The Godfather: The Game Don of NYC Guide


Version 1.0
September 2nd, 2006

By Mike "Dmikester" Feldman


COPYRIGHT INFO

This document is Copyright 2006 Michael "Dmikester" Feldman. It may be
not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private
use. It may not be placed on any web site outside of GameFAQs. It may
not be distributed electronically outside of the GameFAQs web site, and
it may not be distributed otherwise at all. Use of this guide on any
other web site or as a part of any public format is strictly
prohibited, and a violation of copyright.

VERSION HISTORY

1.0 (9/2/06):  The write-up of Part 1 (Tom's Way)

2.0 (??/??/??): Corrections in spelling and grammar will happen here,
and most importantly, Sonny's Way will be added.


TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Introduction

2. Tom's Way: The Natural Order of The Godfather: The Game Introduction

3.  Mission and Hits Walkthrough

4.   Little Italy Takeover

5. Brooklyn Takeover

6. New Jersey Takeover

7. Hell's Kitchen Takeover

8. Midtown Takeover and Don of NYC Status Attainment

9. Sonny's Way: The Everything at Once Order of The Godfather: The Game
  Intro

10. Prologue Missions and Freelancing

11. Act 1 Missions and Freelancing

12. Act 2 Missions and Freelancing

13. Act 3 Missions and Freelancing

14. Act 4 Misisons and Freelancing

15. Conclusion and acknowledgements

=================
1. Introduction
=================


Welcome to my second-ever guide.  This guide is for The Godfather: The
Game, and is specifically for achieving the coveted Don of NYC title.
Along the way, if you wish, you can achieve 100% in the game, but this
is for some odd reason not required in order to become the Don of NYC.
Miss a few safes by accident or an execution style or two?  Not a
problem if you want to become the Don of NYC!  Also, there's no special
reward for getting 100%, only a sense of finality and accomplishment.
Becoming the Don of NYC, however, gets you infinite ammo (which of
course is utterly useless at the end of the game) and all the respect
you need to get to level 50!  So, let's begin!

There are several things to address before we get into the actual
walkthrough.  First off, this isn't a typical walkthrough in that I
won't be giving you a step by step breakdown of the missions or the
hits.  I will point out various strategies for tough spots, but I
figure you're smart enough to figure out the missions on your own.
Also, in general, the missions and the hits, like in almost all sandbox
games like this, are relatively easy to pull off compared to other
genres.  I plan to write guides like this for most of the platform
sandbox games, and I'll demonstrate that all of the optional stuff that
improves your stats or gives you more money is 99% of the time
unnecessary in order to actually beat the main game (GTA: San Andreas,
I'm looking at you, kid!).

Another thing to address is the aspects of this game that I will NOT be
covering in this guide.  These are things that are either not needed
for becoming the Don of NYC or not even needed for 100%.  They include:

Locations of Film Reels (not needed for 100%)
Execution Styles (except for one)
Black Market Merchants (not needed for 100%, and totally unnecessary;
I've beaten the game 100% without ever upgrading my weapons)
Bank Heists (not needed for 100%)
Racket Trucks (not needed for 100%)

Everything else will be covered extensively.

The last thing is likely something very different than what you may
have seen before in a guide of this nature.  The reason I love sandbox
games so much outside of their virtually limitless replay value is that
they present the player with a mission and objective order that is
clearly mapped out, yet allow the player to go about beating those
missions in anyway they see fit.  However, often with these games,
there is a clear story in which it wouldn't make sense for the
character to suddenly take three weeks gallivanting around and doing
random things that don't tie into the urgency or plot of the main
campaign.  Thus, sandbox games change the concept of linearity and in
particular the concept of how a player plays through a story in video
games.

The way I've always enjoyed playing these games, and how I honestly
think the designers intend for these games to be played, is to play
through the main campaign all the way through, receiving all the
rewards and experience from the campaign, and then striking out on
one's own afterwards and accomplishing all the little things one may
have noticed during the campaign.  Playing the game this way makes for
a fun challenge and makes much more sense from a story standpoint.  The
Godfather: The Game is clearly designed to work in this way, yet more
than any other sandbox game before it, doing all of the side activities
and missions makes sense during the main campaign, to a certain extent.
For example, you're encouraged to extort businesses throughout the
game, and it makes sense that an associate would be doing this.  At the
same time, your ultimate goal is to eliminate the other four families.
Doing this before the final mission in which you eliminate the Dons of
the other four families makes virtually no sense story-wise, especially
considering Don Barzini's final words to you (which I won't spoil
here).

One final point to make here is how the designers in sandbox games
design the missions so that they incrementally increase their rewards
based on what the designers likely feel is either their difficulty
level or the optimal story order.  GTA: San Andreas is the game where
this most applies, and I'll be writing a guide in this vein for that
game soon.  In The Godfather: The Game, the missions and hits follow
this concept in terms of both monetary reward and respect points
reward.  Therefore, for this guide, the story missions and the hits
will be woven together as the main campaign, since I'm certain that's
how the designers meant for the game to be played.

So, with all of this in mind, I am presenting here two completely
different ways to play through the game and become the Don of NYC.  The
first way is what I'm naming the "Natural Order" of the game, which
basically consists of playing through the main story first and then
doing all the side activities.  This will also be known as "Tom's Way,"
for reasons to be made clear once the walkthrough begins.  The second
way, or "Sonny's Way," involves eliminating the families during the
main campaign, one at the beginning of each act.  This is presented not
as my recommended way of playing the game, but as another option that
may appeal to those players that like to do side missions during the
game.  When I say eliminating families, by the way, I don't just mean
destroying their compounds, but taking over all of their businesses,
rackets, warehouses and hubs as well.

And, finally, let's begin!

=======================================================================
2. Tom's Way: The Natural Order of The Godfather: The Game Introduction
=======================================================================

Welcome to the way of becoming the Don of NYC that makes the most sense
story-wise, and as you'll see if you try both methods presented in this
guide, by far the easier of the two!  This is why I call this the
Natural Order of the game; it's the easiest and makes the most sense at
the same time, and it's also just more fun in general.  It allows you
to focus and keep track of what you're doing much more than if you
freelanced in the middle of the game.

The reason this is called Tom's Way is that fairly early on in the
game, Tom Hagen and Sonny Corleone give you tips on how to extort
businesses.  While Sonny basically suggests brute force, Tom suggests
diplomacy.  If you follow this guide, you will be able to count the
number of businesses and rackets you will have to extort with force on
one hand.  The rest will be through diplomacy, which will not only
guarantee an optimal amount of money received, but will simply be
easier to manage considering that you can practically ignore all the
gangsters guarding the businesses when you use diplomacy, whereas if
you use force, you'll have to take down numerous gangsters, increasing
your vendetta levels and reducing your ammo needlessly.

So let's get going!

