The Irish Mob is a criminal organization in Mafia III.
History[]
Background[]
The Irish Mob was originally formed during Prohibition by Irish American residents of Pointe Verdun, who competed with Giuseppe Carillo for control of bootlegging in New Bordeaux. Following Carillo's murder in 1934 by Sal Marcano, Sal built up a strong relationship with the Mob through his friendship with moonshiner Thomas Burke, who gradually worked his way up to becoming its undisputed boss.
Burke, unable to be "made" as a member of the Marcano family on account of his Irish heritage, focused instead on making himself indispensable to Sal by taking over the old Sweetwater Distillery and using it to sell his high-quality moonshine across the city, creating an extremely lucrative - and legal - racket for the Marcano family to profit from. The Irish also ran illegal games of chance, trafficked in stolen goods, used Burke's scrapyard to operate a chop shop, and collected protection from businesses and households across Pointe Verdun.
The Bad Years[]
Over the years, Burke's friendship with Sal began to sour, largely due to Sal's greed for new territory and his impatience with Burke, who struggled with alcoholism and proved too unreliable when it came to protecting the interests of the Marcano clan. In 1966, a shipment of stolen car parts had been ruined due to the negligence on Burke's part. Sal Marcano lost a lot of money as a result and his patience with Burke had come to an end.
Using the loss as a pretext, he arranged for his personal enforcer, Roman "The Butcher" Barbieri, to "supervise" Burke and the Irish Mob. This was little more than a takeover in disguise, and Barbieri wound up busting up Burke's leg as a means of teaching him who was in charge now. The last straw came when Sal persuaded Burke to assist him with the planning of a heist targeting the Federal Reserve of New Bordeaux; Burke falsely believed that Sal would reward him with full control of Pointe Verdun if the robbery was a success.
Instead, Sal had Burke's son Danny killed to keep the robbery from being traced back to him and kept all of the money for the Marcano family. Barbieri moved to put his own men in charge of the distillery and the Mob's protection rackets while keeping the Irish Mob isolated and unable to run their normal businesses, revealing Sal's true intention to slowly starve Burke financially. Eventually the Irish gang would fall apart as had happened with the Black Mob earlier that year, and Sal would have full control over Pointe Verdun.
The War with Marcano[]
Burke met Lincoln Clay, who had survived the massacre that claimed Danny's life, and the two men agreed to work together out of a mutual hatred for the Marcano family. Burke directed Lincoln to take back control of the distillery and disrupt Barbieri's ability to collect protection money, then lured him into a shootout at the scrapyard that ended with The Butcher being subdued and locked up for Burke to torture to death at his leisure.
The Irish Mob regains full control of Pointe Verdun and continues to assist Lincoln in his war against Sal; Lincoln returned the favor by helping the Mob smuggle stolen vehicles on behalf of the IRA.
Members[]
- Thomas Burke - Boss
- Danny Burke - Lieutenant (Deceased)
- Nicki Burke - Soldier/Later Lieutenant
- Bear Donnelly - Soldier (Resigned)
Associates[]
Trivia[]
- Nicki Burke, who acts as the Irish Mob's underboss, will replace her father if he gets killed in a turf war with Lincoln.
- Members of the Irish Mob typically drive green Eckhart Champions.
- The Irish Mob is the oldest ethnic organized crime group in American history, starting in the 1850s when future congressman John Morrissey became leader of the Dead Rabbits in 1857, turning it from a street gang into a proper criminal outfit with political connections.
- Thomas Burke's claim that he is working on behalf of the IRA in "I.R.A. Don't Ask" references the historical partnership between Irish Mob families in the United States and the real-life IRA during The Troubles.