Mafia: Definitive Edition - The City of Lost Heaven

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Lore & Background

The City of Lost Heaven is the fictional setting of Mafia: Definitive Edition, a sprawling metropolis inspired by 1930s American cities. The game's open world allows players to explore Lost Heaven at their leisure when not completing missions to advance the narrative. This is mostly done in the Free Ride game mode, where players are not restricted by the linear nature of missions and can find hidden side missions and collectibles exclusive to this mode. The game includes collectibles hidden throughout its world in the form of period-accurate magazines and comics, such as Black Mask, Super Science Stories, Dime Detective Magazine, and Terror Tales, along with fictional collectibles based on the Mafia mythos, such as the Gangsters Monthly comic series based on events that take place throughout the game and cigarette cards featuring likenesses of Mafia series characters and their backstories. A post-launch update released in October 2020 added new activities in the game's Free Ride mode, including taxi missions and a racing mode which takes place in the autodrome featured in the mission 'Fair Play'. Also included in the update is the ability to play the game in black and white, labeled in the game's settings menu as 'Noir Mode' as a homage to film noir movies of the era.

In Their Own Story

In 1938, mobster Thomas 'Tommy' Angelo meets police detective John Norman and seeks his help to secure his family's protection from his former associates, the Salieri crime family. To prove that his story is true, Tommy offers to tell Norman what led to his current predicament. In 1930, Tommy is a taxi driver struggling through the Great Depression. One night, he is strong-armed by two Salieri gangsters—Paulie Lombardo and Sam Trapani—into helping them escape an ambush by the rival Morello family. Tommy is compensated for his help and offered a position in Don Ennio Salieri's organization, which he initially declines. However, after two Morello gangsters track him down and destroy his cab in an act of revenge, Tommy seeks Salieri's protection and exacts retribution upon his attackers with Paulie's help. Tommy subsequently joins the Salieri family as a made man, assisting with running their rackets across Lost Heaven, overseen by Salieri's consigliere Frank Colletti, and befriending Paulie and Sam as they carry out various jobs together. In 1932, Tommy enters a relationship with Sarah Marino, the daughter of Salieri's bartender Luigi, after protecting her from a gang of street hoodlums that were sexually harassing her. On Salieri's orders, Tommy and Paulie retaliate against the gang, with Paulie killing their leader, Billy. They later learn that Billy was the son of corrupt city councillor Roberto Ghillotti, who vows revenge. Worse, Billy’s friend Johnny survived the attack. In order to save the family from incarceration, Sam is tasked with killing Johnny at Billy’s funeral. Tommy is ordered to destroy a brothel and kill the manager for switching its loyalties to Morello as a distraction for the authorities. Salieri also has Tommy kill a prostitute named Michelle, who was giving information to Morello’s associates. Tommy ends up sparing Michelle at Sam's request, and later assists him in killing Johnny. In 1933, Don Marcu Morello ramps up his efforts to dismantle Salieri's organization, gaining support from the corrupt police force and Ghillotti by having Border Patrol ambush Salieri’s bootlegging operation. Salieri later finds that Frank has disappeared with the family's account books, and reluctantly orders Tommy to kill him. Discovering Frank has become disillusioned with the criminal lifestyle and made a deal with the FBI after Morello threatened his family, Tommy allows him to flee the country with his family in exchange for the books, and covers up his actions. Later, Tommy, Paulie, Sam, and another foot soldier, Carlo, help Salieri secure a deal with southern whiskey magnate William Gates, only to be attacked by more of Morello’s men. Gates survives the attack, and Salieri gets possession of the whiskey, saving their fortunes. By 1935, Salieri and Morello begin moving out into new rackets following the end of prohibition, while Tommy starts a family and is promoted to caporegime for his successes. Learning that Salieri is making friends in the city’s legal system, Morello attempts to have him publicly killed. After Tommy saves him, Salieri realizes Carlo was the one who betrayed them to Morello. Salieri kills Carlo and declares open war on his rival. To weaken Morello’s political connections, Tommy assassinates Ghillotti during the latter’s birthday celebration. Salieri also targets Morello’s young brother Sergio, who has managed to escape every attempted hit on him. Tommy manages to finish off Sergio, allowing Salieri to take control of the dock union. The war eventually comes to an end after Tommy, Paulie, and Sam kill Morello himself as he attempts to flee Lost Heaven on a private plane. By 1938, the Salieri family is in full control of Lost Heaven's rackets and ruthlessly eliminating anyone who opposes them. Salieri tasks Tommy to assassinate Congressman Hank Turnbull, who intends to remove anyone associated with organized crime. Tommy is successful, but later feels remorseful after finding out from Sarah that Turnbull voted favorably for the Nineteenth Amendment. When Tommy, Paulie, and Sam agree to recover a stash of diamonds hidden amongst a shipment of impounded cigars, they are shocked to discover heroin instead. Enraged by Salieri's deception and involvement in the drug trade, which he explicitly forbade them to ever engage in, Tommy and Paulie decide to carry out a bank heist that will allow them to retire, without cutting Salieri in. Although the job is a success, Tommy gets concerned for his family’s safety and tells Sarah to take their child and find a place to hide. Tommy later finds Paulie dead in his apartment the following day, and the stolen money is missing. When he meets with Sam to discuss the matter, he learns that Salieri ordered him to kill Tommy and Paulie for going behind his back, and that Frank and Michelle were murdered by Salieri's men after Tommy's past cover-ups were exposed. Tommy survives Sam's ambush and mortally wounds him. Though Sam tries to appeal to Tommy's humanity and offers to help him fake his death in exchange for sparing him, Tommy finishes Sam off to avenge Paulie. Back in the present, as Tommy finishes relaying his story to Norman, he offers to testify against the Salieri family in exchange for a reduced prison sentence and protection for his family. Norman agrees, being a father himself, and the resulting investigation and mob trials lead to the Salieri family, including the Don, being convicted and sentenced. After serving eight years in prison, Tommy is reunited with his family as they are all placed under witness protection and relocated to Empire Bay. Tommy lives a peaceful life with his family until 1951, when two hitmen approach him. Accepting his fate, Tommy is shot and left to die on his front lawn. He succumbs to his wounds, surrounded by his family.