===============================
3. Mission and Hits Walkthrough
===============================

If you're a total beginner, definitely play through the Prologue.  Not
only is it a well-done scene, but it'll give you essential practice if
you don't know how to fight in the game yet, considering that in this
scene only, you're invulnerable.  Try to get used to it, since it's a
bit awkward at first, but becomes quite intuitive after practice.

Now, go through the Prologue, which consists of Missions 1-3.  In
Mission 1, make sure to break the crate against the wall to your right
by throwing one of the punks against it.  It'll give you an extra
$1000, which at this point in the game is a very large amount of money.

All the story missions have bonus money like this, and I'll give you
strategy on how to collect them.  They're essential for building up
your money early on, which will help with buying clothes and just
generally saving up money for all the negotiating you'll be doing.
Buying clothes, by the way, gets you respect, which is critical early
on for building up your stats.  The tips I'll give you for buying
clothes are based pretty much exclusively on the official strategy
guide for the game, an excellent resource in general.

In Mission 2, you'll be introduced to side missions.  You'll extort
your first business, take over your first racket, and crack your first
safe.  The business, Emilio's Butcher Shop, is one of two or three
you'll actually take over with force, but hey, Luca Brasi isn't exactly
the best diplomat of all time, is he?  Punch and slam Emilio until he
starts to be willing to pay, then hold him and wait until the payout
price gets to be around 1100, then talk to him.  Congrats on your first
business extorted!  Only 83 to go.

Go upstairs, and again, use force.  This time, though, you'll actually
be fighting gangsters as well.  You should be able to pull off a number
of Execution Styles here, about 2 or 3.  Threaten the racket boss in
the same way that you did Emilio, and threaten him until he pays around
750, then talk to him.  Finally, go over to the safe, plant your
dynamite, run behind cover, and get the money and dynamite from the
safe.  A safe will always conveniently include dynamite to replace the
one you used to crack it!  The money from the safe, $1500, is the
"bonus" money for this mission.

Before Mission 3, buy some clothes, specifically a Closed w/ rolled up
vest, Casual Pants with belt, Oxford shoes, a snap brim hat, and wire-
frame glasses.  This will likely drain you of money, but don't worry.
If you can't afford it all, don't worry about it.  Just make a mental
note of what you didn't buy, and buy it first chance you get.

Now chances are you've gone up a few levels, and can upgrade.  Without
a doubt, the three most important are Fighting, Shooting, and Health.
After these, get your Street Smarts up to Level 4 so that you can steal
parked cars without any heat, and then upgrade your speed.  Speed
really only comes into play in the end when you're taking out compounds
and need every advantage you can get.  Also, don't completely upgrade
Health, but save some points.  When you upgrade your Health, you get
fully healed, which can be a lifesaver in some of the last missions.

Go ahead and do Mission 3.  The bonus money, $2000, is in the graveyard
that you beat up the second college brat in.  Before you beat him up,
run to the other side of the graveyard and towards the right.  You
should see the money behind a gravestone.  Then go ahead and finish up
the mission.  Congratulations, you're through the Prologue!

Now for Act 1.  Here, the official strategy guide assumes that you've
been doing an insane amount of freelancing before you do Mission 4, and
therefore assumes you can afford a $12,000 closed double-breasted coat
with a tie.  Wow.  Well, don't worry about that.  Let me just say if
you did that much freelancing before this you'd likely be close to a
vendetta with the Tattaglia's and would have to deal with them shooting
at you at every turn.  Sound like fun?  Didn't think so.

Anyhow, don't worry about the coat yet (but buy it first chance you
get), and try to buy Dress Pants, Loafers, and a wide-brim Fedora.
Then go meet Luca Brasi.  The bonus money, $2500, is quite fun in this
one.  When you're shooting the first dummy, shoot it in its left knee
(it's the knee on your right in case you're confused) and it'll fall on
the crate with the money in it.  Now finish the mission.  Well, that
sucked, didn't it?  This is the first real challenge of the game, and
should be a real wake up call to what this game will mostly be like in
terms of missions.

Now, in an annoying design choice, you have to wait to meet with Monk
until the next day in the afternoon.  Now, you could freelance in this
time if you'd like, but I wouldn't recommend it.  You'll just get
gangsters needlessly angry with you.  If you want to buy weapon
upgrades and get film reels, be my guest.  In any event, before Mission
5, try to purchase Dress Pants with a belt, Wing Tips, and Sunglasses.
Then go ahead and do Mission 5; you have to activate it by picking up a
phone.  The bonus money here is in a car parked on the bridge where the
ambulance stops and you have to interrogate the capo.  It's the car on
the left side of the bridge that's sitting all alone.  Shoot it until
it blows up and collect $3000.

Now get to your first "rendezvous," which is at the Corleone Compound.
If you can, buy an Open Sport Coat with a Vest and a Homburg hat
beforehand.  Now get over there and get promoted to Enforcer.  With
great power comes great.  Oh whoops, wrong movie.  Anyhow, now you get
to do Hits!  Yes!  These are really fun, and if you go for the bonus
objectives, which you should and will, occasionally quite challenging.

Let's do the first Hit by chatting with Tessio and getting the
contract.  Before you actually whack the guy, go ahead and buy a Dress
Shirt rolled up with suspenders.  Now, the bonus here is very easy;
just kill him with no weapons of any kind.  In other words, punch him
to death!  Easiest one you'll get, by far.  The reason for doing the
bonuses is that you get much more money and respect for doing them, and
when you do the hits with the bonuses, the respect rewards correspond
very nicely with the main story missions, suggesting that the designers
meant for it to be this way.

Next, take on Mission 7, where you get to be the guard at the hospital
while Don Corleone is sick!  Excellent.  Buy, if you can, a Leisure
Coat open with a vest and a tie.  Also, prepare yourself for the
complete transformation of Michael Corleone, both in regards to his
body and his voice.  I have to admit, they did an excellent job with
this considering the bizarre circumstances of Pacino not giving them
permission to use his likeness.  Here, the bonus money, $2000, is in
Don Corleone's room, which opens up once your objective is to meet
Michael.

All right, now do Mission 8, which is really just another rendezvous.
Buy a narrow brim Fedora for this one.  Just get in and out.  Go ahead
and do Mission 9, which is also the end of Act I.  Buy an Open Vest
rolled up and untied before the mission.  The bonus money, which totals
$5000, is on the roof of the building you have to throw the sergeant
off of in the form of five separate $1000 bags hidden in crates.  Shoot
them open, collect the money, and then throw the sergeant off the roof.
Act I is complete.

Act II begins with you being called to the Corleone Compound.  To
prepare for the occasion, buy a closed dress coat.  Head over to the
Compound and get promoted to being an Associate!  Now let's pull off
another hit.  Head back to Tessio and prepare to whack another
Tattaglia.  The bonus here is to kill him using a baseball bat.  This
actually only means you have to deliver the final blow with a baseball
bat, but to play it safe, use the bat the whole time.

