The Godfather II (video Game) - Plot - Story

Story

The plot of the game borrows heavily from the movie, but also differs in many aspects. Some major events are out of order (for example, the invasion in Cuba is placed before the attempt on Frank Pentangeli's life), and others are rewritten (such as Hyman Roth's death).

The game begins on December 31, 1959 in Havana, Cuba, 4 years after Aldo Trapani assisted in the assassinations of the Dons of the Stracci, Cuneo, Tattaglia and Barzini families (In the first game) and also when Aldo was promoted to Don of NYC. Hyman Roth has arranged for a meeting in which various Mafia Families discuss plans to divide territory in Cuba amongst themselves. Among those families are the Manganos, the Granados, and the Corleones, including the Almeidas, who sent their soldier, Alejandro Almeida, down to the meeting. Aldo Trapani, Fredo Corleone, and Dominic, the new protagonist, are present at the meeting as well. When their meeting is interrupted by the Cuban Revolution, Dominic and Aldo escort Don Michael Corleone and Fredo to safety, but Aldo is killed by a sniper upon reaching the airport. Michael Corleone appoints Dominic as the new Don of New York to keep the city under the Corleone Family's control.

Six weeks after the riot in Cuba, two of the Corleone's caporegimes, Carmine and Tony Rosato, better known as the Rosato Brothers, renege on their former side to begin building their own organized crime families. Dominic is then tasked with recruiting underling soldiers and re-acquiring Carmine's newly-owned profit rackets in New York. After Dominic has managed to reclaim a number of Carmine's rackets, Carmine offers to hold a truce meeting with Dominic and Corleone caporegime Frank Pentangeli to negotiate for peace. The meeting, however, turns out to be a setup. Dominic manages to escape thanks to a police officer entering the building, but Frank is apparently killed by being strangled by a garotte. After taking over the rest of Carmine's rackets and eliminating all of Carmine's made men, Dominic eliminates Carmine and his remaining men at his compound and then orders one of his men to bomb the building's gas main effectively destroying the compound and the remains of the Carmine Rosato family.

After Carmine's death, Hyman Roth contacts Dominic and asks him to come to Miami, Florida, so he can rescue his associate, Steven Ciccoricco, who was kidnapped by the Granados Family. Following the rescue, Dominic allies himself with Roth and is aided by Fredo (who was sent by Michael Corleone to help at the hotels). Dominic establishes himself in Miami and gradually takes over businesses from the Granados Family and Tony Rosato, eventually eliminating them at their compounds later on. When Don Samuele Mangano moves his organization to Miami, Dominic wisely chooses to offer an alliance with them, which Samuele accepts. A few hours later, Fredo calls Dominic and wants to have a drink at Dominic's Florida Safehouse, Dominic and Fredo are suddenly ambushed there, but both survive the attack, thanks to Dominic's quick actions. Fredo, suspecting the Mangano Family to be guilty, breaks the alliance, also believing that Mangano's smuggling men and guns into Florida to start a war. After killing Hector Santos as a favor for Charlie Green to gain access to the island that Mangano's Warehouse is on, Dominic's family raids and takes over the Warehouse. Mangano calls Dominic shortly after and says that he was not behind the hit and says that they need to have a sitdown at an old warehouse on Dodge Island. However, instead of Mangano being there, his consigliere, Paulo Riccitello, is there instead.

Paulo tells Dominic that the Mangano's were not behind the hit attempt and that if they had wanted Dominic killed he'd already be dead. During the meeting, Giorgio Strozzi, a Mangano Underboss, leads an assault to take over six of Dominic's rackets. Later, Fredo tells Dominic to go to Hyman Roth who knows not only how to reason with the Manganos, but also how to fix the problem. But he can't help Dominic unless he's willing to help him. Roth reintroduces Dominic to CIA Agent Henry Mitchell (Who tasked Dominic to assassinate Alejandro Almeida to stop an Airport Strike earlier), who is plotting to assassinate Fidel Castro. This situation pays homage to rumors that the CIA hired Mafia members to try and assassinate Castro. Dominic is sent to Havana and tries to kill Castro with a sniper rifle, but fails, as one of Castro's high-ranking officials, Don Esteban Almeida had prior knowledge of the assassination attempt and alerted the authorities. It is also suggested in various scenes that Roth was working with the Almeida Family to set Dominic up. Which explains why Mitchell and Roth wanted Dominic to assassinate the dissident leaders, removing all of Batista's supporters would keep Castro as the president.

