Highlights
- The Mafia Trilogy is an iconic open-world crime series that allows players to step into the underworld of vicious gangsters and control areas.
- The games feature various mob bosses, including Sal Gravina, Sal Marcano, Don Calo, Don Peppone, Alberto Clemente, Carlo Falcone, Frank Vinci, Don Morello, and Don Salieri.
- Each boss has their own unique traits and storylines, and their actions and decisions shape the overarching narrative of the Mafia series.
The Mafia Trilogy has become an iconic open-world crime series, portraying a string of organized crime families from the early days of the mob to the more contemporary years in the original games and remakes. The games offer players a chance to step into the murky underworld of these vicious gangsters as they take control of areas and fight each other for control.
Each game follows a protagonist as they rise through the ranks of the mob, completing missions to increase their visibility and move on to the next exciting chapter in their criminal careers. But none of this would be possible without the mob bosses who rule the roost. The games feature bosses who are on the side of the main character as well as bosses from rival families, but who is the best boss of them all?
9 Sal Gravina (Mafia 2)
Sal Gravina features in Mafia 2 in the DLC Pack The Betrayal of Jimmy and its sequel Jimmy's Vendetta. He is the boss of the Gravina crime family, which is a criminal organization in Empire Bay.
He was once the employer of the main character, Jimmy, but things soon soured between them when Gravina set him up, and he ended up spending 15 years in prison. Jimmy plays the long game and ends up gunning down Gravina, which brings the crime family to its knees.
8 Sal Marcano (Mafia 3)
Salvatore "Sal" Marcano is the main villain in Mafia 3 and the boss of the Marcano Crime family, based in New Bordeaux, Louisiana. He features heavily in the rags-to-riches story of Lincoln Clay.
The character was heavily inspired by real-life mobster Carlos Marcello, who ran the New Orleans crime group in the 1960s. Marcano is a mean character who has no qualms about ordering hits; that is his job as boss of the family, and he does it well.
7 Don Calo (Mafia 2)
Don Calo is the leader of the Vizzini crime family. They were formed in the 1800s in Sicily. Under his leadership, the family became the biggest Mafia family in Sicily.
Calo is the only real-life figure to appear in the Mafia series, despite many characters being based on real people. He features in the first chapter of Mafia 2, titled The Old Country, which is set during World War 2. His appearance in the game is brief but memorable as he rolls into town on an American tank and saves Vito from certain death.
6 Don Peppone (Mafia)
Inspired by Big Jim Colosimo, who set up the first Mafia family in Chicago, Don Peppone was a memorable boss in the franchise.
Peppone was Lost Heaven's most powerful boss until his murder in the 1920s. He was killed by Salieri and Morello, who would divide his empire between them, which is key in the overarching narrative of the Mafia series. His legacy was somewhat overshadowed by these guys, but fans remember how it all started.
5 Alberto Clemente (Mafia 2)
Alberto was the head of the Clemente crime family and was a big player in the drug business. He discovered Carlo Falcone's drug operation and decided he wanted a piece of it.
This led to his downfall as a hit was put out on him, and Vito and Joe were hired to whack him. There are only two ways it can end for a Mafia boss, prison or death, and it's the latter for this memorable character in the mafia franchise, as he's gunned down at close range. A good death like this cements his place on this list.
4 Carlo Falcone (Mafia 2)
Falcone is one of the most feared men in Empire Bay, and he owns a restaurant in Midtown called The Maltese Falcon, which is a nod to his obsession with detective novels.
Like a lot of real-life mobsters, not all of Falcone's dealings were criminal enterprises. He was a great philanthropist and covered most of the costs of constructing the Zavesky Observatory. He is always looking for a new way of making money that breaks away from the Sicilian roots of the mafia.
3 Frank Vinci (Mafia 2)
Easily one of the most respected, albeit feared, mob bosses in Empire Bay, Frank Vinci's main business enterprises were gambling and construction, two of the mob's most favored ventures.
He has old-school mafia values, and this is shown in his hatred for the drug trade. When Joe Barbaro and Vito Scaletta became made men at their ceremony, Vinci tells both of them to steer clear of the drug business.
2 Don Morello (Mafia)
Marcu Morello rose to prominence as a capo in the Peppone family. When Don Peppone was killed, he formed the Morello Crime Family. The family benefited greatly from prohibition, and he evolved into a very violent and greedy man who had absolutely no qualms about how he made money.
Everyone was in his pocket, and his control over the police force helped him evade capture and further assert his control over the city. Morello's reign ends when Tommy murders him in cold blood. This led to the Morello crime family essentially folding and joining the Salieri family. An inevitable end to a highly entertaining and powerful character in the Mafia franchise.
1 Don Salieri (Mafia)
The ultimate boss of all bosses in the Mafia Trilogy could only be one man, Don Salieri. On the surface, he appears to help the communities in which he controls, but there is a darker side to the man in charge.
Like all good mob bosses, he values loyalty above everything else and keeps a low profile which is vital when steering a Mafia family in the right direction. If he is hurt, he can be very exacting in his revenge, which he shows on many occasions. Salieri is thought to be inspired by the fictional mob boss in The Godfather, Vito Corleone.