Now go ahead and do Mission 10, where you help out Clemenza by taking
out Paulie Gatto.  The bonus money here is the first real challenge
you'll have as far as collecting bonus money goes.  When you go
upstairs to plant the bomb, you'll likely notice a locked door to your
right.  Once you plant the bomb, that door opens and a gangster comes
out of it.  In order to collect the money, which totals $20,000 (!),
you have to rush past him, collect the money, dash downstairs and vault
out of a downstairs window, likely seconds before the bomb goes off.
This will likely take you a couple of tries, but it's definitely
doable, and you'll be much richer for it.  Also, note that you get a
new safehouse after this (finally!)

Mission 11 is next, and it's yet another rendezvous.  Buy some horn rim
glasses and a dress shirt with suspenders for the occasion.  Meet with
Monk, and yes, ignore the Trojan for now.  We'll do his hits later on.
Besides, it's more fun to meet him for contract hits in a church
confessional.

Mission 12 is the excellent recreation of the horse head scene, where
you escort the man who planted the horse head.  Of course, if you're a
big fan of the film, you might cringe at how out of sequence this is in
the game (this should have happened before the Don was shot in the
street), but it doesn't take away from how awesome the mission is.
This is really the only main story mission where you'll have to use
stealth exclusively.  Just make sure to follow Rocco's lead and to wait
for people to exit rooms before you follow them.  You'll likely have to
do this mission multiple times just to get used to the guard positions,
but you'll get it eventually.

This is by far the hardest bonus money to get, but at $20,000, it's
definitely worth it.  When you get to the final corridor, when you see
the maid exit out to a door on the right, you have to sneak out the
other door (the door closest to you) quickly, grab the money that's
lying against the wall, and sneak back out without the guard or the
maid seeing you.  Again, this may take you a couple of tries, but it's
one of the more interesting challenges you'll face.  For all you Metal
Gear Solid fans, this'll be easy.

Mission 13 is the fourth rendezvous you'll have, but this one has an
excellent reward.  You'll get a new safehouse and finally make your
relationship with Frankie official.  And in one of the stranger moments
in the game, you never end up taking Frankie dancing. Huh. Anyhow, now
it's time to do your third hit.  Quite appropriately, the bonus for
this mission, which is to kill Bianchi with only a garrote, involves
sneaking, just like Mission 12, but this one is much easier.  Take the
skills you learned from Mission 12 and use them here to good effect.

And for Mission 14, you get to be the guy who plants the pistol in
Louis' Restaurant!  How great is that?  Go ahead and buy a sport coat
open with vest and tie and sunglasses for the mission.  This isn't a
particularly difficult mission, so go ahead and complete it.  The bonus
money here is obtainable after Michael kills Sollozzo and McCluskey.
When you have to meet up with Michael at his car, first go upstairs in
the restaurant and you'll find a weapon stash and $5000.  Then run
outside and complete the mission, which also signals the end of Act II.

For the beginning of Act III, you have a meeting at the Falconite Club.
Go there and be promoted to a Soldier by Don Corleone himself!
Excellent!

Now we have Mission 15, the beginning of the end.  Appropriately titled
Now It's Personal, this mission will, at least storyline-wise, harden
your character by killing your lover.  Nice parallel to what happens to
Michael in Sicily, no?  Well, OK, it's nowhere near as good, but it's a
nice effort on the part of the designers.  Notice by the way that this
is the only time in the whole game that anyone even makes any kind of
effort to whack you, and they were really gunning for Frankie in this
case.  How odd.  Oh well.  The bonus money is simple here.  In the
beginning of the mission, go upstairs in your safehouse and find $5000
behind a bar in a room on the top floor.  That's it.  Now finish the
mission and witness the transformation of Monk and how your character
doesn't even shed a tear at Frankie's death.

To take your revenge, at least a little bit, perform another hit from
Tessio.  Buy an open Leisure Coat for the occasion.  This is actually
one of the trickier bonuses to achieve, at least if you want to do it
with no innocent deaths.  You have to kill Nobile with no witnesses.
You can either sneak your way around the garage, avoiding the maid, or
just kill her, any Tattaglia thugs lying around, and then Nobile.
While the second method is by far the easiest and most feasible, it's
certainly not the most elegant of solutions.  I leave it up to you, but
I'd recommend killing everyone, which is contrary to the strategy
guide.  It just makes the bonus easier.

Mission 16 is a very brutal but damn satisfying mission.  It also fills
in a hole in the movie, which is exactly how Bruno Tattaglia was
killed.  The bonus money for this mission wins for strangeness.  When
you get to the funeral home, look in the nook on the corner of 34th
Street, which is on the same side of the street as the funeral home for
$7,500.  The game will warn you that you're going out of bounds, but
nothing bad will happen.  Then go to the funeral home and throw Bruno
into the fire.  That'll wipe that slimy smirk off his face.

And now for Tessio's final hit, Don Tattaglia's son.  You'll need a
molotov cocktail for the bonus objective here, which is to kill Johnny
Tattaglia by burning him alive.  While there are explosives all around,
blowing them up in Johnny's face almost never kills him (or any
gangster for that matter).  Once Johnny's been critically wounded from
the explosions, throw a molotov cocktail in his face to get the bonus
objective.  And that's it for Tessio's hits!

Now for your fifth rendezvous, which is also Mission 17.  What's fun
here is that Jaggy will recommend that you bomb the Tattaglia compound
now.  Uh-huh.  Kinda jumping the gun there, Jaggy.  Well, we'll whack
him in good time. :)

Next up, go back to the Trojan.  Head over to Hell's Kitchen and get
your first hit against the Straccis.  The bonus here again is to burn
Ottavio alive, so make sure you have Molotovs.  Conveniently, there's a
merchant that sells Molotovs right next to the hit location, so use
that if needed.  The best way to do this is to drive down to where
Ottavio is, get out and shoot out all the crates and random thugs,
wounding Ottavio in the process, and then throw a cocktail in his face
to finish the job.  In other words, do this just like the last hit, but
make sure to drive down to Ottavio's level rather than trying to kill
him from the bridge above.

Next up is the most epic mission you've had thus far, Mission 18, or
Sonny's War.  This will take a long time and can be very challenging in
parts.  It will give you excellent practice in taking over a warehouse
though, which you'll need to do a lot after the story is complete.  The
bonus money here is simple.  After you get the information from the
racket boss (kill him if you really want to, but he'll be the only
business or racket owner you'll ever kill), run up to the roof of the
warehouse and collect $10,000 from the wired-off chicken coop.  Then
run over to the warehouse and take it over (this warehouse doesn't
actually count as one of the warehouses you need to own for some
reason, so it really is just practice).

