Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven - Plot

Plot

Mafia is set in the 1930s, between the fall of 1930 through to the end of 1938, during the later part of Prohibition, which ended in 1933. The game is set in the fictional American city of Lost Heaven (loosely based on New York City, Philadelphia and Chicago of the same time period).

The player takes the role of taxi driver Thomas "Tommy" Angelo, who, while trying to make a living on the streets of Lost Heaven, unexpectedly and unwillingly becomes involved in organized crime as a driver and enforcer for the Salieri crime family, led by Don Ennio Salieri.

Through the events of the game's story, Tommy begins to rise through the ranks of the Salieri family, which is currently battling the competing Morello family, led by the sharply-dressed Don Morello. Eventually becoming disillusioned by his life of crime and violence, Tommy arranges to meet a detective (Detective Norman) in order to tell him his story, to be given witness protection, and to aid the detective in the destruction of the Salieri crime family. The 'Intermezzo' chapters of the game depict Tommy sitting in a cafe with the detective, relating his life story and giving out important pieces of information at the same time.

After a not-so-casual encounter with two of Don Ennio Salieri's henchmen, Sam and Paulie (who escaped from Morello's men and while trying to get away, had a car accident), Tommy is paid with an envelope concealing a hunk of cash for getting Sam and Paulie to safety. Through Sam as his proxy, Salieri says he is impressed with Tommy's grace under fire and that he is indebted to Tommy for doing so; at some future time Tommy may come back to Salieri for help. Since Salieri also tries to help men of Italian blood in the onslaught of the Great Depression, he offers Tommy the 'chance' to work for the Salieri organization. Tommy refuses politely, preferring to remain poor but legitimate, and his thoughts are reinforced when he sees his pay package contains more money than he has ever seen before, and the very next day he is back to work as a taxi driver. However, in between scouting for fares he is attacked by two hoods who are members of Salieri's arch-enemy (later revealed to once have been his companion), the Morello crime family, as revenge for him helping Paulie and Sam escape them. Tommy is saved by Salieri's men, who, when Tommy escapes into their bar and the Morello men follow him, murder the attackers. However, the cab company learns that their taxi was vandalized by gangsters and Tommy's employment is terminated. Hard up for employment prospects in the Depression years and grateful to Salieri for saving his life, Tommy accepts the offer to work for the Salieri family, mostly working as a getaway driver.

Through a series of assignments given to him by Don Salieri, Tommy quickly becomes deeply involved in the activities of the Salieri business, concerning extortion, collecting protection money, bootlegging, assassination, arson jobs and a lot of unexpected gunfights, often with the opposing Don Morello, whose power Tommy describes as "built on violence". Tommy soon establishes himself as one of Salieri's top henchmen.

One turning point occurs when he gets a request from Salieri's bartender Luigi, who likes Tommy and asks him to walk his daughter Sarah home from work on account of reports of hoodlums. While escorting Sarah street punks attack, to which Tommy defends her. Enraged at the mugging, Salieri orders Tommy and Paulie to hunt the gang and cripple them, which then leads up to the Salieri family being targets of the city government as Tommy murdered one gang member who was the son of an alderman. Tommy is later made to carry out jobs to avoid Salieri having to face prosecution, culminating in an assassination mission involving the bombing of a hotel. Although he carries out the bombing, he discovers that one of the assassination targets is his girlfriend's best friend Michelle, an informant to Morello. Unable to bring himself to kill her, he instead orders her to flee the city and never return. This begins the process of his eventual rejection of his new vocation. Another watershed moment is when Tommy is escaping the bombing, he stumbles into a cathedral where it is the funeral of the alderman's son he murdered, where Tommy is identified as the killer and gang members attempt to shoot him in revenge. After eliminating them all, the priest leading the eulogy tells Tommy he has committed a grave sin and fears his soul is at risk, which Tommy rationalizes at first that he killed all bad men, but seriously takes the priest's warning to heart.

