- "I'll either be runnin' this whole damn town or burnin' it to the ground. Bein' honest, doesn't make a whole lot of difference to me either way."
- — Thomas Burke
Thomas Burke is a main character in Mafia III.
History[]
Background[]
Thomas Burke
Thomas Burke is the leader of the Irish Mob in New Bordeaux, and an Underboss in the Clay Crime Family. He operates out of Burke's Iron & Metal, a local salvage yard. He was born in Belfast and emigrated to the United States with his father at some point during his childhood, allegedly because of his father's involvement in the Irish Civil War. Following his father's death from a heart attack, Burke started running booze to support himself financially. His bootlegging operation soon fell under the purview of Sal Marcano, who brought him into the ranks as an associate.[2]
Current Operations[]
He once ran all the rackets in Pointe Verdun for the Marcano Crime Family, including car thefts and vehicle chop shops. In the middle of 1966, they had a falling out over a lost shipment and Marcano muscled in and took over all of his operations, appointing Roman Barbieri, who partially crippled Burke, to oversee Pointe Verdun for him. In order to regain what he once had, Burke joins with Cassandra and Vito Scaletta as one of Lincoln Clay's underbosses.
Downward Spiral[]
Testing out the drill
In 1968, having learned of Marcano's intention to rob the Federal Reserve, Burke enlisted his services as a planner, and arranged for his son, Danny Burke, to become another member of the heist crew, in the hope that, if the heist was a success, it would end the bad blood between him and Sal, who he believed would return Pointe Verdun to him out of gratitude.
However, Danny is shot in the head by Giorgi Marcano at Sammy's Bar, causing Burke to fall into a downward spiral. Prior to his recruitment as one of Lincoln's underbosses, Burke frequented Duffy's Irish Pub where he drank to excess, and nine weeks prior to Lincoln's resurrection, he drunkenly confronted Barbieri and his men at his deli where he fired nine rounds from his gun, failing to hit anyone, prompting Barbieri's men to lay down a beating on him and throw Burke into a dumpster.
Getting Back at The Butcher[]
Thomas Burke and Lincoln Clay
Burke is confronted by Lincoln outside Duffy's, where he is offered the chance to join his crusade against the Marcanos as one of his lieutenants. Burke rebukes the offer and tells Lincoln that he doesn't have the balls, but later reconsiders when Lincoln hijacks his car and drives recklessly in it.
Lincoln drives Burke back to his salvage yard, where he finds out about The Butcher's rackets. After Lincoln seizes control of both rackets, Burke calls Barbieri directly, warning the man that he'll be waiting for him at the salvage yard. Lincoln, together with Burke and his daughter Nicki, thwart an attack on the salvage yard by the Butcher's men.
After taking out his men, Lincoln and Burke approach a wounded Barbieri, who had arrived at the salvage yard to deal with Burke himself, and knock him out with his Kalashnikov. An unconscious Barbieri is then dragged into the workshop, where either Lincoln or Burke viciously beat him to death before dumping his body in the Mississippi River. Following this, Burke becomes one of Lincoln's lieutenants.
Health Problems[]
Burke has terminal liver cancer and has been told he has six to eight months to live. More than anything he wants to do right by his daughter Nicki. He has Lincoln steal cars and boats, telling him they're for the I.R.A, when he's actually selling them to build up something to leave his daughter when he dies.
Personality[]
Thomas Burke
Burke is an ill-tempered, reckless and volatile individual, someone inclined to shoot first and think about the consequences later. Burke is capable of extreme cruelty to individuals who have wronged him, deliberately taking his time with the murder of Roman Barbieri, breaking Barbieri's legs so many times there was barely any bone left by the end. He dwelled for years on his score with Sal Marcano, and fixated on it even as his failing health meant he had little prospect of getting any revenge against Marcano personally.
Burke appears to have also held some manner of racist views against African-Americans, making references to this when Lincoln first visits him after Sal Marcano betrays them both. His racism is not deeply-held, however, as Burke can be reasoned with and sets this aside to work side-by-side with Lincoln against their hated mutual enemy.
Despite his less than saintly temperament, Burke does show deep love for his children. He was absolutely devastated when his son Danny was murdered at the hands of Sal Marcano, drowning his sorrows in booze before Lincoln recruited him. Burke disapproves of Nicki's homosexuality, but also feels remorse for how this has hurt his daughter Nicki, leading him to work extensively in secret to build a fortune that he will leave to her when he dies.
Fate[]
- See also Mafia III Endings.
Nothing is known of Thomas Burke's fate if Lincoln decides to stay and rule New Bordeaux. However, he was suffering from liver cancer, so if he and Lincoln managed to get through the takeover of the Marcano Crime Family without any betrayal, it is assumed he passed away soon after. What became of the Irish Mob is unknown.