Go back to the Trojan for your next hit.  The bonus objective for this
hit is to kill Grossi by throwing him in the baker's oven, exactly like
how you killed Bruno Tattaglia (what's up with these bonus objectives
and fire?!).  Go ahead and do your worst.

Now for the tragic Mission 19, where Sonny is brutally murdered in one
of the most famous scenes in movie history.  It's actually quite nicely
done in the game.  The bonus money, which totals $15,000, is located in
the tollbooth on your right as soon as the mission starts.  So yes, you
have to get out of the car, sprint into the tollbooth and grab the
money, then run back to the car and drive as fast as you can after the
tollbooth attendant.  You won't have a problem in terms of losing the
attendant's car if you do everything efficiently.  Also, beating this
mission signals the end of Act III.

And now, it's time to do a ton of hits.  Four, to be exact.  Head over
to the Trojan and get your next hit against the Straccis, Oscar
Zavarelle.  The bonus objective here is rather odd.  You have to shoot
Zavarelle in three different parts of the body, and in a specific
order.  First, shoot him in the knee (kneecap him), then the shoulder,
and finally, the head.  This actually isn't nearly as hard as it
sounds, but you have to make sure to shoot him in that order.

The next hit is from Clemenza in the basement from the Corleone
Compound, and is your first against the Cuneos.  You might think by
walking into the Corleone Compound that you'd activate the next
mission, but you don't.  You have to go meet Michael specifically to do
that.  If you head straight to the basement, you'll be able to do the
next hit without activating the next scene.

For this hit, you have to throw Marcolini off of the bridge.  This is
one of the tougher ones to accomplish.  First off, if he doesn't run
down the flight of stairs in the middle of the bridge on his own, you
have to drag Marcolini down there yourself, which can be hard.  Also,
make sure you take out all the gangsters guarding him, including the
one at the bottom of the stairs.  Once you've gotten Marcolini down
that flight of stairs and against the balcony, the objective is easy.
It's getting to that point that's tough.

Next up from Clemenza is another Cuneo hit, Marco Debellis.  This is
one of the easiest bonus objectives to pull off.  Here, you have to
kill Debellis by running him over with any vehicle.  Get a truck, drive
down to the rail yard and up the ramp where Debellis is.   Hit him and
then repeatedly run him over to finish the job.  This should take you a
total of thirty seconds if done right.

One more hit from Clemenza for now, and it's another Cuneo hit.  This
one, in my opinion, is the hardest bonus objective to pull off outside
from the last hit.  Your bonus objective is to kill Tosca with a single
shot to the head.  This is very difficult due to two things; the number
of gangsters around and the fact that Tosca is an aggressive shot that
moves around a lot.  This took me many tries, and I got really lucky
when the targeting system just randomly targeted Tosca's head for me.
The best way to do this is either by systematically taking out all the
gangsters and getting into a difficult shootout with Tosca in the back
room of the barbershop, or trying again and again like I did and
getting lucky.  If you don't pull this one off, don't worry about it.
You don't need the bonus objectives for 100%, and you have plenty of
respect by this point.

Now head back to The Trojan for your next and last hit for now, which
is against the Straccis.  This is one of the strangest bonus objectives
to accomplish in terms of execution.  The bonus objective is to
strangle Fontana with your bare hands.  You need to drive up to the
party, park, and walk right up to Fontana and strangle him.  You won't
encounter any resistance until after you kill him and achieve the bonus
objective.  Very odd.  Anyhow, now we're done with hits for a little
bit.  Head to the Corleone Compound and now enter the Don's study to
meet with Michael and truly begin Act IV, which is also the last Act.

You begin Act IV by being promoted to Capo Regime!  Also, you get to
meet Al Neri, who will be providing you with many hits in the future.
For now, though, we've got The Trojan's final hit.  Head to him and get
your last hit against the Straccis, this time against the Don's son
Salvatore.  You've gotta love how the Trojan claims you and him will
kill Salvatore and that therefore you'll learn more about who The
Trojan really is, but he completely disappears after he gives you the
hit, never to return.  Nice.  Anyhow, your bonus objective is to kill
Salvatore before he blows up the warehouse he's located in.  This is
very easy to do.  Just make sure when you get to him shooting at you
that you don't go up the steps he's shooting at you from.  Stay at the
base of the stairs and kill him from there.

The next hit is from Al Neri who is now located in Bryant Park (for
some reason, I love where people assign you hits in this game).  This
hit is against, of all people, Jaggy Jovino, your old friend who has
randomly become a snitch.  Note that basically every character made up
for this game outside of you gets killed somehow.  So, let's take him
out.  The bonus objective is to not harm any of the escort girls around
him.  This is very easy.  The only person you have to watch out for is
Rosa, who Jaggy holds hostage.  But with good aiming skills, you can
hit Jaggy in the head and no one will be harmed.

The next hit is from Neri, and it's the first against the Barzinis, by
far the hardest family to take out.  Understandably, these will be
harder to pull off than the other hits have been overall, but they're
all fairly straightforward except for the final hit.  This one is
against Big Bobby Toro, and the bonus objective involves not killing
any officers of the law before you kill Toro.  This just takes patience
and good kneecapping skills.  If you can put some police officers out
of commission before you kill Toro, you'll be in good shape.  Also,
don't be afraid to take some punishment from the officers if it means
you get to kill Toro first.  Getting iced (killed) in this game has
practically no penalty other than you losing a tiny bit of money, and
it's worth it in a situation like this where you can get a bonus
objective just before you get iced.

Mission 20 is next, which involves meeting Monk in Little Italy.  This
is another sad mission where you have to take out Monk.  The bonus
money here is easy, and it's only $5,000 for a reason.  When Monk walks
out of the alley at the start, go into the alley and you should see the
money in a nook to the left.  After that, do the mission and discover
Monk's treachery.  Whack him, and watch your character be sadder about
losing Monk than Frankie.  Strange.

Now, let's do some more hits.  Head to Al Neri and get your next hit
against the Barzinis.  This hit is rather interesting.  For the bonus
objective, you have to kill Testa while he's shaking hands with the
police chief.  This can be rather finicky, but basically make sure that
it looks like Testa and the cop are talking, and then snipe Testa in
the head.  This is actually much easier to pull off than it seems at
first.  It's really more about the timing than the actual shooting
part.  You may have to try this a couple of times.

Next up from Neri is one of the hardest hits to pull off in general,
bonus or otherwise.  You have to kill Domenico Mazza, who has fortified
himself in Union Square, complete with numerous Barzini thugs all
around.  The bonus objective is to bribe one of the bodyguards on the
edge of Union Square before you kill Mazza.  Bribing the guard is by
far the easiest part of the whole hit.  I've had much better luck
bribing the bodyguard near 12th Street as opposed to 34th Street.  You
just have a better overall position to advance into the square with
when you start from there.  After you bribe the guard, this all comes
down to your skill with this game.  Best of luck, and watch out for
Mazza, who is actually a very good shot himself.