Tommy eventually marries Sarah, who gives birth to a girl a year later. However, a fatal shootout at a farm where the Morello mob and police surprise them when they are trying to buy Canadian whisky nearly kills Sam. On the same day, Frank Colletti, Don Salieri's Consigliere, hands over Salieri's account books to the police. Though being a friend of Frank for more than 20 years, Salieri orders his death. Tommy finds Frank at the Lost Heaven International Airport, attempting to flee to Europe. Tommy learns from Frank's wife that the police blackmailed Frank and gives him ways to recover the books for Salieri, and Tommy gets her and her daughter reunited with Frank. In one of the game's more emotional moments, Tommy lets Frank go and he flees to Europe with his family. Since Frank has fled to England, Salieri accepts that Frank is dead and his funeral is given. Tommy later saves his boss from being assassinated while dining at a luxurious restaurant. Salieri has his bodyguard-turned-traitor, Carlo, killed along with Morello's ally, the councilor (who is shot while giving a speech at his birthday). Morello's brother, Sergio Morello, is also killed on Salieri's orders. These actions shatter the Morello crime family and Salieri finally orders the death of his rival. After having succeeded, the game pauses to present times, while Tommy shows Detective Norman a photo of a young Salieri standing next to another young man revealed to be Morello. He tells Norman that this photo proved to him that "This life is poisonous", and is one of the main reasons why Tommy wants to betray the local Mafia.

After the death of Morello, the Salieri family runs the town. Following the assassination of another politician not co-operating with the family, Tommy, along with Sam, is presented with a plan to rob a bank by Paulie. Both men refuse, Tom mentioning the danger involved if Salieri were to discover such a plot and Sam citing his loyalty to the family. The three then steal what is ostensibly a batch of Cuban cigars on Salieri's orders, but Tommy and Paulie discover that the cigar boxes contain a considerable amount of well-hidden diamonds. Convincing Paulie not to steal any of them, Tommy acts as though he is unaware of the diamonds and surreptitiously probes Salieri for information about the matter. Deciding that Salieri was well-aware of the diamonds and intended to cheat him out of his fair share, Tommy joins Paulie in his bank robbery plan, risking their lives if Salieri would find out. The robbery is successful, but the following day Tommy arrives at Paulie's apartment to find him murdered and the money all gone. Tommy panics, and is tricked by the ever-loyal Sam, to meet him at Lost Heaven's art gallery. In the midst of a gun-battle it is revealed that Salieri, having discovered Tommy and Paulie's unauthorized bank robbery, has ordered their deaths. Sam also tells Tommy that Salieri has mistrusted Tommy for some time after discovering that he hadn't killed either Michelle or Frank, both of whom were eventually found and murdered by the mafia.

During a climactic battle on the top floor of the museum, Tommy gets the upper hand on Sam, but when he runs away, finds that he cannot bring himself to kill his former friend. Ultimately, as Sam is stumbling towards the exit, Tommy watches him from above and fires a bullet into his back. Shivering and astonished, Sam delivers his final words, a warning of Salieri's power and finding out about Frank, and is then shot to death by Tommy.

Here, Tommy's story to the detective (and thus the game) ends, telling that he fled to Europe but decided to return and to testify against Salieri to ensure the safety of Sarah and his daughter. The detective agrees to put Tommy and his family under the protection of the police, and Tommy is free to testify against the Salieri family. Don Salieri is arrested and sentenced to prison for life, but dies of old age during his first year in jail. 80 gangsters are convicted, some sentenced to electrocution and the family is destroyed. Tommy is sentenced to 8 years. After the trial, Tommy is relocated in Greenfield, Empire Bay, on the eastern coast, with his family, all under new names. Tommy works as a driver "for a respectable company".

In 1951, an old Thomas Angelo, grey-haired and moustached, is standing outside his house watering the lawn. Two men, Vito Scaletta and Joe Barbaro, pull up to the side of the street in a Smith Thunderbolt and approach him. Addressing him by his real name (which was changed beforehand by the FBI), Barbaro pulls out a sawn-off shotgun. Scaletta tells Tommy that 'Mr. Salieri sends his regards', and both barrels are emptied into Tommy's body. As the two men get back into their car and hurry away, Tommy lies on the grass with blood pouring out of his wounds. Tommy's last narration as the camera rises from his dead body ends with:

"You know, the world isn't run by the laws written on paper. It's run by people. Some according to laws, others not. It depends on each individual how his world will be, how he makes it. And you also need a whole lot of luck, so that somebody else doesn't make your life hell. And it ain't as simple as they tell you in grade school. But it is good to have strong values and to maintain them. In marriage, in crime, in war, always and everywhere. I messed up. So did Paulie and Sam. We wanted a better life, but in the end we were a lot worse off than most other people. You know, I think it's important to keep a balance in things. Yeah, balance, that's the right word. Cause the guy who wants too much, risks losing absolutely everything. Of course, the guy who wants too little from life, might not get anything at all."