Reader's Guide

The campaign of Mafia: Definitive Edition is a linear story told across 20 chapters, each a self-contained mission. It begins with Tommy Angelo, a taxi driver, who helps two Salieri family members escape a police ambush. Grateful, they bring him into the family as a driver, and Tommy quickly proves his worth in jobs ranging from bootlegging to assassinations—each job a step deeper into the mud. As Tommy rises, he befriends Paulie and Sam, but tensions grow as the family clashes with the rival Morello gang. The story's midpoint sees Tommy's marriage to Sarah and a brief attempt at a normal life—a quiet apartment, a kiss goodbye—but he's pulled back when the violence escalates, dragging him from the kitchen table to the barrel of a gun. Key missions include a daring bank robbery where the vault door groans open like a tomb, a betrayal within the family that stains the floorboards red, and a final confrontation at the Salieri mansion, where loyalty is measured in bullet casings. The campaign ends with Tommy testifying against the family in exchange for witness protection, a choice that buys him a new name but no peace. The final scene shows him in a quiet suburb, watering his lawn, as a black sedan rolls slowly past—a reminder that in Lost Heaven, no one ever really leaves.

Did You Know?

• Mafia: Definitive Edition is a remake of the 2002 video game Mafia and the fourth entry in the series.
• The game was released for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One on September 25, 2020, both individually and as part of the Mafia: Trilogy pack.
• A post-launch update in October 2020 added a 'Noir Mode' that lets players play the game in black and white as a homage to film noir movies.
• The game's Free Ride mode merges the original game's Free Ride and Free Ride Extreme into one mode, with over-the-top side missions hidden as secrets.
• The English voices were recast for the remake, while some of the veteran Czech Mafia voice cast returned.