Next up is the last hit from Neri, and it's against Don Barzini's son,
Emilio Jr.  The bonus objective here is to kill all of Emilio's guards
before you kill him.  This is tough only because it's the Barzinis.
Again, this all comes down to skill.  Definitely start by going into
the graveyard to the right of the church and taking out the guards
there.  When you eventually kill all the guards, Emilio will run down
the street (coward!).  Chase him and kill him anyway you see fit.  I
always enjoy running him over.

Mission 21 is the final rendezvous.  Meet up at the Corleone Compound,
and drive to the Embassy Club.  Time to conduct some business, as
Tessio would say.  Notice by the way that if you rush after Tessio's
car, you'll notice it literally disappear in the distance as you follow
it.  Guess the designers didn't think you'd do that.

We're now down to the last two missions of the game, which are by far
the hardest (or at least the most complicated) missions of the game.
Definitely save before you do Mission 22, which involves whacking
Tessio in three minutes.  This is very hard to pull off considering
that the Barzini's have you horribly outnumbered and will be gunning
for you at every turn.  You'll likely have to do this mission several
times, but don't give up.

One thing to do that might help in the beginning is this.  When you
first enter the club, run to the right and into the bar where Tessio
gave you your first hits so long ago.  Take out anyone in the bar, and
then open the doors and madly dash to your immediate right and get in
the elevator.  During the time when the screen fades to load the second
floor of the club, which is where you need to go, it will look like
you're getting pummeled by bullets, but when you get to the second
floor, the game will act as if those bullets didn't touch you.  Odd,
but a great way to get out of wasted ammo, and it saves you time.

The bonus money here, which totals $10,000, is in a crate in a room
that you have to go through on your chase of Tessio.  It usually has
one guard in it, and the crate is on the right.  If you get to the
final room with Tessio and die, you'll actually continue right near the
room where the crate is in.  You can take your time shooting it to get
the money, so don't stress out about it.  You should also have plenty
of time in regards to the three- minute time limit.

And now, the final two hits.  These are both given by Clemenza in the
basement of the compound, and are both against the Cuneos.  The first
is against Luciano Fabbri, and is simple.  The bonus objective is to
talk to him before you kill him.  This involves killing the guards
around him, kneecapping him, and walking up to him, talking to him, and
then killing him in any way you like.  Straightforward, and not too
hard.

The final hit, however, is a very different story.  Get it from
Clemenza, and then prepare for hell.  The bonus objective is to kill
Cuneo (of course, the Don's son) by throwing him into a ditch or a
railyard, which is conveniently right near him.  Of course, actually
getting to the point where you can pick him up and throw him over the
railing successfully will take an enormous amount of skill, and really,
mostly luck.  Cuneo is beautifully positioned on a corner and is
guarded on all sides by some of the fiercest guards you'll encounter in
this game.  He also happens to be an amazingly aggressive and good
shot, and he defends himself very well.

Basically, I highly recommend NOT getting the bonus objective here.
It's just too aggravating to pull off, and it doesn't really feel like
a major accomplishment when you do because of the amount of luck that
it requires.  In any event, once you've executed the hit, either by
doing the bonus objective or not, you've beaten all the hits!  Great
work!  Now let's wrap up the story.

Mission 23 is the incredible end to the story, and reenacts the
assassinations of the dons of the other four families during the
baptism.  Except this time, YOU get to kill all four of them!  Does it
make any sense logically?  Of course not.  Is it incredibly fun to play
and a rush?  You bet!  For some reason, I don't find this mission
particularly hard to beat, but it takes a lot of focus.  However, the
mission is 90% skill, so it's a great final test of your abilities.
Just a couple of notes below about each hit.

First off, when you take out Don Stracci, definitely go through the
motions of meeting him in the elevator and offing him on the way down.
It makes the hit much easier and gives you a clear shot instead of you
just gunning for him.  In other words, do the hit like Clemenza tells
you to.  With Don Cuneo, don't go down into the garage.  Hide behind
the orange stand across the street from the hotel, wait for him to walk
out the door, and shoot at him then.  You likely won't hkill him, but
you'll send the guards running and he'll still be out in the open.
Kill everyone from that point on.

With Don Tattaglia, try not to kill the hostage he takes when you enter
his room, as it'll attract unneeded heat.  Lastly, with Don Barzini,
the hard part is killing the guards, and it's likely you'll have to
retry this hit several times.  You'll continue from just before Al Neri
goes in to shoot at people, so you won't have to drive all the way back
to the Don or anything.  When you kill the Don, of course, kill him in
as brutal a way as possible to get revenge for your father.

Finally, the bonus money, which is $20,000, is behind a pillar of the
courthouse, and only appears after you kill Don Barzini.  Just run
around and search for it; if anything, it'll run down the clock a
little bit, which you need to do.  Once you get the money, drive around
randomly until the clock stops, and then get back to the church and
inform Michael of your success.

And you're done!  Head over to the Corleone Compound and get promoted
to Underboss, and also get a Safehouse for your troubles!  Now, you may
be proud of yourself and all, but guess what?  Don't get too settled.
We've got a TON of work to do yet to become the Don of NYC.  Go ahead
and get a drink, eat a solid meal, do whatever you need to do.  I'll be
here when you come back.

========================
4. Little Italy Takeover
========================

Welcome back!  Now, let's recap in regards to the stats we'll be
keeping track of throughout this next part of the journey.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Missions: 17/17
Contract Hits: 20/20
Extortions: 1/84
Rackets: 1/56
Warehouses: 0/8
Transport Hubs: 0/4
Compounds: 0/4
Safehouses: 4/24
Safes: 1/100
Execution Styles: ?/22
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

You'll notice one interesting anomaly above, namely the question mark
next to how many execution styles you've pulled off.  These can happen
quite haphazardly (in other words, you'll do one flawlessly during a
mission and the game won't count it for some inexplicable reason), and
thus it's next to impossible for me to explain exactly when or in what
order you'll get them.  Chances are that you'll get most of them
without trying, and will be left confused as to how to do the rest
(there are some strange ones, mainly Traffic Accident).

Just remember, execution styles are NOT necessary for Don of NYC, but
are necessary for 100%.  There's an excellent guide up on GameFAQ's
about the requirements for each one, so consult that if needed.  From
now on, I won't be listing them in the stat recaps, since I'll assume
you'll get them all eventually and I won't be going into detail about
them in the guide.

Now then, as you can see from above, we've got a ton of work to do.
Fortunately, by playing the game in the manner I described, you've made
this work pretty easy and actually quite fun.  Now, I'm going to
describe how to do this with the mindset of taking over entire
neighborhoods rather than eliminating families.  In other words, you
won't be eliminating any family entirely until near the very end of
your completing the Don of NYC requirements, but you'll be taking over
neighborhoods in an orderly fashion.

