Fats Bowman's willful complicity, while Hugh is drawn deeper into that underworld from a young age. Jesse's long fight against organized crime depends on behind-the-scenes alliances, undercover informants, and hard-won legal victories that slowly tighten the noose around Lance Malco. Key witnesses and co-conspirators eventually betray both Lance and Hugh, allowing the justice system to catch up with the Malcos piece by piece. The novel also follows the personal milestones of the Rudy family as they grieve Jesse's loss and Keith grows into the role his father left behind. The story closes not with a dramatic reversal but with the quiet inevitability of Hugh's execution date arriving after every last appeal is exhausted.

Behind-the-scenes moments that shaped the Rudy-Malco conflict.

Keith and Hugh share one last beer as friends, with Keith quietly knowing their fathers' conflict will permanently destroy their bond.

Jesse's campaign manager quits after finding his tires slashed; Keith, age 19, steps in to manage his father's district attorney campaign.

Hurricane Camille devastates Biloxi; Jesse opens a law firm representing insurance victims, turning the disaster into a political opportunity.

Joey and Denny warn Keith that Hugh has become a dangerous criminal, predicting he will end up dead or in prison.

Hugh joins Jimmie Crane in robbing jewelry stores and pawn shops; Jimmie and accomplice Sissy are shot dead and Hugh flees to Europe.

Jesse confirms that three jury members were bribed during Ginger Redfield's trial after Judge Oliphant investigates the tampering.

Lance tells Hugh to prepare to manage the family's criminal businesses in his absence, though Lance privately doubts Hugh's capability.

FBI Agent Lewis shows Jesse composite sketches of robbery suspects, and Jesse secretly recognizes Hugh Malco in one of the drawings.

Jesse successfully petitions a judge to move Lance's trial to a neighboring county to prevent the jury tampering that derailed Ginger's case.

Keith unknowingly walks past Henry Taylor's hospital room while visiting injured colleague Egan in the aftermath of the courthouse bombing.

Hugh and Nevin celebrate Jesse's murder over a private dinner, though Hugh is bittersweet knowing Lance is in prison and cannot join them.

Keith and Ainsley announce her pregnancy at the family's first Christmas without Jesse, bringing the grieving Rudy family tears of joy.

Fats Bowman is arrested on drug trafficking charges after a tip from Haley reaches Keith and the FBI, then dies by suicide.

Jimmy Lee Gray's execution in the gas chamber is badly botched, causing prolonged suffering that unnerves the inmates waiting on death row.

Keith visits Hugh on death row the night of the execution; Hugh reveals the bomb was never meant to kill Jesse and bids Keith farewell.

Beneath the legal battles of The Boys from Biloxi lies a series of personal turning points and quiet revelations that steer the story toward its tragic conclusion. Keith and Hugh's friendship quietly dies when their fathers' conflict becomes unavoidable, and both boys commit fully to the paths their families have laid before them. Jesse's crusade against crime is shadowed by his own moral compromises, most critically when he exploits secret knowledge about Hugh to force Lance into a guilty plea. The consequences of these choices ripple outward—Jesse is killed, the Coast's corrupt institutions collapse one by one, and Hugh ends up on death row while Keith rises through politics partly to accelerate his old friend's execution. The novel's final movements are defined by Keith's relentless pursuit of revenge, even as he begins to sense its hollowness. Their last conversation on death row, in which Hugh forgives Keith and admits the bomb was never meant to kill Jesse, gives the story its most haunting and morally ambiguous ending.