Overview
Thomas Angelo is the main protagonist of Mafia, and Mafia: Definitive Edition.
Background
Mafia
Not much is revealed about Tommy Angelo's background in the original Mafia, outside of the fact that he was previously employed as a taxi driver before joining the Salieri family.
Mafia: Definitive Edition
According to Mafia: Definitive Edition, Thomas Angelo was born on April 5th 1900 in Sicily to a family of plantation workers. After the family's property was foreclosed upon, they decided to migrate to the United States - they first arrived in Empire Bay before finally settling in Lost Heaven.
Sometime in his 20s, Tommy found a job with a road crew - he would live around campsites for several months while building highways throughout the northern United States. Tired of this nomadic lifestyle, Tommy moved back to Lost Heaven in 1926 and used the money he earned to buy a taxi cab.
Shortly afterwards, Tommy would soon be hired as a taxi driver during the Prohibition. Despite the job demanding long hours for little reward, Tommy was ultimately grateful for managing to hold a job during the Great Depression - a period where unemployment rates were typically high, and many people were in much worse situations.
Storyline
At the beginning of Mafia, Thomas Angelo is presented as an overworked taxi driver working in Lost Heaven during 1930s who happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time after a night which involves a mobster car pursuit through the city due to rising tensions between the Morello and Salieri families. The next day, Tommy is chased & attacked by Morello's thugs anddecides to join the Salieri crime family as a soldato and goes up the ranks while doing jobs for Salieri with the help of colleagues Paulie and Sam.
After the Prohibition, Tommy starts leading a life of luxury while doing jobs for the Don. He also falls in love with Sarah, the daughter to Salieri's bartender, who he eventually marries. When assigned with killing Salieri's best friend & consiglieri Frank Colletti, Tommy breaks the Omerta and lets him slip away to Europe. Salieri ultimately finds out about this and decides to mark Tommy for death. Sometime after robbing a bank with Tommy unbeknownst to Salieri, Paulie is killed by Sam who takes the money to the art gallery and reveals to Tommy that Frank was eventually tracked down and killed. In retaliation for the death of his best friend, Tommy kills Sam and leaves the money from the bank robbery behind.
Tommy arranges a meeting with Detective Norman and shares information against him & his past dealings with Salieri. Due to the evidence against him, Salieri is jailed for life and his remaining capos are sentenced to death row. After serving an 8 year prison sentence, Tommy and his family are relocated to the east coast with new identities - and Tommy continues to work as a taxi driver for several years.
Sometime later, Tommy is tracked down by Salieri's contacts and is shot to death outside of his home by two hitmen. The game closes with Tommy's final testimony against Salieri.
By 1951, an aging Thomas is living a new life in Empire Bay with his family under the witness protection program. During this time, Vito Scaletta and Joe Barbaro are offered a contract from Eddie Scarpa to kill Tommy for betraying Salieri & the family. When they arrive to confirm Tommy's identity, Vito relays the message "Mr. Salieri sends his regards." before Joe fatally shoots Tommy with a shotgun and the two men leave the scene with federal agents on their tail.
Trivia
- Tommy Angelo is voiced by Michael Sorvino in the original Mafia, and portrayed by Andrew Bongiorno in Mafia: Definitive Edition.
- Tommy's character arc shares many similarities to real-life mobster Henry Hill, whose life was fictionalized in the film Goodfellas.
- Originally, Tommy's death took place in October 1957. This would be changed to suit the timeline of Mafia II.
- He is the only protagonist the Mafia series who hasn't had prior military experience in combat training.
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