Now one could easily argue that this goes against my whole idea of
playing this game in a "natural" style, since it would seem that
destroying a compound should logically eliminate a family instead of
simply taking over their last business.  Well, not necessarily (the
family could be hanging on desperately for life by keeping some
businesses running), and doing this by neighborhood will make this
guide much more organized.  Also, honestly, it's more satisfying to
conquer neighborhoods in the end.

Now remember, we're negotiating when we extort businesses and taking
over rackets, not forcing people!  The way the game works is that when
you get to a certain level, certain business and racket owners will
accept your initial persuasion without argument, and you'll
automatically get the maximum amount of money you could get without
discovering their "weak spot" while using force!

For anyone that feels like they'll be losing a ton of money, believe
me, you won't be.  By using this strategy and buying every safehouse as
soon as I got to their neighborhoods, as well as buying every piece of
clothing (totally unnecessary but good for respect), I never came close
to dipping below a million dollars!  That seems like a solid financial
strategy to me.  What's interesting is that for every successful
negotiation you do, you get the amount of money you'll be receiving
every payday from the business right away!  With 84 businesses to
extort, that's a lot of instant money.

Just for future reference, businesses are considered Very Easy, Easy,
Medium, Hard, and Very Hard based on what level you need to be in order
to successfully negotiate your way to extortion without force.  A Very
Easy business will require a lower "No Pressure" level than an Easy
business and so on.  At your current level, and with all the levels
you'll gain as you extort and take over neighborhoods, you will only
have to worry about Very Hard businesses in terms of being at too low a
level to not use pressure.  Again, don't worry.

Remember, most businesses will have a racket and a safe in them.  More
often than not, when the business has a racket, the safe will be
located in the vicinity of the racket.  This can be bad when there are
a ton of gangsters around and you could kill one of them by mistake.
If you feel nervous about accidentally killing a gangster, take over
the business and the racket, drive away for a while, then come back and
there will be nothing but Corleone guards present, leaving you to blow
up the safe in peace.

One final note before we begin the walkthrough in earnest.  The
strategy guide claims that an Easy Barzini business is harder to take
over than any other Easy business owned by a different family, which is
absolutely untrue, at least when you're negotiating.  Every business is
equal regardless of what family owns it.  The only thing you have to be
careful for is if you decide to crack a safe and a gangster gets killed
in the process.  All the gangsters will then attack you, and in that
situation, yes, a Barzini-owned business will be much harder to get out
of than a business owned by a different family.  But that's it.

So, we begin in Little Italy.  Remember to talk to the business owner
to negotiate, and always buy out the racket instead of using force.
Again, trust me.  Start with the following Very Easy businesses:

Arezzo Seafood- Racket, Safe
DeMantagna's Barbershop- Safe
Global Trading Company- Racket, Safe
Grand News- N/A

Next, the Easy businesses:

Bella Sciliana- Racket, Safe
Boolie's Bakery- Racket, Safe
Harry's Bar- Racket, Safe
Primola- Racket, Safe
Saint Martin Hotel- Racket, Safe, Safehouse
Sicilian Imports Incorporated- Safe
Trapani's Bakery- Safe

Now we're going to try something totally new; taking over a warehouse!
This is a big step up from taking over businesses, but you've already
taken one over during Sonny's War, so at least you have practice.
There are three different layouts, and none are too difficult.  The one
you're going to take over right now is actually the exact layout of the
one you took over in Sonny's War, so you shouldn't have a problem.
Remember to take out everyone you see, and watch out for people that
appear behind you.  Just be cautious and you should be fine.

Also, there's a bit of strategy when it comes to dealing with the
warehouse (or hub) owner.  Most of the time, I highly recommend
pressuring the boss instead of buying them out.  More often than not,
you'll have to pay double what the warehouse will actually pay you, so
pressuring is more cost-effective in this situation only.

However, warehouses and hubs have an interesting distinction.  When you
successfully take them over and get the large respect bonus for doing
so, the warehouse or hub instantly becomes filled with Corleone guards.
If you left any enemy gangsters gunning for you, they'll still be
around, but the warehouse will be yours, and if you leave and come back
(or if you get iced) there won't be enemy gangsters around.  So, if
you're desperate to finish the job as soon as possible lest you get
iced before, which will likely happen once or twice with the Barzini-
owned warehouses and hub, buy out the owner, and then get iced and
return at your leisure.  A bit crazy, but it works.

Remember, though, in general, pressure the warehouse owner.  I'll be
providing the price around where you should extort the warehouse owner.
So, go after the Chinaware warehouse first.  Note that these DON'T
count as rackets in the list of 56 you have to take over, even though
they technically are.

Chinaware Warehouse- Safe, Extort at 4,000

Fun, right?  Next up, Medium businesses:

The Continental- Safe
Hotel Alioto- Racket, Safe, Safehouse
Sammy's- Racket, Safe
Smoke Signals- Racket, Safe
Va Va Voom Room- Safe

Now, for two more warehouses.  When you get to one with two guardhouses
(Italia), remember to take out everyone in the immediate vicinity and
then without running into the courtyard, run to the right and up the
staircase you'll find there.  Go through the warehouse, take out all
the guard from high up, go out the door across the balcony and down the
staircase.  Run into the building and shoot up the staircase.  You'll
have to deal with guards at the top of the staircase, but not too many.
Run to the right at the top of the staircase, take out the guard, then
run to the other side (don't open any doors!), take out the guard
there, and pressure the racket boss.  Enjoy.

Italia Warehouse- Safe, Extort at 8,000
Verona Warehouse- Safe, Extort at 8,000

Hard businesses next:

Bowery Hotel- Safe, Safehouse

And the last warehouse:

Costello Imports- Safe, Extort at 14,000

And you, my friend, have taken over Little Italy!  Excellent!  The only
thing left to do is visit the two doctors in the area and crack their
safes.  They are:

Dr. Harvey's Clinic- Safe
Dr. Valachi- Safe

And that's all.  Let's recap:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Missions: 17/17
Contract Hits: 20/20
Extortions: 18/84
Rackets: 11/56
Warehouses: 4/8
Transport Hubs: 0/4
Compounds: 0/4
Safehouses: 7/24
Safes: 23/100
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

====================
5. Brooklyn Takeover
====================

Now on to Brooklyn.  This will be quite a bit harder what with a rival
family's compound and transport hub around.  Get used to it.  This is
how it will be for the rest of the game.  Let's extort!  Very Easy
businesses first:

Global Trading Company- Racket, Safe
Michelangelo Salera- Safe
Pitkin Garments- N/A

Now for Easy businesses:

The Full Moon- Racket, Safe
Midnight Rosie's- Racket, Safe
Valentino's- Racket, Safe

Medium:

Sicilian Goods- Racket, Safe

Hard:

The Ambassador Hotel- Safe
Liberto's- Racket, Safe
St. Sebastian Hotel- Safe, Safehouse
Wright Wronsky's- Racket, Safe

And now for a new experience, taking over a hub!  These share the same
strategy for the warehouses discussed above.  The only thing is that
these tend to be much harder than warehouses, with more guards and
tougher layouts.  If you can, take out every roadblock so that no one
will sneak up on you.