When Dominic returns to account his failures to Michael, they learn that Frank Pentangeli is alive, ready to testify against the Corleones at a Senate Investigation into organized crime. Dominic rescues Frank's brother, Vincenzo, from Hyman Roth's kidnappers, and Vincenzo convinces Frank to recant his testimony. But the family has other problems. Henry Mitchell has gone rogue, and Fredo has unwittingly betrayed Michael, due to Roth's manipulation. With the Senate Hearing out of the way, Michael decides that his enemies need to be eliminated. After killing Mitchell and destroying the rest of the rival families in all three cities, Dominic and his men carry out their last mission: Assassinating Hyman Roth. After a tense shootout in the Miami International Airport with Roth's men, airport security and the police, Dominic assassinates Roth and successfully escapes to the previously taken over Mangano Compound. When Dominic corners an unarmed and cowering Roth, the player has the opportunity to engage in dialogue - Dominic demands to know why Roth betrayed him and tried to have him killed, to which Hyman responds in a melancholy tone the famous quote "This is the life we chose". (In the original movie, Michael's soldier Rocco Lampone is sent, goes in disguised as a reporter to kill Roth, and is soon shot. Dominic instead shoots his way through the police, corners Roth as he is just getting off of his plane, and escapes alive). Michael congratulates Dominic on a job well done, and tells him his future in the family is secure. The family welcomes him in, calling him Godfather. The game ends with a reenactment of Fredo's murder from the original film, with Dominic's voice heard saying "Fredo, I'm sorry".

The Five Families:

CORLEONE FAMILY The game's protagonist, Dominic, is initially an enforcer for the Corleone Family (as well as Aldo Trapani's personal bodyguard), however, upon Aldo Trapani's death in Cuba, Michael Corleone appoints Dominic as the boss of his New York Operations. The Corleone's are based in Midtown and control turf in Miami and eventually Havana, Cuba. There are also significant rackets in Las Vegas even though the player does not travel there. After the Five Families from the first game were eliminated, the Corleone's must once again protect their interests against four more rival families and another crime family based in Cuba. Although Michael Corleone is the Don of the family, he gives Dominic his own family and crew, entrusting them to take back their territories in New York, Miami, and Havana. Tom Hagan is appointed as Dominic's consigliere.

CARMINE ROSATO FAMILY When word of Aldo Trapani's death reaches New York, his crew becomes demoralized and his two capo's, brothers Carmine and Tony Rosato, break off to form their own families. While a capo for the Corleone's, Carmine Rosato was in charge of the family's prostitution crime ring and when he broke off from the Corleone's to become Don of his own family, he took complete control over those rackets. The Carmine Rosato family is the easiest of the five families to defeat and is the smallest and weakest.

TONY ROSATO FAMILY The eldest, strongest, and smartest of the two, Tony Rosato managed to expand his turf in Miami, gaining control over numerous construction companies in Florida. Tony Rosato's family can become powerful if allowed to further expand their rackets and are vying for control of other crime rings in Miami, willing to go to full out war with both the Corleone and Granados families. Many of his soldiers and capos have been known to operate in New York, making their locations hard to pinpoint.

GRANADOS FAMILY The Granados Family, headed by Don Rico Granados, is a Mexican crime family based in Miami with some business interests in Mexico City, Mexico. The Granados' were promised territory in Cuba when Hyman Roth held a meeting in Havana determining how to divide up the city. They hold considerable stake in Miami and even though are not as powerful as the Mangano's, have a vast amount of political connections in the Lieutenant Governor's office, police department, and Union. If given the opportunity, the Granados may pose the biggest threat to the Corleone's in Miami.

MANGANO FAMILY The Mangano Family hails from the "old country" of Sicily. They have a traditional sense of style which makes them more ruthless and violent in nature. Their Don, Samuele Mangano, was present at Hyman Roth's birthday party/mafioso meeting in Cuba and Roth's agreement with the his family was the reason Mangano came to the states in the first place. After the Cuban Revolution, however, Samuele Mangano proceeded to establish himself in Miami. A declaration of alliance with the Corleone's went sour when Hyman Roth ordered an "assassination attempt" on both Fredo Corleone and Dominic. Roth had made sure that Fredo was present so that he could immediately blame the Mangano's for the attempt on their lives. This resulted in a retaliatory assault on a Mangano-run chop shop operation and subsequent war. The Mangano's, with their considerable strength, took Miami by storm, hitting the Corleone's interests there hard and without remorse. With turf in Cuba, the Mangano's are the next to hardest, if not the most difficult family to defeat. Their family is spread out, with a Mangano Underboss in New York and another in Cuba, making his family very difficult to locate.

ALMEIDA FAMILY of CUBA The first known Cuban crime family in the Godfather series, the Almeida Family is almost exclusively based in Havana, Cuba. After the failed assassination attempt of Cuban President Fidel Castro, Don Esteban Almeida emerged as the underground benefactor of the Cuban government. His influence in the city in considerable, controlling the gambling and arms smuggling crime rings and a majority of the chop shop crime ring. On top of owning nearly all of the casino's, prostitution rings, and other rackets and businesses in Havana, the Almeida Family also has complete command over the Cuban police and paramilitary forces, making them the single, most powerful crime family in the game. Don Almeida's compound is guarded not only by his criminal underlings, by also by police and army personnel. His connections with the CIA, through Hyman Roth, allow him to spread his influence in Miami with ease. Don Esteban Almeida may be considered more powerful than Castro himself and if allowed to expand heavily in Miami, may be near impossible to defeat.