- "I'm sorry about this, Tom. But our business has rules."
- — Sam Trapani
Sam Trapani is the tritagonist turned secondary antagonist of Mafia: Definitive Edition.
History[]
Sam Trapani is a caporegime in the Salieri family and the close friend of fellow Salieri family mobsters Tommy Angelo and Paulie Lombardo.
Whether he has any living parents or siblings is unknown, but Sam does seem to have a romantic relationship with Michelle, a prostitute at the Corleone Hotel. When Tommy was ordered to blow up the Corleone and kill Michelle for sharing family secrets with the rival Morello family, Sam personally asked him to spare Michelle's life.
Background[]
Sam appears to be of Sicilian descent as indicated by his surname, which references a city in Western Sicily. He likely joined the Salieri family at some point in the 1920s as he is already a caporegime by the time Tommy meets him in 1930. The fact he got promoted to a capo this early indicates Sam may have joined the family earlier than Paulie did, likely sometime in the late 1910s.
Sam's personality is one of focus and discipline; he carries out his orders without hesitation, never betrays his friends, and demonstrates absolute loyalty to the Don and the code of omerta. However, he is also devoid of any real ambition and lacks initiative, a man who seems destined to always linger in someone else's shadow. At one point, he tells Tommy that the best lesson he could ever teach him was "Don't think about anything".
Meeting Tommy[]
In the fall of 1930, Sam and Paulie are fleeing from Morello gunmen after a deal gone wrong when they crash their car while speeding. Sam then spots a taxi and forces the driver, Tommy Angelo at gunpoint to help him and Paulie escape back to the safety of Salieri's Bar. Sam then provides Tommy with an envelope of cash to fix his taxi. The next day, Tommy's taxi gets smashed by two Morello gangsters as revenge for the night before. While fleeing the soldiers, Tommy runs to the bar, where Sam is loitering outside with Paulie. Sam and Paulie make the gangsters leave and introduce Tommy to consigliere Frank Colletti.
Family Jobs[]
After Tommy joins the family, Sam accompanies Paulie and Tommy while they make the last of the family's monthly collections. During their last stop at Clark's Motel, Paulie is shot, and Sam taken prisoner by Morello soldiers waiting to ambush them. Sam is beaten by an unnamed Morello enforcer but refuses to reveal who was responsible for smashing the gang's cars. After Tommy breaks in and kills the soldiers, he rescues Sam and retrieves the collected money from Morello's men.
In 1932, Sam briefly appears at the Lost Heaven Autodrome shortly before the annual motor race, shooting the breeze with Tommy and Paulie before Tommy is forced to participate in the race on account of the Don's favorite being hospitalized. He cheers on Tommy when he wins, and afterwards is seen celebrating with Michelle on his arm at the afterparty. He also tells Tommy to escort a drunk Paulie home before he gets arrested.
After Sarah and Tommy get attacked, Sam takes it upon himself to clear Little Italy of any remaining hoodlums while Tommy and Paulie exact revenge.
While playing cards, Sam and Tommy get new orders; Tommy is to kill Michelle and the manager of the Corleone Hotel and blow it up, while Sam is tasked with eliminating Billy Ghillotti's friend Johnny during the former's funeral at St. Michael's Church. During the car ride over, Sam asks Tommy to spare Michelle and give her a hundred dollars to leave Lost Heaven, blaming himself for putting her in danger. Later at the church, Sam kills a wounded Johnny before he can shoot Tommy and threatens to kill the priest if he identifies either man to the police. Sam and Tommy then steal Billy's hearse and escape back to the bar.
In Febuary of 1933, Sam is sent to pay for an illegal shipment of premium Canadian whiskey at Copse Farm, but fails to show up when Tommy, Paulie, and their men arrive with trucks to collect the booze. During a shootout with corrupt Border Patrol agents on Morello's payroll and the police officers arriving to assist them, Sam is gravely wounded after getting cornered in a barn. With their bodyguards dead, Paulie and Tommy manage to fend off their pursuers and bring Sam to a doctor at the cost of the entire booze shipment.
Sometime later, a fully recovered Sam is helping Don Salieri and the others pack what's left of their alcohol when Paulie gets word of a bootlegger willing to sell to them. Accompanied by Carlo and Little Bill, the trio successfully escort a truck full of fine Kentucky whiskey back to Salieri's warehouse despite an attempt by the Morello family to thwart the deal.
Going After Morello[]
In Spring 1935, Sam helps Tommy acquire a disguise to enter Roberto Ghillotti's birthday celebration undetected. After Tommy executes Ghillotti during his speech, he and Paulie show up with a motorboat to help Tommy escape. Sometime later, Sam and Vincenzo Ricci are shown attempting to ambush Sergio Morello, but inadvertently allow him to escape when their car blows a tire. After Tommy botches a second attempted hit on Sergio with a car bomb, the trio then try to gun down Sergio while he's eating lunch at Giorgi's Diner. Tommy stops Paulie from shooting a waitress who gets caught in the crossfire, giving Sergio enough time to flee in his motorcade while his bodyguards shield him. Tommy is able to catch up with Sergio and kill him at the docks by stealing a motorcycle; Sam and Paulie crash their car while trying to keep up.