Tattaglia Hub- Safe, Extort at 15,000

And now, for your first Very Hard business.  For now, you will have to
use pressure.  When you get to Level 42 or 43 (which will happen fairly
soon), you can negotiate, but for now, pressure them with the price
listed below:

Caf‚ Vitales- Racket, Safe, Extort at 3,000

Next up, the warehouse in Brooklyn, and it's a rough Barzini one.  Good
luck:

Sant'Ella Warehouse- Safe, Extort at 20,000

And at long last, a Compound!  These are by far the hardest things to
take over in the game, but don't require anything other than your basic
weapons fully loaded, a good amount of skill, and sometimes a lot of
luck.  Each compound, once you get inside, is exactly the same (and is
identical to the Corleone Compound).

The following strategy is the same for every compound.  The overall
objective is to plant a bomb in the basement of both houses.

Start by taking out everyone in the courtyard that you can see, but
stay near the house on the right (from now on, known as House 1).  Your
shooting will likely attract guards from inside House 1 to come out the
front door, so take them out too.
</pre><pre id="faqspan-2">
When the coast is clear, enter House 1 and take out the two or three
guards on the ground floor.  One will be hiding behind a couch in the
living room to the right, one will be in the kitchen, and there might
be a random one when you first walk in.  When you've cleared the ground
floor, head upstairs.  There are two guards here.  One will likely be
in the hallway, and the other is in a middle bedroom on the left.  Once
they're both gone, find the safe up here, crack it and head down to the
basement.  Take out the guard down here hiding behind the boxes and
collect all the ammo, but DON'T plant the bomb.  Head back up the
stairs to the front door, get behind cover, and open the door to find
FOUR guards waiting to ambush you.  Take them all out, then run
outside.

Head to the other house across the courtyard (from now on, known as
House 2) and take out all the guards hiding in the various corners of
the courtyard.  Then run up to House 2's front door, open the door and
rush in and out quickly.  Then get behind cover and wait.  This will
have attracted most of the guards on the ground floor and they'll rush
out gunning for you.  Take them out and then run into the house and
take care of any guards left (there is usually one in the kitchen).
Since there's only a basement in House 2, run down the stairs, take
cover, and take out the guard hiding behind the boxes.  This time,
though, there's a second guard, so stay behind cover and try your best
to free-aim and kneecap him.  Then kill him as you like.

Now, collect all the ammo lying around, and then plant the bomb and run
like mad to the front door and out of the building and into the
courtyard.  Repeat the process for House 1 and you have taken down the
compound!  Now you'll have a huge heat level for doing this, so grab a
car from the courtyard and dash to the nearest safehouse and save.
Congrats!

OK, so using that strategy, take out the Tattaglia Compound.  The only
strategy in terms of getting to the compound is to make sure to
methodically go through the park and take out every guard.  You don't
want people sneaking up behind you.

Tattaglia Compound- Safe, Safehouse

Finally, go to the one doctor in the area and crack his safe.

Dr. Marshall's Clinic- Safe

And Brooklyn is complete!  Two neighborhoods down, three to go.  Let's
recap:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Missions: 17/17
Contract Hits: 20/20 *
Extortions: 30/84
Rackets: 19/56
Warehouses: 5/8
Transport Hubs: 1/4
Compounds: 1/4
Safehouses: 9/24
Safes: 38/100
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

======================
6. New Jersey Takeover
======================

And on to New Jersey.  This is a neighborhood that you never have to go
to for a main story mission, and only for a few hits.  Therefore,
you'll likely be quite unfamiliar with its layout.  Don't worry.  It's
small and not too difficult.  However, there are no Very Easy
businesses around!  Therefore, we'll start with a random safehouse you
can buy and the one Easy business:

Lamplight Rooms- Safehouse (not extortable)
Velveteens- Racket, Safe

Next up, the Medium businesses:

Arnold's Famous 47- Racket, Safe
Boris Amchini's Barbershop- Safe
The Highway Hotel- Racket, Safe, Safehouse
Joey's Baked Goods- Racket, Safe
Sicilian Goods- Racket, Safe

And the Hard businesses:

The Crane Club- Racket, Safe
Fabio Satriani and Sons- Racket, Safe
Joe Foley's- Racket, Safe
Johnny Conger's- Racket, Safe
Santo- Racket, Safe

Next is a Stracci warehouse.  Not too tough, but be careful as always.

Waterside Warehouse- Safe (Take Over at 14,000)

Remember, you'll have to extort with force for the Very Hard business:

The George Hotel- Racket, Safe, Safehouse (Extort at 3,000)

Next up is the Stracci Hub.  Be methodical here.  This will be the last
fairly simple hub.

Stracci Hub- Safe (Take Over at 17,000)

And last is the Stracci Compound.  Here, drive down into the rail yard
and approach from the sandy hill to the left.  This way, you can shoot
the trucks from a distance and take out a bunch of guards.  You'll
discover that the Stracci's are insane, since gunning through the path
leading to their compound, you'll discover that they fill the pathway
with explosive barrels you can use to your advantage.  Be careful
though; the Stracci's are better shots and are fiercer than the
Tattaglia's.  The strategy for taking over the compound remains the
same.

Stracci Compound- Safe, Safehouse

Lastly, head to the one doctor and get his safe.

B. Fidanque MD- Safe

And New Jersey is yours!  We've taken over the majority of
neighborhoods now.  Let's recap:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Missions: 17/17
Contract Hits: 20/20 *
Extortions: 42/84
Rackets: 30/56
Warehouses: 6/8
Transport Hubs: 2/4
Compounds: 2/4
Safehouses: 13/24
Safes: 54/100
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

We're getting there!  Unfortunately, it's going to be an uphill battle
from here.  The Cuneos and Barzini's are definitely at a different
level of difficulty than the other families.  Extorting businesses
shouldn't be harder, but the gangsters are much more aggressive from
now on, so they may shoot at you while you're extorting for no apparent
reason.  Keep your wits about you.