Burke meets his end
If Lincoln leaves New Bordeaux and Thomas Burke assumes control of the city, his daughter Nicki explains that his liver was riddled with cancer and he should have only lived another six months, but Burke used the money Lincoln left him to go to Mexico and get a black market transplant, allowing him to live another sixteen years. He flooded the city with booze, then expanded into drugs, first heroin and then cocaine. He used the same infrastructure he'd set up for moonshining, and within a year or so, most of the cocaine entering the country came through New Bordeaux.
Burke became one of the wealthiest men in the southern United States. He bought himself a seat on the city council and got the township's name legally changed to Bourbon City. But all the cocaine only attracted other criminals, and Burke went to war with a Cuban gang. There were shoot-outs in the streets, car bombs, and a brothel burned to the ground. When the Cubans called him out, Burke came armed with an M-60 and grenades. He killed eight men before they put him down. That was 1984, and since then, no one has sat on the throne for more than a few months. New Bordeaux is still a lawless fool's paradise.
Associates[]
- Terry Daly is an explosives expert who can supply the Arms Dealer with unique high-grade explosive devices.
- Fiona Davidson has connections within the New Bordeaux Police Department that can be bribed to back off of Lincoln Clay.
- Hank McGahee is an expert car thief who will deliver vehicles to Lincoln anywhere in the city.
Appearances[]
Mafia III[]
Story Chapters[]
Optional Missions[]
- I.R.A. Don't Ask (Boss)
Betrayal Mission[]
- Look in the Mirror (Boss/Betrayal/Killed)
Notable Murders[]
- Roman Barbieri (Lieutenant, Marcano Crime Family)
Perks[]
| Income | Perk | Available Upgrade | Associate |
|---|---|---|---|
| $0 | Vehicle Delivery | Vehicle Delivery: Have Fresh Rides Brought To You | Hank McGahee |
| $30,000 | Police Dispatcher | Clear Blue Police Zones: Cops Ignore Crimes For 30 Sec | Fiona Davidson |
| $60,000 | Police Dispatcher | Cops Nearby: Mark Nearby Cops On Your Map | Fiona Davidson |
| $100,000 | IRA Bomber | Equipment Supply: Arms Dealer Sells Equipment | Terry Daly |
| $140,000 | Police Dispatcher | Clear Blue Police Zones: Cops Ignore Crimes For 2 Mins | Fiona Davidson |
| $180,000 | Vehicle Delivery | Covert Car Theft: Steal Cars Undetected | Hank McGahee |
| $220,000 | Police Dispatcher | Clears All Police Zones: Cops Ignore Crimes For 2 Mins | Fiona Davidson |
| $280,000 | IRA Bomber | Additional Equipment: Increased Carrying Capacity | Terry Daly |
| $320,000 | Police Dispatcher | Clears All Police Zones: Cops Ignore Crimes For 5 Mins | Fiona Davidson |
| $370,000 | Vehicle Delivery | Occupied Car Theft: Quietly Steal Occupied Cars | Hank McGahee |
| $420,000 | Police Dispatcher | Clears All Police Zones: Cops Ignore Crimes For 10 Mins | Fiona Davidson |
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Which side Burke's father took in the Irish Civil War is unspecified, but the victorious Irish Free State had a tense relationship (at best) with veterans who had backed the other side for many years, so Burke's father may have sided against the Free State.
- Burke wears a Hawaiian shirt, often with a leather jacket, similar to Joe Barbaro from Mafia II.
- Even if Burke survived the main events of the game in 1968 and got a black market liver transplant in Mexico outside of his ending despite not taking over the entire city, he is still deceased by the time the Lincoln Clay Documentary takes place in 2016. This can be easily inferred by how the now-elderly Nicki Burke talks about him in the past tense. It makes sense, as Burke would have been 102 years old by 2016. If Burke did have a liver transplant, then he probably died of old age in the 1990s or 2000s.
- Burke is represented by a green Celtic trinity knot icon.
- He can be heard singing "A Nation Once Again" by Thomas Osborne Davis in various parts of the game, as well as "The Last Rose of Summer" by Thomas Moore. The former is an Irish nationalist song, expressing a wish for Ireland to be independent again after being forced under British rule for hundreds of years.
- At the end of Brave New World, Burke tells Lincoln that Nicki is usually at the distillery when she isn't out quail hunting. When Lincoln replies that quail isn't in season, Burke states "For her kind, it's always in season." This is a derogatory reference to Nicki's homosexuality, "quail" being an old slang term for women.
- If Burke betrays Lincoln and is killed, his name does not appear on the Burke family tomb at Saint Agnes Catholic Church in Pointe Verdun.
References[]
- ↑ In 1968, he was diagnosed with terminal liver cancer, 8/9 months later is 1969.
- ↑ Assets and Kill List (Thomas Burke)