During the intro scenes of "Crème de la Crème", Sam and an unnamed Salieri soldier are shown carrying out a hit on one of Morello's men as he rides the elevated train. Later, the trio are ordered to assassinate Morello as he leaves his charity gala, but the gala ends earlier than planned and Morello quickly flees in his armored car to the Lost Heaven Airport where a private plane is waiting. After fighting their way past dozens of Morello soldiers, Sam is able to shoot out one of the plane's engines as it takes off, resulting in a crash landing outside of the city. Once the trio drive up and spot a mortally wounded Morello trying to crawl away, Sam watches as Tommy finishes him off.
During 1936 to 1937, after absorbing the remnants of the Morello family, the Salieri family finally take control of Lost Heaven without any serious competition. As a result, the trio are all promoted and start managing rackets previously controlled by the Morello family. Sam continues to be held in high esteem by the Don; Paulie, despite being richer than he's ever been, is increasingly disillusioned with the family as they refuse to promote him any higher or give him more responsibilities, and Tommy is ecstatic as he considers his newfound wealth and power a fitting reward for all he's done on behalf of the family.
Betrayal and Death[]
In Fall 1938, Salieri assigns the trio a special task: retrieve several crates of smuggled diamonds from federal lockup. However, the smuggled goods turn out not to be diamonds but parcels of high-grade heroin. The mobsters are furious, realizing that Salieri is setting up his own heroin racket and not cutting them in despite making them swear never to get involved with drugs. Sam is made to deliver the drugs to a warehouse for storage while Tommy and Paulie storm off and discuss their future while riding the elevated train.
Paulie, realizing that he has no future as a member of the Salieri family and giving in to years of bitter resentment over how the Don has treated him, persuades Tommy to help him plan and carry out a robbery of the Grand Imperial Bank, which launders money for the Salieri family. Sam doesn't participate, but he agrees to keep the job a secret from the Don since he would never approve of robbing a bank.
After the bank robbery, Tommy visits Paulie's apartment for his split of the loot, only to find him shot to death and the money gone. Sam calls Paulie to warn him that Don Salieri knows they're responsible for the robbery. Tommy picks up the phone instead and Sam informs Tommy that Don Salieri knows about the robbery then it is not safe anymore. He asks if he should come to Paulie's apartment, while Tommy suggests a meeting at the Lost Heaven Art Gallery to figure out how they can get him and his family out of the city.
However, it turns out Sam betrayed the both of them and is waiting with a large crew of gunmen at the gallery to kill Tommy. After a lengthy shootout, Sam's men are killed, and he is left seriously wounded. Sam tries to talk Tommy into sparing him, pointing out how both Michelle and Frank were killed despite believing themselves beyond the Don's reach. When he brings up Paulie, Tommy fatally shoots him in the chest and head and keeps firing until his gun is empty. He leaves the empty pistol on Sam's chest as the dead mobster's blood drips down onto the scattered money from the bank robbery.
Notable Murders[]
- Johnny (Member, Street Hoodlums)
- Don Morello (Don, Morello Crime Family)
- Paulie Lombardo (Soldato, Salieri Crime Family)
Appearances[]
Mafia: DE[]
- An Offer You Can't Refuse
- Running Man
- Molotov Party
- Ordinary Routine
- Fair Play
- The Saint and the Sinner
- A Trip to the Country
- Great Deal
- Happy Birthday
- You Lucky Bastard
- Crème de la Crème
- Just for Relaxation
- The Death of Art (Betrayal/Killed)
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Sam's character arc, personality, and motivations appear to be inspired by Sal Tessio from The Godfather and Jimmy "The Gent" Conway from Goodfellas.
- Sarah implies that Sam is good with the ladies, referring to him as a "lady-killer".
- Sam's name is one of several on the front of the Mutagen.
- Sam would offer the position of underboss in the Salieri crime family in The Death of Art. However, he was killed by Tommy Angelo shortly afterward.
- Sam does not wear his iconic black suit with a blue shirt and bow tie like the original game, instead favoring a beige or dark-tan double-breasted suit, with or without a regular tie. He does wear a bowtie during several cutscenes throughout the game, including during his betrayal and death in The Death of Art.
- Sam seems to be of Northern Italian descent despite his surname indicating that he has family roots in Sicily. He could possibly be of mixed Northern and Southern Italian descent.
- According to Paulie in Fair Play, Sam has learned to block out his thoughts and feelings when it comes to "work" in the family.
- Sam's attraction to Sarah comes to light when he tells Tommy "Marone!" describing her after Tommy is brought into the family. He mentions Sarah again during the The Death of Art, if you take too long to kill Sam, he will tell Tommy that he will keep Sarah's safety.
- If you wait a while before killing Sam, he will say "this still aint over", or talk about Vincenzo, Ralph, Luigi and Salieri.
- Sam bears a strong resemblance to both Luciano crime family boss and commission founder Charles "Lucky" Luciano and alleged Philadelphia boss Joey Merlino.
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