==========================
7. Hell's Kitchen Takeover
==========================

So, head on over to Hell's Kitchen.  As always (well, except for
Jersey), let's start with the Very Easy businesses:

Arezzo Seafood- Racket, Safe
Dale Mangano's- Racket, Safe
Doc Thody's Dahlias- Racket, Safe
Mrs. Spillane's- Safe, Safehouse

And the Easy businesses:

After Hours- Racket, Safe
The Colonial Tavern- Racket, Safe
Orchid Incorporated- Racket, Safe
Poppy's Westside- Racket, Safe
Providence Hotel- Racket, Safe, Safehouse
Tyler's Top Cuts- Safe
West Side Philly's- Racket, Safe

Medium:

Casey Quinn's- Racket, Safe
The Elegante- Racket, Safe, Safehouse
Holden Holding's- Safe
Marinelli's Fish Shop- N/A
The Red Fox- Racket, Safe
Scotty's Biscotti- Racket, Safe
The Tunnel Club- Safe

Now the Hard businesses:

Caruso!- Safe
M. Powers and Sons- Racket, Safe
The Roost- N/A

And believe it or not, there are no Very Hard businesses in Hell's
Kitchen, so we're done with extortion here!  This also means that we'll
be at a high enough level when we get to Midtown to extort Very Hard
businesses without force, which is a good thing.

Let's take out the Cuneo warehouse and hub here now.  These are
definitely a step up in difficulty from the other two warehouses, so
get ready and hit them hard.

Milk Co. Warehouse- Safe (Extort at 14,000)
Cuneo Hub- Safe (Extort at 28,000)

And now for the Cuneo Compound.  This is actually a damn hard compound
to get to, probably the hardest one in the game.  Approach it from 50th
and 10th, and be extremely methodical.  Take out every roadblock, and be
more cautious than you've ever been up to this point.  There's only one
way to get into the compound, and it's both narrow and teeming with
guards.  Once you've gotten in, use the same strategy you used for the
other two.

Cuneo Compound- Safe, Safehouse

And you only have one more neighborhood, and thus one more family, to
go!  Before you get too excited, collect the safes from the two doctors
in Hell's Kitchen.

Dr. O'Rian's- Safe
Hell's Kitchen Clinic- Safe

And now, get up, and stretch, and prepare for hell.  The Barzini's are
no joke, but if you've taken out the other three families, you're
ready.  Just know that you will likely die several times at seemingly
random times due to the toughness of the Barzini's.  You gotta hang in
there!  Let's recap:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Missions: 17/17
Contract Hits: 20/20 *
Extortions: 63/84
Rackets: 44/56
Warehouses: 7/8
Transport Hubs: 3/4
Compounds: 3/4
Safehouses: 17/24
Safes: 78/100
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

====================================================
8. Midtown Takeover and Don of NYC Status Attainment
====================================================

And now for the endgame!  Midtown is where it all ends.  You'll start
eliminating families once and for all, complete your stats, and qualify
for being Don of NYC in the process.  Again, note that you only need
92.5% to be Don of NYC, so if you miss a couple of things, such as an
execution style or even a safe or three, it's not a problem at all.  If
you're going for 100%, of course, it's a different story, but you'll
still be fine if you're following this guide.

Let's begin!  Start with the one Very Easy business and a random
Safehouse:

Lucy's Apartment- Safehouse (cannot be extorted)
Saint Alban's Hotel- Safe, Safehouse

Scared about how much those safehouses were?  That ain't nothin!  Of
course, by now, money should be a second thought to you.  Let's go to
Easy businesses:

Orchid Incorporated- Racket, Safe
Palladio Widow- Safe

Next up, Medium businesses and a nice reward after the first business
you take over:

Flowers of Scotland- Racket, Safe (Elimination of Stracci's)
Hotel Madison- Racket, Safe, Safehouse
Lumpy's Bar- Racket, Safe
The Luna Bar- Safe
Raphael's- Safe

That's right, the Stracci's have been eliminated!  Very cool.  No more
purple.  Now, for the Hard businesses and another, bigger reward:

The Carnegie Club- Racket, Safe, Safehouse
Chateau Toledo- Racket, Safe
Hawk's Steakhouse- Racket, Safe
J. Sizzle's Steakhouse- Racket, Safe
Madame Polly's- Racket, Safe
Savannah Hotel- Safe, Safehouse (Elimination of Cuneo's)
Tito Morelli's- N/A (Elimination of Tattaglia's)

Two more families off the map.  No more tan or red.  And now for the
final businesses, the Very Hard ones in Midtown:

The Colonial Club- Racket, Safe
Isao Kimota's Barbers- Safe
Louis' Restaurant- N/A
Mookie's- N/A
The Peak- Racket, Safe, Safehouse
West Side Willy's- Racket, Safe

And at long last, we're done with extortion!!!  Now, in a slight change
of pace, head to the one doctor in the area and get his safe:

Dr. Alexander Noel- Safe

And with that, let's take out the last warehouse and the last hub.
These are very difficult, and you'll likely have to employ the strategy
described above of buying out the warehouse or hub owner just to own
the business, get iced by a bunch of guards following you, then come
back and crack the safes.  If you can pressure the owner, use the
prices below.  You're in the home stretch now!

Palermo Warehouse- Safe (Extort at 20,000)
Barzini Hub- Safe (Extort at 40,000)

And all we have left is the final compound!  Let's recap first:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Missions: 17/17
Contract Hits: 20/20 *
Extortions: 84/84
Rackets: 56/56
Warehouses: 8/8
Transport Hubs: 4/4
Compounds: 3/4
Safehouses: 23/24
Safes: 99/100
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Ready to finish this thing?  Then head on over to the Barzini compound.
Oddly enough, this is by far the easiest compound to reach, and doesn't
require much strategy.  You'll probably be surprised when you fight
your way past the initial guards only to suddenly be inside the
compound.  The Barzini's more than make up for this easy approach
though.  You'll very likely be taken out by a wayward guard hiding in
the courtyard at some point.

I'd set a goal of taking out one building at a time.  In other words,
don't freak out if you die after taking out one building.  You'll get
iced, come back to an easy approach to the compound, and only have one
more building to bomb.  In any event, enjoy the final compound and the
final challenge!

Barzini Compound- Safe, Safehouse (Elimination of Barzini's)

And there you have it!  First, you'll get a ton of respect bonuses,
such as taking over all compounds and elminiating the Barzini's.  Then
you'll be called to a couple of "important meetings," the first being
your promotion to Don at the Corleone Compound, and the next at the
Hotel Alioto where you'll be promoted to.

DON OF NYC!

Yee-haw!  Stick a fork in us, we're done!  Great job.  You now have
infinite ammo, which I guess you can use on innocent civilians for no
reason.

Sonny's Way: Arriving soon

This will be included in the next update of the guide, which may not
happen for a week or so.  Until then, try Tom's Way and enjoy.  Feel
free to contact me at [email protected] with any comments,
questions, suggestions.  Thanks for reading!


Before I go here, I would like to acknowledge the official strategy
guide for providing me with much of the information regarding the
difficulty levels of the businesses and at what money level to extort
warehouses and hubs.  It's really an excellent guide, with only a few
mistakes along the way.  Highly recommended.

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